DuluthFan

Chris Hermann has not played catcher at the major league level this year (zero plate appearances as a catcher). You have to consider him an outfielder at this point, catching in an emergency only. While he still has one option year remaining, his spot at AAA may be taken by younger players who are promoted from AA. It would be doubtful that he could win a 25 man roster spot out of spring next year. This may be his last chance. Colabello's spot may have been taken by Vargas next season. Florimon has used his last option year this year. He is currently behind Escobar and Santana at the ML level and Bernier at the AAA level. Bernier has 2 options left and could have been a minor league free agent after the season. He would also have been eligible for the rule 5 draft if he is resigned without adding him to the 40 man. Hicks may be playing for the 4th outfielder position, not just for center field. He needs to out perform Schafer, Parmalee, Santana, Arcia, Nunez and Hermann. Plus he needs to beat out whatever outfielders the Twins sign in the off season (and they will need to sign at least one). And don't forget the unlikely situation that many (not I) have been pushing for, moving Plouffe to the outfield.

I wouldn't mind letting Parmalee and Florimon walk via waivers as well to clear up roster space. They both seem to have been replaced already on the roster.

Finally! This is a player with no options left, blocking other minor league pitchers and taking up a valuable roster spot. He has served his time and was give ample opportunity to earn a more permanent job, he just was not reliable enough to hang onto one.

His offensive skills are not the reason he was sent down. It was his defensive skills. He needs to not be a liability behind the plate. While neither Pinto nor Suzuki were gunning down runners early in the season, at least Suzuki wasn't consistantly throwing the ball away allowing runners to advance an extra base. It was more pronounced considering he was only behind the plate once a week. The DH posittion is currently filled, so unless he is going to play a corner outfield position, he will be sitting on the bench a lot at the major league level.

Just because there are open spots on the 40 man roster right now, it doesn't mean they need to immediately fill them. You don't want to start adding and dropping people from the roster if there is no pressing need. There are several instances that could come up where they will need some roster flexibility. The August trading period has not ended. The Twins may acquire another player that needs a 40 man roster spot (Milone). Injuries at the major league level could occur that requires you to add another player at a specific position. If the roster was full you would then need to drop someone you just added. You also must consider carefully who you call up and add to the roster. While it may seem like a good idea to add players just to try them out, you have to also consider the negatives. If you add then later drop a player from the 40 man roster, you have to expose him to waivers. If you end up adding and dropping that player a second time, he can choose to become a free agent. During the season, the only ways to lose minor league players to other teams is by trade and by DFA / waiving players. You don't want to add to possibilities by allowing a player to become a free agent midseason.

Buxton does not need to be added to the 40 man roster until 2016. Unless he is definitely 100% going to be on the opening day roster, there is no need to add him to the roster at this time. That spot can be used to protect another young player from the rule 5 draft this offseason. The Twins could also sign a few free agent outfielders in the offseason and would need the space. Buxton could also get seriously injured in the offseason and miss more time. In that case you could waste one of his years under control on a stay on the disabled list. Look at Sano's season this year. At this point in the year, it would best to leave him off the roster. He will be around next year, he's not going anywhere.

By playing Hicks at all the outfield positions, they are preparing him for 4th outfielder status. If he is not able to retake center field, he will be able to fill the role that Mastroiani and Fuld have done for the past couple seasons.

Point taken. You also have to take into account whether he has been DFA'd before. Two DFA's allow the player to choose to become a free agent. Considering the Twins signed him as a minor league free agent, it is likely that he has already been DFA'd before. Why potentially expose a player to waivers who may not get looked at otherwise? He is a player that would most likely be taken off the 40 man roster after the season. He could be exposed twice this offseason. Once for the waiver and again for the rule 5 draft.

Bringing Eric Farris up from AAA this late in the season would not make much sense unless you plan on keeping him on the major league team next year as well. He has already used up 2 of his option years while with Milwaukee (total of 10 PA over 14 games). If you wanted to keep Farris as a 4th outfielder next year, it would be nice to be able to option him if he struggles. It is also easier to trade a player like this if he can be stashed at AAA without taking a 40 man roster spot.

While he has good stuff in small doses, he cannot last long enough to be a consistent starter. He has trouble keeping the opponents off the bases for more than 4-5 innings. The Twins need their starters to last into the 6th and 7th innings while giving up under 4 runs. Deduno did not show consistency in doing that. He could typically last once or twice through the batting order before being hit hard. He appears to be a good candidate for long relief. If he can control his wildness, he could even become a setup man or closer some day. Some other points to consider: he was signed as a minor league free agent to be filler for the AAA team and was pushed into major league service after numerous injuries to the Twins staff. He no longer has options remaining which means if he finds himself in a long slump, the team cannot just send him down to AAA without DFA'ing him. Since he was DFA'd once before, he can become a free agent if DFA'd again. Since he has no options left, it is more difficult to trade him since the receiving team must keep him on the major league roster or DFA him to send him down. While he does have good stuff, he could be pushed out of a job by a lesser player who is more consistent, has options or is better. Right now he is just a borderline major leaguer, good enough to play, but not a lock if something better comes along.

Ok, Hells Yeah! Unless, by cursing that causes another point to accrue.... Heck Yeah!

Adding Buxton to the 40 man roster this year, after missing a lot of development time due to injury, would be a bad case of roster management. He does not need to be added this year. Since the Twins now have one of the better stocked minor league systems, they will need all of the extra roster spots to protect players who will become Rule 5 eligible this offseason. The Twins system will be under extra scutiny this offseason as other organizations look to plunder it via the draft.

