3.9.26 ST Cuts

[thelanges5]

Is the lineup starting to take shape? Still have lives that done seem to fit. 
 

Here are the latest roster cuts per Matthew Leach:

Noteworthy cuts from Twins today. 

Optioned to AAA:
Klein
Prielipp
Raya
Rojas
Gonzalez
Morris
Rodriguez

Option to AA:
Mendez

Reassign to minor league camp:
Winkel

[nicksaviking]

Rodriguez AND Gonzalez?

So I guess they're not doing that bit where they pretend young players actually have a chance to earn a roster spot.

[Danchat]

Just now, nicksaviking said:

Rodriguez AND Gonzalez?

So I guess they're not doing that bit where they pretend young players actually have a chance to earn a roster spot.

This is an annual thing where we go "prospect XYZ should have a legitimate shot to start in the majors this year!"... and then they don't, no matter how good a camp they had. I remember people were claiming Austin Martin was going to make the Opening Day roster in 2022, and then again in 2023. Now he's finally gonna make the team Day 1 and it took until 2026!

[Linus]

Thanks for the info. Not surprised at all. Thought maybe Mendez would start in St Paul playing first

[nicksaviking]

10 minutes ago, Danchat said:

This is an annual thing where we go "prospect XYZ should have a legitimate shot to start in the majors this year!"... and then they don't, no matter how good a camp they had. I remember people were claiming Austin Martin was going to make the Opening Day roster in 2022, and then again in 2023. Now he's finally gonna make the team Day 1 and it took until 2026!

It's only March 9th though. Usually it's only the 'no shot in hell' guys that get re-assigned this early. Looks like in 2022 Martin held on until March a 29th re-assignment and in 2023 he was sent packing early but it was early but due to him being injured. They waited on Brooks Lee until March 22nd of 2024.

I guess they're extra cautious about starting the clock on these guys due to injury. Which is weird because nobody expects any owner or front office employees to be around when these guys are ready to hit arbitration.

[4twinsJA]

The only surprise is maybe this is a week earlier than expected.

[thelanges5]

Too many Larnach and Outman types (28-30 olds) on this roster for the young guys to have a real chance. Hopefully we see some of them get called up soon! 

[RpR]

50 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Rodriguez AND Gonzalez?

So I guess they're not doing that bit where they pretend young players actually have a chance to earn a roster spot.

No one earned a spot on Spring Training squad that is only mediocre .

[RpR]

7 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Too many Larnach and Outman types (28-30 olds) on this roster for the young guys to have a real chance. Hopefully we see some of them get called up soon! 

I would much rather they bring in a veteran or quasi-veteran squad as they did in 2019.

Keaschall looks to be a real pro, but beyond that, not only no winners for you bat first guys, but few gloves to make up for a bat below .TD's unreal expectations.

[SteveLV]

The 2 young OF's have been the best hitters in ST.  Twins trying to save money by keeping them down in AAA until the inevitable later call up when Outman and/or Larnach and/or Wallner falter(s).

[jaimedude]

2 hours ago, thelanges5 said:

Too many Larnach and Outman types (28-30 olds) on this roster for the young guys to have a real chance. Hopefully we see some of them get called up soon! 

They need to trade either Larnach or Wallner. They are same guy. Honestly Larnach they should trade while some teams still think he has upside. 

[Vanimal46]

2 hours ago, 4twinsJA said:

The only surprise is maybe this is a week earlier than expected.

Likely due to World Baseball Classic moving the timeline up for everyone. 

[Vanimal46]

5 minutes ago, jaimedude said:

They need to trade either Larnach or Wallner. They are same guy.

They couldn't be more different from each other how they play/expect to perform. 

[RpR]

1 hour ago, SteveLV said:

The 2 young OF's have been the best hitters in ST.  Twins trying to save money by keeping them down in AAA until the inevitable later call up when Outman and/or Larnach and/or Wallner falter(s).

According to Sports Illustrated, the best bats so far in order are: Roden, Outman, Keaschall and Rodriguez but they note Rodriguez strike out rate is a problem.

[amjgt]

1 hour ago, jaimedude said:

They need to trade either Larnach or Wallner. They are same guy. Honestly Larnach they should trade while some teams still think he has upside. 

