As MLB Free Agency Opens, Twins Make Flurry of Roster Moves

[JD-TWINS]

9 hours ago, Mike h said:

I had Lawyerson pegged as a sleeper who could be a difference maker next year.  Hate to see him go.

i only saw him pitch in person once last season; it was an away game against Louisville so most of you probably didn’t see it.  Kendry Rojas started - what a contrast between the two!  Just one game, I know, but I can’t believe Rojas is rated the 8th best prospect while Lawyerson was let go.  In that game Rojas had a deer-in-the-headlights look as he walked to the dugout,; he lasted only 3 innings giving up 3 hits and 6 walks .  Laweryson came in and took charge, getting 4 outs on 12 pitches, 11 for strikes.  What really got my attention though was the very loud pop when the catcher caught the ball. Supposedly he and Rojas throw about the same speed but idk, do radar guns lie?  Again, just one game.  Good luck to Cody.  

Lawyerson is 5-6 years older than Rojas ….. probably one of the reasons for the differences in behavior. Rojas, young, left handed, 4 pitches…….needs another 1-2 years of development. Most guys that walk 6 people in 3 innings aren’t having a very pleasant day!!

[Blyleven2011]

5 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Lawyerson is 5-6 years older than Rojas ….. probably one of the reasons for the differences in behavior. Rojas, young, left handed, 4 pitches…….needs another 1-2 years of development. Most guys that walk 6 people in 3 innings aren’t having a very pleasant day!!

And we traded varland a relief pitcher with some good experience just to get Rojas that needs 2 years more to development  , yes i know we got roden too but we don't know if he is just a AAA player or can hack it at the major leagues  ...

If twins fans think we are finished purging our valued players , they are in for a big disappointment  ...

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, KirbyDome89 said:

Trying to hoard service time is how you end up with players in their mid to late 20s becoming 40 man casualties without actually getting a shot. 

Are RP prospects a real thing? That's only half rhetorical. Prielipp probably didn't need to be pitching in AAA during the 2nd half. They had Lopez, Ryan, Ober, SWR, Matthews, Abel, and Bradley for all of September.  

Prielipp - Raya - Matthews - Festa could all be considered for reassignment to the PEN in Spring Training.

One or even two of Festa/Matthews/Abel/Bradley  need to be a part of the 2026 PEN………I seriously doubt it will be Bradley or Abel.

Adams/Sands/Topa/Funderburk are the only really obvious PEN candidates at this point.

Cannot imagine Ohl making the Team as of April 1st.

33 spots on 40 man are taken as of this evening………Kreidler - Fitzgerald - Gasper - Ohl - Julien - Clemens - Kiersey - McCusker are 8 more candidates that could be short timers on the Team’s 40 man.

Roden & Outman, IMO, are both now ahead of Kiersey. ……. Gonzalez & Jenkins are both probables for 40 man sooner than later.

[chpettit19]

42 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I answered you in good faith (I didn't have to), only to be ridiculed. Arm injury is an arm injury. #1 thing is not to aggravate by overextending it. My understanding, though, is that players come back stronger from TJ surgery (Keaschall) than from shoulder surgery (Miranda), so Keaschall should come back sooner & stronger to be tested in the OF but he wasn't. 

To begin the "23/24 offseason Miranda was understood to be the starting 1Bman. But Baldelli was deadset against it. So he starting playing DH to start the season but quickly was plugged into 3B because of injuries there & needed others to DH, not because he was fit to go. He said his back started to hurt in May, that was when he started to slump & never recovered. He got beaned at the end of July, 2 1/2 months later. 

You are wrong about Polanco, he had an incredible 1st half but in the 2nd half he was complaining about his ankles, for Polanco to complain about a pain, that means it was really hurting, & his #s kept dipping (his 1st half #s well compensated for poorer 2 nd half). His large number games he played in '19 is a tribute to Polanco being able to play while playing under extreme pain. A healthy player don't have off season surgery for the fun of it, only to return & do the same surgery the following year. You can check that out not just by looking at his overall '19 #s. I said that his bad knees damaged his career which includes SEA not only MN.

