40 Man Roster, Free Agents and Arbitration

[SwainZag]

There are a lot of threads on specific players and the predicting the 25 man roster for Opening Day, but first things first.  Breaking down the current 40-man roster

 

Players under contract for 2016: 

 

 

SP Phil Hughes

SP Ervin Santana

SP Ricky Nolasco

MR Glen Perkins

C Kurt Suzuki

1B Joe Mauer

2B Brian Dozier

 

Pre-Arb Players

 

SP Kyle Gibson

SP Tyler Duffey

SP Trevor May

SP Logan Darnell

SP AJ Achter

SP Alex Meyer

MR JR Graham

MR Ryan O'Rourke

MR Aaron Thompson

MR Ryan Pressly

MR Michael Tonkin

C Josmil Pinto

C Eric Fryer

C Chris Hermann

1B Kennys Vargas

SS Jorge Polanco

SS Danny Santana

3B Miguel Sano

OF Max Kepler

OF Oswaldo Arcia

OF Aaron Hicks

OF Eddie Rosario

OF Byron Buxton

 

Arb Eligible Players:

 

 

SP Tommy Milone

MR Casey Fien

MR Kevin Jepsen

Util Eduardo Nunez
SS Eduardo Escobar

3B Trevor Plouffe

OF Shane Robinson

 

 

Potential Free Agents

 

SP Mike Pelfrey

MR Blaine Boyer

MR Brian Duensing

MR Neil Cotts

OF Torii Hunter

 

There is your 40 man roster, actually there are 42 with Pressly and Darnell being on the 60-day DL.

 

First things first, 5 free agents.  Who stays and who goes? 

 

Arb Eligible Players next.  Who gets arb? Who gets an extension? Who gets free agency?

 

 

[stringer bell]

Right off the bat the five free agents should be subtracted. That makes 37.

 

Several candidates for non-tender:   Fien, Boyer, Nunez, Robinson.

 

DFA candidates:    Darnell, Achter, O'Rourke, Thompson, one of Pinto, Fryer, Herrmann.

 

My SWAG (guess) is that four or five will be subtracted in that manner. That will allow seven or eight to be added before the Rule V draft.

[old nurse]

Added to the discussion should be who needs to be added to the 40 man roster to protect them from the rule 5 draft. There were quite a few success stories this year, including Gilmartin, that will cause teams to look harder at even the high a players

[Dman]

To start with you have to make room for Jose Berrios, Taylor Rogers, Zach Jones, J.T. Chargios, AB Walker and probably a few other players so I would subtract the five free agents and although you could make an argument to keep Hunter or Cotts I think it is likely best to cut the cord there.

 

I would non-tender Fien and Robinson. I would get rid of Pinto and Thompson as well.

 

Pinto doesn't do much for me at catcher and there is no room to DH.  He would be a nice bench bat but I think we have other players that can fill that role.  I don't see Thompson as any better than some young guy and I would prefer to hang onto the younger players at this point.  I don't trust Fien and he doesn't seem to have a lot of movement on his pitches so would rather find a harder throwing strikeout type pitcher for that role.  Robinson could be kept but I think there is enough depth in the org to handle that spot if needed.

 

 

[sane]

Right off the bat the five free agents should be subtracted. That makes 37.

 

Several candidates for non-tender:   Fien, Boyer, Nunez, Robinson.

 

DFA candidates:    Darnell, Achter, O'Rourke, Thompson, one of Pinto, Fryer, Herrmann.

 

My SWAG (guess) is that four or five will be subtracted in that manner. That will allow seven or eight to be added before the Rule V draft.

I believe you counted Boyer in both FA and non-tender candidates.

IMO another potential cut could be JR Graham, who may not be worth protecting ahead of other prospects.

My choices for protection would be Adam Brett Walker, JT Chargois, Taylor Rogers, Zach Jones, Engelb Vielma, Felix Jorge, Mason Meloutakis and Luke Bard.

[strumdatjaguar]

I disagree with some on your list.  Twins should try to re-sign Fien and Boyer, who had adequate to good years..  The Twins need lefties (especially in the unlikely event that both Cotts and Duensing are not with the club in 2016), so they should NOT DFA Logan Darnell.  He had good stats at Rochester - give him a big look in Spring Training.  Nunez has proven his worth, and should be kept around as a back-up infielder.  Otherwise, I agree with your proposed decisions on the 40 man roster.  Maybe it's time to DFA Danny Santana.

[sane]

"To start with you have to make room for Jose Berrios"

Berrios does not have to be protected, as he is ineligible for Rule V. If the Twins want to add him to the roster(s) later, he can be promoted at that time.