To find out who needs to be added to the 40 man roster this offseason, check out the new organizational link on the home page. You can sort by year they become eligible for the rule 5 draft. Don't for get to include the already eligible players (some may have improved their standing compared to last year). Also noteworthy is the players that would become minor league free agents if they are not added to the 40 man roster. While there are many calls to call up Mays & Myer this year, it would be in the Twins best interests to give extended playing time to the other AAA pitchers on the 40 man roster first. The Twins need to know if they should keep them or DFA them this offseason. There are a couple of other pitchers that will need to be added this offseason or be exposed to the Rule 5 draft (Gilmartin). There is no doubt that Mays & Myer will be around next year, it is not so clear cut for some of the other young pitchers.

I'm speculating that the Twins front office will wait for the site to go down to announce several major trades and call ups of prospects.

He is probably sick and tired of all of the questions asking when so and so will be up with the major league team. I'm sick of reading about it myself.

While I appreciate the pitch framing stats that have come about in the last few years, there are a few things that trump that stat in common practice. With all other factors being equal, what is more important, pitch framing on the handful of border line calls that occur in a game or the catcher being able to throw the ball to second or third on an attempted steal without throwing the ball into the outfield? Pitch framing or stopping a wild pitch / passed ball from getting away? Pitch framing while batting .200 or batting .300? The pitch framing stat needs to be looked at differently. Consider pitch framing as the catcher's web gem. It's the same as a first baseman stretching out and scooping a ball out of the dirt, a shortstop performing an acrobatic leap and throw to first, a third baseman's diving stop along the baseline or an outfielder's leaping above the outfield fence robbing a homerun. If a position player does all the routine plays, he is considered a good defensive player. If he can provide the occasional web gem play, he is a great player. A catcher who makes the routine plays is a good defensive player, the ones who are good pitch framers are the great defensive players. Kurt Suzuki may not have great pitch framing skills but he is still a good defensive player. He makes the routine plays and doesn't make many errors. This is why many of his pitchers claim he a good player and like pitching to him.

..... Twins Daily experiences massive archive deletions as potential applicants delete 95% of their posts. On an unrelated(?) note, negative Twins posts on Twins Daily decrease by 95%.

So after reading the offending article and warning it appears the moderator warning was partly targeting the writer of the original article. The moderator pointed out that the headline and the first line of the article were at odds, basically that the article was derailed after just one line. I'm not sure if this was an attempt by the moderator at editing an article or just pointing out that most posters who frequent this site will only read the first line and base their posts on that one line.

There are only six games before the all star break. Once through the rotation. The team also wanted to drop a pitcher from the 25 man roster. They can make do until then. No point in calling up a starter to pitch one game and then sit for a week. Most likely we will see another move after the all star break. They will most likely shuffle the rotation at that time, perhaps make some other moves as well.

Didn't Polanco NOT cover 2nd base on a routine play? Doesn't that show he needs to work on the basics of shortstop defense? He needs more instruction and time in the minors. The major league roster is NOT the place for learning basic defense. He may certainly have a future with the major league club, but the future is not now.

This isn't an issue about not trusting Fryer, they now have the ability to play their hot hitting catcher without worrying about playing time to develop a young player. The team has struggled lately to score runs, the extra hitter is needed. And no they don't need to worry about developing Fryer. This is why he was on the roster to begin with, to provide competent back up catching while preserving roster flexibility for the future. He is there to burn through his options / service time so they don't have to 40 man roster another young catcher before he is ready or needs to be protected.

I laugh at the thought that Rosario doesn't have the range to play center field. As long as he can hit, anyone can pretty much play in the Twins center field. Santana is currently the major league center fielder for the Twins. He is getting regular starts over players who have outfield experience. He had very little outfield experience before playing this year. His inexperience has shown in his routes to fly balls. He is getting regular playing time because he can hit. If he wasn't hitting the Twins would play a more defensively adept player. With time he should learn the position better, but right now he is playing because of his bat, not his defense. So the thought of Rosario not having the range to play center is just not realistic. If Parmalee was hitting .300+ he would be in the outfield rather than on the bench.

There is no point in moving someone to the 60 day DL unless you needed the roster spot immediately. Until the Twins decide they want to add someone to the roster, the 15 day DL works just as well. Remember the issues that came up earlier this season with Bartlett's roster spot? Had they had an eligible player to shift to the 60 day DL at that time, they could have avoided losing a player then.

Burdi has not been signed yet and would most likely be several years before being ready for the major leagues. Archer and Pino are not on the 40 man roster.

If Pinto is on the major league roster, matching him up with Coreia and Deduno is the perfect way for him to develop his catching skills. He would get more chances per start to work on his catching, blocking, throwing skills. If he is matched up with pitchers that don't need the extra help from their catcher, he will not get better. Ideally he should be working on his defensive skills at the minor league level where the development of players should done, not at the major league level. As far as Pinto being the next franchise catcher, consider that if Mauer had not suffered his concussion he would still be the starting catcher for the next couple years. Pinto would have been at best a backup for the next couple of years if not still at AAA. The Twins drafted five(?) catchers a couple of years ago. If Mauer had played out his career at catcher, it would have been one of those players who would be projected as the next franchise catcher, not Pinto. Right now Pinto is not hitting. He is also pretty bad defensively. If he was hitting better, you could overlook his defensive lapses since he could contribute offensively. If your catcher can't hit, he should at least be able to contribute defensively. Right now, Fryer would be a better fit for this Twins team. Suzuki is playing well enough to start most of the games. Fryer is a good defensive catcher who can fill in while Pinto gets more time to develop his defensive skills at AAA. That is why Fryer is still on the 40 man roster, to provide defensive depth at catcher. It won't hurt his development to sit behind Suzuki and it will help Pinto to play more often at AAA to both work on his defense and get out of his current batting slump.