Twins Designate Pierson Ohl, Jhonny Pereda For Assignment

[jorgenswest]

I think Ohl and Pereda with their options can be helpful on a 40 man roster. I am not going to get into the order in which players are removed because there will be more removals before opening day. The order won’t matter when we get to opening day.

I will infer that the Twins must see someone else among their AAA catcher group that they see as the third catcher ready for call up from AAA. It must be Cardenas or Olivar.

I am hoping the Ohl clears waivers. I also realize that when the Twins are waiving players that are claimed by other teams that does point to some depth they have built. Right now it is is a revolving door of depth as they are utilizing their early claim position to build that depth of players on the cusp of the major leagues.

[bunsen82]

5 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

I think Ohl and Pereda with their options can be helpful on a 40 man roster. I am not going to get into the order in which players are removed because there will be more removals before opening day. The order won’t matter when we get to opening day.

I will infer that the Twins must see someone else among their AAA catcher group that they see as the third catcher ready for call up from AAA. It must be Cardenas or Olivar.

I am hoping the Ohl clears waivers. I also realize that when the Twins are waiving players that are claimed by other teams that does point to some depth they have built. Right now it is is a revolving door of depth as they are utilizing their early claim position to build that depth of players on the cusp of the major leagues.

I think it comes down to  either they think they can get Jackson to AAA,  they trust Cardenas or Winkel in a pinch,  or they think they can flip Jackson for a catcher with options and higher upside than Pereda.  I just don't see Pereda making it through waivers.   

[jorgenswest]

Just now, bunsen82 said:

I think it comes down to  either they think they can get Jackson to AAA,  they trust Cardenas or Winkel in a pinch,  or they think they can flip Jackson for a catcher with options and higher upside than Pereda.  I just don't see Pereda making it through waivers.   

I don’t either. Cardenas and Olivar are younger. They should be getting bulk of time in AAA. Pereda might be more ready in April but Cardenas and Olivar have more upside down the road. I think they keep Jackson through spring training to make sure Jeffers and Caratini are healthy for opening day.

[big dog]

Based on what I saw last year, I would much rather have Ohl on the team than Adams. Why keep Adams instead? Maybe he's next, but I would have let him go first. Maybe their deck chair reshuffling is going to result in 3 more guys being cut, I don't know. I'm waiting for it all to somehow make sense.

[jorgenswest]

9 minutes ago, big dog said:

Based on what I saw last year, I would much rather have Ohl on the team than Adams. Why keep Adams instead? Maybe he's next, but I would have let him go first. Maybe their deck chair reshuffling is going to result in 3 more guys being cut, I don't know. I'm waiting for it all to somehow make sense.

I wonder if the order may be more about getting them through. Once spring training opens and teams can move players onto the 60 day IL the roster crunch will be lessened. Perhaps they thought this was a better chance to get Ohl. I suppose we could see Adams come up in a few weeks.

[LewFordLives]

I hope Ohl clears. The numbers were ugly, but he had some encouraging outings. 

[DocBauer]

So a team lacking any pen depth adds a reliever and then cuts a pen depth arm to make room? You can't make this stuff up.

IDK if Ohl has a ML future of not, but any decent, young, controllable arm with potential should be about the last cut option, IMO. Now, if they had signed TWO arms, I can see removing Ohl if you honestly felt that was the right choice. But as of today, I don't like removing Ohl.

[tony&rodney]

Can Pierson Ohl be a functional MLB pitcher? Hard to tell. What value do Edouard Julien, Tristan Gray, Ryan Kreidler, and James Outman possess that surpasses the potential of Ohl? Hard to see.

My confidence in those who make these decisions has never been lower. 

[stringer bell]

It was hard to pay attention in August and September, but what I saw of Ohl was that he had one plus pitch (changeup) and didn't have enough velocity to get opponents off his out pitch. I don't think he has a future as a major leaguer and actually I don't think Adams will stick either. 

The catcher shuffle puzzles me, as well. Pereda checks a lot of boxes as a third catcher to be shuttled up and down the Green Line, but he would also hold that appeal to a lot of other teams. I don't think Jackson would go unclaimed if he was DFA'd, so if both are lost prior to Opening Day, the Twins have only the two guys and no one else with any experience.

If Pereda is claimed, I presume they'll hold on to Jackson until the last possible moment in the event of an injury to one of the Twins'  catchers and waiting to see if a team suddenly has the need for a catcher. I hate to see them move on from a guy who plays above average defense behind the plate, but he's 30, doesn't have options and has a poor record as a hitter.

[Danchat]

30 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

It was hard to pay attention in August and September, but what I saw of Ohl was that he had one plus pitch (changeup) and didn't have enough velocity to get opponents off his out pitch. I don't think he has a future as a major leaguer and actually I don't think Adams will stick either. 

The catcher shuffle puzzles me, as well. Pereda checks a lot of boxes as a third catcher to be shuttled up and down the Green Line, but he would also hold that appeal to a lot of other teams. I don't think Jackson would go unclaimed if he was DFA'd, so if both are lost prior to Opening Day, the Twins have only the two guys and no one else with any experience.

If Pereda is claimed, I presume they'll hold on to Jackson until the last possible moment in the event of an injury to one of the Twins'  catchers and waiting to see if a team suddenly has the need for a catcher. I hate to see them move on from a guy who plays above average defense behind the plate, but he's 30, doesn't have options and has a poor record as a hitter.

I think they want 3 catches on the 40 man roster and were always going to DFA Pereda at some point, perhaps they chose now for the timing. That is assuming a Jeffers trade isn't happening.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, DocBauer said:

So a team lacking any pen depth adds a reliever and then cuts a pen depth arm to make room? You can't make this stuff up.

The official 40-man roster at mlb.com is a bit of a mess but if I'm counting correctly they had 19 pitchers and 21 position players before the addition of two free agents, and after the two DFAs they remain at 19/21.  That is an unusual ratio in recent Twins history - usually it's weighted toward 21 pitchers, which the last time I checked was also the norm for most other teams, or sometimes even 22.  But removing a catcher for a new catcher, and removing a pitcher for a new pitcher, says to me that this is the ratio of players they are comfortable with for 2026, and any roster changes to come will likewise be position-for-position.  I don't understand it - pitchers usually are the ones who ride the shuttle to AAA so as to extend the bullpen size to 9 on a short term but repeated basis, while we seem to have at least one redundant LH corner bat and one redundant no-hit backup infielder.  Ohl in particular doesn't seem like any great shakes, but on one hand the FO seems to be saying that the relief arms we traded off last July will be replaced mostly internally, and on the other hand they seem to not especially value all of those candidate arms.  I'm having a very hard time reading what the FO's plan really is.

[LewFordLives]

They currently have 10 outfielders on the 40-man. Someone needs to go.

[ashbury]

4 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

They currently have 10 outfielders on the 40-man. Someone needs to go.

Kreidler can go ... be a shortstop, bringing the IF/OF ratio to 9/9.

They still could dispense with a redundant lefty corner outfielder after that, of course.  And a redundant light-hitting backup middle infielder.  So, uh, yeah.  Bring that '10' figure down,  please.

[bunsen82]

3 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

I hope Ohl clears. The numbers were ugly, but he had some encouraging outings. 

He reminds me of a Funderburk,  some things there that could work.