Ted Schwerzler

I realize it's spring training, but I'm far from worried about Park's transition. His approach has produce some nice contact and he's flashed his power. He'll strike out plenty, but he's going to hit. As far as defense is concerned, as mentioned in the piece, RF is often only an arm. Buxton and Rosario (or Kepler) are both plus defenders, and Sano's cannon alone can make him a threat. Yasiel Puig is essentially the same size and registers plus metrics in right. Sano has a long ways to go to be that comfortable, but the worry over his ability remains overblown in my estimation.

No nearing the end of March, the Minnesota Twins have played the majority of their spring training games. With the outfield being one of the most intriguing positional groupings for Paul Molitor's squad, it has been interesting to grab takeaways from each day's action. As the regular season gets underway though, the outfield may shift somewhat drastically from how it begins on Opening Day. It was all but locked in from the beginning of Spring Training that Minnesota would go with Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, and Miguel Sano in the outfield from left to right. Buxton was never realistically going to lose the centerfield role, Rosario was coming off of a nice rookie year, and Sano was being asked to field as well as hit. What isn't locked in, is just how the group may shift over the course of the year. Looking back at how Rosario posted the numbers he did, the Puerto Rican appears to be a significant regression candidate in the year ahead. His defensive ability is definitely going to make it hard for the Twins to pull him from the starting lineup, but his bat no doubt could force the decision. On the other side of the equation, Molitor is dealing with Sano learning an entirely new position. Having made a few misplays this spring, there's no doubt more to come as meaningful games commence. Whether or not the Twins stick with the hulking Dominican or not probably depends on quite a few different factors. The storylines however led me to this question: It appears the belief is that Rosario will no doubt remain in the outfield throughout the upcoming year for Minnesota, while Sano has some significant question marks. It was no mistake to introduce prospect Max Kepler into the situation either, and it appears the belief is that he will only get his shot in due time. On the surface, it surely doesn't appear that the results of that poll would be too far off base. However, I'm willing to contend that there's some reason to believe things could be flipped. I'd be far from surprised to see the total starts in the outfield at seasons end among those three look like this: Sano, Kepler, Rosario. Taking a look at Rosario first, I've done plenty of background work on his offensive detractors. His on base percentage has dipped ever since reaching the upper levels of the minors, and his free swinging tendencies are worrisome. In 2015, his OPS was significantly inflated by a major league leading 15 triples, and it's hard to expect that to replicate. In short, expecting the regression on offense to dictate Rosario's playing time is just half of the equation. The other side of Rosario's dwindling playing time rests in the hands of Max Kepler. The German born prospect has the makings of an All Star at the big league level, and there's a reason he remains a late part of big league camp for the Twins. When healthy, Kepler's ceiling has always been sky high, and his .318/.410/.520 line in 2015 did nothing to discredit that. On both sides of the game, Kepler is a contributor, and there's little reason to believe he can't supplant Rosario on his own merit. Kepler's time also factors into the equation when taking a look at Sano, who I expect to be better than anticipated. Playing right field for the Twins, his value is almost solely tied to offense, but that's far from an isolated case. Two of the three top American League right fielders in terms of fWAR (Nelson Cruz and Jose Bautista) posted negative DRS (defensive runs saved) numbers in 2015, and have done so throughout their careers. A season ago, Torii Hunter was Minnesota's right fielder tallying a -8 DRS while being worth a measly 0.5 fWAR. For Sano, the new position shouldn't provide enough hiccups to make the thought process make sense. There's no doubt going to be issues with ball tracking, and occasional gaffes here and there in the new role. What Sano brings is a big arm, and the offensive firepower. Trevor Plouffe being afforded a lineup spot with Sano in right makes the Twins better as an offensive whole. Should Sano post a manageable negative DRS number while continuing to hit, the Twins no doubt did the right thing. Kepler can spell him as needed, but I'd guess Molitor sticks with his big man much more seriously than anticipated. When the dust all settles, I suppose the results of the poll could no doubt be spot on. Eddie Rosario may again produce despite an approach that doesn't lend itself to doing so. Sano could bomb and Minnesota would have tough decisions to make. Kepler may have to wait his turn, and do so longer than expected. At the end of the day though, I don't see it being that cut and dry. The situation is set up to be one of the more intriguing storylines of the Twins season, and putting Molitor in a position for guys to earn their role is something Minnesota can be excited about. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

