Tom Froemming

A couple of premium left-handed pitching prospects were making significant debuts tonight. Connor Prielipp made his Double-A debut for Wichita while Dasan Hill made his pro debut with Fort Myers. Come see how those two did and check out what else happened across the system Saturday. Image courtesy of John Vittas- Fort Myers Mighty Mussels CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 3-5 St. Paul Saints: 2-3 Wichita Wind Surge: 0-1 Cedar Rapids Kernels: 2-0 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: 1-1 TRANSACTIONS None SAINTS SENTINEL Today’s Saints game was postponed due to rain. That will be made up when St. Paul returns to Columbus later this month. WIND SURGE WISDOM Springfield 6, Wichita 2 Box Score Connor Prielipp made his Double-A debut tonight, but he wasn’t on the mound for too long. We’re accustomed to that being the case, of course, but it’ll be interesting to see how the Twins manage him this year. Prielipp only needed four pitches to record the first two outs of the game, but Springfield made him work before he got out of the first inning. The next four Cardinals batters reached safely, they scratched across a run and squeezed 21 more pitches out of Prielipp. In the second inning, Prielipp retired the side in order, striking out the first two batters. He went back out for the third inning, but hit the leadoff man, his second hit batsman of the game. That was it for the Wind Surge lefty. He went two innings and threw 47 pitches. The Wichita lineup couldn’t get much of anything going. Tanner Schobel and Ricardo Olivar led off the second inning with back-to-back singles. The next batter, Jorel Ortega, hit into a double play and the Wind Surge recorded just one more hit up until the ninth inning, a leadoff single in the sixth by Walker Jenkins. Noah Cardenas drew a one-out walk in the ninth before Schobel hit a double. Olivar then grounded out, but it was enough to bring Cardenas home and end the shutout bid. Ortega followed that up with a wind-aided popup double the left fielder couldn’t handle to give Wichita their second run. The ninth-inning rally was halted there, however, as the Wind Surge dropped their first game of the season. KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids 6, Wisconsin 4 Box Score With Cedar Rapids trailing 1-0, Brandon Winokur and Billy Amick drew back-to-back one-out walks, prompting a pitching change. Rayne Doncon quickly fell behind 0-2, but took a ball in the dirt and managed to foul off a pitch way inside. Wisconsin tried to jam Doncon again, but he crushed a breaking ball like he knew it was coming, slugging a three-run homer. The Timber Rattlers wrestled the lead back in the bottom of the fifth. They tallied a pair of runs off Kernels starter Alejandro Hidalgo, who went four innings in his first start since September of 2023. Jeremy Lee, the first man out of the pen for Cedar Rapids, gave up two more runs in his inning of work. From there, the pen had it on lock. Gabriel Yanez and Paulshawn Pasqualotto both delivered two shutout innings. That bought the Cedar Rapids lineup some time to mount a second comeback. In the top of the seventh, a pair of singles by Caden Kendle and Kyle DeBarge, followed by a wild pitch, put two runners in scoring position. Winokur managed to tie the game at 4-4 with an RBI groundout. The top of the eighth started with a pair of walks followed by a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with no outs. Another wild pitch brought home Doncon to put the Kernels up 5-4 and Kendle later added an RBI groundout to tack on an insurance run. Cedar Rapids was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, but the one hit was Doncon’s home run. Sometimes one’s all you need. Kaelen Culpepper, who was removed in the eighth inning of Friday’s game, did not play today. MUSSEL MATTERS Fort Myers 6, Springfield 4 Box Score Dasan Hill made his pro debut and did not disappoint. The Twins drafted the lanky lefty in the second round (69th overall) in the 2024 Draft. Still only 19 years old, it was no guarantee we’d see him break camp with a full-season squad, so it’s a treat just to have him out on the mound this early. That he was completely dominant is a cherry on top. Hill struck out seven batters in four innings of work, got 13 swinging strikes, and topped out at 97.6 mph. He did not walk a batter. The only hit he surrendered was a solo home run. The Texas native threw 34 of his 50 pitches for strikes. The Mighty Mussels lineup helped take the pressure off of Hill by scoring three runs in the top of the second inning. Poncho Ruiz singled and later scored on an error before Angel Del Rosario added a two-run single. All three runs came around with two outs in the inning. Jose Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season in the sixth inning, and the Mussels manufactured two more runs in the eighth. Yasser Mercedes drew a leadoff walk, stole second base, advanced to third on a throwing error, and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Fort Myers scored another run on a wild pitch later in the same inning. Jason Doktorczyk, 2024 ninth-round pick, also made his pro debut in this game. He struck out six batters over three innings, but also gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits, three walks and a hit batsman. Ivran Romero, who went undrafted after pitching out of the University of San Diego’s bullpen for four years, also made his pro debut tonight. He delivered two shutout innings while striking out three batters. Leadoff man Byron Chourio reached safety in three of his five plate appearances, hitting two singles to go with a walk. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: Dasan Hill (Fort Myers) 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K Hitter of the Day: Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids) 1-for-3, HR (1), 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 1. Walker Jenkins (Wichita): 1-for-4, K 8 Brandon Winokur (Cedar Rapids): 0-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K 10. Connor Prielipp (Wichita): 2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 2 HBP, 47 pitches (31 strikes) 11. Dasan Hill (Fort Myers): 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 50 pitches (34 strikes) 13. Kyle DeBarge (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-5 15. Yasser Mercedes (Fort Myers): 0-for-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, SB 16. Rayne Doncon (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-3, HR (1), 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB 17. Billy Amick (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, 2B, R, BB, 2 K 18. Kala’i Rosario (Wichita): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K 19. Gabriel Gonzalez (Cedar Rapids): 1-for-4, R, BB, 2 K 20. Ricardo Olivar (Wichita): 1-for-4, RBI, 2 K TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS St. Paul at Columbus (2:05 pm CT): Randy Dobnak Wichita at Springfield (3:05 pm CT): Trent Baker Wichita at Springfield (Game 2): Aaron Rozek Cedar Rapids at Wisconsin (3:20 pm CT): Tanner Hall Fort Myers at Palm Beach (1:30 pm CT): Michael Ross View full article

