Rosterman

It's so hard. The Twins are looking at who will return to the roster in 2022. Who they need to see who they may/may not be keeping because of 40-man considerations, Rule 5, six year free agents. In some ways, we will see a cycle threw of some odd names. Hamilton will either get a looksee and will be jettisoned, or kept on the 40-man. The pain is for every name added, someone has to go. CASE IN POINT: We traded Cruz and Faucher for two pitchers. One takes the place of Cruz on the 40-man, but someone, ultimately we lost a position player. But in the end, we do have to add the other Ray acquire to the 40-man, which means a player has to go in his place. Okay: case-in-point that the Twins WILL have plenty of roster spots with free agent departures. But both Tampa players HAVE TO BE ADDED. Not sure if Moran or Cano needs to be added. Hamilton would have to be added to be kept. If they don't, he will surely walk. But he also needs to stay once added or he will also walk. Our current trouble is all the players on the IL, including our top two starting prospects in Duran and Balazovic. Throw in Smeltzer and Thorpe and Stashak. That's now five pitchers that the Twins would pretty much keep, but seeing little results. So, a couple may be gone just because.....

Well, Pineda increased his trade value. Donaldson is making himself look valuable.

The pain is that any team trading for Berrios might only be looking at him as a rental, too. Berrios seems intent on going for the biggest bucks possible following his 2022 season. What that means, though, is that anyone having him on the roster NEXT season should expect super numbers. But if you are trading for the guy now, in July 2021, you really can't negotiate with him or his agent unless you make the trade. Am I right on this? Unless you are totally going to blow him away with an offer the day after the trade (like $150m for five years, option to get out in Year 3, etc. etc.)

I feel so bad for Rooker. You have Garlick and Refsnyder both holding 40-man positions. You have Celestino rushed, but shows promise. Cave is back. Both Larnach and Kirilloff are here to stay. Until the Twins figure out if they are keeping Cruz and the eventual fate of Sano, there is no place for Rooker in the inn. Especially when the Twins are more than happy to play Arraez or Gordon in the outfield, too. Happily Rooker has increased his value as a possible trade chip, or for himself if the Twins choose to move on from him in the off-season. WHich brings he question - you are making additions/deletion decisions on the 40-man. Who do you keep of Rooker, Cave, Garlick, Refsnyder, Astudillo?

The pain with Berrios is that any team that trades for him will be in the same boat as the Twins, have to pony up an undecided dollar figure to resign the guy. Things like that can better happen in the off-season where a team can weigh-in with an agent the probability of what the player wants. Otherwise, Berrios is just a rental. The joy of trading either is that if the team they are traded to can't resign them, you can also enter the bidding war. Same with Buxton. He can play out his contract, hope for a suepr 2021, and the sky is the limit.

I see Gore has been moved to Wichita!

They Twins still had their closer Colome available! Tag-teamed with Thielbar, they might've pulled it off even with two runners on base and no outs!

Donaldson is seeing his name in the news more than he probably would've expected, signing the possible five-year Twins contact to end his career. You hear the good about how you can help others as well as the bad about how not doing well at all. The trading part of the calendar is something I'm sure most players would just like to avoid, but don't...because it IS there! The Twins are currently being either over-coached or under-coached, depending on the glasses you are wearing. Us fans in the stands ask "why aren't they doing certain things" and others just wonder "why everyone seems to be too careful out there."

It's a tough call. You don't want to advance, then send them down all next season (or beyond) as 40-man spots are precious. You will probably go with folks like Ian Hamilton and Andrew Vasquez, who if they bomb you can just let them walk before making the ahrd decisions in the fall. It would be nice of Smeltzer, Dobnak and Thorpe came back and actually pitched as starters. Then I would feel better about Pineda and Happ leaving and Ober being shutdown because of innings. Of course we all wanted to see Duran and Balazovic this season, but now seems unlikely. I had precious hopes for Griffin Jax. Hopefully he will get another start or two and a decision can be made. But I see them ONLY bringing up prospects at this time who would be protected come the 40-man revision in the Fall. Anyone NOT on that list would be a longshot.