Kiriloff didn't point to a time where he did something that he injured his back, it just came on him gradually & steadily got worse. I don't need to see the doctor report to know that if you overuse one part of your body to compesate for another that isn't 100%. You'll end up injuring the healthy part, I can speak by experience. Baldelli got mad at Kiriloff because he didn't communicate how bad it was. I am an amateur but I knew he was playing hurt in May, Why didn't anyone on the Twins know it? And confront him sternly? I felt the same with Miranda & Polanco. IMO, all this wouldn't happen if the Twins weren't so dogmatic about what they think that has to be done no matter what while putting some players in jeopardy unnecessarily. 

You are provably wrong on Miranda. Miranda's OPS in June of '24 was .939. His OPS in July was 1.111. He absolutely, positively, unquestionably did not start slumping in May. As jmlease said, he was having the best stretch of his career while you claim he was suffering from overuse by having to play 3B. He didn't struggle until he got hit in the head by a baseball. And he's never bounced back. Your theory on playing 3B ruining him isn't based on any actual evidence. In fact, the evidence is incredibly strong that it had no negative effect whatsoever on him as he was having the best stretch of his career while doing it.

Keaschall was never 100% back from the TJS during the season, that's why he didn't play any OF. Miranda was 100% healed from his. They are 2 completely different situations. In fact, Keaschall not playing the OF is actually proof that you're wrong about the Twins not caring about people's injuries and rehabs when it comes to where they play.

Kirilloff has a genetic disorder. Again, you're just making stuff up. It wasn't a sudden incident that ended his career because that's not how chronic genetic disorders work. Playing 1B wouldn't have saved him. He'd already had a bone in his wrist surgically shortened and has a genetic disorder that leads to chronic spinal fractures and slipped disks. Swinging was far more to blame than any position he played. The Twins know every player in their entire organization is playing through something by May. This idea that guys aren't playing through things constantly and you can/should only play guys when they are 100% is nonsense. It has no place in professional sports. No team in any sport runs that way because none of them would ever have a roster because all of their players are playing through something all the time.

You can't just put them all at 1B and save their careers. That isn't reality. And your facts on Miranda and Kirilloff are sorely lacking.

[JD-TWINS]

10 minutes ago, Blyleven2011 said:

And we traded varland a relief pitcher with some good experience just to get Rojas that needs 2 years more to development  , yes i know we got roden too but we don't know if he is just a AAA player or can hack it at the major leagues  ...

If twins fans think we are finished purging our valued players , they are in for a big disappointment  ...

I have no idea whether the Team will move more of their somewhat established players or not? No crystal ball.

I too think that Roden is a 1 in 5 chance of sticking, essentially a throw-in….. Remember that Louie was pitching for Concordia and throwing one pitch in 2019 when he was drafted in 15th round…….he’s now 27 & up until 4-5 months ago, he looked lost in about every other outing for the Twins over previous 3 seasons. Rojas will be 23 in another month. Still a very viable trade, time will tell.

[JD-TWINS]

7 hours ago, BillyBallLives said:

Correct me if I’m wrong, but in order for the Angels to get Cody Laweryson, only the White Sox stood in the way. He was claimed quickly, and that alone tells me this could have been a big mistake for the Twins.

????? What’s the logic?

Anaheim sucks, they grabbed a guy that had marginal success in MLB last year. He might be optioned and claimed 3 more times between now & end of Soring Training?

I sure don’t think the actions of the Angels signals any “big mistakes” for the Twins

[DMcQ]

11 hours ago, laloesch said:

Baldelli was not a scapegoat, he dirtied his own bed same as Miranda

Baldelli was clearly a scapegoat, especially if you look at his replacement. Baldelli is the second winningest coach (500+ wins) in Twins History. DF wasn’t going to fire himself, and the owners decided not to sell. That said he relied on analytics too much. Jose was totally mismanaged. He wasn’t the same after he got hit in the head. Poor coaching at AAA. Twins can’t seem to hire solid trainers, conditioning coaches and minor league managers/coaches. Way too many injuries. All JMO.

[JD-TWINS]

6 hours ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Polanco was given away. Discarded. Good for him though as 2025 looks like he finally recovered. But we got another great prospect for him right? Sure. We also got another Falvey dream of an SP who got approximately 0.0 IP. When a team needs BP pieces as bad as this one does after Falvey's implosion of it in July you can't afford to throw away possible pieces. He had zero value of Varland either from what I can tell. 

Topa & Gonzalez were in the Polanco trade as well.

