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    Minnesota Twins Opening Day Roster

    Seth Stohs

    By Seth Stohs

    On Thursday morning, the Minnesota Twins announced their official Opening Day, 30-man roster and taxi squad.

    Image courtesy of Kim Klement, USA Today

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    The Twins start their season on Friday, but on Thursday morning, their Opening Day roster was announced.

    Pitchers

    Homer Bailey - SP

    Jose Berrios - Opening Day SP

    Tyler Clippard

    Randy Dobnak

    Tyler Duffey

    Rich Hill - SP

    Zack Littell

    Kenta Maeda - SP

    Trevor May

    Taylor Rogers

    Sergio Romo

    Devin Smeltzer

    Cody Stashak

    Lewis Thorpe

    Matt Wisler

    No big surprises here. With Jake Odorizzi starting the season on the IL, it's likely his start just gets skipped due to off days. But Dobnak, Smeltzer and Thorpe all make the team.

    Catchers

    Alex Avila

    Mitch Garver

    Again, no surprises here. Astudillo would have been an option, but he's yet to officially be cleared. He'll likely need some time in St. Paul before he would be activated as well.

    Infielders

    Ehire Adrianza

    Luis Arraez

    Josh Donaldson

    Marwin Gonzalez

    Jorge Polanco

    Miguel Sano

    The infield is covered pretty well and there are backups at each spot if needed.

    Outfielders

    Byron Buxton

    Jake Cave

    Max Kepler

    Eddie Rosario

    LaMonte Wade, Jr.

    Aaron Whitefield

    The surprise name here is clearly Aaron Whitefield. However, with his speed, he is a great candidate for pinch-running duties, particularly in extra innings. He also is a plus defensive center fielder and stated playing some in the corners last year.

    Designated Hitter

    Nelson Cruz

    He's good.

    Taxi Squad

    RHP Jorge Alcala

    C Tomas Telis

    LHP Caleb Thielbar

    One has to be a catcher, and Telis certainly makes the most sense. They're going to be smart with risking adding Ryan Jeffers to the 40-man roster, and Telis hit .330 in Rochester last year. Alcala and Thielbar both pitched in Wednesday's exhibition against the Cubs. Both are big league pitchers just hoping for an opportunity.

    10 Day Injured List

    Willians Astudillo

    Jake Odorizzi

    Restricted List

    Michael Pineda

    Fernando Romero

    What are your thoughts on the Twins 2020 Opening Day roster?

    Seth Stohs has been blogging about the Minnesota Twins since May 2003. A founder and owner of Twins Daily (including Brewer Fanatic, North Side Baseball), Seth has been a Twins fan for 40 years and has a passion for covering the minor leagues and prospects. #GirlDad
    Follow Seth Stohs on Twitter: sethtweets

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    Featured Comments

    twinstalker

    twinstalker 761

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    Whitefield will have to be added to the 40 man roster, but I believe they have a couple of open spots due to Pineda and Romero being on the restricted list.

    The problem with Whitefield isn't putting him on the 40, it's taking him off the 40. Bring back Pineda or possibly Romero, and you have to expose Whitefield to waivers. Now it may be that he has to be put on the 40 in November anyway, and they just won't be able to do that, but teams make claims often just to expose a guy right away, and therefore they become the default team when everybody passes.

     

    Basically, what I'm saying is that if the Twins were interested in keeping Whitefield, he wouldn't be on the 40. My guess is they think there's a decent chance other crap happens (like someone going on the 45 day), and he can stick through the regular season, or if nothing happens they dfa him when Pineda comes back.

     

    As for Celestino, they definitely don't want to have him on the roster. A full year's service time if he stuck for the 60 games. They don't really want to start his clock until a while into 2022.

    jmlease1

    jmlease1 15,285

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Tough beat for Blankenhorn who was probably right on the bubble. But Whitefield makes sense as insurance against Buxton not being ready or wanting to make sure they can find some rest for him, etc. I don't think they're going to be worried about service time issues with Whitefield or burning an option year like they might be with Celestino.

     

    Overall the roster makes sense. I was rooting for Blankenhorn, especially with Astudillo down with the COVID test, but that's the way it goes. I still think he may have a future as a super-utility guy: positional flexibility will be his ticket to MLB and it was great to hear that he was taking reps at a lot of different positions in "2nd camp".

    Danchat

    Danchat 14,025

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    The problem with Whitefield isn't putting him on the 40, it's taking him off the 40. Bring back Pineda or possibly Romero, and you have to expose Whitefield to waivers. Now it may be that he has to be put on the 40 in November anyway, and they just won't be able to do that, but teams make claims often just to expose a guy right away, and therefore they become the default team when everybody passes.

     

    Basically, what I'm saying is that if the Twins were interested in keeping Whitefield, he wouldn't be on the 40. My guess is they think there's a decent chance other crap happens (like someone going on the 45 day), and he can stick through the regular season, or if nothing happens they dfa him when Pineda comes back.

     

    As for Celestino, they definitely don't want to have him on the roster. A full year's service time if he stuck for the 60 games. They don't really want to start his clock until a while into 2022.

    I see, so it seems they're playing a service time game with Celestino. Whitefield is a non-prospect and unlikely to be anything more than a pinch runner/fielder, so it makes sense to add him and is an easy DFA option.

    Jimv

    Jimv 52

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

     

     

    He (And all the players) get tested every other day, I believe. He just needs to have two straight negative tests to be cleared. That could have happened already, but nothing has been announced. They've said throughout that he's been asymptomatic. 

     

    I hope that's right.  I know they said at the beginning he was asymptomatic, but hadn't heard anything since.  And typically, if you're positive at day one but asymptomatic, by day 10 or so you're negative or symptomatic.  So I hope he's negative but nothing has been announced.



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