TRADE: Twins Acquire Left-Handed Reliever Anthony Banda from Dodgers

[DocBauer]

I saw the Hendricks move coming. I didn't see this one. And while I'm not excited about Banda, he fills a role on the cheap. While the International $ given in the trade doesn't come from the actual payroll, he is, in affect, costing a little more than $2M. I'm not sure that just adding Coulome for $2.5-3M wouldn't have been the better move.

I don't have a problem with 3 LH in the pen. That can actually be an advantage if used properly. Rogers will be used on the back end of the pen in some sort of set up, closer by committee set up initially. If the growth we saw from Funderburk is close to being real, he could still be the #2 LH option. And if he suddenly regressed, Banda can be that #2 option.

Now IF Maki and company can tweak Banda's changeup, even a little, he becomes a better addition. But he's no pen savior AT ALL. What he is is a basic replacement for Coulombe. 5th or 6th inning, he can come in to get that last LH batter out to finish things off. Or, he can start and inning when the batters line up with 2 LH in the inning. But he's not a set up man. He's a decent, solid middle inning LH arm who can help. And I'm OK with that.

[Jacksson]

4 hours ago, Sjoski said:

Q: Why did the Banda start swearing when he saw the Twins lineup card?

A: Because he realized the ShortStop behind him went from "Mookie" to "Brookie." 

Or was it that he saw 1B was manned by Josh Bell??

[DocBauer]

I do recall Zoll saying the Twins weren't done and were looking to add 2, maybe even 3 arms to the pen. I don't recall any numbers like $10M possibly available. Did I miss that somewhere?

Currently, the entire 8 man pen would probably cost $10M or less. So MAYBE there's still room to add Kopech for a 1yr $4M "make good" kind of deal? While that wouldn't be any sort of guarantee of being a GOOD signing, it would fill me with some HOPE of getting the good version of Kopech and could change the dynamic of the pen in a hurry. I guess we'll see. 

I DON'T dislike the Hendricks signing. It's only a MILB deal that probably offers up a bump in salary to maybe $2-3M, possibly with escalators involved. We'll see how he pitches for Australia, and in ST. He's a comeback flier at this point, and that is all. I'm rooting for him, but expecting nothing. He was still dominate in 2022. He lost 2023 due to Hodgkins Lymphoma. After overcoming that, he blew out his arm and needed TJ surgery, so that wiped out 2024. And then he needed a secondary procedure in 2025. But what if that 2nd procedure...and I'm still not quite certain what it was...works to stabilize his elbow? Might we get an 85-90% version of him? If so, he ends up being a 1yr steal and it's a really good story. But again, I'm still not betting on it.

Rogers, Funderburk, and Banda, as of TODAY, probably all make the opening day pen. That can be a good thing for Shelton if he uses them judiciously: Rogers helping on the back end, and Funderburk and Banda able to help in the 5th-7th innings to close an inning, or run a full inning that has 2 LH batters coming up.

If we get the 2024 version of Sands back, or close to it...and he did pretty well the last 2 months of 2025 except for a poor 10 game stretch as well...he's also part of the back end.

The problem is another good, strong RH arm for the late innings. And you just can't bank on a Hendricks return. I think Festa might be that arm. The bad news is he hasn't done it before. The good news is he has a good, powerful arm and HAS ML experience where some of the other, younger arms have yet to debut. 

Topa is OK, but he's a "start a clean inning" middle man. Orze has some upside still, I'd wager, after having a pretty solid 2025 with Tampa. But as of now, he'd still project as another middle man, barring a big upswing. (He's also got options if someone else outperforms him).

Regardless, as of TODAY, Sands, Topa, Orze, Rogers, Funderburk, and Banda would be written in with a collection of ink and pencil. But let's go ahead and put Festa in there as well since it does seem to be his destiny. That's 7 spots of 8 potentially filled. 

It could be worse. Rogers has still been recently solid, and has tons of experience. Sands and Festa have power and some nasty stuff/potential. That's your backend trio. It could be worse?

The others offer some mix and match for the middle innings when you assume that, generally, most days the rotation will give you 5 innings. (I'm assuming health).

There's enough arms in camp for SOMEONE to emerge as the 8th man, and a history of the Twins FINDING that "surprise" that can help.

It could be worse. It could be worse?