Jorge played 104 games in ‘22 & 80 games in ‘23 for the Twins. He’d been hurt, playing through injuries, for his last 4 years with the Twins. In ‘24 he played in 118 games in Seattle and he hit .213. Nobody wanted him & Seattle re-signed him for $8M …….. he had knee surgery….. he felt better and had a solid ‘25. He’s again a free agent.

DeSclafani washed out with no value - Topa was hurt essentially all of ‘24 …… he contributed in ‘25. Gonzalez may have been the best hitter in the Twin’s MiLB system this past year……he hit at 3 levels in ‘25 and ended up in St Paul. Gonzalez has a chance to be a contributor by June, if not sooner, in ‘26!

[Parfigliano]

3 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Topa & Gonzalez were in the Polanco trade as well.

Jorge played 104 games in ‘22 & 80 games in ‘23 for the Twins. He’d been hurt, playing through injuries, for his last 4 years with the Twins. In ‘24 he played in 118 games in Seattle and he hit .213. Nobody wanted him & Seattle re-signed him for $8M …….. he had knee surgery….. he felt better and had a solid ‘25. He’s again a free agent.

DeSclafani washed out with no value - Topa was hurt essentially all of ‘24 …… he contributed in ‘25. Gonzalez may have been the best hitter in the Twin’s MiLB system this past year……he hit at 3 levels in ‘25 and ended up in St Paul. Gonzalez has a chance to be a contributor by June, if not sooner, in ‘26!

I'm hoping Gonzalez is on the 26 man opening day.

[DMcQ]

11 hours ago, Craig Arko said:

I guess I won’t be surprised if Miranda finds his way into the Houston organization, based on a recommendation from Correa.

Probably has a better chance of getting a ring in the Houston organization than in Minnesota. 

[JD-TWINS]

11 minutes ago, Parfigliano said:

I'm hoping Gonzalez is on the 26 man opening day.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find out he can play 1B or is at least working on a transition? 🤞🤞🤞…….to me, Jenkins - Rodriguez - Outman - Roden - Martin - Wallner - Larnach have the Corner OF spots covered!

[Jacksson]

Go the rest of the way and REALLY clean out the 40 Man Roster and overhaul it and position it for 2028.

Be ready to trade: Lopez, Ryan, Jeffers, Larnach, Wallner, Sands and Topa.

DFA = Fitzgerald, Gasper, Julien, Keirsey, McCusker, Outman.

Consider moving on from Clemens & Kreidler.

Keep the Cubs in mind as a trade partner for Lopez or Ryan.  Throw in Sands or Topa as a sweetener, if needed. Even Larnach or Wallner

Jonathan Long, 1B, Ben Brown, P, Porter Hodge, P, Reese McGuire, C for starters & ??

[lukeduke1980]

I'm just excited about the Pohlads saving 75k on the Topa deal - nice work Falvey

[PatPfund]

Sad, but not surprised about Miranda. I am distinctly NOT a Rocco guy, but I didn't see mis-management in Miranda's case (unlike Martin or Lewis); José just couldn't match health with productivity for long. He'll get a chance somewhere else, and he'll have to play better to keep that chance.

Lawyerson seems goofy, because this team needs arms, and because there is plenty of room on the 40-man, and there might have been a better chance of sneaking him through waivers right before Rule 5, but when your entire MLB résumé at 27 is 7 decent (not electric) innings pitched, I'm not losing sleep that next year Lawyerson will be closing for the AL in the All-Star game or that the loss will crush our prospects.

[h2oface]

"That’s good news, because while he (Alan Roden, already 25, will be 26 all 2026) didn’t perform well with the Twins in limited action, he is a legitimate (older) prospect and should be (at the very least) in the fourth outfielder mix."

While Roden's AAA line has been impressive, he also sucked in 113 PA for the Blue Jays in 2025, too. So much so that he was demoted back to AAA late June before the Twins made the trade. But he will be anoited to the 26 man as he was Falvey's "prize" for Varland. Toronto may know something.

[old nurse]

13 hours ago, Rufus said:

Let's see I remember the Twins had this guy a big prospect......his name was.......SANO.  He was a shortstop when signed, obviously got too big for that position, The Twins moved him to third base,  then to right field, then to third base, then to first base.  I never heard anyone or Sano complain that he was mishandled.   