On Wednesday, I spent the majority of my day over at the Lee County Sports Complex and Hammond Stadium taking in different aspects of spring training. With the Double and Triple-A teams taking on the Orioles in the early afternoon, as well as the Twins battling the Red Sox at night, there was plenty of action taking place. Upon arriving for the day, the most necessary definition was to make my way to the back fields. Knowing that the high level minor league teams would be competing at home for the day, I was looking forward to seeing a handful of guys I've developed relationships with over the past year. While I was plenty early and beat most of the players to the field, I posted up in position to take in the Double-A action. Although the Orioles don't have the minor league farm system that Minnesota does, the Double-A team still has a good amount of talent. Notably, Chance Sisco, one of Baltimore's top prospects, was behind the plate for them. On the Twins side, former first round pick Levi Michael was starting at second next to defensive wizard Engelb Vielma. No doubt the star of the show however was the starting pitcher, Tyler Jay. Jay, Minnesota's 2015 first round draft pick, warmed up about 30 minutes prior to gamete. I found this interesting as starters are generally out on the field earlier. However, coming from a relief background, it's completely plausible that his routine is significantly shortened. Regardless, he took the mound in the first, and it was up to the Orioles batters to figure them out. After a rocky start in which Jay threw just 11 of 20 strikes and gave up an earned run, he settled in. Through four complete innings pitched, Jay pumped 38 of 54 pitches for strikes, registered eight of 16 first pitch strikes, struck out five, walked one, and gave up two earned runs. All in all, his first and fourth innings were the only thing keeping him from a rather crisp start. Sitting at 95 virtually from start to finish, the velocity from the lefty is something incredibly enticing now working as a starter. Hitting was virtually non-existent in the Double-A game. Orioles pitchers had Twins hitters generally grounding into routine outs and not doing much with the ball in play. Jay was really on hit hard in the fourth, and had the Baltimore batters swinging well after the ball was in Joe Maloney's glove prior to that. For a handful of pictures from the game, check out my Twitter account here. Making the short walk from one field to the other, I caught a brief bit of the Triple-A action as well. Upon viewing that game, Travis Harrison blasted a homer (which caused some fun ribbing from Adam Brett Walker) before Marcus Walden came on to work his final inning. Up in the Twins half of the inning, Stephen Wickens put a charge into a ball just before Shannon Wilkerson launched a mammoth home run to left field. No idea where the game stood at that point, but the Rochester guys were putting the bat on the ball. I stuck around a bit to watch Jake Reed come on in relief. He had recently been reassigned from big league camp, and I believe this was his first appearance on the minor league side. He hit his first Orioles batter, and then settled in. Reed has flashed some nice stuff, and consistency is going to be the name of the game if he's going to debut for the Twins this year. For the nightcap, Boston brought a handful of regulars over to Hammond Stadium to face what looked like the Twins "A" lineup. Byron Buxton was scratched late due to being sick, but regulars were all over the rest of the field. With Mookie Betts, Pablo Sandoval, Dustin Pedroia, and Hanley Ramirez all in the Red Sox lineup, Kyle Gibson would have his hands full. Gibson gave up a solo shot to Betts in the game's first at bat but then settled in nicely. He worked a 1-2-3 second inning getting both Ramirez and Chris Young on stickers. His third inning was another 1-2-3 and featured strikeouts of both Jackie Bradley Jr. and Betts. The Twins got homers from both Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario putting them up 7-1 in the 6th, which is when it became to call it a night. Minnesota now leads the Crosstown Cup 3-1 on the season with six games remaining. Knocking off the Red Sox in the 2016 series would even up the All-Time record at 12 a piece. I plan on heading over to Jet Blue to take in the second Twins and Red Sox matchup of the week on Friday. For more until then, make sure to stay tuned @tlschwerz

At the point in which you're hoping to turnaround, both would appear to not have a place on this roster.

As always, thanks Platoon. I just think where the "past" plays into Nolasco is in letting him pitch at all. His money isn't going to secure him a rotation spot, and it's only his contract that's securing him even a relief role. It's compounding a problem, but for now, is the lesser of two Twins evils. On Buxton though, there couldn't be a more silly thought than to see some situation in which he needed to play himself into the role. Play out of it yes, not the other way around.