The Minnesota Twins are finally in the win column! The earned a come-from-behind victory against the White Sox, finally getting some batted ball luck. Down in the minors, Zebby Matthews looked about as good as you could imagine in his first start of 2025 for the Saints and Austin Martin provided three defensive gems in left field. View full video

Mikey Gasper picked up his first MLB hit, but that was about all that went well for the Minnesota Twins on Saturday. They lost to the Cardinals 5-1, with the top of the lineup of Matt Wallner, Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton providing nothing. As a whole, the lineup produced just three hits. Joe Ryan pitched well, holding St. Louis to one run over five innings, but the bullpen struggled. View full video

Bailey Ober pulled a repeat of his 2024 season debut by getting absolutely pounded once again. Much like he did in his first start of last season, Ober surrendered eight earned runs. That gave the Twins little chance, but the lineup wasn’t exactly inspiring either. Here’s a look at Ober’s outing, Carlos Correa’s slow start and some info on a couple of other teams that started 0-3. View full video

The Minnesota Twins opened their 2025 season with a 5-3 loss in St. Louis. Here’s a detailed look into the first two innings of the game, highlighting how the Cardinals built momentum and set the tone early. The Twins did a nice job battling back, pulling within a run at one point, but could not complete the comeback. View full video

There’s a lot to get excited about in St. Paul this season, as the Saints have one of the more stacked Triple-A rosters the system has ever produced. It was all on display Friday night at CHS Field. Image courtesy of Rob Thompson, St. Paul Saints CURRENT W-L Records Minnesota Twins: 0-1 St. Paul Saints: 1-0 Wichita Wind Surge, Cedar Rapids Kernels, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels: All open play on April 4. FCL Twins: Open play in early May. DSL Twins: Open play in early June. TRANSACTIONS There were no new transactions on Friday, but the Saints just announced their 2025 roster yesterday. In case you missed it, here’s a link to Seth’s full preview of this year’s Saints squad. SAINTS SENTINEL St. Paul 11, Indianapolis 0 Box Score Opening Day Lineup A lot has been made about how stacked the Saints rotation is, and for good reason, but this is also a good-looking Triple-A lineup with both guys who’ve seen time in the majors and some of the top prospects in the entire system. Here’s how the lineup looked for the opener: LF Austin Martin DH Luke Keaschall CF Emmanuel Rodriguez 3B Armando Alvarez 1B Mike Ford C Jair Camargo RF Yunior Severino 2B Jeferson Morales SS Ryan Fitzgerald Keaschall and Rodriguez, both still only 22 years old, are the headliners. Keaschall is has recently begun working some in the field, but he’ll likely DH a good amount in the early going. Rodriguez missed most of spring training with an ankle injury, so it’s amazing to not only see him active, but in center field. Keachall was making his Triple-A debut. Severino and Morales started positions in which they’re trying to establish themselves. Severino has mostly been a first baseman and third baseman in recent years, but he made 10 starts in right field last season. Morales, the 2025 Sire of Fort Myers, has mostly played left field with some catching mixed in, but he made 22 starts at second base for Wichita last year. More positional flexibility will open up more potential doors to the next level, so it’s worth monitoring how Severino and Morales do in these opportunities. Opening Day Starting Pitcher I’m sure David Festa would rather be in the big leagues, but being the Saints No. 1 starter is a somewhat significant honor in itself. Zebby Matthews, Andrew Morris, Marco Raya and Cory Lewis are all also with the Saints. This rotation is absolutely stacked. Festa has a case for belonging at the highest level, however, as he pitched to a 3.81 ERA (3.15 