With waiver claims, you most often NEED a 40-man spot to put the player, and you put a player on waivers because you want to advance to your 25-man roster someone from your system. Often a roster as placeholders for just that reason. Or you hope you can claim them, and them option them down to the minors, off the 40-man. But you always run the risk of losing the guy in the off-season (shades of Zack Littell). Go back and look at transactions and see how many guys the Twins have been signing of late in the minors, often to be potential replacements for waiver wire guys that they may need to replace if booted from the roster (Derek law and Danny Coulombe are two recents, not to mention what might transpire if the Twins decide to send out Garlick or Refsnyder). During the season you take a gamble claiming a guy on waivers. Often better to just let it past and the guy plays out the year somewhere else and eventually becomes a minor league free agent that you can choose to sign in the off-season.

Be a shame if Baddoo would win rookie of the year. But as said above, there was little that would make me 40-man him considering the pecking order of outfielders ahead of him, at the time, in the minors. Kudos to Larnach and Kirilloff for running with the opportunity and working their butts off, shades of Kepler in his beginning years!

And they must think he will sign!

If the Twins keep this up they will NOT have the Number One Draft Pick in 2022! This is a day Taylor Rogers might've remembered. Instead, the Twins did get the win in their own dramatic fashion. So many walks. I love ALL the delayed strike calls by the home plate umpire. Somedays you just wish you were one of the field umps.

Taylor, Byron and Jose are three guys that you listen to the offers. People will have to make their best. Then you decide. Can even put Cruz in this mix. Sadly, we will still see the stay behinds play and eat up innings and at bats.

Why did the trades happen. Well, if you remember, Escobar was entering his free agent year. No qualifying offer for the guy. There was contract discussion but nothing much was happening. Arizona called. The Twins saw an opportunity that after the season ends, depending on Escobar's final performance, they could bring him back on the cheap (always on the cheap here). Escobar had a wonderful time in Arizona, they made a very reasonable offer out-of-the-season-ending-gate and he just flatout accepted. No need to wait for a counter offer if the Twins weren't serious in the first place. Twins got two decent prospects. Shades of Zach Duke. Today we could be looking at similar trades for Law or Thielbar and, hopefully, Colome. Dozier was tanking and the Twins couldn't figure out if they wanted to keep him or not. He was going to be a free agent. Trade him and maybe resign him (on the cheap). The Twins were forced to take Logan Forsythe and his salary in return, which ate up a roster spot, but Forsythe was okay. Twins also saw some return for Rodney, who was not going to come back for Twins money. Sorta like Robles this year, and a good reason for the Twins to offer him for a prospect. The Twins cleaned house and got prospects. In 2017 Lynn was a salary dump to the Yanks who gave us Austin, behind in the pecking order and out-of-options who might fit into the Twins need for a 1B/DH, and a...prospect still in the system with promise (Rijo). Someone wanted Kintzler more than the Twins who were on he edge of the Wild Card race, and the Twins thought they could stay in the hunt with Belisle or others. Plus they didn't think he was worth paying more money (shades of Wisler, May or others). Was he coming off a string of bad appearances for a couple of weeks? Anything? Somehow Kintzler still keeps finding work for his special blend of slowness and ground ball outs. The Twins grabbed Garcia, thinking they were in contention, then decided to flip him when the Yankees came calling...so they traded Ynoa for Enns and Littell. Littell was lights out in the minors and seemed a probable starter. We know what happened here. Enns was one of those throw-ins, make him work or lose him because you don't want to 40-man him. In 2019, the Twins were going on a bullpen hunt, shades of Matt Capps. Dyson bombed and all three prospects are still in play. Romo did his job and came back (on the cheap, the magic words) for another year of Twins action. Villamont is still a prospect to watch. Davis and Davis were depth the Twins could part with and were somehow behind Weil and a horde of outfielders. A word on prospects. Organizations know where guys stand in their system. They hopefully know, like in Ynoa, that they will advance to this level or that level, who is ahead of them in the 40-man protection spread, how much have we invested, what can we get in return. Teams like to trade impending free agents for prospects: if I can get a guy another team paid a couple of million to sign two years ago, well, I didn't have to pay that. And hopefully your scouting sees potential to fit into the mix of players growing on the farm. You also see prospects change hands that another team may/may not want to protect for 40-man considerations, or guys who will be impending minor league free agents or guys out of options as throw-ins. But if you look at the 100 names right now that the Twins have at Cedar Rapids and Ft. Myers, how many will make it to the big leagues. Hell, how many will play three years in the minors before being replaced. You look at your dollar investment, the age of the guys, and any improvement. And you have scouts keeping tab of the same in ALL other organizations. Trade deadline actions happen for a reason. You can dangle all the players you want, but it is the contending teams that are sitting in the conference room looking at the board at their present needs (due to incompetence or injury) and looking at their own pecking order of players in the system, and then making a call a proposing a deal. If I am going to take-on your Donaldson, you may have to take on a similar return to deal with in your own future. I'm dealing with from system depth or players on the cusp of not having a place in my organization as part of any equation. Of course, Berrios is a key who, like Santana before him is running his own show as long as he produces. But teams also know they have to payout money on their end or lose him, or just wait another season and he will be a free agent. Robles, Rogers, Duffey, maybe even Colome could be had. Pineda and Happ are looking for takers. Cruz is an exceptional piece and only necessary for half-a-season. Can you trust that he will be there for the second half? Who would you want Simmons? Better fielding than most. Are you facing an injury dilemma? Donaldson is just too expensive. .250, not 10 home runs, missed a bunch of games? Try and put a spin on him! All the players the Twins traded away at deadline were as good-as-gone anyway, which is why they were traded (okay, maybe NOT Pressly, and a couple could've been resigned for double of their current salaries). And with no waiver wire trades in August...you put the guy out there and can't pull them back to work a trade...gotta let them go...I sadly don't se the Twins doing that and eating any of he salaries of Colome, Happ, Simmons - which raises hell with the roster (since they won't be coming back) as they will take away playing time from the future.