Coming into spring training, the Minnesota Twins had a couple of players to keep their eyes on. With the majority of the 25 man roster being fleshed out, it was going to be a battle for a few final inclusions. While the role of the 5th starter in the rotation may have been up in the air, it was no doubt largely decided, and so too was the man that would man the middle of the outfield. Somewhat surprisingly this spring, there has been a decent amount of articles written regarding Byron Buxton and him closing in on the Twins centerfield role. After sifting through the level of backwards thinking that train of thought employs, it should be apparent that Buxton was never closing in on anything. What Buxton did in his first big league season was struggle. He slashed a paltry .209/.250/.326, struck out over 30% of the time, and was used as a defensive replacement down the stretch. What's also worth noting is that being somewhat of a slow starter, Buxton has taken to adapting rather quickly. After all, you don't elevate yourself to baseball's top prospect without that ability. Coming into the 2016 season, Buxton was the odds on favorite for the starting centerfield job, regardless of what some may have thought (example 1, example 2). It's a silly narrative to believe the Twins were ever closing in on giving Buxton the gig, when in reality it was his to lose. Having put up four defensive runs saved in just 35 starts for the Twins, defensively Buxton has the makings of the best centerfielder in the game. On that alone, Paul Molitor would have been best served to go with his top prospect. Then considering that secondary options included a list of players such as Danny Santana, Ryan Sweeney, and Darin Mastroianni, it should have been all but a foregone conclusion. With spring training numbers what they are (Buxton currently slashing .200/.261/.561), the month of March was always going to be more process than results. Barring a complete ineptitude at the plate, the only storyline worthy of contemplating would be one in which Buxton had actually lost his grip on the role. Having shown a solid approach at the plate, and being able to square pitchers up, Buxton has done nothing to put that storyline into play. At the end of the spring, Buxton is the Twins centerfielder to open the season, and that ever being in doubt seems more fodder than fact. That leads us to another situation that previous Twins teams may have handled differently. Despite the idea that Ricky Nolasco (and even Trevor May) was competing for a rotation spot, the reality has always been that he's working to pitch for this club at all. Gone are the Twins rotations including Cole DeVries, Jason Marquis, and Kevin Correia. No longer is a contingent of five hurlers thrown out there and asked to duck their way back into the dugout. In fact, Minnesota's group is arguably going to be one of the better bunches in the entirety of the AL Central. A season ago, Nolasco pitched hurt, and the year before that, he was simply ineffective. Through three spring outings, he's been a detriment as well. Aside from the numbers, and they aren't good (7.36 ERA 11 H 6 ER 7 K 3 BB in 7.1 IP), his process has been equally poor. Failing to get ahead of hitters, not finding the zone, and putting himself in less than advantageous situations, Nolasco has done nothing to warrant any consideration for the roster, let alone a starting spot. Unfortunately, that leads us to the ugly reality that Minnesota will owe Nolasco over $24 million through the next two seasons. It is this number that has some believing Ricky had an insider track to a rotation spot. Again, the narrative should be that number giving him a leg up on a roster spot ahead of the more deserving competition. There was little reason to believe an ineffective veteran was ever serious consideration for a starting role on a team with significantly better options. While a former Twins way of thinking may have seen that play out, it more reasonably would have been the by-product of circumstance (less than advantageous pitching), than desired practice. It's completely understandable to view the current Twins team in the context of what has previously taken place. The context provided by the situation however is that the 2016 squad is coming off a near playoff year, as opposed to spending the season in the doldrums of the Central losing 90 games. For a team looking to take a step forward, even Terry Ryan isn't silly enough to turn away his best centerfielder or hand over the keys to his car loving, but unworthy starter. Buxton's story was written long before the seemingly backwards notions were unveiled, while Nolasco will continue to hold onto his thread a little while longer. When this club goes north however, expect for the most sensible outcomes to play out, as they have been brewing all along. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

Without a doubt, agree there!

I'm really not in agreement with the notion that Ryan gives him a rotation spot. I think they somewhat moved on from scholarships a year ago. He's going to likely get a spot in the pen, which is still less than ideal, but I don't know the Twins have the stones to eat his money without trying him in real games first. A month of trash, and I think they'll move on.