The biggest issue, IMO, is not Rogers suddenly falling off a cliff, or you talent/potential of Festa. It's not having ANOTHER RH arm to make the backend a foursome you can kinda/sorta depend on and be excited about. And I really don't know how ANY trade is going to bring in that kind of arm. So it's GOT to be a surprise by Hendricks, a signing of Kopech and getting the good version of him, or Matthews/Bradley/Abel taking on that responsibility. 

I think the 2nd half of the season can see the bullpen stabilize, and improve, with solid depth after some of the converts at both the ML and AAA level settle in. But CAN the early season pen hold together enough to actually close out enough games to not ruin the season in the early going? 

I still have a lot of disagreement on position player construction, and a couple of ideas that could help fix that without spending more than a couple $M to do so. But that's a different discussion. I think the pen has a CHANCE to be OK through April and May, get gradually better, but SOMEONE else HAS to be added to the back end od the pen or the Twins are going to lose too many games that they have a chance to win. Is that a Kopech signing? Is it another SP option being moved? IDK the exact answer. But SOMEONE better figure out WHO that SOMEONE is.

[Chembry]

12 minutes ago, DocBauer said:

I do recall Zoll saying the Twins weren't done and were looking to add 2, maybe even 3 arms to the pen. I don't recall any numbers like $10M possibly available. Did I miss that somewhere?

Currently, the entire 8 man pen would probably cost $10M or less. So MAYBE there's still room to add Kopech for a 1yr $4M "make good" kind of deal? While that wouldn't be any sort of guarantee of being a GOOD signing, it would fill me with some HOPE of getting the good version of Kopech and could change the dynamic of the pen in a hurry. I guess we'll see. 

I DON'T dislike the Hendricks signing. It's only a MILB deal that probably offers up a bump in salary to maybe $2-3M, possibly with escalators involved. We'll see how he pitches for Australia, and in ST. He's a comeback flier at this point, and that is all. I'm rooting for him, but expecting nothing. He was still dominate in 2022. He lost 2023 due to Hodgkins Lymphoma. After overcoming that, he blew out his arm and needed TJ surgery, so that wiped out 2024. And then he needed a secondary procedure in 2025. But what if that 2nd procedure...and I'm still not quite certain what it was...works to stabilize his elbow? Might we get an 85-90% version of him? If so, he ends up being a 1yr steal and it's a really good story. But again, I'm still not betting on it.

Rogers, Funderburk, and Banda, as of TODAY, probably all make the opening day pen. That can be a good thing for Shelton if he uses them judiciously: Rogers helping on the back end, and Funderburk and Banda able to help in the 5th-7th innings to close an inning, or run a full inning that has 2 LH batters coming up.

If we get the 2024 version of Sands back, or close to it...and he did pretty well the last 2 months of 2025 except for a poor 10 game stretch as well...he's also part of the back end.

The problem is another good, strong RH arm for the late innings. And you just can't bank on a Hendricks return. I think Festa might be that arm. The bad news is he hasn't done it before. The good news is he has a good, powerful arm and HAS ML experience where some of the other, younger arms have yet to debut. 

Topa is OK, but he's a "start a clean inning" middle man. Orze has some upside still, I'd wager, after having a pretty solid 2025 with Tampa. But as of now, he'd still project as another middle man, barring a big upswing. (He's also got options if someone else outperforms him).

Regardless, as of TODAY, Sands, Topa, Orze, Rogers, Funderburk, and Banda would be written in with a collection of ink and pencil. But let's go ahead and put Festa in there as well since it does seem to be his destiny. That's 7 spots of 8 potentially filled. 

It could be worse. Rogers has still been recently solid, and has tons of experience. Sands and Festa have power and some nasty stuff/potential. That's your backend trio. It could be worse?

The others offer some mix and match for the middle innings when you assume that, generally, most days the rotation will give you 5 innings. (I'm assuming health).

There's enough arms in camp for SOMEONE to emerge as the 8th man, and a history of the Twins FINDING that "surprise" that can help.

It could be worse. It could be worse?

The biggest issue, IMO, is not Rogers suddenly falling off a cliff, or you talent/potential of Festa. It's not having ANOTHER RH arm to make the backend a foursome you can kinda/sorta depend on and be excited about. And I really don't know how ANY trade is going to bring in that kind of arm. So it's GOT to be a surprise by Hendricks, a signing of Kopech and getting the good version of him, or Matthews/Bradley/Abel taking on that responsibility. 