FIP) over his final 54 1/3 innings with the Twins last year. With the entire Twins rotation entering the year healthy, Festa will have to bide his time. Lucky for him, it never seems to take too much time for an opportunity to present itself. Festa’s current situation reminds me a lot of the position Bailey Ober was in entering 2023. Big Bailey was clearly worthy of the majors and had 31 MLB starts under his belt. Despite that being the case, a crowded rotation of more senior hurlers led to Ober opening 2023 with St. Paul. He only had to make four starts with the Saints before the door opened up for his return. Festa Gets His Work In While Festa doesn’t necessarily have anything to prove in Triple-A, there are a couple things he needs to work on. It’d be great if he could be more efficient, giving him more of a chance to pitch deeper into games. Tonight, Festa only needed 58 pitches to complete five innings, throwing over two-thirds of them for strikes. Since he’s still building up arm strength, Festa wasn’t given the opportunity to go more than five frames, but he emphatically checked the efficiency box. The other thing that would be great to see from Festa is a fourth pitch. He can be successful with his four-seam fastball, slider and changeup — we’ve seen it — but one more look could take his game to the next level. While it can take the Statcast/Hawk-Eye technology a few outings to calibrate to a new pitch mix at times, we’ll take it for face value. According to the data, Festa only threw his new sinker once. Again, that may or may not be accurate, but that pitch should be something Festa continues to tinker with. Rodriguez’s Hot Start It was great just to see Emmanuel Rodriguez’s name in the lineup, but he even treated us to a couple of his signature beautifully violent swings that produced three hits to the opposite field. Rodriguez collected the first Saints hit of the 2025 season with an oppo single in the first inning. He followed that up by also collecting the first RBIs of the season, lacing a two-run double that had an exit velocity of 113.6 mph. Rodriguez struck out swinging in the fourth inning, drew a four-pitch walk in the sixth inning and then hit a single in the seventh frame. Heck of a debut from a guy we weren’t even 100 percent sure would be out there. Keaschall’s Triple-A Debut Luke Keaschall is a consensus top-60 or so prospect in all of baseball, logged 59 games at Double-A last year and got a long look in spring training. It’s difficult to paint his opening the year in St. Paul as a surprise, but it also wouldn’t have been a shock if he returned to Wichita instead. He’s also still in the final stages of recovering from Tommy John surgery, after all. Keaschall, the DH, was retired in his first two at-bats before collecting his first Triple-A hit and RBI in the fourth inning. After another strikeout, Keaschall added a second single in the seventh inning. Saints Dominate Along with Emmanuel Rodriguez, Jair Camargo also recorded three hits. Every Saints hitter had a multi-hit game except for Mike Ford, who managed to draw a pair of walks. The lineup scored 11 runs without the benefit of a home run. The bullpen was similarly impressive. After Festa went five, Scott Blewett covered a pair of innings before Kyle Bischoff and Kody Funderburk pitched a frame each. Combined, those relievers pitched four shutout innings with one hit, a pair of walks and five strikeouts. TWINS DAILY MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE DAY Pitcher of the Day: David Festa (5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) Hitter of the Day: Emmanuel Rodriguez (3-for-4, 2B, BB, R, RBI, K) PROSPECT SUMMARY Check out the Prospect Tracker for more. 2. Emmanuel Rodriguez (St. Paul): 3-for-4, 2B, BB, R, RBI, K 3. Luke Keaschall (St. Paul): 2-for-6, RBI, 2 K 5. Andrew Morris (St. Paul): DNP 6. Marco Raya (St. Paul): DNP 9. Cory Lewis (St. Paul): DNP TOMORROW’S PROBABLE STARTERS Saints: Andrew Morris View full article

