Jeremy Nygaard

We’ve all heard it. “Coach, are you making any transactions?” “Yeah, we’re going to option Vasquez to Rochester and recall Tyler Duffey.” So what does that mean? Well, this transaction the Twins made recently is the simplest form of making a transaction involving options. Both Andrew Vasquez and Tyler Duffey are on the Twins 40-man roster, so “optioning” Vasquez means that while he’s still on the 40-man roster, he’s no longer on the 25-man roster. It also means the he is not out of options. (More on that later.) The word “recall” means that Duffey, who was on optional assignment is now on the active roster. Easy peasy, right? Well, yeah… sorta. But what about all the other transactions that involve options? Or transactions that don’t happen because of a lack of options? Over the coming weeks we’ll look at how the 40-man is composed and the rules behind it, but with this piece we’re only going to focus on the players on the 40-man roster. All teams are allowed to carry 40 players with major league contracts, but only 25 can be on the “active” roster. The rest must be on the injured list or, if playing in the minor leagues, on an optional assignment. That means that teams are allowed to carry 15 players on major league contracts, who are not in the major leagues. Most players get on the 40-man roster the same way: The team is forced to add them in November prior to the Rule 5 Draft in December. (Again, we’ll talk more about what that means later in this series.) These players, usually guys who are playing A- or AA-ball, don’t make it long in spring training before being “optioned” to minor league camp. This past November, the Twins added LaMonte Wade, Nick Gordon and Luis Arraez to their 40-man roster. All three were optioned at the same time - in the second round of roster cuts - and were the first position players sent out. Upon being “optioned” to minor league camp, all three players are on their first year of “optional assignment.” And now, because they have all spent at least 20 days on “optional assignment,” it’s official: They have used an option. That’s it. There will be times through the course of a season where a player is optioned and recalled repeatedly. If his stints - short or long - on optional assignment add up to 20 days, that counts as an option. Their 2019 season counts as a season they spent on optional assignment. If a player spends a majority of a season in the major leagues, is optioned on the first of July and recalled on July 17th, while spending no more time in the minor leagues after that, that option would not count because it was less than 20 days. Additionally, he would receive major league service time for the entire season. I've said “first option” or “first year of optional assignment,” so that must mean that they get more than one, right? Exactly. The widespread belief is that players get three options. And that is true 99% of the time. (Sadly, very few people - including some in baseball - understand why and when players are granted that rare fourth option. We’ll cover that in depth next week.) After a player has spent three years on optional assignment, it becomes much more difficult to send him to the minor leagues. We'll discuss this more in-depth soon, but Tyler Austin is a prime example of a player that is out of options... which, in turn, limited the Twins options when they needed his roster spot. And as simple as it's sounded so far, there’s more. While teams can place players on optional assignment for parts or all of three seasons, there are actual limits in place that prevent that, in some cases. Injured players cannot be optioned. Otherwise, it would have made sense to option Gabriel Moya to the minor leagues during spring training. He will likely be activated and immediately optioned when healthy (This happened earlier today.) Miguel Sano is a similar case. If it would have been allowed, optioning him and stopping his service clock would be a way to manipulate service time. So it’s simply not allowed. Players who have five or more years of experience cannot be optioned without consent. This came into play in 2012 with Jason Marquis. Marquis signed a major-league contract but missed a significant amount of spring training due to a family emergency. Unable to get into game shape - and with an option remaining - he accepted a minor league assignment to get ready for the season despite having the ability to reject it. (He struggled upon his re-arrival to the big leagues and was released before the end of May.) (Jeremy’s note: At one point, there was a such a thing called “optional assignment waivers.” Players that had amassed a certain amount of service time had to clear this set of waivers to be sent on optional assignment to the minor leagues. It was understood among teams that anyone placed on this set of waivers had given consent, so other teams would not claim them. This forced teams to DFA players - this happened to Andrew Albers once - before optioning them. This was eliminated before the 2017 season.) If you have more questions about options, please ask. Until then, put the following into your baseball vernacular. (If you have leave a question about an upcoming topic, I’ll weave the answer into that particular story.) GLOSSARY “Option” is the act of sending a player on the 40-man roster to the minor leagues. “Recall” is the act of bringing a 40-man player from the minor league to the major leagues. “Calling up” is the act of adding a non-40-man player to the 25-man roster. “Purchasing/selecting (the contract)” is the act of adding a non-40-man player to the 40-man roster… and can also be used when adding to the 25-man roster. “Optional assignment” is a yearly thing. You could be optioned/recalled an unlimited number of times each year. Once you’re optioned, you cannot be recalled for 10 days (unless you’re replacing someone on the injured list). You have to spend 20 days on optional assignment for it to count. If you spend less, the option does not count and you receive service time for the days you were “on option.” STATUS (Let's take a closer look at the players on the 40-man roster with less than five years of service time.) OUT OF OPTIONS INF Ehire Adrianza 1B C.J. Cron OF Max Kepler P Matt Magill P Trevor May P Adalberto Mejia P Blake Parker SS Jorge Polanco LAST OPTION (cannot be optioned after this season) P Chase DeJong (technically, DeJong has not been on optional assignment for 20 days yet this season) P Tyler Duffey SS Ronald Torreyes OTHERS 2B Luis Arraez (used: 1) UTIL Willians Astudillo (used: 1) P Jose Berrios (used: 2) OF Byron Buxton (used: 2) OF Jake Cave (used: 1 -- 2019 could be his second, if he's not recalled within 20 days) C Mitch Garver (used: 1) SS Nick Gordon (used: 1) P Stephen Gonsalves (used: 2) P Ryne Harper (used: 0) P Trevor Hildenberger (used: 0) P Zack Littell (used: 2) P Gabriel Moya (used: 1 -- 2019 could be his second, if he's not recalled within 20 days) P Fernando Romero (used: 3 -- should qualify for fourth, if needed*) P Taylor Rogers (used: 1) SUPERMAN Eddie Rosario (used: 2) 3B Miguel Sano (used: 2) P Kohl Stewart (used: 1) P Lewis Thorpe (used: 2) P Andrew Vasquez (used: 1) OF LaMonte Wade (used: 1) *We will do this in more depth next week, but Romero is on his third optional assignment. What is noteworthy is that Romero blew out his elbow in 2014 and didn't pitch again until 2016, which was his first season with the 90 days necessary to account for a "professional season." That means that 2019 is only his fourth season and he would be eligible for the elusive fourth option in 2020. You're welcome.

