Twins Add First Baseman Minor League Deal

It was a good depth call as the Twins basically have no first base prospect unless you consider Miranda a first baseman, or Andrew Bechtold, who might still start the season at Wichita. Roy Morales and Caleb Hamilton are catchers that saw a lot of first base action. Of course, Curtis could also translate into the designated hitter.

But there is also an over-abundance of outfielders for the roster (when you look at 10 names from the Twins roster will be at AAA/AA ball). Celestino and Larnach will probably start at AAA. Sadly, so will Miranda, as well as Royce Lewis and/or Austin Martin (Not on the 40-man). Rortvedt will also be the AAA catcher in all likelihood. And maybe Rooker will also end up back in St. Paul.

I found it interesting that this transaction ws just posted on major league trade rumors, considering the signing happened back at the end of October and was briefly mentioned in another streaming post on this site.

With a real chance that the lockout will continue thru 1 April, the Saints will be missing at least a dozen players who are on the Twins 40-man.  Expect more of these type of signings of players to fill out the Saints roster 75 days from now.

IMO this move didn't move the needle at all. Many of our OF prospects on the 40 man roster Larnach, Rooker and Kiriloff are better suited at 1B with also Garver able to play there. Arraez lack of range also makes him a good candidate there, some say he's too short to play there but Arraez is 1" taller than Astudillo. They should focus their attention on some one who is a MLB ready CF to sub Buxton, or at least compete for that role.

17 hours ago, ashbury said:

No minor league signing is going to move the needle.  Needle-movers get major league contract offers, usually multiple offers from teams wanting their needle moved.  And yet, every organization sign minor leaguers every year.  Every organization.  Every year.

This guy, at least, is still a bit young and could be a decent substitute if he starts out hot and a roster vacancy occurs.  He's 25 and may be just a later bloomer.  He's not some 30-year old with no remaining upside.

I totally disagree that all minor league don't move the needle. Minor league signings at this stage should be done to give depth and shore up weak areas which would move the needle. 

Like I stated

"IMO this move didn't move the needle at all. Many of our OF prospects on the 40 man roster Larnach, Rooker and Kiriloff are better suited at 1B with also Garver able to play there. Arraez lack of range also makes him a good candidate there, some say he's too short to play there but Arraez is 1" taller than Astudillo. They should focus their attention on some one who is a MLB ready CF to sub Buxton, or at least compete for that role."

We have a lot of depth at 1B and not only MLB ready but also in the lower minors. We've been hurting for a long time at MLB ready true CF to help out Buxton. Right now we don't have anyone who is ready to be placed on the active roster to be Buxton's steady backup (Celestino, Martin and even Lewis will be excellent candidates but as of right now cannot be depended on). So tell me how many  true CFs have we signed to a minor league contract?  That'd really move the needle, not another potential bat that can plug into 1B. I'm saying that their priorities are all wrong.

On the flip side, a certain percentage of minor league free agents don't make it thru spring training. But the Twins are a far cry from the near 40 they signed to play last season.