Front Page: Twins Claim RHP Matt Wisler

[Battle ur tail off]

Nothing to get excited about IMO, but a guy that had a billing as a top 35 prospect might be worth a look to see if they can add something to his arsenal and make a guy that can help. 

 

If he doesn't show anything? Dump him and nothing hurt. I don't think he is gonna displace someone you really want to keep from your 40-man anyway. Meaning, he might have more potential than a handful of guys that are already taking up spots. 

[markos]

 

The Twins would have been one of the last teams to get a waiver claim based on their record.  So he seems like someone who they could later put through waivers and open up the 40 man roster spot and still keep him.

 

Nothing wrong if they are just playing the waiver game.

Is the waiver claim order right now based on league right now? So like a player has to go through the AL before being exposed to NL teams? I can never remember the waiver order rules...

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

So, we got a guy that needs to be fixed. And he'll have to be fixed while on the major-league roster.

 

Sure is good to be playing in the AL Central! (until the post-season, of course.)

It's likely that the team will only "keep" him on the 26-man roster until the time they feel they can sneak him through waivers, probably near the end of the Spring Training.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Is the waiver claim order right now based on league right now? So like a player has to go through the AL before being exposed to NL teams? I can never remember the waiver order rules...

Waiver order is now decided via GM thumb wrestling.

[Twins1964]

Clown? Slug?

You might be correct. But I think you are wrong on FO management of bullpen. Twins 2nd half in 2019 was very very impressive with good development internally. FO doesn’t put guys on their 40 man roster without a good game plan for the addition. Time will tell.

[Bomba2026]

He has been with 4 teams already? To me that is not really a good sign unless he is a great player who has left for Free Agency to pitch for his home state team like say, a Gerrit Cole will do...I hope the Twins are smart about their choices this year because watching the World Series the past few days really showed some good pitching.....

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Did any of those surprises come from outside the org, that were previously awful, and then fixed? Like,  perez...

 

You could argue that Ryne Harper was one of those. 

 

Look, I'm really hoping they spend cash on Will Smith, but I have zero problems adding guys like this. As I mentioned before, I suspect this is a means to stash him in AAA. Whether it works or not, who knows. But even if he's at the ML level, they are showing track record of turning some guys that were mostly marginal guys into decent relievers. I think it would be wise of them to keep trying. 

[Mike Sixel]

 

You could argue that Ryne Harper was one of those. 

 

Look, I'm really hoping they spend cash on Will Smith, but I have zero problems adding guys like this. As I mentioned before, I suspect this is a means to stash him in AAA. Whether it works or not, who knows. But even if he's at the ML level, they are showing track record of turning some guys that were mostly marginal guys into decent relievers. I think it would be wise of them to keep trying. 

 

Of course, he was in the Twins' system for two years.....and he had options......

[nicksaviking]

Wisler went all-in on the slider in 2019 (70.2%) out of the bullpen. Opponents hit .206 with a 41% whiff rate on it. Bad news is opponents hit his sinker to the tune of .451

 

Brooks Baseball says that Wisler throws a four seamer, not a sinker. I'm never one to advocate for a sinker (yuck) but maybe he's got the wrong fastball pairing. Maybe let's just go with a splitter instead. I do like a nice slider.

 

 

[rv78]

Sorry to bust anyones bubble but this is old school Terry Ryan dumpster diving at its best. Career 5.20 ERA. I see no point in adding someone like this to the 40 man roster.

[DocBauer]

A lot of angst over a guy who was once a top draft choice and top prospect who just hasn't turned out yet. EVERYONE grabs fliers like this, not just the Twins. And some turn out to be really good fliers. This is just is just due diligence, that every single team does.

 

MLB and milb are filled with guys with big FB who couldn't throw a consistent breaking pitch to save their life, much less their career. Here is a 27yo, former top prospect who seemingly has a good/great slider in plac. The FB, and consistent placement of it, is still #1 in any pitcher's arsenal. From just a single season of results, Johnson seems to have a good trip on making adjustments to help pitchers center themselves, find a consistent delivery, and improve their FB. He does that here, with a potential I man bullpen, and options available for other speculated arms making the pen for versatility sake, you could have a potential steal on your hands.

 

You also have a guy you could dump and try to slide through waivers at some point.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Sorry to bust anyones bubble but this is old school Terry Ryan dumpster diving at its best. Career 5.20 ERA. I see no point in adding someone like this to the 40 man roster.

You can go off of ERA, but lots of posters here in this thread have dug deeper than that one stat.