Tough to consider Kintzler a consideration at all. He's no doubt behind both Pressly and Graham, and the Twins likely would go youth in Burdi/Chargois before him as well.

Late to the party, but this is terrible. See comments regarding restructuring contracts...baseball is a fully guaranteed sport, that can't be done. Also, you just wrote an entire post about Mayer and production but didn't once mention he's suffered a concussion and now deals with the effects of a traumatic brain injury. Quoting you in regards to decking production since signing the contract is laughable. You can probably begin to make the argument that Joe is not worthy of regular time, but this attempt at whatever it was misses everything so far.

Over the weekend, the Minnesota Twins made their first rounds of cuts this spring. While nearly all of them were expected, the timing of at least one seems a bit premature. On top of the roster thinking out, Terry Ryan and Paul Molitor seem to be dealt a tough hand when it comes to one near guaranteed big leaguer. Minnesota sent Reynaldo Rodriguez, Engelb Vielma, Alex Swim, Heiker Meneses, and Jake Reed over to the minor league side of the Lee County Sports Complex on Sunday. Despite Vielma being a defensive wizard, and Rodriguez getting some decent run this spring, the group was far from unexpected. It is however interesting to see Reed let go this early. The 2014 5th round draft pick from Oregon has been touted as a potential bullpen piece as soon as the 2016 season. Despite knowing he'll need some more time on the farm, the argument could have been made to keep him around a bit longer. Reed struggled through a 6.32 ERA at Double-A Chattanooga last season, but proved well above the Florida State League upon a demotion. Once again he dominated the Arizona Fall League, and he positioned himself well going into the year. With a 3.00 ERA and a 1/2 K/BB ratio through 3.0 IP, he didn't do anything to set himself back. For the Twins pen options, Reed settles in among the glut of options along with Nick Burdi, J.T. Chargois, Mason Melotakis and others. He's probably going to debut sometime this summer, and it'll likely be after the first two options, but there's no doubt that the California native is capable of getting hitters out at the highest level. Regardless of his reassignment date, Reed controls his own destiny at this point, and betting against him doesn't appear a worthy cause. When it comes to the bullpen, there's few areas the Twins will put a larger focus on in the year ahead. That said, they've got the unfortunate reality of a pitcher being forced into a situation. In trying to rework what was a pen that struck no one out, and was largely ineffective a year ago, Ricky Nolasco is giving Minnesota fits. At this point, the question becomes just what too large of a negative actually looks like. Nolasco who was fighting for a starting role in theory much more than reality, appeared destined for the pen. The unfortunate development is that he's actually pitched this spring, and it's been about as bad as imagined. In three outings, he's given up three earned runs twice (once in just 1.1 IP) and compiled a hideous 7.36 ERA in just 7.1 IP. He owns a mediocre 7/3 K/BB ratio, and has surrendered 11 hits thus far. By all measures, he's been ineffective at best, and borderline awful at worst. What compounds the problem for the Twins is the dollar amount hanging over Nolasco's head. Owed over $24 million through the next two seasons, Terry Ryan is going to be faced with a decision. Given their body of work, the argument for Burdi, Ryan Pressly, and maybe even J.R. Graham over Nolasco in the pen could be made. It comes down to whether or not the Twins are willing to continue to be hurt by a poor decision. In paying a mediocre NL starter over someone with more upside (a la Phil Hughes) what they did, the Twins were always looking at an uphill battle with the former Marlins starter. Now the contract being a sunk cost, does Paul Molitor want to continue to be plagued by an ineffective arm simply because of the contract? Minnesota doesn't have a ton of options with Ricky, he's not going to accept an assignment to Triple-A. Should the club choose to DFA him and wash their hands however, they may stop the bleeding well before the financial implications cease to exist. As more cuts are made this spring, it will continue to be worth monitoring what relief arms remain. Fernando Abad looks to continue to be the left-handed front runner, having surrenders a lone run on a solo homer. Burdi doesn't seem to be a 25 man option, but only pushes his MLB debut closer the longer he remains in big league camp. With a handful of young options sprinkled in with vets on minor league deals, it'll be interesting to see if any of them defy the odds and unseat the likes of Michael Tonkin or some other yet predetermined arm. For now, Jake Reed has begun his turnaround season, and Ricky Nolasco has done anything but warrant a spot on the big league club. The story is just being written, but the 2016 Twins are well underway.

