Twins Option Six Pitchers To Minor League Camp

[Seth Stohs]

Everything is happening more quickly than normal in spring training, and roster decisions is a part of that. Allowing for them to be able to get more innings and get stretched out to start the minor league season, six pitchers have been optioned. 

The Twins have optioned pitchers Jordan Balazovic, Ronny Henriquez, Cole Sands, and Drew Strotman to Triple-A St. Paul. Chris Vallimont and Blayne Enlow were also optioned, but he was optioned to Double-A Wichita. It is the second options for Balazovic and Strotman. It is the first options for the others. 

The spring training roster currently has 53 players on it, including 19 non-roster players. There are still 24 pitchers (7 non-roster), five catchers (2 non-roster), 15 infielders (7 non-roster), and nine outfielders (3 non-roster). 

The regular-season big-league roster will include 26 players, although it is likely that there will be expanded rosters for a little while when the season begins due to the shortened spring training. 

It is normal for players on the 40-man roster who will not start the season in the big leagues to be optioned with the first cuts. There are several reasons for that. One might be that if a player gets hurt in big-league spring training, they would go on the big-league Injured List. In this case, these pitchers are likely to be starters in the minor leagues, and they need to be stretched out. They simply won't get the innings in big-league camp to do that. 

Enlow will start the season on the Wind Surge Injured List, but don't be surprised if he's back to pitching in games by May. He had Tommy John surgery last May. 

Josh Winder is on the mound today for the Twins in their spring game against the Red Sox. It is possible he is optioned either after the game or in the coming days. If he is not, that tells us he is being considered for an Opening Day job. 

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[stringer bell]

Hasn't it been determined there will be 28 to start the season? That was the announcement that accompanied the "ghost runner" news.

[Doctor Gast]

Unlike I was once told that ST performances don't count (in relationship to the battle of the LH job last season). Evidently related to that, Baldelli thought he was right because he brought Cave w/ him after breaking camp (Cave had an horrendous ST) at the same time lying that he was taking the best. I still beg to differ, ST performances do count. I hope Winder continue to improve and make the active roster.

[Seth Stohs]

12 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Unlike I was once told that ST performances don't count (in relationship to the battle of the LH job last season). Evidently related to that, Baldelli thought he was right because he brought Cave w/ him after breaking camp (Cave had an horrendous ST) at the same time lying that he was taking the best. I still beg to differ, ST performances do count. I hope Winder continue to improve and make the active roster.

Spring training numbers/stats don't really matter, with the exception of some back-roster role players or pitchers. And then those stats mean absolutely nothing as it relates to regular season performance. 

 

[Dman]

While Spring training (this year even more than others) the SSS don't mean much, it still can be barometer for how ready guys are.  I know guys are just building up especially the first few weeks and I suspect since Spring training is only going to be a few weeks some players won't quite be ready for the start of season.  There will be some spring training that moves into the regular season so to speak.  

Still I was hoping to see Sands, Vallimont and Strotman perform better than they did in their first chances this spring.  It doesn't mean they can't have great season's yet but it does seem to indicate they are not ready as well. Then you kind of have the surprise soft tosser lefties in Thorpe and Smeltzer who have looked good in their first few chances.  Even the always over looked lefty Bryan Sammons had a clean inning of spring work.  Yes these are miniscule sample sizes but they still tend to make you feel good or bad about a players progress.  

Still some spring training left and lot's of season left.  Just really, really hoping that pitching pipeline actually spits out a few good arms that can help the big club this year.

 

 

[East Coast Twin]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

Hasn't it been determined there will be 28 to start the season? That was the announcement that accompanied the "ghost runner" news.

That's true.  28 players until May 2.

[RJA]

No big surprises here.  Balazovic and Sands need some AAA experience and were never likely to make the roster.  Likewise, Strotman didn't show that well last year, so we knew he was headed to AAA.  Henriquez is being presented with a AAA challenge, so they obviously think he has potential and could move up quickly.  Vallimont and Enlow were never in the picture this year.  I think they threw Strotman and Sands into games early in ST as they wanted them to get their feet wet, but knew they were destined for St. Paul.  No reason to be down on any of these guys.  They will get more opportunities.

[Doctor Gast]

3 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

Spring training numbers/stats don't really matter, with the exception of some back-roster role players or pitchers. And then those stats mean absolutely nothing as it relates to regular season performance. 

 

Thank  you Seth for drawing me back in a little, I agree that In general spring training are not important. It's for locked in veterans to hone their skills, I know that, Yet in the battle for LF last season, IMO if (prospect) Kiriloff had better ST stats he should have been awarded LF over (vet 4th OF) Cave and Broxton (vet, 5 tool player) had shown he was far superior over Cave in every category should have been selected at least 4th OF. Cave should not have been considered as a locked in, has been my point.

[Alex Schieferdecker]

I’m a big fan of Winder and hope to see him with the Twins this year. That said, I expect to see him optioned to St. Paul unless the Twins are unable to make any trades for a fifth starter.

[Seth Stohs]

5 hours ago, Dman said:

While Spring training (this year even more than others) the SSS don't mean much, it still can be barometer for how ready guys are.  I know guys are just building up especially the first few weeks and I suspect since Spring training is only going to be a few weeks some players won't quite be ready for the start of season.  There will be some spring training that moves into the regular season so to speak.  

Still I was hoping to see Sands, Vallimont and Strotman perform better than they did in their first chances this spring.  It doesn't mean they can't have great season's yet but it does seem to indicate they are not ready as well. Then you kind of have the surprise soft tosser lefties in Thorpe and Smeltzer who have looked good in their first few chances.  Even the always over looked lefty Bryan Sammons had a clean inning of spring work.  Yes these are miniscule sample sizes but they still tend to make you feel good or bad about a players progress.  

Still some spring training left and lot's of season left.  Just really, really hoping that pitching pipeline actually spits out a few good arms that can help the big club this year.

I don't think it is even a barometer for how ready they are. The stats themselves don't matter. Someone could have 3 bloops singles and a .452 batting average, or they could have four rockets that have been caught and have a .083 batting average. Some players, obviously veterans who will make the roster,  

For veteran pitchers, they may just be working on certain things in these early games. For the rookies, they're likely getting their first 'big-league' innings in and may be nervous, but also just trying to make a good impression. Sammons has looked solid. Austin Schulfer has a couple of really nice appearances. But Cole Sands having two rough spring appearances before being optioned doesn't mean he hasn't made good progress in the offseason or isn't making a good impression in bullpens and such. 

Winder looked good today. He could be considered well ahead of the other 40-man roster pitching prospects, and it's possible that he is competing with Ryan and Ober and others for rotation spots, or could stick with the 28 man roster for the first month.  But again, it won't be their stats that determine. It will be things like sharpness and velo and command and such. 

 

[Obsvr]

Generally speaking, spring performance doesn't matter as the sample size is too small....especially a shortened one such as this.  With analytics regime in place, the FO already knew what their roster was going to look like on opening day barring trades or injuries.