Rosterman

Sanp would be a wonderful bench bat and possible DH. The Twins could, conceivably, go with a four man rotation and 7 pitchers in the pen. Who would be those BEST seven? Better yet, who is the odd starter out (Mejia, Colon)? I might be hard-pressed to keep DUffey on the 40-man, depending on the state of prospects. Granted, so many of the potential 40-man prospects probably won't start the season with the Twins (Rosario, Jorge, Romero, Curtiss, Enns, Moya, Littell as examples) that the Twins will need journeymen to fill in the holes. But, again, if you have NO HOLES on the 40-man, who stays and who goes.

Ultimately this off-season will show us i the Twins start going outside the organization for a rebuild than just moving guys around and having everyone with lifetime contracts. Not that I'm knocking the longevity of guys in the minors, many like the Eliz folks have been here forever. See who else moves from the front office, where new scouts come from and all.

Well, the outfield is set for a few years until a new crop comes along. You have to be happy that Sano will be somewhere. 2B/SS seem set for now, so we have to worry about the corners (unless Mauer is extended) and who is the DH if Sano stays in the field. I was hoping to get more of a look at Garver behind-the-plate as he seems to be it for the future after 2019. I guess we should be happy that Santana is still around and that Gibson ahs found his way to throw. I don't have a lot of long-term future stock in Mejia, not even short-term. But can't name for sure who will be on the 2020 rotation staff yet. Like ALL those relief pitchers of old, we have yet to classify where any of these guys will perform best in the bullpen. Who is setup, is there a longman, who can close someday Escobar has proven to be a surprise that I would almost write him at third next year with Sano as DH. But the number of players the Twins have to start protecting on the 40-man this season and next will make for some interesting watch. You can add them and protect them, but does no good if they don't play and some others have to take their spots and you lose them when sending them off-40-man waivers.

It is such a strange thing to address. The Twins, obviously, are in the playoff hunt. We have never this seson seen such a regular lineup with guys basically sitting in the shadows of the bench, like they aren't on the team. Same with the bullpen. You have two problems. You are coming up on guys pitching waaaay too much than necessary, from both their minor and major appearances. Bringing up arms from the minors is NOT bringing up fresh arms. You are bringing up guys who have pitched more often than not on a regular basis and can be tiring. The arms in the majors face the same. Some should've been totally jettisoned by this time (Pressly, Boshers, Tonkin are examples). The only PLUS is that you have a multitude of arms and can bring them out to face 1, 2 or 3 batters ONLY. Use a lot of guys in a game with minimal work, as seen last night. Can you do this back-to-back-to-back? Doubtful. What hurts more is the starting depth. Yes, you want your starters to go long. You want to have PLUS starters who can get you into the 7th. Yes, if you are ahead, as it seems in any game Gibson pitches, your best starter is pulled because why waste his arm with a big league. So you need potential starters. You need the ability to go with a six man rotation, if necessary (if NOT in the playoff hunt, would be easier to do). You need more guys like Gee and Slegers to co-pitch a game and hopefully not stink, at times, as well as giving you a good look at future possibilities. While other teams (Indians, Astros, Red Soxand even the Yankees) can start to position themselves for the playoffs, the Twins pitching staff is having to show up and pitch like every game counts (and it does) and the offense has to be productive, too. You like to think that throughout the season you have a roster full of the best players who you can actually use in a game. Even calling guys up in September, you want to believe you can trust them in 3-2 games. But there seems to be a lot of names that Molly ignores. Of course Perkins and Curtiss are getting shortshifted and there are others he doesn't really trust. Grante and Goodrum and bench chum it seems (as is Vargas, at times). Tought call. These guys are going to be exhausted if the Twins win the Wild Card, the one-off, and have to go towards playoff heaven.

I think bunting against C.C. can be a smart move. Make the guy move a bit off the mound!

