Examining Potential 40-man Additions

Adds: Mitch Garver, Stuart Turner, Daniel Palka, Fernando Romero, Lewis Thorpe, Felix Jorge

Possible: Jason Wheeler, Zack Jones

Granite would not get selected. If selected he would likely be returned.

Why would you consider adding Wimmers and dropping Tonkin? Tonkin has an 11.2 K/9 this year and he had a 2.65 ERA with a 9.7 K/9 in his time at AAA. Wimmers has a K/9 around 7 and an ERA around 4 in AAA.

I didn't realize I could only keep one...  I mentioned that if I was another team, I'd consider taking a flyer on Wimmers.  I leaned against it for the Twins.  Tonkin has had a rocky beginning to his MLB career.  I do not care to look when he'd be arb eligible, but it seems like he's had some significant service time.  Others have questioned the leverage of Tonkin's appearances this year.  If he keeps performing like this, he's a lock for the 25 man, let alone the 40 man.  If he Casey Fien's his way down the stretch, I'm not sure the Twins have much more patience.  

Tonkin has a career ERA of 3.61. Not a particularly rough start by Twins' standards.

I didn't realize I could only keep one... I mentioned that if I was another team, I'd consider taking a flyer on Wimmers. I leaned against it for the Twins. Tonkin has had a rocky beginning to his MLB career. I do not care to look when he'd be arb eligible, but it seems like he's had some significant service time. Others have questioned the leverage of Tonkin's appearances this year. If he keeps performing like this, he's a lock for the 25 man, let alone the 40 man. If he Casey Fien's his way down the stretch, I'm not sure the Twins have much more patience.

Tonkin has just a hair over 1 year of service time.

He's under team control at least through the 2020 season.

He will be a borderline super 2 after next season.

Tonkin has just a hair over 1 year of service time.
He's under team control at least through the 2020 season.
He will be a borderline super 2 after next season.

So yeah, assuming no injury or pass through waivers, he's likely a super 2 with arbitration eligibility in 2018.  I would guess he's substantially better than Wimmers now, but will he be better than Shaggy, Reed, and Burdi such that we would rather have him than a player with the flexibility of 3 option years?  A lot of times you want that last reliever to be able to go up and down. I don't know if Pressley's got options, but I think Tonkin will have to demonstrate that he's an actual asset to the pen and not just a guy out there.

Ok I misunderstood Tonkin's service time.

I took bbrefs 1.005 as a running tally, didn't realize that was entering the season.

So yes, he will not be a super 2.

I agree with the locks, Palka, Jorge, Romero and if keep both catchers, Garver and Turner, having just Centeno on the roster is not ideal. Of the ML 25 man now, I don't see Suzuki, Santana, Plouffe, And Abad back. I am hoping we can just buy out Nolasco and move on, a la John Danks

Depends on what kind of numbers you want to look at. Danks had a much higher ERA than Nolasco does. 246 pitchers so far have started a game so far this year in the majors.   By ERA, 87 of them have fared worse than Nolasco.  By SIERRA, there are 137 worse. By fWAR, 196 of them have fared worse than Nolasco.  That is why they don't just release him. He is not bad enough to do that. As it is, they still have had worse production from the 5th starter position.  There is still some value there. More if someone looks at WAR and FIP and not LOB%. If Dean/Milone had pitched better then the team has to consider their options.

I'm flabbergasted that people don't have Vielma as a lock. There's no doubt he would stick for a year. His bat is okay... But his glove is MLB ready. He will be in the majors by this time next year if not earlier

Vielma still can't really hit, and glove-only guys are limited in value . . . John McDonald hung around forever as an inexpensive journeyman, for instance, but those guys aren't in high demand.

If you see Vielma as a bonafide prospect, then you look at Dozier vs. Polanco and make a trade decision there.But if keeping BOTH Polanco and Dizoer, Vielma will egt lost in the shuffle and stands to be passed by any number of other players in the system. It's what makes a general manager's job tough. Who to keep and who to pass. Vielma is one of those guys that if you aren't going to keep him, does he get you a better return when packaged, say, with a veteran and salary you wish to rid yourself of.

The Twins are currently flush with middle infielders who can hit, why would the put one on the 25 who can't?

Defense is secondary to offense for this club, and in this situation, I completely agree. No need to intentionally make a black hole where one isn't currently present.

It seems everyone wants a defensive first SS, yet when the team gets one, the leash is about ten games before the complaining starts; see Florimon and Punto.

If you see Vielma as a bonafide prospect, then you look at Dozier vs. Polanco and make a trade decision there.But if keeping BOTH Polanco and Dizoer, Vielma will egt lost in the shuffle and stands to be passed by any number of other players in the system. It's what makes a general manager's job tough. Who to keep and who to pass. Vielma is one of those guys that if you aren't going to keep him, does he get you a better return when packaged, say, with a veteran and salary you wish to rid yourself of.

In my opinion, Dozier and Polanco is exclusive from the Vielma decision.   Both are 2B.  Polanco could potentially play 3B too but he is a 2B.   Vielma is a SS prospect.  And I wouldn't pigeonhole him as a defensive player.  He can hit.  22 y/o and .280 in AA.  Thats plenty.  He isn't going to hit for power, thats not the type of guy he is, but there is no doubt in my mind he could hit .240- .250 and play good defense in the majors right now.   That has organizational depth value and no doubt he could be stashed on a team for a year.  Assuming Gordon progresses as we think he will, I think Vielma will be a necessary depth player and have great trade value when the time comes to package.   And I wouldn't to lose Vielma before we see more with Gordon's development.

The Twins need to look at bubble guys this September: Harrison, Wheeler and Wimmers come to mind.

Happily, they don't need to add Gonsalves, Stewart, burdi, Reed and such (but next year maybe).

They have to move some guys like Thiorpe to the AAA roster, I think, to avoid the minor league end of the draft, which could be devastating to the Twins in some areas.

Sadly, the Twins were forced, for some reason, to add Melotakis, Landa, Rosario, Walker. Now you can't remove them without sending them thru waivers and having another team give them a 40-man. Yet I don't see any of the four contributing greatly to the Twins in 2017 except as a callup, and not until 2018 seeing them on the 25-man roster at best. And I would argue that the the Twins COULD remove Walker and Rosario, as they are being passed by other prospects. Yet both could be tempting grabs for teams with less prospects in thir own system that need protection.

Hapily, Palka is the closest to needing to stick at the major league level. The Twins are sadly stuck with Walker still on the 40-man. That's where the gamble sometimes backfires. You carry guys for a couple of years and hope hope hope they are major league players.

The Twins also need to add Jones.

Agree with others on risking Boshers. But with his spot, the 7th guy I would grab is Aaron Slegers. I'm probably in the minority on that but I think he has a chance to be solid.