Non tenders Minaya and Coloumbe and Megill

[Brandon]

Not sure I get the first 2 moves. I thought they earned a chance to make a million each next season.  That is low cost right?

[Vanimal46]

The salary is low, but they are both out of options. I’m good with moving on from them to pursue pitchers with options or more upside. 

[tony&rodney]

Minaya looked pretty good on occasion. Back of the bullpen needs to be a little stronger.

[stringer bell]

3 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Not sure I get the first 2 moves. I thought they earned a chance to make a million each next season.  That is low cost right?

It is not just the salaries. It is also about 40-man flexibility and upside. Minaya and Coulombe either would be on the roster or DFAed. They couldn’t be shuttled back and forth to St. Paul. 
 

Good luck to both finding a job. 

[LewFordLives]

What was the point of even claiming Megill?

[Dman]

11 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Not sure I get the first 2 moves. I thought they earned a chance to make a million each next season.  That is low cost right?

I never had much hope for Coloumbe or Megill but I did kind of like what Minaya showed last year.  Not that he was elite or anything but he looked like someone who could work.  I am sure they can find better arms out there than all three and the lack of options for Coloumbe and Minaya make it tough to roster them.  

I guess they are hoping that as teams trim that Megill will get lost in the wash and they can get him through and work with him at AAA.  Would be nice if that worked out but I guess we will have to wait and see what happens to these guys.

Well for the moment that is three more open spots.  Roster management is a tough business but most all of these players will have a chance to prove themselves again next year just most likely in the minors instead of the majors.

[Brandon]

I would think Minaya has shown enough to justify a 1 million contract.  I mean even if his era goes up a run, he provides value at the back of the pen.   

[Mike Sixel]

It's not about the money. It's about the options. They need a ton of relief pitchers this year. They need players that can be shuttled up and down. 

[mnfireman]

I would assume these 3 were non-tendered because they would not agree to a low-ball salary and would rather go through arbitration. All 3 are replaceable, but there may be bumps in the road along the way...

[Rosterman]

Well, the Twins MAY be strong from the left side with Rogers, a newly signed Thielbar, Thorpe and Moran out of the pen. Coulombe could come back on a minor league contract, getting chances over the past two seasons with the Twins. Will wait and see. Same with Minaya. Rather than give the guys a contract and have to cut them because of a free agent signing, better to do it this way. You can negotiate minor league free agent contracts during the shutdown, if it happens. 

 

Whch means the Twins ARE looking to add three folks to the roster! That has to be a good feeling!

[Twinfan603]

3 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

What was the point of even claiming Megill?

They clearly like him, and teams will often claim guys and then try to sneak them through waivers at a later point. This is exactly what the Rangers did to get Colina. With the flood of guys available now after the non-tender deadline, I'd bet Megill clears and can go to St. Paul without taking up a roster spot.

edit: Actually now I see this is different from a DFA to clear a roster spot more traditionally. I'm still betting they try to get him to AAA without a 40-spot, somehow, if that's possible.

 

[Twinfan603]

28 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

I would assume these 3 were non-tendered because they would not agree to a low-ball salary and would rather go through arbitration. All 3 are replaceable, but there may be bumps in the road along the way...

If you want to get frustrated about the Pohlads being too cheap to sign impact free agents for $50+ million, that's totally fair, but trying to criticize the team for being cheap with non-tenders isn't. The team doesn't care about a million bucks--they just gave Cave almost that much and DFA'd him within like a week.

This is about roster spots, and they badly needed a few to sign legit free agents. Coulombe is AAAA filler and Megill is a flier. If you want to be upset with cutting Minaya, so be it, but he's a journeyman with no options and not a ton of upside, despite pretty good production last year during the hopeless second half.

Take the 3 roster spots and go acquire some free agent pitching and a shortstop. Even freeing up a single roster spot extra will be hard, as it will require cutting someone with some promise like Rooker, Thorpe, or Stashak.

[roger]

12 hours ago, stringer bell said:

It is not just the salaries. It is also about 40-man flexibility and upside. Minaya and Coulombe either would be on the roster or DFAed. They couldn’t be shuttled back and forth to St. Paul. 
 

Good luck to both finding a job. 

There also remains the possibility they won't find a job and the Twins can sign one or all of the three to minor league contracts.  The article in today's Strib hinted as that may be in the works for Megill, although it stated the Twins didn't respond to that question.

[roger]

9 hours ago, Twinfan603 said:

They clearly like him, and teams will often claim guys and then try to sneak them through waivers at a later point. This is exactly what the Rangers did to get Colina. With the flood of guys available now after the non-tender deadline, I'd bet Megill clears and can go to St. Paul without taking up a roster spot.

edit: Actually now I see this is different from a DFA to clear a roster spot more traditionally. I'm still betting they try to get him to AAA without a 40-spot, somehow, if that's possible.