There have been so many comments like this over the offseason and I just couldn't possibly disagree more (with the "same guy" part). 

a) Wallner is two years behind Larnach on the arbitration timeline. He's making $820k this season compared to Larnach's $4.5. He's under team control for 3 more years after this year.

b) Wallner is, has been, and probably always will be the superior hitter. He has a career 127 OPS+ and even his bad 2025 with a 110 OPS+ was much higher than Larnach's career OPS+ of 101 (and higher than Larnach's 99 OPS+ last year)

c) They both have defensive deficiencies, but I'd take Wallner in my OF over Larnach

d) Wallner has generally been healthier than Larnach. He missed 5 weeks in the first half last season with a Hamstring strain, but that's about it, over his Twins tenure. Larnach seems to wear down with lingering injuries which is part of the reason he DH'ed so much last season.

 

[amjgt]

I have zero interest in seeing Larnach play games for the Twins in 2026. Nothing against him, but in the OF I'd rather invest innings and ABs in Roden, Martin, Emma, Gabby, and even Outman and at DH he just clogs things up and his career 101 OPS+ just doesn't cut it there. 

[jaimedude]

6 minutes ago, amjgt said:

I have zero interest in seeing Larnach play games for the Twins in 2026. Nothing against him, but in the OF I'd rather invest innings and ABs in Roden, Martin, Emma, Gabby, and even Outman and at DH he just clogs things up and his career 101 OPS+ just doesn't cut it there. 

Same, would like to see Twins move on from Larnach. I only mentioned Wallner in the same light because he would bring back more in any potential trade. Would prefer the Twins trade Larnach.

[LakesPibble]

14 minutes ago, amjgt said:

There have been so many comments like this over the offseason and I just couldn't possibly disagree more (with the "same guy" part). 

a) Wallner is two years behind Larnach on the arbitration timeline. He's making $820k this season compared to Larnach's $4.5. He's under team control for 3 more years after this year.

b) Wallner is, has been, and probably always will be the superior hitter. He has a career 127 OPS+ and even his bad 2025 with a 110 OPS+ was much higher than Larnach's career OPS+ of 101 (and higher than Larnach's 99 OPS+ last year)

c) They both have defensive deficiencies, but I'd take Wallner in my OF over Larnach

d) Wallner has generally been healthier than Larnach. He missed 5 weeks in the first half last season with a Hamstring strain, but that's about it, over his Twins tenure. Larnach seems to wear down with lingering injuries which is part of the reason he DH'ed so much last season.

 

I don't get the Wallner angst on TD.   He's never going to be a super star but he's inexpensive and good for some taters.

Edited March 10 by LakesPibble
Clarify on here to TD

[RpR]

32 minutes ago, amjgt said:

There have been so many comments like this over the offseason and I just couldn't possibly disagree more (with the "same guy" part). 

a) Wallner is two years behind Larnach on the arbitration timeline. He's making $820k this season compared to Larnach's $4.5. He's under team control for 3 more years after this year.

b) Wallner is, has been, and probably always will be the superior hitter. He has a career 127 OPS+ and even his bad 2025 with a 110 OPS+ was much higher than Larnach's career OPS+ of 101 (and higher than Larnach's 99 OPS+ last year)

c) They both have defensive deficiencies, but I'd take Wallner in my OF over Larnach

d) Wallner has generally been healthier than Larnach. He missed 5 weeks in the first half last season with a Hamstring strain, but that's about it, over his Twins tenure. Larnach seems to wear down with lingering injuries which is part of the reason he DH'ed so much last season.

 

Larnach has become the better fielder than Wallner by far, especially in Right Field.

Wallner has gotten worse each year the more he plays; neither one has improved but Wallner has dropped the most.

[RpR]

23 minutes ago, LakesPibble said:

I don't get the Wallner angst on TD.   He's never going to be a super star but he's inexpensive and good for some taters.

He is turning into another Gallo, but with the equivalent of Juliens glove.

[nicksaviking]

5 hours ago, RpR said:

No one earned a spot on Spring Training squad that is only mediocre .

Great, I'll put you down for a James-Outman-is-so-good-we-don't-need-to-bother-looking-for-an-upgrade.

Any other AAAA DFA candidates on the roster you feel strongly about?

[DocBauer]

6 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Rodriguez AND Gonzalez?

