John Bonnes

The Twins cleared eight players from their 40-man roster today in moves that affected suspects, prospects and Matt Capps. Because there were actually forty-three players on the 40-man roster, the moves left five spots open which will be filled throughout the offseason by free agents and other new players as well as Twins prospects that the organization wants to protect. Of the eight, the biggest name was former closer Capps, who was acquired by the Twins by trade in 2012 and has signed two consecutive contracts with the Twins. The Twins had a $6 million option (with a $250,000 buyout) on Capps for next year, but he had been hurt for most of this last season, hurting his chances of making anywhere near that money on the free agent market. Capps release does suggest that the Twins aren’t currently talking with him about re-signing him yet again. They have a similar option on pitcher Scott Baker which they are also assuredly going to decline, but they did not do so yesterday, likely because they are in talks to re-sign him according to Terry Ryan. Of the other seven players released only one did not ever make it to the majors – relief prospect Carlos Gutierrez, who was claimed by the Chicago Cubs. Gutierrez was a first-round pick by the Twins in 2008, but stalled out in AAA and eventually underwent season-ending shoulder surgery this July. It is not clear when he’ll be able to pitch again. The cuts included five other pitchers: Esmerling Vasquez is a somewhat wild reliever who was converted to a starter midway through the year in Rochester. The 28-year-old had good success in that role but struggled with his control in a September promotion to the Twins. PJ Walters was a 27-year-old starter had spent time with the Cardinals and Blue Jays prior to this season. He had success in his initial few outings, but eventually was sidelined with a shoulder injury. He also struggled this September when he returned. Kyle Waldrop is also a first round pick by the Twins, but underwent shoulder surgery in 2008. He has since become a pitcher who lives and dies by getting ground balls. He appeared in 17 games with the Twins this season, all of them in relief. Jeff Manship bounced back from a injury-plagued 2011 to stay mostly healthy this year, but the 2.91 ERA he posted in Rochester didn’t translate to the majors. His threw relief in 12 games, posting a 7.89 ERA. Finally, Luis Perdomo joined the Twins last offseason from the Padres organization. He’s traditionally struggled with his control, but made progress in Rochester only to see that progress disappear in the majors. He appeared in 15 games, pitching seventeen innings and walking 12. The only batter trimmed was outfielder Matt Carson, who had been a bit of a surprise when he was called up to the majors in late August. The 31-year-old outfielder received 66 at-bats, hitting .211 with just one extra-base hit. While these represent moves represent the lion’s share of 40-man roster moves, more can be expected. When Carl Pavano declares free agency within the first couple of days of the World Series, he will be dropped. Some arbitration decisions could lead to more openings. And if Scott Baker and the Twins fail to each an agreement, that would result in another opening. ~~~ If you’re interested in some of the Twins prospects that may fill some of these spots, Seth Stohs has an essay in the TwinsCentric 2013 Offseason Handbook that list the top candidates likely to be rewarded a spot. It is shipping now at a 30% discount until the end of the World Series.

In our TwinsCentric Offseason Handbook, we’re including a transcript from a 45-minute meeting "State of the Twins" interview with Terry Ryan. As you can imagine, an 8000-word interview covers a lot of topics, including: the strengths of the new coaching staff, Joe Mauer’s future at catcher, additional offseason priorities beyond starting pitching, how Twins approach waiver wire or minor league free agents, thoughts on the state of the Twins minor leagues, his evaluation of the Twins middle infield, [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] whether Trevor Plouffe can stay at third base, how the Twins will fit Chris Parmelee into the lineup, and of course how the Twins will try to fix their starting rotation. One encouraging note, at least in my opinion, is that Ryan seems to be open to adding free agent pitchers who are a few cuts above Jason Marquis, who the Twins signed to a one-year, $3M. TWINSCENTRIC: As you look at the pitchers who are likely to become free agents or are scheduled to be free agents, do you think it’s a deep free agency class? TERRY RYAN: Thin. TWINSCENTRIC: You think it’s thin? TERRY RYAN: Sure. You tell me who you’re thinking about. I can’t comment on who is out there. There’s a few guys out there who are pretty darn good. TWINSCENTRIC: Are you likely to be chasing some players who are pretty darn good? TERRY RYAN: We better. TWINSCENTRIC: So you’re looking to add a top of the rotation, maybe not a #1 guy, but maybe a #2 guy or a top half of the rotation? TERRY RYAN: We’ll see. We’ll figure out how many years he’s looking for and how many dollars they want to get. TWINSCENTRIC: Are you willing to give multi-year deals to pitchers? TERRY RYAN: You aren’t going to get a pitcher unless you give a multi-year deal. So who qualifies as a “pretty darn good” pitcher? Despite Ryan’s characterization of the market as thin, there are no shortage of candidate that could be viewed as an asset to a rotation. Beyond ace Zach Greinke, the following will all likely get a contract in excess of $20 million dollars this offseason: Jake Peavy, Ryan Dempster, Dan Haren, Anibal Sanchez, Edwin Jackson, and Kyle Lohse. Another half dozen could get contracts in excess of $10 million: Hideki Kuroda, Brandon McCarthy, Hisashi Iwakuma, Ervin Santana, Joe Saunders, Jeremy Guthrie and Shaun Marcum. That’s fourteen pitchers, most of whom would raise the eyebrows of even the most skeptical Twins fan. However, Ryan was also hesitant to commit to a payroll number and again emphasized that the Twins rotation woes won’t be solved solely through free agency. Does this mean the Twins may only have the funds to make one major signing and look to fill the other spots via other means? We likely won’t need to wait too long to find out. Ryan hinted that he plans to be aggressive with players that they think are going to be a good fit. That is consistent with the Twins approach last offseason, when players like Ryan Doumit and Jamey Carroll were signed even though there were still players in higher demand available. ~~~ After this last season, don't you deserve to enjoy the offseason? The full interview (as well as profiles of all the above pitchers) will be available in the TwinsCentric Offseason Handbook, which comes out tomorrow. You can still get it at its presale discount price through the World Series. And if you’re still on the fence, you can download a sample here.

The Twins set their coaching staff today, adding Bobby Cuellar, Tom Brunansky and Terry Steinbach to the coaching staff and clarifying the roles of Scott Ullger, Joe Vavra and Rick Anderson. Rick Anderson will keep his role as pitching coach, and holdovers Joe Vavra and Scott Ullger will take over third and first base, respectively. Newcomers Cuellar and Bruansky, both of whom coached in AAA-Rochester last year, will become the new bullpen coach and hitting coach. Finally, Steinbach, whose inclusion was not previously rumored, will be the bench coach and work with catchers. Manager Ron Gardenhire will continue to be the manager of the Twins, though his contract with the organization expires at the end of this year.

Aaron and John preview the Minnesota Twins offseason by reviewing possible free agents, talk a little about the TwinsCentric Offseason Handbook, tip their collective cap to Jim Rantz and then give a quick tutorial on how struggling organizations can take advantage of MLB's transaction rules. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes.

After our weekly podcast, Aaron & I are going to try doing a short video that recaps the podcast and gets into other silliness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6ib6uwW63M Immediately following episode 63, Aaron evaluates the podcast & comments further on the state of the Twins farm system while John mocks him from behind the iPhone's blinding light. Make sure to tune in next week, when we brave the new frontier of landscape mode.