[biggentleben]

I had the chance to cover Wisler with the Braves. First, he's a very self-aware guy and willing to be open about issues he's having on the mound and will take coaching. Bad part was the young pitcher wrecking ball was employed in Atlanta at the time in Roger McDowell. Plenty of promising young arms came and went during his tenure. When you can nearly ruin Julio Teheran as a top-5 overall prospect, you've got issues.

 

The sinker, when he's behind it, gets great late action. His issue has always been that he gets too much ahead of his arm in all of his deliveries. He's worked on it, but never been able to get it completely to stick. Perhaps Wes can have more success with him as he's a legit arm that I had a retired scout tell me he graded as essentially the second coming of Brandon Webb when he was in AA with the Padres. He sold me pretty well that Wisler was going to floor at Derek Lowe bullpen and peak at Brandon Webb starter with Derek Lowe late-career starter being his middle outcome. Needless to say, that was before McDowell got hold of Wisler.

[Jham]

Options aren't as valuable next year, I don't think. 26 man roster, but only 13 can be pitchers so not much difference for teams who would frequently carry the extra pitcher anyway.

 

The big change is that players must be optioned for 15 days now. This essentially ends the shuttle system we used so well last year to not carry a designated looking reliever and keep everyone a bit fresher. Otherwise options would be even more important as you'd have to probably add a couple relievers to shuttle to pitch during those extra 5 days. I think most teams won't have that depth will be reluctant to send the best of their shuttlers down for that long and probably just keep the Smeltzers up and the Kohl Stewarts down.

Edited October 31, 2019 by Jham

[nicksaviking]

 

Sorry to bust anyones bubble but this is old school Terry Ryan dumpster diving at its best. Career 5.20 ERA. I see no point in adding someone like this to the 40 man roster.

 

The list of "dumpster diving" relievers who have become good pitchers is long.

 

Like really, really long.

 

Also, let's stop using that term, these are human beings, equating them to trash is disrespectful which is against posting policies.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Sorry to bust anyones bubble but this is old school Terry Ryan dumpster diving at its best. Career 5.20 ERA. I see no point in adding someone like this to the 40 man roster.

All teams make these kinds of moves early in the offseason as they rotate bodies around the 40-man.

 

The most likely outcome is that nothing comes of this and Wisler is released some time next year but if the Twins see something that can be fixed, why not give it a shot? He's basically a free player if it works out.

 

This move will not impact other, more important decisions this team will make during the offseason. Every team makes these kind of organizational depth moves.

[Tomj14]

 

All teams make these kinds of moves early in the offseason as they rotate bodies around the 40-man.

 

The most likely outcome is that nothing comes of this and Wisler is released some time next year but if the Twins see something that can be fixed, why not give it a shot? He's basically a free player if it works out.

 

This move will not impact other, more important decisions this team will make during the offseason. Every team makes these kind of organizational depth moves.

agreed, and hopefully the FO sees that it will be trading some minor league guys for a starting pitcher and it can't hurt to have another option on the 40 man. If they don't trade and sign some free agents he is probably the first guy dropped off the 40. So I see no harm right now, maybe in a few months if they haven't done much else I will complain and complain loudly about it.

[KGB]

 

Is the waiver claim order right now based on league right now? So like a player has to go through the AL before being exposed to NL teams? I can never remember the waiver order rules...

Yes, I believe it's by league.  So the Twins would have had preference over the National League.

[prouster]

Sorry to bust anyones bubble but this is old school Terry Ryan dumpster diving at its best. Career 5.20 ERA. I see no point in adding someone like this to the 40 man roster.

I don’t think anyone’s bubble is being burst. They didn’t sign him to be a key pitcher. Free agency hasn’t even started yet.

[Mike Sixel]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-twins-search-for-gold-on-the-waiver-wire/

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Is the waiver claim order right now based on league right now? So like a player has to go through the AL before being exposed to NL teams? I can never remember the waiver order rules...

 

 

Yes, I believe it's by league.  So the Twins would have had preference over the National League.

 

This is incorrect. Waiver claims are strictly record-based now, not league. (Although league is a tiebreaker if two claiming teams have the same record.)

 

https://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3527

 

"If more than one club makes a claim, the club with the lowest winning percentage (regardless of league) ... is awarded the claim. If two clubs with the same winning percentage make a claim, the club in the player's own league is awarded the claim."

 

The only recent time where league had waiver priority over record was during August trade waivers (I guess to block moves by your league competitors?), but those waivers no longer exist. Outright assignment waivers, like in Wisler's case, have been strictly record-based for some time.

 

So Wisler went unclaimed by everyone but MIN and possibly NYY, LAD, or HOU.

Edited November 4, 2019 by spycake