Is THIS the Year for Jorge Alcala?

59 minutes ago, ashbury said:

It's true.  But the trick is to do it without consuming too many major league innings in failed projects.  IMO the Twins aren't quite at the point of having to do it the wrong way, but they're cutting it close.

By my review of the 40-man roster a few weeks ago, these are the pitchers who can't be sent to the minors (service time, or 0 options remaining):

Pablo Lopez
Chris Paddack
Anthony DeSclafani
Brock Stewart
Caleb Thielbar
Steven Okert
Jay Jackson

And these are the optionable pitchers who are locks to come north anyway:

Bailey Ober
Joe Ryan
Griffin Jax
Justin Topa
Johan Duran

That's 12, and leaves room for one of these conventionally strong candidates (a month ago):

Jorge Alcala
Kody Funderburk
Josh Staumont
Louie Varland

Anyone who believes one of these is a lock, believes we have our 13, and there's no room for a "find."  Even with just the first 12, there's not a lot of room for maneuvering.  If those four don't make the grade, these are the longer-shots:

Matt Canternino
Brent Headrick
Cole Sands
Josh Winder
Simeon Woods-Richardson
Zack Weiss

If a non-roster invitee makes the cut, then Weiss or Sands probably gets DFA/waived.

Anyway, there's not a ton of wiggle-room for letting a long-shot do his thing.

 

Of course all this is "barring injury", which means it's not really definitive at all. 😀

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the great breakdown!

I think we all can agree, other than an IL for Desclafini, Varland begins the year at AAA, right or wrong, as Ober did a year ago. SWR and Canterino the same, though Cantetino MIGHT get some early AA time, IMO, in what might be slightly better weather to just his "groove on" plus a potential initial roster crunch at AAA as they sort out the arms there. Personally, I'd rather they just jettison some of the milb FA they brought in and just make room.

What your list proposes is the Twins have ONE bullpen spot available to begin the season, everyone healthy and ready to go, including Disco, who is a wait and see despite reports he's throwing and going to be ready.

Despite options or no options, barring an injury, Duran, Jax, Stewart, Thielbar, Topa are all locks. And I'd say deservedly so. Okert has a solid history and is also a probable deserving lock. That's 6 of 8 bullpen spots. 

You're right when we talk about the last spot, or two, being flexible for bullpen rotation. But if you have a solid rotation and pen, does that flexibility matter? Sands spent most of 2023 as a sacrificial lamb who barely threw at the ML level at times. 

So who fills the final 2 spots in the pen? Well, the re-invented Jay Jackson went overseas to find himself. And he has not options. And he did well for the Jay's last year. But his $ is negligible. So if he stinks, he costs next to nothing to let someone else to take his spot. How many others have we seen DFA the past few seasons and then go back to St Paul?  But Jackson is certainly a candidate to make the roster if he's actually showing something. And why not? Not to sound disheartened, but he'd be an easy DFA if things don't turn out. Can Staumont get his game together? If he can, he was a tremendous signing. If he needs more time, how do the Twins make that work? And he does have an option.

Meanwhile, there are the arms of Alcala and Funderburk, and maybe someone like Henriquez sitting and waiting. I DON'T agree the Twins have assembled some pen with no options. Point in fact there ARE pen arms with options, and only a couple of arms without options that could be easy DFA options for the last couple of spots if they don't produce.