The Minnesota Twins played their final spring training game this afternoon and appear to have finalized their opening day roster. Randy Dobnak is currently in position to break camp with the big club. Other topics discussed include an update on the Pohlads’ sale expectations, the TV situation, Luke Keaschall’s recovery from Tommy John surgery and the race for Sire of Fort Myers. View full video

Dobnak only pitching in two official spring games was what worked against him as much as anything. Tough to crown a guy who participated in that few games. It's part of why there's never been a starting pitcher to win Sire of Fort Myers. It would basically require that someone eligible were competing for a big league rotation spot. Otherwise, the guys just don't get into many games. I might have decided that anyone on the 40 man who still has rookie eligibility would be eligible. As it stands, it's anyone on the 40 man who hasn't debuted at all. I'm sticking with that, but the race would have been a lot closer this year under ever so slightly different eligibility rules. On Morris, he's a September baby, kinda on the fence between school years. His parents put him in school early, so he was already young for his grade. Then when they eventually moved (I wanna say to Alaska), for some reason they pushed him another year ahead in that new school district. Don't know the whole story there, but bottom line is he's been facing older/more developed competition his whole life. I believe he was part of the college program at 16 but didn't appear in a game until after he'd turned 17. That's how he'd pitched four years of college ball and was still only 20-years-old when drafted.

Thanks for reading! Not really, though LF is where he's settled in the past few years. I like that they're taking some looks at him at 2B, though. Seems unlikely he'll be truly usable there, but it's worth a look. Hahaha, no, that's just the Baseball-Reference player linker doing its thing. Jeff is a talented guy, but I don't believe he had that great of a playing career 😅 Dobnak entered camp not on the 40-man roster, so he is eligible. He was removed from the 40 man in November. So this puts him in the same bucket as prior winners LaMarre, Willi and Law, all being guys who had previously played in the majors. Anybody not on the 40 man is eligible. The only eligible guys on the 40 man are those who haven't debuted.

