Twins Acquire Utility Infielder Tristan Gray in Trade with Red Sox

[NYCTK]

73.5 wins is the over/under for these Twins. And I think I'm taking the under. 

[ashbury]

Finally, the off-season master plan becomes clear: there isn't one beyond status quo.  But we're witnessing a master class in player fungibility.  Well, master class, cautionary tale - tomayto, tomahto.

And as has already been mentioned, with Caratini still waiting for the ink to dry on his new contract, we'll now need another roster opening, after we all assumed DFAing Gasper was the corresponding move for that.  Gray having minor league options doesn't actually address the roster crunch.

And then they'll need to make room for a FA reliever.  There's going to be one, right?  Right?  One?

[1985Fan]

With Arcia and Brujan already on the roster, why even make this move? Brujan was just DFA’d to make room for Gray. Falvey keeps Julien on the roster, so I expect to see him get AB’s this year (since he was outstanding last season). Not sure why Fitzgerald was released, but after the Dodgers picked him up off waivers, they passed him through waivers and he’s been assigned to their AAA. They must like him as SS depth (I did too). A lot of noise for no apparent reason. 

[arby58]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

WHY???? Bats left, fewer options, doesn't play SS. Why not just keep Fitzgerald? Is Falvey just trolling fans at this point?

??
In the majors, he has played 80 innings at 2B, 73 at SS, 65 at 3B, and 63 at 1B.

[Brett]

If this was a football roster, I might say we just added ANOTHER third string QB.

[The Great Hambino]

20 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Finally, the off-season master plan becomes clear: there isn't one beyond status quo.  But we're witnessing a master class in player fungibility.  Well, master class, cautionary tale - tomayto, tomahto.

And as has already been mentioned, with Caratini still waiting for the ink to dry on his new contract, we'll now need another roster opening, after we all assumed DFAing Gasper was the corresponding move for that.  Gray having minor league options doesn't actually address the roster crunch.

And then they'll need to make room for a FA reliever.  There's going to be one, right?  Right?  One?

If by FA you mean minor-league signing with spring training invite, then yes

I put the over/under of members of the opening day bullpen that fit this description at 1.5

 

[arby58]

4 minutes ago, 1985Fan said:

With Arcia and Brujan already on the roster, why even make this move? Brujan was just DFA’d to make room for Gray. Falvey keeps Julien on the roster, so I expect to see him get AB’s this year (since he was outstanding last season). Not sure why Fitzgerald was released, but after the Dodgers picked him up off waivers, they passed him through waivers and he’s been assigned to their AAA. They must like him as SS depth (I did too). A lot of noise for no apparent reason. 

They both have options, so they can both be stashed at AAA. Fitzgerald was so valuable that no other team claimed him off waivers. Not too shocking, given he is 31 years old (2 years older than Gray) never made the majors until mop up time last season with the Twins, and in 7 minor league seasons put up a .770 OPS. 

[AceWrigley]

It's Vidal Brujan to the discard pile.

[Nashvilletwin]

12 minutes ago, 1985Fan said:

With Arcia and Brujan already on the roster, why even make this move? Brujan was just DFA’d to make room for Gray. Falvey keeps Julien on the roster, so I expect to see him get AB’s this year (since he was outstanding last season). Not sure why Fitzgerald was released, but after the Dodgers picked him up off waivers, they passed him through waivers and he’s been assigned to their AAA. They must like him as SS depth (I did too). A lot of noise for no apparent reason. 

Actually, I think Julien did finish the last two months on a pretty decent tear last season.

[chpettit19]

Love to see they're still goin big!

Every team makes these little moves here and there. In a vacuum this is nothing to really care much about. But this isn't a vacuum, and this team has made 0 moves to truly improve this team over the team that started opening day 2025. A season that went so poorly they set a record for the number of players they traded at the deadline.

[NYCTK]

1 minute ago, chpettit19 said:

Love to see they're still goin big!

Every team makes these little moves here and there. In a vacuum this is nothing to really care much about. But this isn't a vacuum, and this team has made 0 moves to truly improve this team over the team that started opening day 2025. A season that went so poorly they set a record for the number of players they traded at the deadline.

Tom doesn't do half measures! This is the best we get as fans. 

Might I suggest again that other people adopt a second, national league, team to follow because this is going to be a really terrible run of seasons coming up. 