I think the 2nd half of the season can see the bullpen stabilize, and improve, with solid depth after some of the converts at both the ML and AAA level settle in. But CAN the early season pen hold together enough to actually close out enough games to not ruin the season in the early going? 

I still have a lot of disagreement on position player construction, and a couple of ideas that could help fix that without spending more than a couple $M to do so. But that's a different discussion. I think the pen has a CHANCE to be OK through April and May, get gradually better, but SOMEONE else HAS to be added to the back end od the pen or the Twins are going to lose too many games that they have a chance to win. Is that a Kopech signing? Is it another SP option being moved? IDK the exact answer. But SOMEONE better figure out WHO that SOMEONE is.

The $10M came from a podcast where Theo Tollefson stated he was hearing they had about $10M left to spend.  That was right after Falvey left.

[arby58]

5 hours ago, OregonTwinsFan said:

Woohoo!!! He becomes the best reliever in the pen. Also means that Prielipp won't be rushed to make the team out of spring training.

That's a good point - they certainly aren't going to carry four left handed relief pitchers.

[arby58]

I was shocked to read an article in Baseball Prospectus about remaining free agent pitchers, and when they came to bullpen, up popped this table:

I literally had to do a doubletake - where are the Twins in this?? I guess misery loves company.

[DocBauer]

1 hour ago, Chembry said:

The $10M came from a podcast where Theo Tollefson stated he was hearing they had about $10M left to spend.  That was right after Falvey left.

Thank you. I had missed that. So let's take that as reality and run with it shall we? I'm no genius, but I can do math. Lol

Assuming you simply can't actually PLAN on long shot Hendricks actually surprising and earning whatever prorated deal he MIGHT earn....

$10M minus the $3.6M combined for Rogers and Banda is $6.4M left.

You sign Kopech on a 1yr make good and hope deal for $4-5M. (I mean, he's still looking for a job and he has an opportunity to pitch in high leverage for the Twins). So you have $1.4M left of the original $10M. (Or more).

You move Larnach for a prospect, or, IDEALLY, you trade him for someone's #2 utility player, solid 26yo-ish utility player with some ability stuck at AAA...the next Newman, Punto, Castro...who can play a decent SS and you suddenly have a better utility option than the motley crew you already have on hand.

You've now saved another $4.5M, roughly, to spend elsewhere. 

You sign Nathaniel Lowe as an ACTUAL ML 1B with a solid career coming off a bad 2025 for $6-7M based on current projections. That's ONLY $1.5-2.5M more than the left over $ previously mentioned. Bell is now the primary DH, Clemens gets to focus on being the utility player he's supposed to be, you probably got a better super utility player than what you've bought to camp, you have a decent, solid, proven full time 1B, and you've added another power arm to the back end of the bullpen that might make a difference. 

Current $105M payroll, add $10M, subtract another $4.5M, and add another $2.5M....all close approximates...and you have a $113M payroll. Still under $115. WAY under the opening day 2025 payroll, and about $9-10M less than the FINAL 2025 payroll after the firesale. 

Put another way, it's only $2-3M more than the current payroll and what's left of the proposed $10M after adding Rogers and Banda.

LF, utility player, and final configuration of the 8 man bullpen are your camp battles. And even those could be predicted fairly easily at this point. 

And ownership and the FO can't find a way to make this happen? 

[stringer bell]

The ERAs from the last two years look pretty good, but the rest of his numbers are pretty pedestrian. 96 mph fastball at age 33 is a good sign, I think. 

It looks like the bullpen will contain three left handers. I guess that is one way to insure that Preliepp stays as a rotation candidate. Among the lefties, I wouldn't be surprised to see the pecking order change quite often as far as which guy gets the highest leverage opportunities.

The bullpen still isn't high quality or deep, but they've added several veteran arms and maybe one or two will click. It also looks like no more than one more starting candidate will be moved to the bullpen with a really good competition for the fourth and fifth starter spots (SWR will be on the active roster somewhere).

There are no guarantees that he'll even be decent, but he could have a really good year because 90% of bullpen pitchers are extremely unpredictable. Banda appeared to be healthy last year and worked in 78 games counting postseason. It appears this is the most he has been used since he got to the majors.

 

[Cris E]

5 hours ago, old nurse said:

Yup, saw that. Twins gave them 500,000. 

That's not how Intl bonus pool money works. It's not real money. 