Hear ye, hear ye! ‘Tis time. Image courtesy of © Chris Tilley-Imagn Images I have a confession to make: I hate spring training. Yes, it’s true. This distaste for the exhibition schedule is precisely what led me to create the Sire of Fort Myers award all those years ago. I wanted something to look forward to during this time of year. I’m pleased to report that it has worked as intended. I’ve had such a great time with this silly little project through the years, and appreciate all of you who’ve joined in on the fun. Before we crown the 2025 Sire of Fort Myers, let’s take a moment to look back. Here are the numbers each prior Sire of Fort Myers posted in his conquering spring: Hitters 2018 Ryan LaMarre: .475/.511/.775 (1.286 OPS) in 45 PA 2023 Willi Castro: .250/.375/.575 (.950 OPS) in 48 PA 2024 Brooks Lee: .333/.351/.611 (.962 OPS) in 37 PA Pitchers 2019 Ryne Harper: 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 1.05 FIP, 16 K, 0 BB in 12 IP 2021 Derek Law: 0.00 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 1.45 FIP, 13 K, 3 BB in 8 IP 2022 Jhoan Duran: 0.00 ERA, 0.29 WHIP, 1.23 FIP, 10 K, 1 BB in 7 IP Eligibility As a reminder, to be eligible for Sire of Fort Myers, a player must either be 1) Not on the 40-man roster, or 2) Have never played in the majors. If this was Year 1 of the award, I might consider changing these intentionally narrow guidelines a bit. The spirit of the award is mostly to honor a player battling for a roster spot. That’s a pretty general concept, and I wanted a clear-cut definition of who would and would not be in the running. Guys like Zebby Matthews, Mickey Gasper and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. kinda feel like they should be eligible, but rules are rules and they’re there for a reason. Still, that trio of players deserves a quick tip of the cap. Matthews struck out 12 batters over 9 1/3 scoreless innings, Gasper had a .904 OPS, while Keirsey had a .761 mark. These three entered camp on the fringes of the big-league roster, and two of them will break camp with the Twins. Gasper and Keirsey made their first Opening Day roster. While Matthews will open in St. Paul, expect him to be ready when a need arises. The Finalists Hitter: Jeferson Morales Who could’ve seen this one coming? As recently as 2023, Morales was stuck in Cedar Rapids, repeating the level for a third season. He finally made it to Double-A Wichita last season, and did enough to warrant a late-season promotion to St. Paul. It was a brief but brilliant flash with the Saints. Morales hit .359/.433/.585 in his first exposure to the top level of the minors, but it was easy to dismiss as a small sample, coming over just 60 plate appearances. Maybe there’s something more here. Morales was signed out of Venezuela way back in 2016. He became a father at age 19 (more on that in this 2022 article, from Jeff Johnson of the Cedar Rapids Gazette), the same year he made his pro debut in the Dominican Summer League. He was the Fort Myers winner of the Harmon Killebrew Award in 2021, which is given to the player who goes above and beyond for fan interaction and community service. He’s also had moments of brilliance on the field, being named an MiLB.com Organizational All-Star in 2021. Morales has a line-drive swing and is great at making contact. He struck out in less than 16% of his plate appearances last season, despite facing pitching that was much better than he’d ever been exposed to. In the field, Morales used to primarily be a catcher, but now only dons the tools of ignorance every once in a blue moon. Instead, he spends the majority of his time in left field, with some cameos at second base mixed in. Morales has had an excellent spring with the Twins. He stuck in big-league camp through the very end, hitting .375/.459/.531 in 37 plate appearances over 20 games. The only other Sire-eligible hitters to see more plate appearances than Morales were former big-leaguers Armando Alvarez and Mike Ford, who did not have springs worthy of Sire consideration, to say the least. Prospect Luke Keaschall had a strong showing (.814 OPS), as did newcomer to the org Allan Cerda (.982 OPS), but Morales was the clear-cut leader among hitters for Sire of Fort Myers. Pitcher: Andrew Morris It’s pretty tough to beat a 0.00 ERA. Toss in a 0.57 WHIP, and Morris proved worthy of consideration for the crown, cape and scepter over his seven innings pitched this spring. My personal favorite player to watch in the entire system, Morris is an animated, intense competitor who was playing college ball for Colorado Mesa at 16 years old. He’d represent the title well. There’s just one problem: While you can’t beat a 0.00 ERA, Morris wasn’t as dominant as prior arms to take the crown. Sires Derek Law and Jhoan Durán posted strikeout rates above 40%, and Sire Ryne Harper struck out nearly a third of the batters he faced. Morris punched out just five of 25 batters, a 20% strikeout rate. He made a great impression, sure, but it wasn’t the overpowering display we’re used to seeing from a Sire of Fort Myers. Another arm to garner consideration was Randy Dobnak, who had a 0.00 ERA but a much less impressive 1.50 WHIP. He also made just two appearances, logging six innings. Dobnak will have to settle for a spot on the Opening Day roster as his reward. Jacob Bosiokovic was also excellent (0.00 ERA, 0.43 WHIP, 47.1 K%), but only logged 4 2/3 innings. Originally drafted as a position player, Bosiokovic converted to pitching a couple of years into his pro career, spent some time in indy ball, and was with the Cardinals Triple-A affiliate last year. Being motivated to familiarize myself with guys like him is one of the things I enjoy most about Sire of Fort Myers. Still, Morris emerged as the top arm in this year’s class. So it’s come down to Morales vs. Morris. And the 2025 Sire of Fort Myers is … Jeferson Morales! Congratulations on winning the world’s greatest honor. I present you with the crown, cape and scepter. Represent the throne well in St. Paul. Keep this up and maybe we’ll even see you across the river at some point this summer. View full article