That they actually think they can be competitive is just so stupid that it's hilarious. 

[sweetmusicviola16]

I'm not going to get worked up on whether it's Gray, Brujan, Kreidler, Gasper, Fitzgerald, etc etc. They all suck. And whether one sucks 0.25% less than the next guy or the previous guy it really doesn't matter, they still suck. The problem is when these sucky players start getting sizable chunks of playing time and that's what we tend to see here. 

[bunsen82]

Its amazing the frustration or vitriol over the bottom of the 40 man roster transactions.   This occurs with all teams.   I really don't understand it.   These players are marginally better than what we had at the bottom of the 40 man.   Caratini and Bell are upgrades.  

Maybe once they make some moves for the bullpen moods will improve.   

[DJL44]

17 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Actually, I think Julien did finish the last two months on a pretty decent tear last season.

That's putting a lot of faith in the last 16 games of the season. It's boosted by going 4 for 9 in 3 games against a Texas team that was going through the motions. They can't platoon Julien and play him against teams that don't care for a whole season.

[Dawgzilla]

Low attendance coming.....zzzzzzzzzz!

 

Great depth for a minor league triple a team, meaning we are building our depth for double A to improve the triple A roster,......and in case of injuries to "star players" there, players that were high draft picks 15 years ago, yet still need more "seasoning" and experience.  The front iffice believes they still can be stars...in 2030, at age 40+!  We're coming!!!😉

 

I've seen and played against high end softball players that could have been closer to making those lower level rosters (or even higher...remember Jim Eisenrich), just that they were never looked at and/or didn't work out for marriage, military, money needs at time, family needs at time, maybe they themselves thought they weren't good enough, etc., ...but probably were, for at least a look!

[AceWrigley]

The Derek Falvey prayer:

"I'm a General Manager, but I can change if I have to... I guess."

[K.Hibl]

Looking at the AA Wichita roster from last year, Baez had the third most innings behind the plate and significantly worse offensive numbers than Andrew Cossetti and Ricardo Olivar, the two other catchers. It seems unlikely he would have a great shot at the majors based off that quick look. Any half-quality utility backup innings from Gray should make this a decent trade for the twins for the '26 season.

[Fred]

2 hours ago, Maybebaby said:

One after another, uninspiring signing on and on it goes.  How many more times can they insult the fan base?  It looks more and more like a 100 loss season.  I was hoping there was a glint of hope by them saying they plan on keeping Ryan and Lopez.....more and more I am thinking these two should ask for a trade.  Unless they pitch like Koufax and Gibson there is hope, but only if they keep their ERA <2, because  (my opinion) team BA will be below .210.  When you have a lineup of 9 left handed Frank Quilicis' there is little hope to put crooked numbers on the scoreboard.  I've attended many games over the years (starting in the 60's) but not lately with the SKY HIGH ticket prices and the lousy on field product.  In the past I have subscribed to accounts to watch on TV, but probably not even that this year.  Hard to be interested in this story book when the cover of this book is so blah.   PS sign a RIGHT handed hitter! 'Nuff said from this disgruntled SDakota fan.

OK, you owe me a cup of coffee. I spit mine out when I read "9 left-handed Frank Quilicis" 😃. Seriously, thanks, that was a great way to start my morning.

[Fred]

2 hours ago, Cris E said:

He doesn't look much like James Outman. What's the goal here?

If nothing else, Shelton will be a lot less confused. "Didn't I just put you in the ballgame? What are you doing on the bench?"

[Fred]

2 hours ago, Danchat said:

This looks like a bad trade on paper, but for whatever reason Baez doesn't seem to be considered much of a prospect. We have a bunch of minor league catchers that are on the precipice of even being a prospect, so I guess it's not a loss to move any of those guys. I see Baez hit a lot better at A+ than AA, but he is already 25 this year. After some analysis, he's probably not a major leaguer.

So, they traded a 25 yr old "probably not a major leaguer" for a 29 yr old who has already proven it?

[Fred]

50 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Tom doesn't do half measures! This is the best we get as fans. 

Might I suggest again that other people adopt a second, national league, team to follow because this is going to be a really terrible run of seasons coming up. 

That they actually think they can be competitive is just so stupid that it's hilarious. 