Perkins until the break last year converted 28 straight saves to the tune of a 1.21 ERA .188/.217/.246 slash line. If you're looking for your lock down guy to do more than that, I can't help you. Nolasco owned a 4.37 ERA a 3.76 FIP with a 7.4 K/9 in the NL. Those numbers are essentially middle of the rotation type. They were going to go down in the tougher AL, almost guaranteed. I guess I'm not sure what the confusion is there...

I guess guaranteed or not, my point was in them offering them arbitration, both should be considered near locks.

Like Milone, Nunez was offered arbitration. He's in the same boat technically speaking as Tommy, but he's nearly guaranteed to make the club (as is Tommy for that matter).

With Quentin's opt out not until June 1, the Twins won't be in any rush to add him to the 40 man let alone the 25 man. Sweeney has played well, but arguably the only guy he could replace is Santana. He doesn't have the positional flexibility that Danny has, and with Santana's age, he's likely to be claimed. That said, he absolutely needs to start hitting.

Would agree with this. Just unfortunate to move on from Tonkin without knowing for sure, because they could have found out so much more in 2015.

You can't believe that a guy who was already unlikely to succeed in the AL, is getting torched for pitching bad even when healthy? I guess I haven't heard much angst about Perkins being injured, but when healthy last season, he was the best closer in the AL...so...not really apples to apples.

We may not have seen the worst of Ricky Nolasco yet. Prior to the 2014 MLB season, the Minnesota Twins and Terry Ryan realized they had a deficiency. Coming off of yet another 9-loss season, the team's starting pitching was nowhere close to what it needed to be to compete. The answer was to scour the free agent market, and bring in outside help. Ryan landed two fresh arms that offseason, one has worked out, and the other one hasn't.In terms of performance, the Twins put themselves in a less than advantageous situation from the get go when they signed Nolasco. He was largely a middle-of-the-road pitcher in the National League. Despite being considered an ace at times for some relatively poor Marlins teams, he'd pitched to the tune of a sub 4.00 ERA just twice in his first eight seasons (2008, 2013). Nolasco's FIP generally hovered somewhere in the mid 3's, and arguably his greatest asset was in being known as an innings eater. Not a big strikeout guy, owning just a 7.4 K/9 mark, Nolasco was not likely to overpower hitters in the tougher American League. Surrendering just south of 10 hits (9.5/H9) per game, his pitch-to-contact style is one with which Twins fans come to grow tired. Despite the many warning signs, it was Nolasco (and not the more realistic Phil Hughes) who commanded a $12.25m average annual value from the Twins over the next four years. Entering their first season with the Twins, Hughes and Nolasco were the two pitchers brought in to change the rotation. While Hughes had been burned by homers, he was two years Nolasco's junior, and had a higher ceiling. As expected by some, Hughes has succeeded (arguably much better than assumed) and Nolasco has struggled. Now with one ugly (5.38 ERA in 27 starts during 2014) season under his belt, and one injury-riddled one (just 37.1 IP in 2015), Nolasco finds himself at a crossroads. In his Twins career, he's compiled a 5.64 ERA, 4.15 FIP, while striking out just 6.9 per nine, and offering little to no reliability. Considering the output, the Californian should be owed nothing, except he is...another $24m over the next two years. That brings us to where we are now. Without a guaranteed rotation spot, Nolasco enters 2016 on the outside looking in. A less than ideal situation for a starter, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN asked Nolasco's agent (Matt Sosnick) about the situation and potentially working out of relief. Here's that response: Quote There's little room to mince words in the statements above. Nolasco is clearly under the impression he's one of the Twins best five starting pitchers, and opposition to that is going to be an issue. This leads us to the reality that things could get worse. With Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana and Kyle Gibson already rotation locks, there are just two spots left in the starting five. Paul Molitor has all but said Tyler Duffey will get one of them, and Tommy Milone has done nothing to lose his role. Nolasco in relief seems like the most plausible option. But then again, it really doesn't. A handful of different scenarios have been thrown around as to how to handle Nolasco. In seeing the way in which Mike Pelfrey took a bullpen demotion a season ago, expecting it to go better with Nolasco is probably foolish. The reality is that putting Nolasco into the pen is a square peg going into a round hole; it's only a way for the Twins to utilize some of their already sunk cost in his contract. Trading Nolasco also would seem an uphill battle. The return would no doubt be pennies on the dollar, and a guy who's shown very little ability over the past two seasons doesn't have much value. This leads us to my preferred solution. Nolasco wants to start, and there's little reason to believe he walks away from his hefty paycheck. Minnesota can DFA Ricky, removing him from the 40-man roster as he passes through waivers unclaimed. If he accepts it, that would allow him to start at Triple-A Rochester. In this scenario, he continues to start, staying stretched out, and can be a fallback option if and when injuries occur at the big league level. However, no doubt the move would be met with some angst from the Nolasco camp, and he could definitely refuse the assignment (due to having five years of service time). If he's dead set on starting though, and wants to play hardball with Minnesota, Ryan has some options at his disposal. At the end of the day, Minnesota has a glut of high-ceiling relievers nearly ready for the big league level. Forcing Nolasco to the pen simply to get use out of him, over the roster inclusion of a player such as Alex Meyer, Nick Burdi, J.R. Graham, or some other MLB ready pen commodity, would be less than ideal. The hope would be that Ricky Nolasco can turn his performance around, but this situation, at least from a personnel standpoint, is likely going to get worse before it gets better. Click here to view the article

