Rosterman

Gotta figure who stays on the 40-man roster. Going down the roster: Smeltzer - is he injury free? Can you get him back on a minor league contract or where he go elsewhere. Thorpe - out of options and really didn't get a chance to prove himself as a starter or bullpen arm. Perhaps he becomes the next Hendricks, because he is out of options and the Twins will move on. Perhaps not. Would you open the season with him or Barnes or Smeltzer as a lefty starter (or possible pen arm). Griffin Jax - Totally on the bubble. The Twins tried him briefly out of the pen in the beginning and have given him every opportunity to shine as a starter. Are there teams salivating to sign the guy, probably to a minor league pact? Jorge Alcala - showing great potential as he finishes the seson. WIll be back. Closer prospect? Taylor Rogers - Left-handed setup guy who can also close, but let's get a real closer. He stays, Tyler Duffey - Another good setup arm. I remember when he was a top starter prospect back in 2016. He stays. Cody Stashak - may have injured himself out of a roster spot. Would have to pas thru waivers. Of course, another team may not gamble. Or he would be the next Zach Littrell. Picture the Twins removing him. Caleb Thielbar - Age may be working against him for one of the beloved roster spots. That no one grabbed him from the Twins at the trade deadline means something (cheap and dependable). You can never have too many left-handed arms, but the Twins have two - Jovani Moran, who will stay, and Danny Coulombe, who is a tad younger and has shown his worth. He could be on the bubble if roster spots become precious. Luke Farrell - this year's Matt Wisler, but cheaper because he missed so much time. Like Thielbar, he could be a keeper as you need a couple of names to move about if you sign a free agent. Excited about him? Not in the least. Alex Colome - seems the team is giving him so many opportunities to up his value, but to whom - not to the Twins unless they pick up the option. Will Alex see a demand for his services? DO we want to see him back as a closer? Is he a decent setup man? Like many, would rather see the team move on. Juan Minaya - the guy ahs been a sweet surprise and has worked himself into an off-season job. He can pitch multiple innings. Nothing exciting, and will have to prove himself all over again in spring training, but is a solid bullpen keeper for now. Ian Gibaut - The Twins gave him a shot in 2021. Maybe enough to get him to come abck on a minor league contract for depth in St. Paul. Nick Vincent - Hasn't been given a lot of chances. Age works against him for the "new" Twins, but that doesn't mean he won't resign if offered a minor league contract. Edgar Garcia - along with Jason Garcia and Alex Schreff are outside organization pickups, None in dire need of a 40-man spot, but names to keep in the organization as depth. Kyle Barraclough - The Twins are giving this unsigned draftee who shined for a few seasons elsewhere some opportunities as the season winds down. His 4-5 appearances in the final days will be a deciding factor if he is kept on the 40-man, or will become a minor league free agent. He is working himself into a temporary keeper spot right now. Ralph Garza Jr. - The guy has shined, in a middle of the bullpen way. He is young, a good strikeout arm, and seems to be a fine pickup. I picture the Twins keeping him on board for now. Beau Burrows - Another guy that may stay with the Twins for minor elague depth because they gave him a shot, and St. Paul used him as a starter. We'll see. John Gant - Is a bit safer than he was in Cardinal-land, who didn't want to go to arbitration with him. I would love to see him stay in the bullpen, but he is an option to start. Edwar Colina will stay on the 40-man as there is too much promise there...the question is can he be major league ready for some innings before mid-season 2022. It is hard to keep 40-man spots full of injured players (we already have Madea filling one for 2022). Jordon Gore is an interesting case. Seems the Twins are keeping the converted infielder at AA with the hopes of maybe sneaking him thru the Rule 5 and having him workout at AAA ball in 2022 before making a roster decision. Might be another guy that gets away to another team. Ryan Mason is one of those middle-inning multi-inning arms that is not spectacular but seems to get the job done and could be lost to the Twins if not protected. He may not be ready out of spring training, but could play into the bullpen, or becomes one of those journeymen that ends up shining elsewhere (Chargois, Curtiss, Guerra, maybe Hildenberger, whatever).

I'm counting some 54 players on the FCL roster, and 35+ on the Ft. Myers team. A helluva a lot of players already on the complex grounds. Where do they all stay? Do some come over from the DSL league. Now if it will only stop raining down there.