You don't have to push your starters. Especially 44-year-old guys. If you get five innings, you leap for joy. if you get six, be more than happy. No need to run them out for seven. Keep them strong down this stretch, and you need to keep the bullpen arms alive. You had four pitchers you could use. Three more you could use today or tomorrow. And you still have Slegers getting left out in the cold, too. Dougie M. Gonna miss you!

You would need four starters max. 4th starter yet to be determined. You should also consider Gee for the bullpen. Look at workload of bullpen probables. Sano is a decision-maker. Do you need Garver and Granite, although giving them experience for the future over, say, Grossman and Gimenez, would be a plus.

Alejandro Machado, the only Twin in the rosters section of the media guide that never played a game for them, but considered a major league player because he was a Rule 5 draftee kept on the roster on the 60-day DL in 2007. Ultimately the team he was drafted from didn't want him back and he played two years in the minors for the Twins. Chuck Schilling should also be remembered in a similar fashion. Brought over in spring training with Russ Nixon in the Dick Stigman trade, he broke camp with the Twins in 1966...back in those days you could have an extra player or two on the roster for the first month. Sam Mele never put him in a game during the month, and the Twins wanted to send him to the minors when the rosters were reduced and he quit.

Al Worthington. Should be in the Twins Hall of Fame. Closer extraordinaire in the late 60s. Hated "cheating" when with the Giants, was a journeyman pitcher with no career prospects and became dynamite, often pitching multiple innings.

Be interesting to see what happens. Is Randy Rosario out? Will Zack Littell join the 40-man. What is the stock of Deitrich Enns. What about all those also rans like Boshers, Tonkin. even Duffey. Will the Twins have a place for O'Rourke? Why not Reed, too? What is the fate of Vielma and Palka. You can't fill your roster with too many names of guys who can't break the 25-man roster but are prospects. Will Slegers redeem himself? Is Colon a T-shirt only? What is the liklihood of Perkins or Belise coming back in 2018!

Knowing when to pull. And for guys like Curtiss, picking the right batters and situations. With 17 hurlers on your staff, you can use them for one batter situations, if you like.

I think Mejia will be a five inning pitcher, so Slegers and Dee are valuable for 3-inning stints. Dee has shown his strength as coming out of the pen as a long man, it seems. But, yes, I would like to see Slegers get at least one start out of the gate. I would have him ready to be first up if they feel Mejias needs to start.

You have 30+ players on the roster. If you aren't going to figure out how to use them properly, then why are they on the roster. Granted, you are totally inconsistent in putting together a lineup. You CAN rest a Buxton (yes, he did homer yesterday) but part of the game plan is to keep your players as fresh as you can. Especially the bullpen. Don;t use guys for a week and expect them to shut people down in horrible situations? You have to mix and match the bad/okay bullpen guys with a gem. If the bad/okay guys get thru an inning so you can use another bad/ok guy, you go for it. I'll be happy if the Twins play .500 ball for the season. Anything after that is a bonus. If they make the wildcard playoff game, I'll watch them play the Yankees in New York. I'll fall off my chair if they go beyond that and will dance nakid in the streets if they win the world series. Yes, it would be ncie if ALL September games, at this point in Twins history, were meaningless and you could see what you have and what you will have for the future. I'm a little disappointed with the lovefest for guys that shouldn't be back next season (like Belisle and Grossman and one of those backup infield guys, and even Gimenez...let Garver catch Berrios in the least...let Garver catch in the least). I would also put more stock into giving Curtis innings, as well as Enns and Jake Reed and such than dragging out the ever-rising ERA guys of Pressly and Boshers and (soon) Tonkin). We will cringe and say we can't lose games to teams like the Royals at this point, especially when our best pitchers are on the mound. But the lineup has some blame, too...not doing their thing, or not doing stuff like working on bunting earlier in the season so they can do it when it counts. Sigh.