This offseason, the Minnesota Twins had a couple of key areas the organization needed to focus on improving. After inking Korean slugger Byung Ho Park to a free agent contract, the bullpen was worked on through lower-risk, minor league offerings. Internal options seem plentiful to fill out the 25 man roster, and that means a group of players up against a wall will no doubt have to earn their spots. Minnesota had a handful of guys that were out of minor league options as the 2015 season came to a close. Some of them were traded (Aaron Hicks, Chris Herrmann), and others were jettisoned onto greener pastures (Josmil Pinto). When the dust settled, there were four guys left that were worthy of keying in on. Oswaldo Arcia, Danny Santana, Michael Tonkin, and Tommy Milone are all without option years, and fighting for a spot on the 2016 roster. Despite the possibility of losing one of the aformentioned players for nothing in trying to pass them through waivers, it's hardly fair to guarantee a few of them a lock. Without putting a percentage anywhere, each of the four has a different set of circumstances when it comes to making the current Twins club. Oswaldo Arcia Although he has never been cut of the same cloth as Byron Buxton or Miguel Sano, Arcia did appear on top 100 prospect lists prior to the 2013 season. He swatted 20 homers for the Twins in 2014, and despite being a relative liability defensively, his bat can play. There's little room to argue that Arcia wasn't disastrous a season ago, but it certainly would be plausible that 2015 could simply be a blip on the radar. Coming into spring training with the Opening Day outfield all but set going Eddie Rosario, Buxton, and Sano from left to right, it was the bat of Arcia that needed to play. Having shown a heightened work ethic and desire to push his game, the process has been encouraging. Arcia is maybe the most locked in player of this group to make the roster. As a back up outfielder, and bench bat, he gives the Twins something that teams around the big leagues would no doubt covet. To return to his 2014 status, Arcia will have to continue to work on his plate discipline and approach. Chasing less and walking more will need to be two areas the Venezuelan focuses on. That said, there's too much talent and momentum working in his favor for him not to head north with Minnesota. Danny Santana Not quite the same situation as Arcia, but no less guaranteed to go north for the Twins, Santana must carve himself out playing time by being flexible. Forced back into the outfield after posting a hideous -15 DRS number in just over 570 innings as the starting shortstop, Santana's role will no transition to utility. Being able to play all three outfield spots, while spelling a tired infielder is where his value can come from. Easily the most projectable regression candidate entering the 2015 season, the offense took steps backwards as well. After enjoying a .405 BABIP in his rookie year, Santana came crashing back to earth slashing a paltry .215/.241/.291 for the 2015 Twins. He's never going to walk much but he absolutely has to improve upon his chasing pitches (41.3% career outside of zone swings), as well as his swing and miss tendencies (11.6% career). For all of his flaws, Santana could find himself slotting into the Eduardo Nunez role going forward. Playing a reserve role, while giving just enough offense to matter, and being capable of defensive flexibility, he becomes an asset on Paul Molitor's bench. He's going to go north with Minnesota, but the room