So I guess they're not doing that bit where they pretend young players actually have a chance to earn a roster spot.

I feel your angst. I really do. I really want the Twins to follow part of the path that teams like the Brewers and Rays tread where you aren't SCARED to let young players struggle and adapt and live with the results for the first half of a season.

But I actually can understand these 2 cuts. Rodriguez, if I've heard correctly, has been K-ing about 40% right now. I don't know that I still wouldn't give him an opening day shot, but I can see rolling with Roden and seeing what he can do. I think the kid has a chance for a "nice" career as a 4th OF who can also play some 1B....he's done it before so why not now...who can bring a little bit of everything in his game. It allows a little more time for a healthy Rodriguez to ramp up and be the 1st man up when needed. 

Frankly, I'm OUT on Outman and Larnach and I want to see Roden and Martin get their opportunity. 

[Cory Engelhardt]

6 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Rodriguez AND Gonzalez?

So I guess they're not doing that bit where they pretend young players actually have a chance to earn a roster spot.

I mean, I think they could (or maybe should) trade Wallner and Larnach before opening day, and I’m still not ready to say that Gonzalez is ready even if that were to happen. 

[DocBauer]

6 hours ago, Linus said:

Thanks for the info. Not surprised at all. Thought maybe Mendez would start in St Paul playing first

I'm not saying I have this 100% correct, but I believe a player being optioned to AA, Mendez in this case, is more about procedure. He finished 2025 at AA, there are still roster restrictions at every level, and the MILB system is just starting to ramp up. And if you look up MILB rosters right now, you might be surprised who you'd see listed. Some pitchers still in camp are listed at AAA.

Additional example: there is an OF listed on the Saints roster by name of Garret Spain, who is a 25yo journeyman OF who probably has zero chance to crack the St Paul roster crowded with OF talent. So if kept around, he probably goes to AA for depth. So Mendez probably takes his spot at AAA. It's as fluid as the Twins keeping guys and sending them down.

Now, it's possible the Twins want Mendez to start the season in AA to work on playing 1B, as well as learning how to elevate the ball better despite his actual numbers from last season. But it's also possible he was sent to AA only as a procedure at this point. 

[amjgt]

10 hours ago, DocBauer said:

I'm not saying I have this 100% correct, but I believe a player being optioned to AA, Mendez in this case, is more about procedure. He finished 2025 at AA, there are still roster restrictions at every level, and the MILB system is just starting to ramp up. And if you look up MILB rosters right now, you might be surprised who you'd see listed. Some pitchers still in camp are listed at AAA.

 

We might get our answer once Kaelen Culpeeper eventually gets cut from camp, since he finished the year at AA

[Richie the Rally Goat]

On 3/9/2026 at 4:25 PM, Danchat said:

This is an annual thing where we go "prospect XYZ should have a legitimate shot to start in the majors this year!"... and then they don't, no matter how good a camp they had. I remember people were claiming Austin Martin was going to make the Opening Day roster in 2022, and then again in 2023. Now he's finally gonna make the team Day 1 and it took until 2026!

He could still get optioned to AAA for Outman who is out of options.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

13 hours ago, RpR said:

Larnach has become the better fielder than Wallner by far, especially in Right Field.

Wallner has gotten worse each year the more he plays; neither one has improved but Wallner has dropped the most.

Baseball Savant doesn’t agree with you, they look pretty comparable, and Larnach has been the one to deteriorate 

Wallner

Larnach

[amjgt]

One point to add to those cumulative stats is that Wallner played about 50% more innings in the OF last year than Larnach. 

If you normalize that to something like per 100 innings, Larnach would have more than twice as much negative Defensive Run value than Wallner and similar negative OAA.

[amjgt]

I'm also pretty confident that if you tossed Larnach over in RF you'd have way more teams running on his arm than they do on Wallner, which is a hard thing to quantify with these stats, but is almost certainly a real thing and at the very least a soft benefit.

[RpR]

14 minutes ago, amjgt said:

One point to add to those cumulative stats is that Wallner played about 50% more innings in the OF last year than Larnach. 

If you normalize that to something like per 100 innings, Larnach would have more than twice as much negative Defensive Run value than Wallner and similar negative OAA.

IF -  very common term at TD; it is a crutch that makes prose stilted.