[Danchat]

Just going with arbitration, I would non-tender Fien, Nunez, and Robinson. I think Danny Santana (who's out of options) can be the utility guy in 2016 instead of Nunez. Maybe the Twins get can Robinson back on a minor league deal to save money. (depends on how expense his arb $$$ will be, if he's cheap, bring him back)

[old nurse]

With the state of the bullpen as bad as it was I thin Boyer and Fien will be tendered. Darnell and Achter also would be protected. Fryer or Herman might be replaceable by Garver, so I think both might be dfa and told they will get invites to spring training. That would be six subtractions

 

[sane]

I think Darnell is unnecessary because Jones, Rogers, and Meloutakis are all LHP, who are generally more highly rated prospects.

[Dman]

 

Berrios does not have to be protected, as he is ineligible for Rule V. If the Twins want to add him to the roster(s) later, he can be promoted at that time.

 

You are correct he does not need to be protected I was thinking ahead and figuring that he will need to be added next year at some point and I was thinking early in the year but could be wrong on that.  The Twins could wait until September of next year to bring him up.

[sane]

 

I think Darnell is unnecessary because Jones, Rogers, and Meloutakis are all LHP, who are generally more highly rated prospects.

My bad! Zach Jones is a RHP.

[Dman]

 

I believe you counted Boyer in both FA and non-tender candidates.
IMO another potential cut could be JR Graham, who may not be worth protecting ahead of other prospects.
My choices for protection would be Adam Brett Walker, JT Chargois, Taylor Rogers, Zach Jones, Engelb Vielma, Felix Jorge, Mason Meloutakis and Luke Bard.

I like your choices for protection.  I agree all of those players should be protected.  That is nine players or face possibly losing one.

We are gonna need to figure out what we have soon because next year we will need to protect Kohl Stewart
Stephan Gonsalves
Stuart Turner
Zach Granite
Brandon Peterson
Maybe Slegers or Eides

Along with others

[sane]

 

You are correct he does not need to be protected I was thinking ahead and figuring that he will need to be added next year at some point and I was thinking early in the year but could be wrong on that.  The Twins could wait until September of next year to bring him up.

Yes. Berrios can be promoted onto the MLB roster whenever he is judged ready. (last September?)

He is most certainly going to be promoted before the Rule V draft, in December 2016, or the Twins would most certainly lose him.

[stringer bell]

I think Nunez is a "tweener". He's not a starter, but not an ideal bench player either, particularly for the Twins, because he hits right handed. He will get a raise this year, if he is tendered. I would hope the Twins  could deal him, perhaps for another utility type. However, it wouldn't surprise me if he were non-tendered, despite his nice year this year.

[Vanimal46]

All 5 of the pending FAs should be gone no question...

 

On the Arb. list, I would make an offer to Plouffe, Escobar, Jepsen, Fien, and Milone. 

 

DFA: Darnell, Achter, O'Rourke, Thompson, one of Pressly or Tonkin, one of Pinto, Fryer, Herrmann.

[SwainZag]

I actually don't think I would mind if they gave Cotts a 1 year deal to stay next year, any one else?

[Linus]

I actually don't think I would mind if they gave Cotts a 1 year deal to stay next year, any one else?

I'm also fine with it so long as he is your second lefty

[sane]

 

I actually don't think I would mind if they gave Cotts a 1 year deal to stay next year, any one else?

As long as he is signed AFTER the rule V draft.

[70charger]

Seems like adding Walker to the 40 man is being assumed by lots of people. Do we really think he'd stick on a major league roster all next year? You can probably stash a pitcher in the bullpen, but can a team really take a bench spot for a defense-limited guy who is going to get tied into knots by major league pitchers? For an entire year? Even if we lose him, he'd probably be coming back before too long. Right?

[Boom Boom]

I'd be just fine if the Twins stay out of the Rule V draft this year. They dragged Graham along all season when there were probably better relievers to be had.

[sane]

 

Seems like adding Walker to the 40 man is being assumed by lots of people. Do we really think he'd stick on a major league roster all next year? You can probably stash a pitcher in the bullpen, but can a team really take a bench spot for a defense-limited guy who is going to get tied into knots by major league pitchers? For an entire year? Even if we lose him, he'd probably be coming back before too long. Right? 

Some other team might take Walker, just because they have a hitting coach that thinks he can make him an MLB hitter, because he thinks he is a better hitting coach than Walker has had up to now.

And he may have already spotted a flaw in Walker's mechanics or approach that can be fixed.

Remember David Ortiz?

[Boom Boom]

Some other team might take Walker, just because they have a hitting coach that thinks he can make him an MLB hitter, because he thinks he is a better hitting coach than Walker has had up to now.

And he may have already spotted a flaw in Walker's mechanics or approach that can be fixed.