There is a finite amount that can be spent on the international free agents, so teams each start with a specific amount they are allowed to spend, and they can trade that right to spend it in increments of $250k.  So now the wealthy Dodgers have the right to spend $500k more on international 16 year olds and the threadbare Twins will not spend that $500k (quashing any lingering doubts on that front.)  

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

4 hours ago, old nurse said:

Why would you want another bat first player who hasn’t hit in the last 4 years

Isn't that the Twins way? Sign a down player and hope for a rebound. Can easily be released if he doesn't hit in ST. 

[old nurse]

7 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Isn't that the Twins way? Sign a down player and hope for a rebound. Can easily be released if he doesn't hit in ST. 

Are there 5 players in the last 5 years with Castellanos’ track record that fit your statement of Twins’ way

[old nurse]

7 hours ago, Cris E said:

That's not how Intl bonus pool money works. It's not real money. 

There is a finite amount that can be spent on the international free agents, so teams each start with a specific amount they are allowed to spend, and they can trade that right to spend it in increments of $250k.  So now the wealthy Dodgers have the right to spend $500k more on international 16 year olds and the threadbare Twins will not spend that $500k (quashing any lingering doubts on that front.)  

Did you forget my first comment?  Got to remember next time how short people’s memories are. 

[David HK]

Why am I reminded of the opening scene from 'Major League' when the scouts are sitting around the table looking at the owner's new roster: "This guy is DEAD!"

[Jack Pine]

18 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

To be fair we got a lot more in return than a little international money.  It appears though that itch hasn't been fully scratched for you yet.  

One can only hope.

[TopGunn#22]

My initial reaction was mixed.  While Banda has some upside I was unsure I would have included International Bonus Pool Money as often times you get a pretty good return on your investment (the Twins shortcomings in recent years acknowledged).

But now that others have explained it was money not yet spent for 2026 I'm firmly in the camp that this was a good move.  I like the idea of approaching Kopech with a decent $5 million dollar offer to round out the early season BP.

I know Doc Bauer is still banging the table for Nathaniel Lowe at 1B and at some point, that would have been a much better plan than Josh Bell because the Twins could have installed Matt Wallner as the full time DH.  But that plan is out the window with the Bell, and to a lesser degree, the Wagaman moves.  

Larnach still needs to be traded and then your looking at Jenkins, E-Rod and Gonzalez as well as Culpepper and trying to determine who moves up when others fail.  I'd love to have a better immediate option than Brooks Lee/Orlando Arcia at SS.  The Tigers and Royals still look better than the Twins.  Cleveland always seems to find a way, and the White Sox will be better.  How much better remains to be seen.  It's still very hard to determine where the Twins fit in the A.L. Central.  

[bunsen82]

13 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

Where am I off on Banda?  Some are reflexively panning the move out of habit, while bunsen is ready to throw himself a victory parade.  I feel like I'm pretty lukewarm on him

It was more the call we should get him that I made last Friday.   

Lets be clear what Banda is,  he is a pitcher absolutely maximizing what he is to be a consistent mlb reliever and has been outperforming on an ERA basis vs his actual stuff. If he continues to be low 3 ERA reliever for the next 2 years its a no brainer.  I expect to use him in a similar type situation to what he was used last year.  Maybe the Twins can find a bit more in him, but effectively I think he will a 3.8 ish reliever.  For me he is on a level of a Kahnle.  So lets be clear I am not stating he is closer material.  He is a solid reliever.   For a bullpen of suspects he is another good one to add to the group.  

This move raises the offseason from a D to D+ so I can like the move in and of itself and still acknowledge the Twins haven't near done enough. Kopech is the only player who I would raise to a C-.  They needed to be willing to spend 20+ million on the bullpen to have what would be a strong competent bullpen and they just didn't do it.  

[bunsen82]

9 hours ago, Cris E said:

That's not how Intl bonus pool money works. It's not real money. 

There is a finite amount that can be spent on the international free agents, so teams each start with a specific amount they are allowed to spend, and they can trade that right to spend it in increments of $250k.  So now the wealthy Dodgers have the right to spend $500k more on international 16 year olds and the threadbare Twins will not spend that $500k (quashing any lingering doubts on that front.)  