First, the Twins thought they were going to be competitive, so they went after some minor league free agent bullpen arms as possible reclamation projects. Instead, they should've kept Wells, but in all likelihood felt he was going to start in the minors and that no team would open the season with him. Same could be said for Baddoo. He was behind like six outfielders. Even Celestino was considered ahead of him for advancement to the majors and Celestino only made the jump beause of so many injuries. That the Twins ended up with Refsnyder and Garlick as replacements for Rosario for a good aprt of the year, because Larnach needed much more seasoning and Kirilloff went down. The Twins would've started Baddoo at AA ball. The killer for the Twins is that they watched three pitchers: Colina, Balazovic and Duran. All three sit on the 40-man and out for part or all of the season. All considered possible contributors to 2021. Now we wonder if and when they will contribute in 2022. Doubt any of the three will open the season on the roster. The joys of baseball is that you have to make hard decisions. Yes, the Twins made some hard decisions, but, again, they were thinking of being in play in the division and could only allow x-amount of spots for unproven rookie talent. If they knew they would lose, perhaps 90-games, they might've taken a different trak. Be interesting to see what this off-season brings.

So sad he didn't get in a game, although he still is on the 40-man (and getting an increased paycheck for the final two weeks in St. Paul).

If you wish to have a pitcher give up multiple runs in an inning, why didn't you plan on Strotman to come up, take some lumps, and learn. Or maybe he would've shined. Farrell IS NOT an opener. An opener is a distinct pitcher. Just like some starters ARE NOT relief pitchers (*out of the gate). Of course, we have 11 bullpen arms right now, so the Twins are deciding who NOT to carry on the 40-man.

Why not start Maggi? Will he be a Twin still this coming week? Great story, but right now he is with Telis, Schilling and a couple of others as Twins that never played a game!

The Twins are in a great situation for pitchers like Moran. They can let them see how their stuff work, come out and give some advice. The pitcher sees that maybe the coaches and team knows what is going on. Then the pitcher can continue to work and learn. I'm sure it has been a great learning experience for Griffin Jax. Charlie Barnes, too, as well as Bailey Ober. Trevor Larnach also got the experience, as did Gilberto Celestino. The Twins have had to rely on Ryan Jeffers learning and performing on the job. It is what the players do in the off-season now, and how they come to spring training and go from there. I would also like to see Drew Strotman get his chance on the mound against major league competition. That is what the month of September should be all about for future Twins. Miranda, can he come out and play, too? Move Cabbage and Balazovic up to pitch with the Saints if need be. Advance some guys from Cedar Rapids to Wichita. Then Ft. Myers to Cedar Rapids. Yes, minor league w/l totals or playoffs are important, but also experience for potential major league players in the long run.

Hey, here it comes. Low and outside!

You love it when an organization does this. Griffith did it in the old days, give the oldtimers looking for one last chance a few more games towards a pension plan. The flip side, it is still a 40-man spot. Or a 28-man roster spot. Will Gant, Refsnyder, Garver, Thorpe still come back for one more harrah! Plus, Simmons is on his temporary leave. The Twins still can use a fifth official starter. I hope he starts Sunday! Get him that one game. Then can decide if wants to return in 2022. We forget that minor league free agents do get decent pay most of the time, as well as extra pay for every day on the 40-man roster.

Sano Garver Donaldson floating thru DH duties. Miranda sharing time at 3rd. Kirilloff at first. Question is who is at shortstop, and who do we carry as catchers/spare infielders. Rotation is Thorpe, Jax, Dobnak, Ober and Ryan with Smeltzer in the wings with Barnes. I see 75 wins from this group easy! (If they pitch at least five innings a start).

Ah, wait. The other totals were when the Miracle were a High-A team. The record was broken by an A-ball team, now playing with a share of short-season folks that normally would've been with Elizabethton in the past, and facing similar players.

I know they want to see if Moran can get thru a batting order, or that's the only explanation I see having him pitch, sit, pitch, sit, then come out yet again. He's a lefty. Is he that good that he faces everyone well and cane have his routine broken by stretches between innings? At some point, the Twins need to think of a way to get starters to pitch five complete innings. That would be a major step in the right direction, and it just ain't happening with Ober, Jax, Barnes, Gant, Albers. Maybe it is time to see if Jax can be used in long or multi-back-back-to-back days of relief. Bring up Strotman is you wish to elt pitchers learn by getting battered and staying in the game. Surely this is the "learning experience" of the current field staff and front office calls for the team.

If you look at the progression of Gil, he was Rule 5 eligible each of the past two seasons, but was still in the low minors. Even this year he started at AA and progressed to AAA. Nothing really outstanding there, but enough for the Yankees to looksee because they needed to add him to the 40-man come the off-season or he would probably walk elsewhere. If Gil had not lost a season of play so early, who knows. Now he ends up in option land. The fact that he is only 23 works well in his favor, and that the Yankees did push to see if he can contribute. Compare that to the Twins who have Balazovic languishing at AA ball, even when injured part of this season. This was a guy who was going to pitch AA/AAA ball and get a looksee by the Twins this year. The difference between the Twins and Yankees is that the Yankees tried a rookie in a positive year for their team (although looks like they are just missing the playoffs) while the Twins are running thru a list of old standards for some odd reason, rather than give big league time to a few more guys who might be on the roster, still in 2023-24-25. Is Jax a better pitcher, or Barnes, for getting major league innings out of the way this year? Even Ober. Plus getting a chance to work with major league coaches and try things in the majors. Cave gave the Twins a need, especially with Buxton going down each season. But at some point he becomes too expensive in arbitration. He will still find work (ala Grossman). Have to see what happens to Gil in the end. But at some point, he seemed too rough and too many years away to keep in the system, especially in a Twins system where they like pitchers to be much older before coming to the major leagues.