Remember David Ortiz?

Big Pappy was a better minor league hitter than Walker, and was a successful major league hitter before the Twins cut bait on him.

 

Not to argue with you in particular, but every time the Twins have to make a roster decision on an all-bat no-field type, we worry that he may turn into the next Ortiz, unlikely as that may be.

 

Arcia's out of options, so if the Twins want to keep him he'll need to be on the 25-man. If they don't, have fun watching him hit 500 home runs for some other team.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Berrios doesn't need to be added to the 40 man, so you won't see him on it this offseason.  Not sure guys like Vielma or Jorge would stick in the rule 5.  You can wait a year there... just my 2 cents there as well.  Walker, however, should be protected along with several of those AA relievers.

 

I'd part ways with all the FAs unless of course Hunter was ammenable to a pinch hitting role, but I don't see it happening. 

 

I'd probably gut most of the pen too.  I'd rather bring in some of our younger higher upside guys to struggle than keep some of the older guys who weren't that good as it was.  At least with one, you have some hope.  I'd probably keep O'Rourke around.  I know he started well and finished poorly.  He's the definition of a loogy and needs to be used fairly conservatively in that role  I'd non-tender Fein and Robinson.  I'd attempt to trade Plouffe, Milone, and maybe Gibson. 

 

Herrman is a DFA candidate, and honestly I'd start thinking about DFAing Nolasco if he's not looking good in ST.  I wouldn't be too upset about a DFA for a couple other members of the pen. 

 

I'd probably option Buxton, Meyer, Kepler (though I think he's most likely to earn a job of this group), Santana, and Polanco.

[Otto von Ballpark]

In terms of arbitration, MLBTR just released their estimates:

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/10/projected-arbitration-salaries-for-2016.html

 

 

 

Twins (7)

Kevin Jepsen (5.163) – $6.0MM
Trevor Plouffe (4.162) – $7.7MM
Eduardo Nunez (4.090) – $1.5MM
Casey Fien (3.143) – $2.2MM
Tommy Milone (3.143) – $4.5MM
Shane Robinson (3.141) – $1.0MM
Eduardo Escobar (3.128) – $1.8MM

 

[blairpaul715]

 

All 5 of the pending FAs should be gone no question...

 

On the Arb. list, I would make an offer to Plouffe, Escobar, Jepsen, Fien, and Milone. 

 

DFA: Darnell, Achter, O'Rourke, Thompson, one of Pressly or Tonkin, one of Pinto, Fryer, Herrmann.

I actually really liked Pressly he is for sure back IMO, and I think they keep Tonkin on 40 man for one more try, see if his 95 FB can finally make a difference at the MLB level.

[sane]

 

I actually really liked Pressly.

Thank yuh, thank yuh verah much!

Has any one seen mah peanut-butter and buhnana sandwich?

[Rosterman]

The joy of non-tendering a few guys like Nunez, Fien and Darnell is...will they find jobs elsewhere, added to another team's 40-man, or be willing to return to the Twins as minor free agent signees with a chance to get on the roster. Same with Shane Robinson, who could replace Wilkin Ramirez or Reynaldo Rodriguez, both of whom were potential callups if need arose.

 

But, again, who will offer these guys jobs! Duensing may price himself out of a 40-man spot. The numebr of playrs on the Twins 40-man roster that WILL NOT find a similar spot or contract with another team is HUGE! Fryer, Herrmann, Achter or Tonkin. O'Rourke is on the bubble. Thompson will be looking for offers (being left-handed ensures that you will egt a contract somewhere).

 

I would keep Graham. He can always start the year in the minors.

 

Even though Nunez literally led the Twins in hitting, would I palce more stock in, say, Santana? Or try to convince Beresford to stay around? Hey, Doug Bernier will be looking for a job again!

 

It is a sad state of affairs when at least a dozen guys could be easily repalced on your current 40-man roster, and the chances of any of the guys being repalced to star somewhere else (shades of Chris Colabello, Danny Valencia or Jeff Manship) is probably Alexi Casilla and Anthony Swarzak-ish!

 

[glunn]

 

I think Nunez is a "tweener". He's not a starter, but not an ideal bench player either, particularly for the Twins, because he hits right handed. He will get a raise this year, if he is tendered. I would hope the Twins  could deal him, perhaps for another utility type. However, it wouldn't surprise me if he were non-tendered, despite his nice year this year.

 

I wonder where Nunez ranks compared with other utility players in terms of hitting and defense.  

 

Also, I would miss watching him run the bases.

[glunn]

Moderator note -- there are lots of new and good ideas in this thread.  I am grateful that people are not dragging in ideas that are already being debated on other threads.  Kudos to the people who have posted above.