You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Additionally, you can access all the previous episodes as well. Let us know what you think and thanks for listening!

You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Let us know what you think and thanks for listening!

You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Let us know what you think and thanks for listening!

You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. Nelson Cruz Signing and Possible Extensions: 1:58 Martin Perez Signing: 10:07 Craig Kimbrel? Other Free Agents & Payroll: 23:07 25-Man Roster Predictions: 45:50 Question from the Audience (Perez, Media and the fans, Free Agents) : 1:11:10 Let us know what you think and thanks for listening!

For much greater detail, listen to our podcast. You can listen directly here or download directly from iTunes here. As it stands currently (with the six free agents), the Twins have 37 players on their 40-man roster. Both Jeremy and John are going to pare down that number by outrighting Johnny Field, Zach Granite, Chase DeJong, Tyler Duffey, John Curtiss and Aaron Slegers. John will outright Alan Busenitz additionally. Neither are tendering a contract to Robbie Grossman (who could be brought back for less than $4 million). This puts Jeremy's roster at 30. John has 29. By November 20, teams must add Rule 5-eligible players to their 40-man. Both Jeremy and John will add Nick Gordon, LaMonte Wade and Luis Arraez. John will also add Jake Reed and Tyler Jay. Jeremy will add Johan Quezada. This puts both rosters at 34. Our intention was to leave an open spot to draft an Rule 5 players and keep our payroll under $125 million. If you've listened to the podcast before, you'll know that Jeremy has been a big fan of Nathan Eovaldi (even before his great playoff run). Both Jeremy and John would sign him to a 4 year, $58 million deal (contract projection from Twins Daily's offseason handbook). John will spend more handsomely on the bullpen adding both Andrew Miller (2 yr/$24m) and Joe Kelly (2 yr/$14.5m). Jeremy, never a believer is spending big on bullpen arms, is only adding Sergio Romo (1 yr/$3m). On the offensive side of things, it's Jeremy who is opening up the wallet. He's adding Jose Iglesias (2 yr/$18m) to play shortstop, allowing Jorge Polanco to slide over to second base and providing a bridge to Royce Lewis. He's also hoping for Josh Donaldson (1 yr/$15m) to regain health and dominate Target Field once again, limiting his time at third base (60 games) and letting him DH 50-70 times. His last add provides positional flexibility, adding Marwin Gonzalez (3 yr/$33m) who can play all around the infield and the outfield corners. John plugs D.J. LeMahieu (3 yr/$38 m) in at second base, electing to keep Polanco at shortstop and swings for the fences, adding Adrian Beltre (2 yr/$30m) to provide leadership and guidance to the young core, especially Miguel Sano. All told, Jeremy's projected payroll comes in right around $125m while John's is a little higher, around $130m. All of these signings may be unlikely, but during the podcast we talk about alternatives as the Plan A guys come off the board. Listen and let us know what you think.

Listen here. You can also view and download all of our episodes on iTunes.

You can find us on iTunes. You can listen to the latest Twins-related episode. It's also available on our Across the Meadow website. In addition to that, you can also listen to us preview each football team for the upcoming fantasy football season. We'd love for you to listen and let us know what you think. John also mans our Twitter account and will definitely engage with you.

I'd like to introduce Twins Daily readers to something new. You may have noticed - or maybe not - that my writing and commenting has been much more sporadic this season. There are plenty of reasons for that... mostly growing kids and more responsibilities at work. But my interest in the Twins and their affiliates has never waned. I don't follow any less and I'm still certainly not short of opinions. What became of that is that I'd have a lot of Twins conversations with my neighbor. I'd be out with my dog or getting the mail or rolling the garbage to the end of the driveway and sometimes my neighbor, John Miller, would be outside. Our conversations would typically be about the Twins. We'd have these conversations across the road that splits our property, Meadow Lane. (Which is where we came up with our somewhat cheesy name.) He's been a long time reader of Twins Daily. (But never attended Winter Meltdown or a Touch Em All Pub Crawl. We'll have to fix that.) We'd talk about different things that have been written or commented on these very pages and he's said a number of times that he was thinking about starting a blog. And he should! At some point in time - probably after attending Gleeman and the Geek's first Taproom Tuesday of the year - we started talking about doing a podcast together. And last week, leading up to the trade deadline, that finally happened. If you're into podcasts, give it a shot. Give us feedback. We've jumped through the hoops to get our podcast on iTunes. You can listen to the Trade Deadline Preview (Episode 1) or the Trade Deadline Review (Episode 2). It's also available on our Across the Meadow website. We'd love for you to listen and let us know what you think. John also mans our Twitter account and will definitely engage with you.