So next year we have Strotman, Balazovic, Duran, Winder, Sands and who else starting at AAA St. Paul? Barnes still there? Jax? Anyone else at AA deserving of a bieegr push?

It is always a question of how much you can afford to lose vs. overpaying for lesser production. Big budget teams can have tens of millions released, waived or on the disabled list. The Twins can afford to have $10-20 million not producing, and they bite-the-bullet when names like Mauer or Donaldson are getting overpaid compared to expectations, but at least they are on the field. I often have little problem over paying home grown talent, since you have gotten lower-payroll production out of them in the first place. It's why he Twins should've kept players like Cuddyer, Nathan, Hunter...even Santana and Koskie, when they went for greener pastures. You pay them because of their past, present and future worth as franchise people. It's why many of us hated Jack Morris and his one-year of taking a check, but the results were, in the end, more than worth it. Too often a franchise gets caught in a budget crunch, so to speak. But is it really a budget crunch? I go back to the 55%. I'm sorry, a team spending $150 million on payroll as 55% of their budget isn't paying the from office equal to a team spending 55% on payroll from their $500 million budget. And, the years you underspend vs. ... well, baseball is in a financial mess but somehow they seemed to weather the disaster of 2020 for dollars, and the lighter pocketbook of this season, too. In the end, franchises keep going up-up-up in value, something Carl Pohlad was fully aware as he always borrowed other's people money against his team. If players won't come to Minnesota unless we overpay them, and the players we are overpaying are not really worth overpaying to come to town, then why not overpay our own bright prospects who have been a aprt of the system and then the club for 4-5-6 years.

All four full season teams are winners so far. But the Saints have a challenge to stay that way now with two extra weeks of play.

Be interesting to see if he stays with the Twins organization. Somehow he got bumped by Celestino who has a similar skill set. Wichita, having baseball back, has to be an exciting place with a winning team. Twins AA ball teams usually do pretty darn good.

Tough tough list. Ober isn't getting to decision time at all. Can he have an opener, perhaps? Thielbar has excelled, but not much to being a setup man on a losing team. With Rogers gone, he was the heavy-carrying lefty, until Coulombe came on the scene (also underrated). Can Col-B and Farrell (and Minaya) be the core of a bullpen in 2022? Do we think Thielbar will stay on par or excel even more? Is Rogers still in the mix as setup, or are we going to play him at closer and forego getting a real closer for the team. Can any Twins pitcher pitch an extra inning with a runner on second and get out of the inning? At one point we were happy with Garlick, and rooting for Refsnyder. It's too bad there isn't anyone else the Twins could be running out at catcher.

That's right. Wichita will be playoff bound, which is good for that team. My only gripe for NOT bringing up a pitcher in a bad year for a team, is that it IS the perfect opportunity for them to get the Big League debut out of their system, and especially give them something to work towards in the off-season.

I'm still a little ticked. Strotman should be pitching and getting 4-5 starts with the major league club. Balazovic and Sands could be pitching in St. Paul and also getting 4-6 starts, or x-amount of innings. With Balazovic coming to Target Field to even piggy-back in Ober starts, since Bailey can't go five innings.

The Twins still need the same TWO things they needed last season, a starter (who this year) would be better than Berrios, and a real closer. Both could be expensive, but the money spent on a bunch of lesser talents could be pooled for a bigger expenditure. Or, if that doesn't work - trade.

I'm seeing the Twins not having a .300 hitter come season's end (except for the departed Cruz). Arrgh! And so many in the low, low .200's, or fighting to get to that number. But, hey...as long as every player hits .200 and the team gets 200 homers........

I pegged that Ryan would be an okay starter, but that he would eventually suit out as a closer. Works fast, nice mix, will challenge hitters. Have to see how the buzz and video follows him as he works thru the lineup multiple times. Can he do it consistently? I say, go for the rotation as loooong as you can. But he is an arm that should have a solid career in the major leagues.

When do we get to see Luke Farrell again?

I would love to see Cruz return for another encore with the Twins. But then, we have Donaldson at third and Sano at first and Garver catching. No room in the inn for Kirilloff at first and Miranda at third. But if you look at Cruz as being that BIG bat off the bench, maybe playing 80-90 games, then okay, I guess. The Twins could do worse. Then they have Cruz back and also two pitchers who could do major league time.