26 man roster

[jorgenswest]

The Twins will have several players returning soon. It isn’t a roster crunch. There aren’t enough good players to create that crunch. There will be some challenging decisions. I think the position players is pretty clear. There will likely be 12 until June 19. 

Position players

Jeffers, Sanchez, Arraez, Polanco, Correa, Urshela, Gordon, Larnach, Buxton, Kepler, Celestino, Garlick.

That is a little thin in the infield but Kepler can play 1B and Arraez and Gordon have the other three. Hopefully Lewis joins the team when they need to drop to 13 pitchers. They could keep Miranda but who goes down? Palacios is probably in Correa’s spot until he returns.

There are several pitchers expected to return by the 19th. Ryan, Gray, Winder, Alcala, Stashak and Coulombe could all be ready. That gives a few players a week or so the keep their jobs.

Starters in order of their likely appearance.

Ober, Archer, Bundy, Smeltzer, (Ryan?)

Bullpen (not ordered other than Duran)

Duran, Jax, Smith, Duffey, Pagán, Thielbar, Cotton, Moran, Megill, Minaya (until Ryan is added)

Gray needs to be in the rotation when ready. Alcala needs to be in the pen. Stashak has options but might be better than those without. Is Coulombe worthy of a spot? I don’t think Megill, Minaya or Cotton have options. If they are matched to a player with COVID they can be returned. Do we need any of them though? They have to get to the best 13 by the 19th. Who is your 13? I do expect some Il moves as others come back. At least one of Bundy, Archer, Duffey or Pagán could easily be headed to the IL followed by a rehab and hope that they return to effectiveness. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rosterman]

Kirilloff will be up at some point in plakce of Miranda. Garlick may be the odd man out. Depending on if Lewis needs more seasoning. Pain is if Kirilloff returns, you HAVE to play Arraez somewhere.

Cotton is offically NOT on the 40-man.

Moran can be the "more seasoning" casuality.

Also picture WInder will go to St. Paul and stay there and become a part of the regular rotation. Sadly, I would rather see Winder pitching than either Archer or Bundy. But I haven't given up on Bundy, yet.

Doubt the Twins will just move on from Thielbar or Duffey. Wish both were tradable, but not so.

I would also like to see Jeffers go down and work things out. But that would mean clearing a 40-man spot, unless one thinks Godoy is the guy we need up here playing 30% of the time, as long as Sanchez is healthy.

Watch Roy Morales. He is one of those dark-horse candidates for a major league call-up. Joy is he can catch and play first base, and he hits.

[ScottyB]

I’ve given up on both Bundy and Duffey. We need to find a way to get Cotton back on the roster and lose Duffey.

[FlyingFinn]

3 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Jeffers, Sanchez, Arraez, Polanco, Correa, Urshela, Gordon, Larnach, Buxton, Kepler, Celestino, Garlick.

If we are at 12 hitters right now (with Lewis and Sano injured). When Lewis returns, he at least goes down for a rehab assignment. Do they want to use up another trip down to the minors after that? If not, any bad streak by Gordon will put him at risk as Lewis plays everywhere that Gordon does. I say when Sano gets healthy and gets done with a rehab assignment, it would be between him and Garlick (but Garlick's one great tool, hitting lh pitchers well, would be hard to get rid of on a team that doesn't hit lefties well). I say Sano will get one more shot.

3 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Ober, Archer, Bundy, Smeltzer, (Ryan?)

I've got Ryan, Ober, Smeltzer, Archer, Gray and Bundy in a 6 man rotation as I think Gray will be back soon. Winder will go down for a rehab assignment. Should come back up but will probably stay in St. Paul until a couple guys get injured or Bundy has too many bad outings.

3 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

Duran, Jax, Smith, Duffey, Pagán, Thielbar, Cotton, Moran, Megill, Minaya

Duran, Jax, Smith, Duffey, Pagan, Theilbar will be there IMO. I'm expecting Coulumbe out for awhile. I'm adding Alcala soon and Moran to have two lefties. If Megill doesn't have options, we would probably keep him for now and not Moran.

[stringer bell]

I expect there will be a lot of movement both to and from the Injured List. For example, Garlick hasn't played in a couple of days and is nursing a leg issue. I expect that if he can't go by Tuesdays, he'll be on the IL. There are "free moves" to be made for restoring people from the restricted and COVID-19 lists. Cotton, Hamilton and Palacios would most likely be moved. I think the impression Cotton has left will help him find his way back fairly soon. It would seem Winder, Ryan and Gray will be back within ten days. I would rate the starters in this order: 1) Gray 2) Ryan 3) Ober 4) Smeltzer 5) Archer 6) Winder and 7) Bundy. Of course, getting all of these healthy has been the case for what, ten days? Winder could go to St. Paul and wait for an opportunity to start and if he's down for a couple weeks, would also save a year of service time.

In the bullpen, Cano could be optioned, I believe Megill also could be optioned (not sure). I wonder how much rope Duffey has remaining. He has had some good outings, but he's been bad far too often. There will be movement in the roster. To clear a 40-man spot at some point, the Twins probably could DFA Contreras. Celestino and Gordon are decent backup OFs and both did well north of the border.

Meanwhile, there are players in St. Paul making noise. Alex Kirilloff hit two homers today, Spencer Speer hit three! Tim Beckham has hit the ground running and hitting. A couple of catchers are hitting better than Godoy. It might happen that Godoy is designated and the Twins add one of their other St. Paul catchers when that is needed. Strotman also could be designated. 

[stringer bell]

Oh yeah. Jeffers is in a terrible funk. Send him down to tune up for a week or two and give Sanchez full-time duty (for a catcher)? I'm still a believer in Jeffers, but he seems to have lost all confidence at this time.