As teams look at the market, it becomes a balance of “what have you done for me lately?” and “who is this player typically?” When the answer to both of those questtions is very good, you’re getting a lot in return. Negotiations become slightly more difficult when the answers don’t match up… especially when the player is on the wrong side of 30. Today, we’re going to look at a few other players who, for one reason or another, stretch those questions a little bit further than Dozier, a top second basemen who is having a down year, and Escobar, a versatile defender with a solid bat. Kyle Gibson is having a great year. He’s got an additional year of control, his slider is nearly unhittable and when he’s not producing outs by strikeouts, he’s getting them on ground balls. He’s a great example of a player who, if he continues pitching the way he has since the second half of last year, could really help the Twins get back into contention in 2019. The Twins, though, appear poised to head into spring training with more viable rotation options than any other year in recent memory. In short, maybe it’s worthwhile to shop Kyle Gibson. Though there isn’t an urgent need to move him - there are worse things than plugging him into an experienced rotation next year - it’s worth taking a look around to see who might be interested. For me, there is one team that sticks out: the Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are in the midst of a NL West battle that may last until the final days of the season and have gotten productive seasons out of four of their five rotation members. Their fifth member, Chad Bettis, is currently on the DL with a blister. In his place, Colorado has been starting Antonio Senzatela, who himself just returned on Sunday from his own blister issues. I’m not going to pretend I know a lot about their rotation, but it seems like blister issues are typically a recurring problem. Enter Gibson, who has made 27 or more starts in each season since returning to health after Tommy John surgery. Colorado, where no free agent pitcher ever wants to go, should be motivated to add a groundball pitcher with another year of team control, even if they don’t stay in contention to win the division. The targeted headliner in a return package from the Rockies should be 23-year-old AAA infield Ryan McMahon. McMahon played almost exclusively at third base until shifting over to first base. The Rockies have all-world Nolan Arenado to man the hot corner for the foreseeable future, so McMahon was moved to help accelerate getting him into the lineup. He's also played quite a bit of second base. McMahon is a good hitter, has a good understanding of the strike zone, hits for power and also can steal some bases. Now here’s where the problem starts. If you’d paid close attention to Gibson over his last calendar year, you think he’s turned the page and is now a mid-rotation starter and his trade value should match that. “Yeah, but…” would be how every other team in baseball responds to that. I would think McMahon isn’t enough. I’d want someone in addition who is closer to MLB ready. The Rockies might think McMahon alone is too much. To move Gibson, though, the offer would need to overwhelm. Fernando Rodney is another example of a player who might not get the value his performance has dictated. Understandably, too, as he’s 41 years old. If not for his age and the rapid decline that will set in at some point - though there is nothing in his peripherals that suggest that decline is going to happen soon - Rodney has value, under contract for $4.25 million next year. The Braves, having recently lost their closer, seems like an excellent match. Would the Twins have interest in 19-year-old RHP Freddy Tarnok, a third-round pick last year who is new to pitching and having success in low-A ball? The Braves didn’t seem to have too much interest in Jeurys Famillia before the Mets dealt him to Oakland. One of the reason had to do with not wanting to deal from the top of their stash of prospects. Tarnok doesn’t fit into that group, but his potential certainly does. I don’t think any return for Rodney is going to include much. Is it worth it to deal away a controlled, affordable, mostly reliable closer for what amounts to a lottery ticket? It might be easy to say no to that from the Twins perspective. At the same time, the Braves might ask if it is worth trading a high-ceiling lottery ticket for a guy who is over twice the lottery ticket’s age. They might pass on that as well. Lance Lynn and Ervin Santana have both done enough (or not enough) to stay safe through the July deadline. Logan Morrison is having such a disastrous season, it’d be hard to merit any return. So I guess that leaves Joe Mauer. I’d accommodate Mauer if he wants to chase a championship. Regardless, I’d consider it more than likely that Mauer is back in a Twins uniform next year. But that might be a conversation for a different day. *** BONUS BITS: Typically trading multiple pieces to the same team will reduce the return. Dealing Escobar and Dozier to the Brewers in the same trade might enable them to ask for one of their top prospects, like Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta or Corey Ray. (I still don't think the Brewers have any desire to move any of those three.) The other thing that adds intrigue to this situation is that the Brewers just lost a starting pitcher for the rest of the season. How much might Milwaukee give up to secure a pitcher like Gibson? Might they be interested in Lance Lynn? There are a number of questions that can only be answered in time. But I certainly wouldn't rule out a creative deal that packages multiple players together. Likely? No. Possible? Sure.