Sano wasn’t the same after the meniscus tear. Like Miranda after the beaning, people forget the injuries or minimize them or the effects. 

[Doctor Gast]

18 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

This is flat-out ridiculous. You're blaming the Twins for Kirilloff's back problems? (BTW, would love to know the secret medical reports you apparently have that says that Kirilloff and Miranda had the same back injury, since there's been nothing published about it) The Polanco stuff is utterly irrelevant to Miranda, but I'm guessing you're accusing Seattle of mismanaging him as well, since in 2024 he didn't make it to 120 games and played poorly (for him). Your dates are also wrong on Polanco: he was pretty healthy in 2019, played a career high for games and had one of his best seasons as a pro, including making his one and only all-star appearance.

Keaschall and Miranda's injuries also were not the same, but more importantly the way Miranda played to start 2024 suggests he was ready resume his business at 3B

You're simply wrong about Miranda in 2024: he started the season with the Twins primarily playing 3B with some DH; he quite literally didn't play his 2nd game at 1B until JUNE. Miranda also did not miss the rest of the season in 2024; he was playing games in September. Miranda was also not struggling before he got beaned, he was in fact in the middle of one of the best stretches of his career: take a look at the game logs. He was awesome in June & July, which is part of why his finish to the season was so disappointing...but also why it's increasingly reasonable to look at that injury as being significantly damaging to Miranda's career.

It was pointed out to me that my timeline on Miranda was wrong. I was wrong about Miranda & Kiriloff's timeline paralleling; Miranda's slumping correlated more with your timeline. I am sorry & I am reconsidering my stand on Miranda.

[DMcQ]

22 hours ago, lukeduke1980 said:

I'm just excited about the Pohlads saving 75k on the Topa deal - nice work Falvey

Falvey is a deal maker for sure! 💰

[jorgenswest]

I would think that choosing not to pick up Topa’s option is also an indicator that they don’t plan to take him to arbitration.

[Linus]

11 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I would think that choosing not to pick up Topa’s option is also an indicator that they don’t plan to take him to arbitration.

I was pondering that as well

[KirbyDome89]

On 11/7/2025 at 3:50 PM, chpettit19 said:

I'm not sure what fans would have had them do differently. You can't count on him in the majors next year, even if it is a rebuilding year. He was bad in AAA. Like really, really bad. He's out of options so he either makes your team out of spring or you DFA him then and have him pout in AAA for another season. 

He got 1100 PAs with the Twins. He's one of the young guys I actually wouldn't complain about when it comes to the opportunity they gave him to take a spot and run with it (outside of not calling him up at the end of a lost 2021). Injuries crushed him a couple times, and it may very well be the ball to the head that ruined last year, too. But I don't know how you can carry him all offseason when he has no options left. So, I don't know what fans would have them do differently at this point. He had 2 seasons of nice performance overall, but quite streaky during them. I wouldn't be shocked at all if he can provide a league average bat for another squad. But, as you said, his lack of defense doesn't make that a great player to have around. He "figured it out" here in the sense that he had 2 seasons of roughly 15% above average performance with the bat. If he's suddenly putting up Rooker style 60% above average numbers he needs to be tested for PEDs. But him putting up 120ish numbers like Rooker last year wouldn't be him figuring out anything he didn't figure out here because he was already pretty darn close to that twice.

I just don't see anything with him to freak out about. Even a little. He got his shot every time he was healthy, is out of options, and was unplayable at AAA while pouting. Not sure what anyone would do differently if they're looking at things realistically as the FO making 40-man decisions right now. He had a 49 wRC+ in AAA last year. That's Vazquez level hitting in AAA instead of the majors. For a guy without options that's a death blow to your time with any team.

I'm not saying the Twins did him dirty, but if another team (and again, I'll state that I think the odds of this happening are remote) finds a way to turn him into even a semi solid regular, I think that's another black eye for a Twins organization that has obviously struggled to develop players. 

Rooker is an example in name only and not a particularly strong case for development issues. 

I'd drop him too. Like I said, I agree that he needs to be elsewhere if he wants to find MLB success. 

[Doctor Wu]

On 11/7/2025 at 9:50 PM, DJL44 said:

There will be literally dozens of relievers with as much potential as Laweryson available this offseason.

True, but will the Twins make a real attempt to sign any of them?