Twins Claim RHP Daniel Duarte, DFA RHP Ryan Jensen

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins announced on Friday afternoon that they have claimed right-handed pitcher Daniel Duarte off of waivers from the Texas Rangers. To make room on the 40-man roster, right-hander Ryan Jensen was Designated for Assignment. 

Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Duarte, a 27-year-old right-hander, pitched in 31 games in 2023 for the Cincinnati Reds. In that time, he went 3-0 with a 3.69 ERA despite a 1.39 WHIP. In 31 2/3 innings, he had 23 strikeouts but also walked 20 batters and gave up five home runs. 

He had made his MLB debut in 2022 when he worked in three games out of the Reds bullpen. 

The Reds had DFAd him early in the month and the Rangers acquired him for Cash. He was DFAd earlier this week to clear space on the Rangers roster for David Robertson and Travis Jankowski. 

His fastball sits between 94 and 96 mph (throwing both a sinker and a four-seam). 

The Minnesota Twins had claimed Ryan Jensen from the Marlins on January 4. The Twins would certainly love to see him clear waivers so that they could send him to Triple-A. 

The Twins roster remains at 40 players. That includes 21 pitchers, three catchers, seven infielders, seven outfielders, and two utility players. 

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[DJL44]

Duarte has an option left according to Fangraphs.

[Parfigliano]

So a guy that has been twice DFA'd in the last 2-3 weeks.  Pop the champagne.

[Karbo]

Yawn

[Fatbat]

What makes him worth more than Jensen? Is the pile of AAAA not big enough yet? 

[DJL44]

3 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

What makes him worth more than Jensen? Is the pile of AAAA not big enough yet? 

It looks like they like Jensen even less than Balazovic which means he must be pretty bad. I keep waiting for them to find a pitcher BETTER than Balazovic for the 40 man roster.

[Mike Sixel]

I can't imagine getting worked up about the 40th man on the roster......

[ashbury]

18 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

What makes him worth more than Jensen?

Probably nothing.  If their waivers had occurred in the opposite order, perhaps our claims and resultant DFA would have gone the other way too. 

Claim a guy then a few weeks later try to sneak him through.  I don't enjoy this aspect of roster management very much, but it seems to be industry standard, and not worth (much) snark.

Okay, a little.  Is this what you were hoping for?

[gman]

I think they need 7-8 good guys in the pen and hopefully 5-6 decent guys at 3A to call up when needed at the start of the season. If the guys brought up after the season starts can come in and get some outs when called upon we may be able to salvage an extra 2-3 games during the year. And save some arms from falling off as the season wears on.

[mikelink45]

Despite the Polanco trade, this has been a very dismal and uninspired off season.  Who else can we claim and DFA?

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

Are we really complaining about the Twins trying to sneak interesting arms onto the AAA roster.  In most cases won't mean anything. However, if we hit on 1 or 2 of them,  no one will be complaining during the season.  

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

LOL   according the article the Ryan Jensen we DFA's is a 48 year old pitcher who last pitched in 2005.   Damn we really are scraping the bottom of the barrel.   

[nicksaviking]

5 hours ago, ashbury said:

Probably nothing.  If their waivers had occurred in the opposite order, perhaps our claims and resultant DFA would have gone the other way too. 

Claim a guy then a few weeks later try to sneak him through.  I don't enjoy this aspect of roster management very much, but it seems to be industry standard, and not worth (much) snark.

Okay, a little.  Is this what you were hoping for?

I'm not interested in either, but Jensen's walk issues made him pretty much unusable.

Maybe if the Twins tell Durate (really feels like there should be an 'N' before that T!!!) to knock off throwing the sinker, his K% will increase to acceptable levels.

I mean it's a long shot, but from my view, Jensen and his free passes were a no shot. So, swapping out last weeks Powerball ticket which already lost to this weeks Powerball ticket seems like somewhat of an upgrade.

[ashbury]

1 minute ago, nicksaviking said:

I'm not interested in either, but Jensen's walk issues made him pretty much unusable.

