Derek Shelton is staying positive about Minnesota's chances ahead of the August 3 deadline.
The Minnesota Twins finished 2025 with a 70-92 record and spent the offseason picking up the pieces after one of the biggest sell-offs in modern baseball history.
Nine players were shipped out at last summer's trade deadline, including Carlos Correa, Jhoan Duran, and Griffin Jax, and the feeling heading into 2026 was that Minnesota would be one of the worst teams in the American League.
And yet, here they are.
Sitting at 36-41 through 77 games, the Twins hold third place in the AL Central, just 4.5 games behind the first-place White Sox, and still have a real shot at sneaking into the Wild Card race.
It is far from perfect, but it is much better than what most people expected from a team that ranked dead last in The Athletic's preseason "Hope-O-Meter" before Opening Day.
Shelton Sees Reason for Hope
That start has not been lost on first-year manager Derek Shelton, who made his feelings about the trade deadline situation evident this week.
"I'm very optimistic," Shelton said. "They don't talk about trading for guys that are not having good seasons. If you're playing well, all of a sudden your name becomes a trade target. But if you look at the American League standings, how many teams are over .500? (Five)? There's a lot of teams still playing and we have a month and a half because the deadline is the latest it's ever been."
Shelton's take lines up with the numbers.
As of June 20, just five AL teams hold records above .500, and the gap between the Wild Card cut line and the teams on the outside is only a few games.
Minnesota is right in that group of teams fighting for a spot, and a recent four-game win streak has given the clubhouse real belief that this team can play its way into October.
A Year Ago
This time last summer, the conversation in Minnesota could not have been more different.
The Twins were 51-57 on deadline day and the front office went into full teardown mode, sending Correa back to Houston and shipping Duran to Philadelphia in a series of moves that reshaped the franchise overnight.
The wave of prospects that came back, including Taj Bradley and Mick Abel, was meant to lay the groundwork for the future rather than win right away.
But what nobody saw coming was a rebuilt roster staying in the race this deep into June.
Byron Buxton's All-Star level production has been the biggest reason why, and the emergence of young talent across the organization has given Minnesota even more reason to feel good about the direction of the franchise.
With the trade deadline pushed to August 3 for the first time ever, Shelton and the front office have more runway than anyone before them to decide whether this season calls for buying or selling.
Either way, the tone from the dugout says it all.
This is not the same franchise that waved the white flag 12 months ago.