We had 1 million remaining,  in general they keep around 250k-500k for the rest of the year to see if anything pops up.  We still haven't heard about Angel Ozuna.  We supposedly were going to sign him to 500k deal but he never showed up on our signing list.    If that deal fell through and this was the money used, I really don't have a qualm about using the money to get a reliever. Remember Angel is the prospect that lied about his age and is closer to 19 years old.   Still good athlete and a good bat,  but no longer the upside originally projected and although his parents and handlers did it,  there is some questions about his ethics ect.   For our purposes it makes this really clean.  Would anyone have had a qualm about trading Angel Ozuna for Banda?   I don't think so.   

[The Great Hambino]

13 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

It was more the call we should get him that I made last Friday.   

Fair enough.  That was a good call then

[The Great Hambino]

14 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Now bring in Nick Castellanos on a Minor League deal with invitation to ST. 

 

Keep the pitchers coming. Odds are a few will work out!

Now that we see why he was released, and given Tommy P's insistence that improved vibes will lead to 10 more wins on its own, I think he needs to be signed immediately

[bunsen82]

13 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

Now that we see why he was released, and given Tommy P's insistence that improved vibes will lead to 10 more wins on its own, I think he needs to be signed immediately

Bringing an unopened can into the dugout to prove a point . . .  ballsy deserved to be punished a game.  Similar to Jax blowup and tantrum with Baldelli.  The difference with the Phillies is they were a good team.  Front office and managers don't tend to put up with it.   I would be fine with signing him to a minor league deal.  We have so many dh type players though.  

[LA Vikes Fan]

12 hours ago, DocBauer said:

I do recall Zoll saying the Twins weren't done and were looking to add 2, maybe even 3 arms to the pen. I don't recall any numbers like $10M possibly available. Did I miss that somewhere?

Currently, the entire 8 man pen would probably cost $10M or less. So MAYBE there's still room to add Kopech for a 1yr $4M "make good" kind of deal? While that wouldn't be any sort of guarantee of being a GOOD signing, it would fill me with some HOPE of getting the good version of Kopech and could change the dynamic of the pen in a hurry. I guess we'll see. 

I DON'T dislike the Hendricks signing. It's only a MILB deal that probably offers up a bump in salary to maybe $2-3M, possibly with escalators involved. We'll see how he pitches for Australia, and in ST. He's a comeback flier at this point, and that is all. I'm rooting for him, but expecting nothing. He was still dominate in 2022. He lost 2023 due to Hodgkins Lymphoma. After overcoming that, he blew out his arm and needed TJ surgery, so that wiped out 2024. And then he needed a secondary procedure in 2025. But what if that 2nd procedure...and I'm still not quite certain what it was...works to stabilize his elbow? Might we get an 85-90% version of him? If so, he ends up being a 1yr steal and it's a really good story. But again, I'm still not betting on it.

Rogers, Funderburk, and Banda, as of TODAY, probably all make the opening day pen. That can be a good thing for Shelton if he uses them judiciously: Rogers helping on the back end, and Funderburk and Banda able to help in the 5th-7th innings to close an inning, or run a full inning that has 2 LH batters coming up.

If we get the 2024 version of Sands back, or close to it...and he did pretty well the last 2 months of 2025 except for a poor 10 game stretch as well...he's also part of the back end.

The problem is another good, strong RH arm for the late innings. And you just can't bank on a Hendricks return. I think Festa might be that arm. The bad news is he hasn't done it before. The good news is he has a good, powerful arm and HAS ML experience where some of the other, younger arms have yet to debut. 

Topa is OK, but he's a "start a clean inning" middle man. Orze has some upside still, I'd wager, after having a pretty solid 2025 with Tampa. But as of now, he'd still project as another middle man, barring a big upswing. (He's also got options if someone else outperforms him).

Regardless, as of TODAY, Sands, Topa, Orze, Rogers, Funderburk, and Banda would be written in with a collection of ink and pencil. But let's go ahead and put Festa in there as well since it does seem to be his destiny. That's 7 spots of 8 potentially filled. 

It could be worse. Rogers has still been recently solid, and has tons of experience. Sands and Festa have power and some nasty stuff/potential. That's your backend trio. It could be worse?

The others offer some mix and match for the middle innings when you assume that, generally, most days the rotation will give you 5 innings. (I'm assuming health).

There's enough arms in camp for SOMEONE to emerge as the 8th man, and a history of the Twins FINDING that "surprise" that can help.

It could be worse. It could be worse?