I feel bad that Palka isn't getting a callup, a looksee (shades of Adam Brett Walker). Just a bat that could offer some punch (and what about Byung-Ho Park) would be a blessing in a late-inning situation.

You factor in who do the Twins replace the guy with. In 2019 it would br Granite/Palka. Down the road might be Lamont Wade or Edgar Corcino. They might have someone else 3-4 years out. Then it becomes a factor of money. What happens when he has a couple of seasons like 2017 and hits arbitration. How high will you go.? Do you start making choices between him and Kepler as long-term team parts. He's a commodity that you can amrket if you can get equal or better value. But how many teams could use him and overpay the Twins?

The Twins have to pay what they have to pay Gibby because of arbitration. The redeeming factor for keeping him is that the Twins don't have, as of today, a solid 7-8 depth. They have Santana, Berrios, Gibson, Mejia, Slegers and partial May for next season. Will Hughes come back? Is Turley really an option? How soon before Jorge, Romero, Gonsalves are ready. Who are the guys you further drag out and protect on the 40-man? If Gibson was pitching like this two months ago, we would be in front of the Yankees, and he might've been tradebait.

In some ways, you are comfortable going into the off-season with Dozier as a tradechip if you could replace him with Polanco and keep Escobar at short and know Nick Gordon is coming up, and Ehire is a reserve for now. What I'm afriad of is that the Twins field staff and Front office are falling in love with people like Gimenez, Colon, Escobar, Ehire, Grossman and any number of relief pitchers. We should still have a looksee at Palka this September )could he and Granite, say, replace Rosario and Grossman if used as trade chips). Who is at DH, Vargas, or is Park still in the mix. Would we rather see Jake Reed than Tonkin or Boshers or whomever. Not to mention Enns.

Looks like the Twins, according to Molitor, are done with the September call-ups. No to Daniel Palka, who would be a nice bench bat. Enns also, another left-hander that probably has more future Twins potential than, say, Boshers. Byung-Ho Park. What will become of him?

Bring Back Wilk. Seriously, Santana is the Guy!

Hell yes! He will be worth more than he might ever be (remember the season the Twins should've traded Young?). What would help would be if the Twins actually got a looksee at Palka this September, too. Can Granite be a regular for a season or two?

Buxton Dozier Mauer Sano Rosario Kepler Grossman Castro Polanco

So what is the skinny on J.T. Chargois? And what gives with Zachary Jones?

It is a tough call. $5 million for Gibson? If you let him walk now, you really can't sign him back right away. Would be interesting to see what the market for the guy truly is. But as we saw already, he had no value last season. And when you could've traded him this year he was horrible or disabled. Can you spend that money better elsewhere? The question is: how far do the Twins really go this season (slightly above .500). Do they make the playoffs? Is next season STILL a rebuild year towards 2019, or not?

Three things: Line-up construction. Trust your bullpen. Santana was at 96 pitches before the 7th. Did he have to come out and pitch the 7th? What the Twins need is a bench. Someone to pinch-hit for Garver with 1st and 3rd and two-outs. Good experience for Garver, but what wouldn't give for a Thome or Baylor or even a Phil Nevin at times.

Colon did seem to give a nice veteran boost to the pitching end of things. But the Twins badly needed a bat, and a veteran bat would've been nice (shades of, say, a Don Baylor or even a Phil Nevin). Just something different than what they have. Especially since the DH has been a weak spot all season, not to mention a bat coming off the bench. Okay, to start a Niko Goodrum or Mitch Garver in a playoff run at DH, but if the situation arise (1st and 3rd, two outs) wouldn't it be nice to have a veteran bench bat to go to just for the heck of it. Not like the Twins had a tight 40-man roster for ALL of August and enough wiggle room to add some aging big-salary slugger (again, not sure who was really available out there). I'm still trying to figure out why Justin Morneau never returned this summer. Heard he was still in shake before the All-Star break. But, again, it is a nice run. Who knows what taking on a bench guy would've cost the Twins in a prospect.