 

Maybe someone knows more about this than I, but today's Strib suggested that non-tendering someone makes them a free agent, ie, they do not go thru waivers, they do not collect $200.  In that case, they can immediately be signed to a minor league contract...although I would suspect they would want to test the market for a big league contract.  

[Rosterman]

A lot of guys MAY be signing minor league contracts, just to be ready when the season starts.

 

Cave was purely a need to have a backup if they didn't sign Buxton. 

 

The Twins now have three roster spots. They still have some chaf on the roster that could be sent elsewhere if need arises: Cotton, Jax, Garza, Stashak, Thorpe, Rooker are all, right now, the 25th or 26th man on the current roster...if the Twins can find a couple of starters. Good to have three roster spots...but don't fill them with guys who won't contribute to the team in 2022 (and beyond) please.

[gman]

Would be nice if they signed 3 "good" free agents in the next 12 hours to fill those spots. Or even in the next 3 months.

[Otto von Ballpark]

12 hours ago, mnfireman said:

I would assume these 3 were non-tendered because they would not agree to a low-ball salary and would rather go through arbitration.

Yes, for Minana and Coulombe -- both were arb-eligible and projected to get $1.1 mil and $800k, respectively. Without the flexibility to send them back and forth to the minors (options), it didn't make much sense to lock them into roster spots at those salaries. Still can negotiate minor league deals with them and seek other alternatives.

Megill, on the other hand, is not even close to arb-eligible, and has options...

[Sousy]

2 hours ago, roger said:

Maybe someone knows more about this than I, but today's Strib suggested that non-tendering someone makes them a free agent, ie, they do not go thru waivers, they do not collect $200.  In that case, they can immediately be signed to a minor league contract...although I would suspect they would want to test the market for a big league contract.  

That's what I gathered from the Strib and a few random 'reminder' Tweets.  The Twins claimed him off waivers but didn't offer him a major league contract - so  from what I understand:

1. The Twins obviously like something about him - as did the Cubs when they picked him in a Rule 5 draft. The Twins, however, don't want to use a 40-man spot for him.

2. Megill has the option to choose free agency if he so desires.  With an expiring CBA and a dead winter coming on, he can choose the Twins minor league offer (assuming the Twins are making an offer plus an invitation to spring training as a chance to prove himself, make the 'big club') or walk to see what other options are out there after a new CBA is in place. He's in a bind of choosing a contract or not having a baseball paycheck for a few months if he wants to be open to MLB contracts.

3. This move cost the Twins nothing. If he signs a minor league contract, great - but if he decides to walk from the Twins, that's fine too.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Megill is an interesting case for a non-tender. Still 2-3 full seasons away from arbitration, so the Twins could have tendered him a contract for league minimum yesterday and then later put him on waivers at any time if we needed the 40-man roster spot. (And of course, 2 option years remaining, so he wouldn't need to occupy a 26-man roster spot if he was still on the 40-man come opening day either.)

However, even if he had cleared waivers and we tried to outright him off the 40-man roster, Megill has the right to elect free agency, as he has already been outrighted once before in his career (2020). Maybe that was a complicating factor?

[Otto von Ballpark]

4 minutes ago, Sousy said:

2. Megill has the option to choose free agency if he so desires.

Megill is automatically a free agent now, since we didn't tender him a contract. So he can seek a contract from any club.

Had we tendered him a contract yesterday, and then placed him on waivers ourselves, Megill could have elected free agency if we tried to outright him off the 40-man roster (as he has previously been outrighted before).

[Brandon]

So thanks for all the ideas posted here.  It makes more sense.  I figured one of the 2 would be non-tendered but both seemed a little like shooting yourself in the foot.  I mean I know we need players that can go down to the minors but we have Rogers, Duffey, Thielbar and Alcala as guys who will not get sent down next year leaving us with 4 spots.  seems like having one of Minaya or Coloumbe wouldn't hurt the roster management.  

On a seperate note, will they be able to negotiate a split contract during the lockout?  sign Minaya to a minor league contract with a major league salary component?

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

So thanks for all the ideas posted here.  It makes more sense.  I figured one of the 2 would be non-tendered but both seemed a little like shooting yourself in the foot.  I mean I know we need players that can go down to the minors but we have Rogers, Duffey, Thielbar and Alcala as guys who will not get sent down next year leaving us with 4 spots.  seems like having one of Minaya or Coloumbe wouldn't hurt the roster management.  

On a seperate note, will they be able to negotiate a split contract during the lockout?  sign Minaya to a minor league contract with a major league salary component?

nothing can be completed during the lockout. I doubt they can negotiate, but some teams will, I'd guess.