The biggest issue, IMO, is not Rogers suddenly falling off a cliff, or you talent/potential of Festa. It's not having ANOTHER RH arm to make the backend a foursome you can kinda/sorta depend on and be excited about. And I really don't know how ANY trade is going to bring in that kind of arm. So it's GOT to be a surprise by Hendricks, a signing of Kopech and getting the good version of him, or Matthews/Bradley/Abel taking on that responsibility. 

I think the 2nd half of the season can see the bullpen stabilize, and improve, with solid depth after some of the converts at both the ML and AAA level settle in. But CAN the early season pen hold together enough to actually close out enough games to not ruin the season in the early going? 

I still have a lot of disagreement on position player construction, and a couple of ideas that could help fix that without spending more than a couple $M to do so. But that's a different discussion. I think the pen has a CHANCE to be OK through April and May, get gradually better, but SOMEONE else HAS to be added to the back end od the pen or the Twins are going to lose too many games that they have a chance to win. Is that a Kopech signing? Is it another SP option being moved? IDK the exact answer. But SOMEONE better figure out WHO that SOMEONE is.

I agree with your top 6, all locks unless injured. That 7th or 8th man may be Dan Altavilla. Had a 2.48 ERA, with a 1.17 WHIP, but a 5.45 FIP last year for the White Sox. 29 innings in 28 appearances.  95-98 MPH fastball, power slider, 97 MPH sinker, decent change up. 2025 was by far his best year. Pitched 7th or 8th inning as a set up guy, occasional closer. He's on a minor league deal.

I really think the 7th and 8th BP spots will come down to a battle between Hendricks, Altavilla, and Festa/Prielipp IF they decide to move the young guys to the bullpen now. Given Festa's TOS which will limit his innings and his lack of starting success, I think he goes to the pen. Interesting stat - Festa first time through the order holds hitters to a .134/.194/.179 (.374) line. Second and third times through - .393/.456/787 (1.243) batting line. 25% K, 8% BB. He's been passed in the starting pecking order by Bradley, SWR, Matthews, and probably Abel. The stats and his physical limitations scream Bullpen to me. I think he's the closer in waiting. Give Prielipp one more year to show he can be a starter; convert Festa to a back end bullpen piece now.   

[saviking]

21 hours ago, Rigby said:

In my estimation, a club looking to build a sustainable competitive franchise does not trade international bonus monies. Especially to a team with unlimited resources. Excessively poor move...

I politely disagree.. they have ample bonus money and as long as you can sign the key players you want the surplus is better spent here. If not, it may have cost them a quality A miner league player with proven potential vs the tail end of the international bonus pool. 

[Chembry]

12 hours ago, DocBauer said:

Thank you. I had missed that. So let's take that as reality and run with it shall we? I'm no genius, but I can do math. Lol

Assuming you simply can't actually PLAN on long shot Hendricks actually surprising and earning whatever prorated deal he MIGHT earn....

$10M minus the $3.6M combined for Rogers and Banda is $6.4M left.

You sign Kopech on a 1yr make good and hope deal for $4-5M. (I mean, he's still looking for a job and he has an opportunity to pitch in high leverage for the Twins). So you have $1.4M left of the original $10M. (Or more).

You move Larnach for a prospect, or, IDEALLY, you trade him for someone's #2 utility player, solid 26yo-ish utility player with some ability stuck at AAA...the next Newman, Punto, Castro...who can play a decent SS and you suddenly have a better utility option than the motley crew you already have on hand.

You've now saved another $4.5M, roughly, to spend elsewhere. 

You sign Nathaniel Lowe as an ACTUAL ML 1B with a solid career coming off a bad 2025 for $6-7M based on current projections. That's ONLY $1.5-2.5M more than the left over $ previously mentioned. Bell is now the primary DH, Clemens gets to focus on being the utility player he's supposed to be, you probably got a better super utility player than what you've bought to camp, you have a decent, solid, proven full time 1B, and you've added another power arm to the back end of the bullpen that might make a difference. 

Current $105M payroll, add $10M, subtract another $4.5M, and add another $2.5M....all close approximates...and you have a $113M payroll. Still under $115. WAY under the opening day 2025 payroll, and about $9-10M less than the FINAL 2025 payroll after the firesale. 

Put another way, it's only $2-3M more than the current payroll and what's left of the proposed $10M after adding Rogers and Banda.

LF, utility player, and final configuration of the 8 man bullpen are your camp battles. And even those could be predicted fairly easily at this point. 

And ownership and the FO can't find a way to make this happen? 

I will say that $10M was stated after the Rogers signing.  But I am onboard with everything you just said. 