for error is probably not at the same level as that of Arcia, and considering the ceilings, justifiably so. Michael Tonkin Of the group, it's Tonkin who's in the most interesting situation. A season ago, Minnesota's bullpen was far from good, but it wasn't very creative either. Up until the point in which Terry Ryan dealt for Kevin Jepsen, the lone lock down reliever in the second half was converted starter, Trevor May. The unfortunate part for Tonkin, is that he was out of the mix far more often than he should have been. Called up on five different occasions during 2015 (and twice for a single game), Tonkin was never able to settle in at the big league level. He owned a 1.10 ERA, 10.1 K/9, and 1.1 BB/9 at Triple-A Rochester. For the Twins though, he scattered 23.1 IP compiling a 3.47 ERA, 7.3 K/9, and 3.5 BB/9. The numbers aren't horrible, but what the didn't allow for was consistency. Now out of options, a spring that has seen Tonkin give up runs in two out of his three appearances has led him to be in a less than ideal situation. There's little reason to believe Tonkin wouldn't be claimed on waivers should Minnesota not bring him north. He also may not be the best option for the pen come the regular season however. Molitor could have had a much clearer picture as to what Tonkin could provide with a better usage in 2015, or by Ryan not offering Fien arbitration for the season ahead. There's a really solid chance Minnesota puts Tonkin on the roster not wanting to lose him from the get go. There's also a decent possibility that he's not the most qualified arm for that role. If there's an option-less player that misses the 25 man, Tonkin could be it. Tommy Milone When rounding out the rotation, the 5th and final spot is Milone's to lose. Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana, and Kyle Gibson are all inked in, with Tyler Duffey's role being written in pencil for now. If Ricky Nolasco is going to unseat someone, Milone would seem to be it. Fortunately for both the prospects of the Twins staff, and Milone himself, it doesn't appear likely to happen. Forget about Nolasco's contract, it's a sunk cost and compounding the issue by having a pitcher not a part of their best five start, doesn't seem like a worthy cause. Milone was the return of arguably one of the best trades Terry Ryan has ever made, and he's pitched more than capably of late. His 3.92 ERA in 2015 was sufficient, and he earned his recall by being unhittable at Triple-A Rochester following a demotion. Having turned in two solid spring starts thus far (5.0 IP 5 H 2 ER 0 BB 6 K), he's positioned himself well. Not having the velocity fastball of Nolasco, Milone doesn't project to be a realistic bullpen option. His stuff isn't going to play up significantly in relief, and that as well works in his favor. Whether Nolasco likes it or not, his role for the Twins appears to be in relief, and Milone continuing to throw well is only making the decision more solid. Being out of options is, as has always been the case, far from a guarantee to make the 25 man roster. For the Twins group of four looking to add something to the big league club, each seems to have positioned themselves relatively. By product of circumstance, only Tonkin seems remotely possible to be skipped over, and even that doesn't seem all that likely. The good thing for Minnesota, is that each of the four players presents some realistic reason to believe they can contribute at the highest level in the year ahead. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz

I could see that playing out as well. I guess I wouldn't be opposed to seeing the Twins allow him to gang himself either. Run him out there once or twice, get shelled, point proven. At the end of the day, his inclusion (if it happens), is only going to last until late April/earl May when Berrios comes up.

I respect your views a lot Platoon, you're generally spot on. That said, regardless of him being relatively meh thus far this spring, I'd be willing to bet a pretty solid amount Nolasco isn't in the rotation. There's no benefit to putting him in the starting 5, unless he's clearly one of the best options, and he's proven anything but. His salary is a sunk cost, so compounding the problem by pitching him simply because of dollars doesn't make much sense.

Part of the issue is he was never as good as the level of his contract suggests. Sure, he's a capable third starter. $12m AAV may dictate that. In the same year as Hughes signed a lesser deal though, Nolasco was valued too highly.

I believe he can refuse the assignment yes, but as I understood it from Jeremy Nygaard, becoming a free agent would then void his current contract.

Prior to the 2014 Major League Baseball season, the Minnesota Twins and Terry Ryan realized they had a deficiency. Coming off of yet another 90 loss season, the team's starting pitching was nowhere close to what it needed to be to compete. The answer was to scour the free agent market, and bring in outside help. Ryan landed to fresh arms that offseason, one has worked, and the other one hasn't. The issue with the one that hasn't; we may not have seen the worst of Ricky Nolasco yet. In terms of performance, the Twins put themselves in a less than advantageous situation from the get go. Nolasco was largely a middle-of-the-road pitcher in the National League. Despite being considered an ace at times for some relatively poor Marlins teams, he'd pitched to the tune of a sub 4.00 ERA just twice in his first eight seasons (2008, 2013). Nolasco's FIP generally hovered somewhere in the mid three's, and arguably his greatest asset was in being known as an innings eater. Not a big strikeout guy, owning just a 7.4 K/9 mark, Nolasco was not likely to overpower hitters in the tougher American League. Surrendering just south of 10 hits (9.5/H9) per game, his pitch to contact style was one that Twins fans have come to grow tired of. Despite the many warning signs, it was Nolasco (and not the more realistic Phil Hughes) that commanded a $12.25m average annual value from the Twins over the next four years. Entering their first season with the Twins, Hughes and Nolasco were the two pitchers brought in to change the rotation. While Hughes had been burned by homers, he was two years Nolasco's junior, and had a projectably higher ceiling. As expected, Hughes succeed (arguably much better than assumed) and Nolasco struggled. Now with one ugly (5.38 ERA in 27 starts during 2014) season under his belt, and one injury riddled one (just 37.1 IP in 2015), Nolasco finds himself at a crossroads. In his Twins career, he's compiled a 5.64 ERA, 4.15 FIP, while striking out just 6.9 per nine, and offering little to no reliability. Considering the output, the California should be owed nothing, except he is...another $24m over the next two years. That brings us to where we are now. Without a guaranteed rotation spot, Nolasco enters 2016 on the outside looking in. A less than ideal situation for a starter, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN asked Nolasco's agent (Matt Sosnick) about the situation, and potentially working out of relief. Here's that response: There's little room to mince words in the statements above. Nolasco is clearly under the impression he's one of the Twins best five starting pitchers, and opposition to that is going to be an issue. This leads us to the reality, things could likely get worse. With Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana, and Kyle Gibson already rotation locks, there's just two spots left in the starting five. Paul Molitor has all but said Tyler Duffey will get one of them, and Tommy Milone has done nothing to lose his role. Nolasco in relief seems like the most plausible option, but then again, it really doesn't. A handful of different scenarios have been thrown around as to how to handle Nolasco. In seeing the way in which Mike Pelfrey took a bullpen demotion a season ago, expecting it to go better with Nolasco is probably foolish. The reality though, is that putting Nolasco into the pen, is a square peg going into a round hole; it's a way for the Twins to utilize some of their already sunk cost in his contract. Trading Nolasco also would seem an uphill battle. The return would no doubt be pennies on the dollar, and a guy who's shown very little ability over the past two seasons doesn't have much value. This leads us to my preferred solution. Nolasco wants to start, and there's little reason to believe he walks away from his hefty paycheck. Minnesota can DFA Ricky, removing him from the 40 man roster as he passes through waivers unclaimed, and allow him to start at Triple-A Rochester. In this scenario, he continues to start, staying stretched out, and can be a fallback option if and when injuries occur at the big league level. No doubt the move would be met with some angst from the Nolasco camp, and he could definitely refuse the assignment (due to having five years of service time). If he's dead set on starting though, and wants to play hardball with Minnesota, Ryan has some options at his disposal. At the end of the day, Minnesota has a glut of high-ceiling reliever nearly ready for the big league level. Forcing Nolasco to the pen simply to get use out of him, over the roster inclusion of a player such as Alex Meyer, Nick Burdi, J.R. Graham, or some other MLB ready pen commodity would be less than ideal. The hope would be that Ricky Nolasco can turn his performance around, but this situation at least from a personnel standpoint, is likely going to get worse before it gets better. For more from Off The Baggy, click here. Follow @tlschwerz