Jeremy Zoll Expresses Confidence Going Into Twins' Winter Meetings

The Minnesota Twins' season didn't live up to expectations as they missed the playoffs for the third-straight year in spite of mid-season acquisitions like reliever Jeff Hoffman and starter Dean Kremer, but general manager Jeremy Zoll expressed confidence in the team's competitive outlook going into their winter meetings.

"We were excited to have the chance to be able to buy at the trade deadline and felt good about the adds we had and unfortunately, things didn't break our way as we got into mid-August and September," Zoll said, according to MLB.com. "I think we established a lot of things from a culture perspective with Shelty [manager Derek Shelton], the new coaching staff, and are excited to build on that for 2027."

Following an underwhelming tenure with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the hiring of Shelton was met with scrutiny from the Twins faithful. Still, Minnesota's improvement to a 77-85 overall record this year and his familiarity with the organization after previously serving as bench coach showed that they may have found their new long-term skipper. 

Furthermore, the Twins will be looking forward to the contributions of new pitching coach Brian Reith and assistant athletic trainer Ben Myers. Reith's background in the Tampa Bay Rays' farm system brings a lot of promise as the Triple-A Durham Bulls gave up 2,714 walks from 2022-2026 under his direction, the fewest in Triple-A over that span. 

The Twins didn't have to go far to bring in Myers who spent the past five years with Triple-A St. Paul. Given the injury struggles of Byron Buxton and right-handed ace Joe Ryan this year, it should be interesting to see what Myers can do to help keep them and other Twins on the field as much as possible.

Nonetheless, Zoll will have bigger fish to fry this offseason with catcher Ryan Jeffers likely to reject his qualifying offer and test the free agent market. Losing Jeffers would be a crushing blow after he slashed .256/.353/.461 and won 66 of the 108 ABS challenges he initiated this year, demonstrating his exceptional eye for the strike zone.

Minnesota must also turn their attention to retaining veteran relievers A.J. Minter and Taylor Rogers. Minter had a solid 25-game stretch after being acquired from the New York Mets, posting a 2.78 ERA and striking out 21 batters. On the other hand, Rogers compiled an ERA of 4.33 and recorded two saves. 

While Zoll appears to have Minnesota heading in the right direction coaching-wise, him keeping the core intact will be essential next season.