The Minnesota Twins relayed a few updates that help provide clarity on their 2025 opening day roster Sunday. Brooks Lee and Brock Stewart will open the year on the IL while Rule 5 pick Eiberson Castellano is not expected to make the roster. Also, Mickey Gasper suffered an ankle injury in Sunday’s spring game that puts his status for the opener in jeopardy. Here’s info on those updates plus a look at my new projected Twins opening day roster. View full video

The Minnesota Twins will be without Royce Lewis for some time after he suffered a hamstring injury in spring training. Should the Twins leave the door open for someone else like Brooks Lee to take over at third base while he's out? Or is third base still Lewis' position long term? Let's talk about that and how Eiberson Castellano might not fit into the Twins bullpen plans. View full video

It's not enough. Few solid hurlers left, but it's not enough. Few pitchers that'll really step, but it's not enough. Image courtesy of © Chris Tilley-Imagn Images Managers do their best with disaster prep, but when it comes to bullpen management, there’s no way to prepare for everything. There are going to be games where a starter can’t deliver innings. There will be times when a bullpen is stretched thin. There are extra-inning marathons, doubleheaders and mid-game weather delays that throw monkey wrenches into the works. When worse comes to worst, the mop-up man saves the day. Well, it would be more accurate to say he saves the other arms. A mop-up man doesn’t often help his team win; he’s there to eat innings. In that sense, it’s easy to think anybody can be a mop-up man. To some degree, I suppose that’s true. If you're down by enough runs, even a position player can cover mop-up duty on the mound. The challenge is less finding someone to fill the mop-up role, and more what to do with him after he’s provided his service. The options are usually either to basically play shorthanded in the bullpen for a few days or demote your mop-up man to call up a fresh arm. That being the case, it’s nearly impossible to have a mop-up man you can’t send down to the minors. This, of course, creates a big problem for the future of Eiberson Castellano as a Twin. Castellano is a talented pitcher. He won the Phillies' Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors in 2024, before being selected by the Twins with the ninth pick in the Rule 5 draft. He must stick on the Twins' active roster, or be waived, and if he clears waivers, he has to be offered back to Philadelphia. Currently, mop-up duty is the only role he currently looks suited for in the majors. So far this spring, Castellano has been awful more times than he’s been awesome. As he's a 23-year-old who hasn’t pitched above Double A, it should be little surprise that Castellano has run into some trouble. After a rough outing on Tuesday, his ERA is up to 9.35, to go with a 1.85 WHIP over 8 2/3 innings this spring. Still, with a four-seam fastball touching 97 mph a useful curveball and a changeup with a chance to be average, Castellano has the foundation of a big-league arsenal. He’s struck out 12 of the 44 batters he’s faced this spring (27.3%), despite struggling with his control and command. The team has also made sure to give him some tough assignments, the better to evaluate him against high-level competition. By Baseball Reference's Opponent Quality metric (an important tool to account for the uneven levels of opponents a player sees in spring ball), Castellano's 7.5 is the median figure among the 19 Twins who have thrown at least five innings this year. That number signifies something between Double-A and Triple-A talent, so it's pushing him beyond his comfort zone. Jhoan Durán (7.4), Jorge Alcalá (7.1) and Chris Paddack (6.8) have all faced a lower level of competition than Castellano. This is exactly the kind of arm you’d love to be able to stash for a year and steal away from another org. It’s just not that easy. There are enough low-leverage opportunities; the challenge comes from the bigger picture of bullpen management. It's easy