Maybe if the Twins tell Durate (really feels like there should be an 'N' before that T!!!) to knock off throwing the sinker, his K% will increase to acceptable levels.

I mean it's a long shot, but from my view, Jenson and his free passes were a no shot. So, upgrading from last weeks Powerball ticket which already lost to this weeks Powerball ticket seems like somewhat of an upgrade.

No fair.

You invested more thought concerning these two players than I did, or ever would have.

[nicksaviking]

2 minutes ago, ashbury said:

No fair.

You invested more thought concerning these two players than I did, or ever would have.

All part of my plan to be be promoted from Twins Daily Moderator to Minnesota Twins General Manager.

[wabene]

26 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

All part of my plan to be be promoted from Twins Daily Moderator to Minnesota Twins General Manager.

I'm just glad I didn't have to do anything. 

[nicksaviking]

33 minutes ago, wabene said:

I'm just glad I didn't have to do anything. 

Yeah, sweet gig if you have the connnections:

[Whitey333]

As this off season goes:  yawn yawn yawn yawn yawn.  That includes the salary dumping trade of Polanco

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

All part of my plan to be be promoted from Twins Daily Moderator to Minnesota Twins General Manager.

A natural career progression.  I'm sure HR explained it all to you at Orientation.

[wabene]

13 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Yeah, sweet gig if you have the connnections:

Seems like I may be your man, keep me in mind! 

[Brandon]

Incremental improvements 

[nicksaviking]

28 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Incremental improvements 

Yeah, keep at it and little by little they'll end up with David Bednar. 

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Yeah, keep at it and little by little they'll end up with David Bednar. 

May.be,  they started with an open slot and filled it with a lotto ticket and then they filled it with a AAAA player with an option.  Thus incremental improvement 

[SaberNerd]

In his short time in the majors, the cutter looks like a legitimately plus pitch; had a 35% Whiff rate.  However, his 4-seamer was awful, despite having above-average velo.  Neither the slider or changeup are impressive, but they were mediocre in a small sample.  If they can fix the 4seam he could be something, but most likely it doesn't improve and he doesn't last on the 40 man the whole year.

[IndianaTwin]

16 hours ago, DJL44 said:

It looks like they like Jensen even less than Balazovic which means he must be pretty bad. I keep waiting for them to find a pitcher BETTER than Balazovic for the 40 man roster.

Or they think it’s more likely they can sneak Jensen through waivers than Balazovic. After all, a good number of teams have already passed once on Jensen. 

[JD-TWINS]

18 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

So a guy that has been twice DFA'd in the last 2-3 weeks.  Pop the champagne.

It’s a move Team’s make - the Defending World Champs claimed him when Reds released - are they clueless as well?

I live in Cincinnati & have seen him 6-7 times. He’s Pagan like to fans, but only 27. He had a 3.69 ERA. He’s not a multi-dimensional guy and he has some control issues. He can look very good at times as well, hence the ERA. If Twins can work with him in St. Paul, his velocity may jump 1-2 MPH &/or they work in another pitch &/or his control. Worth a shot with an option left!

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

Jensen will most likely make it through.  Rosters are filling up.  He has been passed up by the bottom teams multiple times.  

[jmlease1]

I don't mind the Twins digging through the waiver wire, looking for potential upside options for the bullpen that they can hopefully either DFA and get through or assign to AAA at the start of the season. It's not a bad way to sift through and find a couple of additional options as you churn through some guys at the back end to figure out who can be effective for the season. TB does this all the time and it's worked for them, and the Twins have had some success at it too. It's a marginal move to be sure, but they're trying to give themselves as many outs as possible while avoiding investing significant dollars in what often tend to be fungible relievers (and that's what a lot of those guys who get 1-2 year deals at $4-7M really are).

Feels like Jensen can pass waivers at this point?

[sampleSizeOfOne]

19 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

Pop the champagne.

What vintage would be appropriate?

[Doctor Wu]

It looks like this year's 40-man roster game of musical chairs has begun!