Their whole job is to convince fans that they can be competitive. I don't envy them.

[sweetmusicviola16]

56 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Tom doesn't do half measures! This is the best we get as fans. 

Might I suggest again that other people adopt a second, national league, team to follow because this is going to be a really terrible run of seasons coming up. 

That they actually think they can be competitive is just so stupid that it's hilarious. 

I'm a pay closer attention to the Pirates this season, least they've somewhat tried to put together a better team for 2026. Besides I'm still a fan of them from 1979 and the We Are Family bunch. Sad how 30-40 years of bad ownership turned them into laughingstock. 

[TJSweens]

Our quadruple A roster is going to loaded this year.

[DJL44]

32 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

These players are marginally better than what we had at the bottom of the 40 man.

I will agree that they upgraded Gasper to Gray in two moves. They removed someone who doesn't belong on a 40-man roster and added someone who does. Same with Wagaman versus Ryan Fitzgerald. They have also added two players who belong on a 26-man roster in Caratini and Bell.

They still have three players on their 40-man who don't belong on the roster at all (Julien, Outman, Kreidler).

[1985Fan]

1 hour ago, arby58 said:

They both have options, so they can both be stashed at AAA. Fitzgerald was so valuable that no other team claimed him off waivers. Not too shocking, given he is 31 years old (2 years older than Gray) never made the majors until mop up time last season with the Twins, and in 7 minor league seasons put up a .770 OPS. 

Dodgers claimed him off waivers and stashed him on their AAA roster. I’m not saying Fitzgerald is a quality big leaguer, but if he’s good enough to be infield depth for the WS champions, I think he could serve the same role for the Twins. They could have kept Fitz at no cost and devoted their limited resources to somewhere else on the roster. Wasting their time and energy dabbling on the margins when they should be working on major flaws. 

[chpettit19]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Tom doesn't do half measures! This is the best we get as fans. 

Might I suggest again that other people adopt a second, national league, team to follow because this is going to be a really terrible run of seasons coming up. 

That they actually think they can be competitive is just so stupid that it's hilarious. 

I enjoy baseball enough that I follow the entire league pretty closely most of the year. I feel bad for the people who only watch/follow the Twins. There's still a lot of really good, fun baseball out there they're missing.

[LA Vikes Fan]

3 hours ago, bean5302 said:

WHY???? Bats left, fewer options, doesn't play SS. Why not just keep Fitzgerald? Is Falvey just trolling fans at this point?

Because he is 2 years younger than Fitzgerald, has better MLB stats in limited opportunities, and pretty similar MiLB stats. In other word, he's pretty much the same guy except 2.5 years younger with better bt speed so there's still hope for improvement. Look, this is hardly exciting news but let's not overreact like losing Ryan Fitzgerald and Nate Baez is somehow a big deal. 

[USAFChief]

8 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

I enjoy baseball enough that I follow the entire league pretty closely most of the year. I feel bad for the people who only watch/follow the Twins. There's still a lot of really good, fun baseball out there they're missing.

I enjoy baseball and watch/follow the entire league too. With my brain.

But there's only one team that I follow with my heart. I couldn't just "pick a NL team to care about" even if I wanted to.

And I don't want to.

I watch the Twins because I love baseball, and I feel it when they win, and when they lose. I hope that never goes away. Lately they're making it more difficult than ever to care, and I never wavered through some pretty lean times.

 

[NYCTK]

36 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

I'm a pay closer attention to the Pirates this season, least they've somewhat tried to put together a better team for 2026. Besides I'm still a fan of them from 1979 and the We Are Family bunch. Sad how 30-40 years of bad ownership turned them into laughingstock. 

If Bonds puts some more mustard on that throw, the entire franchise history might have dramatically shifted. 

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, bunsen82 said:

Its amazing the frustration or vitriol over the bottom of the 40 man roster transactions.   This occurs with all teams.   I really don't understand it.   These players are marginally better than what we had at the bottom of the 40 man.   Caratini and Bell are upgrades.  

Maybe once they make some moves for the bullpen moods will improve.   

Right, but when you say bottom of the 40 man roster, for most teams that's like four or five spots, for the Twins it's a dozen.

And you don't improve the team by tinkering with these guys, you improve the team by removing these kinds of players for guys who can help the team.