to say "just stick him in a mop-up role." But here's the thing: No single pitcher can cover that role for an entire season. There are times when it’s necessary to churn and burn. Last season, there were 14 instances where a Twins reliever had to record more than six outs, meaning that pitcher was unavailable for the next day or three. In those situations, teams often show their appreciation for the effort by demoting that pitcher. One example from last year is when Pablo López could only cover four innings against the Tigers on April 12. That doesn’t sound like much of a doomsday scenario, but the Twins had a doubleheader the next day. The first game went 12 innings. They had no time to take a breath, as their next game was the following afternoon. Over those two days, Cole Sands covered 2 1/3 innings in an outing, while both Michael Tonkin and Alcalá had two-inning appearances. Additionally, Kody Funderburk and Jay Jackson worked back-to-back days. That’s five of eight bullpen spots who were likely going to be unavailable the next day (if not multiple days). Tonkin was the victim in that instance. The Twins had just acquired him from the Mets on April 9, but they designated him for assignment on the April 13 because they needed a fresh arm. There were other disaster scenarios last season, but we typically think of them coming later in the year. The early-season schedule includes more days off than usual, to accommodate potential weather postponements, but it doesn’t completely prevent bullpen management nightmares from popping up as early as mid-April. I suppose it’s possible to lock Castellano into a low-leverage spot and view a few of the other bullpen arms as the mop-up, churn-and-burn guys. Alcalá, Louis Varland, Justin Topa and Funderburk all still have options, so they could be up-and-down guys, yo-yo'ing between Minneapolis and St. Paul. There are also a host of arms not currently on the 40-man roster who could be used in a pinch, as we see every year. Those names include Huascar Ynoa, Randy Dobnak, Scott Blewett, Ryan Jensen and Anthony Misiewicz, among others. It seems like the amount of gymnastics it would require to keep Castellano on the roster would impact multiple other spots in the bullpen. It’s not impossible to keep him stashed away, but he may not be worth all the extra acrobatics. It's possible he'd break camp with the team and that Alcalá would start in St. Paul (since the latter can only be optioned now; he'll no longer be able to be farmed out once he accrues eight more days of big-league service), only to see a repeat of the Tonkin thing three weeks into the season: Castellano eats some innings, Alcalá comes up to refresh that spot on the roster, and Castellano hits the waiver wire, never to return. Another option Twins Daily writer Cody Schoenmann explored is for the Twins to trade for Castellano, allowing him to be optioned to the minors, but at this time it seems like Philadelphia would have little reason to go that route. I’d guess the Phillies would prefer to see how things shake out, and are assuming there’s a pretty decent chance Castellano is returned to them in the end. (Besides, there are logistical hurdles there, too. Castellano would have to clear waivers before that kind of trade could be executed, even if it had been previously agreed upon.) The Twins have been inactive in the Rule 5 Draft in recent years, so it was a surprise to see them make a selection. Though they were clearly enticed by Castellano’s upside, it would be an even bigger surprise if he actually stuck on the roster all season. Perhaps it’s best to return him to Philadelphia now and pivot to another plan that allows more flexibility in the bullpen. View full article

Royce Lewis suffered a hamstring injury while running to first base during Sunday's spring training game. It seems like a safe bet that he'll open the year on the IL, but are the Minnesota Twins well equipped to move forward without him? In this video, I share my thoughts on the third base situation and also relay some injury news on Brock Stewart. View full video