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

I don't hate it. Probably the best move they made this off-season.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

In no particular order...

Banda / Sands / Rogers / Topa / Funderburk / Orze...

Those appear to be locks or as close to locks as you can get.

That leaves two spots. Do they go with some combination of Festa, Zebby, Raya, Morris, Rojas or Adams?

Or, do they find room for the likes of Bash, Hartwig, Altavilla, Hendricks, Bowman, Merryweather?

[Cris E]

Two answers: injuries and unexpected spring performances. Not all those guys are going to be pitching on March 31, and one or two of the fringe guys may show up and throw better than anyone is expecting today. The answers all depend on what cards are in their hand in a month. 

[bean5302]

19 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

At least you are consistent.   Banda was obviously in decent demand to get 500k in international money.  These types of relievers just don't fall out of trees like you stated (fyi I haven't seen another reliever of Banda's level get dfa'd in the last week,  still waiting on these relievers dfa'd all the time)  and I do think the Twins are going to tryin to improve his arsenal.  In either case he was utilized in more leverage situations and other than Sands - and previously Rogers no one else is likely fully up to the task.   

In my opinion we are up to 2 leverage arms,  assuming a step up by Sands.  In my opinion you need 1 more and I would prefer to take the chance on Kopech who can be your high velocity closer.   Its a chance but at this point,  this is a bullpen that can be decent and possibly overperform.   

I am consistent because I look at more than just the numbers I like. Yes, these kinds of fungible relievers do fall out of trees. Just because Zoll was willing to give up prospect capital money to get Banda doesn't mean other teams were. The Dodgers didn't DFA Banda expecting a big payout. They were hoping for a sucker and found one. These types of relievers get DFA'd all the time. Michael Tonkin has a better track record than Banda for example, he was DFA'd about 824 times in the last couple years, and he's on the free agent market right now. Want a better reliever? Danny Columbe is still available. Plenty of relievers on MiLB contracts with better track records than Banda like Scott Blewett.

[sweetmusicviola16]

3 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I am consistent because I look at more than just the numbers I like. Yes, these kinds of fungible relievers do fall out of trees. Just because Zoll was willing to give up prospect capital money to get Banda doesn't mean other teams were. The Dodgers didn't DFA Banda expecting a big payout. They were hoping for a sucker and found one. These types of relievers get DFA'd all the time. Michael Tonkin has a better track record than Banda for example, he was DFA'd about 824 times in the last couple years, and he's on the free agent market right now. Want a better reliever? Danny Columbe is still available. Plenty of relievers on MiLB contracts with better track records than Banda like Scott Blewett.

I'm not against Banda, I think it's a good enough dart thrown at the board and hope it sticks. I'm also not against the price paid, albeit I would have rather we threw another mil at an IFA early on in the signing period. But I don't think Banda should just be handed a spot in the BP either. He's not an elite RP by any means. And if we have an extra 10mil now to spend on the BP then why haven't we done it? And if I had to make a choice between Banda and singing Coulombe to an ML contract that is an easy decision. 

[bunsen82]

On 2/13/2026 at 12:28 PM, bean5302 said:

I am consistent because I look at more than just the numbers I like. Yes, these kinds of fungible relievers do fall out of trees. Just because Zoll was willing to give up prospect capital money to get Banda doesn't mean other teams were. The Dodgers didn't DFA Banda expecting a big payout. They were hoping for a sucker and found one. These types of relievers get DFA'd all the time. Michael Tonkin has a better track record than Banda for example, he was DFA'd about 824 times in the last couple years, and he's on the free agent market right now. Want a better reliever? Danny Columbe is still available. Plenty of relievers on MiLB contracts with better track records than Banda like Scott Blewett.

Edwin Diaz - $23 million

Phillips - $6.5 million to pitch 6 weeks in 2026

Treinen  - $11 million 

Scott - $18 million 

Graterol   $2.8 million 

Dreyer $820k 

Klein 820k  

Vesia  $3.5 million 

$66.4 million  for their entire bullpen -  them letting go of Banda isn't because looking for a sucker,  its because they got an embarrassment of riches due to a $400 million budget.   Lets not start on stupid tangets when the Dodgers are playing on a completely different playing field than everyone else.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Quote

Why am I reminded of the opening scene from 'Major League' when the scouts are sitting around the table looking at the owner's new roster: "This guy is DEAD!"

well cross him off then.