Breaking: Twins Calling Up Former First-Round Pick Aaron Sabato

[Danchat]

7 hours ago, Parfigliano said:

It's mind boggling.  They carry Jackson for months, don't play, then 6 games left in the season DFA him.  

What possible reason makes sense for Zoll to do this?

They want him off the 40 man roster over the offseason, so may as well DFA him now. It doesn't make sense to have him be on the roster for so long without using him, but evidently given they have DFA'd three times this year, they are fine with another team claiming him.

[old nurse]

17 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I doubt most teams agree that playing with less players available is a good plan. 

I cannot wait for this team to be sold. 

Happy for Sabato! Good for him. 

Jackson was up for 100 games and played in 33. That is similar to many other backup catchers 

[old nurse]

17 hours ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Ladies and gentlemen, we've found it.  The best, most concise way to sum up the state of the Minnesota Twins in the year of our lord 2026: 

Some fans truly believe that better players will not help this team.

Congratulations, Pohlads.  You win.  

But you are saying that there was a better backup option there wasn’t for his role. If you want to try to. Be insulting you first have to try to be smart

[old nurse]

17 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

But if you are truly trying to contend as he has stated and showed with his deadline moves, you don't keep a player on the roster for two months to give four at bats.  You bring up someone that can contribute in some role.,  Who knows if it would have made a difference but due to the incompetence of Zoll we will never know.

So you are arguing that the 4th bench option is going to make a difference when  none of the call ups that have been called up to be backups have done anything to make anyone think they would have made an 8 game difference. Sorry but nobody in the system was going to come up and be Pete Crow Armstrong. 

[HarmonK03]

21 minutes ago, old nurse said:

So you are arguing that the 4th bench option is going to make a difference when  none of the call ups that have been called up to be backups have done anything to make anyone think they would have made an 8 game difference. Sorry but nobody in the system was going to come up and be Pete Crow Armstrong. 

This team wasn't a playoff team and one player wasn't going to change that.  But Zoll made moves that indicated they were a playoff contender at the deadline, you don't stop halfway, have players on the roster that can contribute in some role, other than playing cards.  This is roster management 101 in my opinion.

If you want to defend Zoll, by all means go ahead, but I am not sure how this move is defensible.

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

Jackson was up for 100 games and played in 33. That is similar to many other backup catchers 

He has started 5 games since July 4th and 2 of those were at first base, I do not think that is similar to other backup catchers.

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, HarmonK03 said:

This team wasn't a playoff team and one player wasn't going to change that.  But Zoll made moves that indicated they were a playoff contender at the deadline, you don't stop halfway, have players on the roster that can contribute in some role, other than playing cards.  This is roster management 101 in my opinion.

If you want to defend Zoll, by all means go ahead, but I am not sure how this move is defensible.

By all means say that the 4th bench option was the downfall of the Twins and the decline and ignore the non performance of other players was the cause. Maybe Joe Ryan’s and Byron Buxton’s August had a little to do with it. Oh, that is right, here you can’t say injuries to a star player can’t impact a team. Larnach psych bat went cold  Royce Lewis went cold.  So what do you have to give up to rent an ace pitcher, all star center fielder, and 2 players who were for stretches league average players?  They gave up players with “upside” and nothing more to improve the team. If other teams do not like your upside players the team can’t make more deals. 

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, old nurse said:

By all means say that the 4th bench option was the downfall of the Twins and the decline and ignore the non performance of other players was the cause. Maybe Joe Ryan’s and Byron Buxton’s August had a little to do with it. Oh, that is right, here you can’t say injuries to a star player can’t impact a team. Larnach psych bat went cold  Royce Lewis went cold.  So what do you have to give up to rent an ace pitcher, all star center fielder, and 2 players who were for stretches league average players?  They gave up players with “upside” and nothing more to improve the team. If other teams do not like your upside players the team can’t make more deals. 

Zero people are saying it's the downfall. Everyone but you says use all the spots available. 

[Woof Bronzer]

13 minutes ago, old nurse said:

By all means say that the 4th bench option was the downfall of the Twins 

No one is saying this.  

What people are saying is that it's really dumb to use one of 13 roster spots on a player you don't plan on playing.  

[USAFChief]

4 hours ago, old nurse said:

Jackson was up for 100 games and played in 33. That is similar to many other backup catchers 

Jackson wasn't the backup anything. 

[USAFChief]

On 9/21/2026 at 8:02 AM, DJL44 said:

Is Lewis going on the IL? The only other moves that make sense would be to cut Jeffers or Bell.

Slightly off topic, but "cut Jeffers?"

 

Now that WOULD be a move requiring an immediate dismissal of the GM.

Why in heaven's name would that "make sense?"

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Slightly off topic, but "cut Jeffers?"

 

Now that WOULD be a move requiring an immediate dismissal of the GM.

Why in heaven's name would that "make sense?"

If they already decided to not offer the QO. I agree that wouldn’t make any sense, but it would be a move consistent with playing for 2027. 

Bringing up Sabato for a couple games against the Giants just to bench him vs Texas and cut him in the offseason doesn’t make sense either but that is probably what we are seeing.

[HarmonK03]

What is Zoll trying to accomplish with his moves.  Now Nightengale is reporting that they have let Deron Johnson go, another scout shown the door.  The timing seems odd, unless Zoll has been told he will be back.  They may not have any scouts left by next season and we will be left at the mercy of Zoll and his spreadsheet geniuses.

[Shaitan]

On 9/21/2026 at 10:07 AM, IndianaTwin said:

From MLB Trade Rumors: "(Royce) Lewis has been playing through a shoulder issue for a few weeks now and has mustered only a .151/.179/.189 slash through his past 56 trips to the plate."

My journalism profs would have docked me for not having something like this as paragraph two in the OP: "The Twins have not yet announced whose place on the roster active Sabato will take. They also have not yet announced the corresponding 40-man roster move, though a spot could be cleared up by moving Byron Buxton to the 60-day IL." 

But it has the most important detail of all, "BREAKING." Priorities, man.

[old nurse]

9 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Zero people are saying it's the downfall. Everyone but you says use all the spots available. 

Hyperbole. Show it mattered. Plain and simple, it did not matter. It doesn’t make Zoll an idiot it is the least used position on the roster. 

[old nurse]

6 hours ago, HarmonK03 said:

What is Zoll trying to accomplish with his moves.  Now Nightengale is reporting that they have let Deron Johnson go, another scout shown the door.  The timing seems odd, unless Zoll has been told he will be back.  They may not have any scouts left by next season and we will be left at the mercy of Zoll and his spreadsheet geniuses.

Deron Johnson is special advisor to Sean Johnson. He was scouting director 2007-2016. Considering those drafts it was long overdue. 

[Mike Sixel]

6 minutes ago, old nurse said:

Hyperbole. Show it mattered. Plain and simple, it did not matter. It doesn’t make Zoll an idiot it is the least used position on the roster. 

Nm. Totally not worth it. 

[old nurse]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

Nm. Totally not worth it. 

Because you can’t. 

[Mike Sixel]

8 minutes ago, old nurse said:

Because you can’t. 

Blocked. Have a good day.