Yeah, thank goodness Twins didn't have to pay Jake the total $19 million last season. They just couldn't reach a deal for this season, for some odd reason. Twins felt better off with Happ and Shoemaker. Lance Lynn was a headcase. Kinda straightened out with the Yankees. Twins passed on him (and him on the Twins) when a free agent. Twins could've traded like the Sox did, but didn't/ I would've gone harder after Rich Hill. Tampa got a full season of Rich for less than the Twins for weeks in 2020. Go figure. But, hey, we got Happ who is younger. Twins didn't feel Kyle was worth whatever in arbitration, so they passed. They also didn't see the worth in a long-term contract, Texas struck gold, only paying partial for 2020 and getting a deal for this season (and maybe the next). Who would have figured. If you can't reward a player for what they have done growing up in the organization, then you might have trouble keeping players beyond arbitration. Just saying..... Astros needed a pitcher and the Twins had little invested in this Rule 5 pickup of yore. Didn't see him as a closer, and someone getting expensive for "just" being in the pen. Got a decent return...and Ryan got to pitch in Texas where you wear lots of suntan lotion. Littell dominated as a starter in the minors. Went ker-plink. Then showed greatness as a bullpen arm. Then ker-plunk again. Thought he might appear bad enough that no one would care that they had to 40-man him. I felt the Twins gave up on this future (possible) Liam Hendriks. I was a Trevor May booster. He is over 30 and the Twins didn't want to pay him $8 or so million or wrangle a multi-year deal with the guy. That they couldn't trade him was a loss for the front office. He would be our closer now instead of Colombe or whatever.

I could see Pineda being a good pickup for Cleveland. They only need a rental. Thielbar and Robles may be tradable. Cruz would be a dynamite pickup for anyone needed a DH. I would take a deal for Kepler. Now, about Donaldson..... Could you package him with someone like Kepler, and also a prospect? Sadly, the trading deadline ahs also become a time that some teams can just wait to see if a player is released, this a minimal committment and no players lost.

The Trade Deadline reality is that a team is going to TRADE for SOMEONE who will help them get to the post-season, period. Otherwise, it just becomes a salary dump, and baseball eliminated the ability to pull players back during the August waiver-wire blues. Now, when a player is put on waivers, they are gone, gone, gone. Can SImmons improve any team with his defense. Same with Donaldson. The bats may not seem worth the investment, unless a team figures (for Donaldson) that he will rebound in a spectacvular fashion and become a tradechip. Or injury means you have a need. But can you find better than what the Twins have to offer. Pineda, if he can pitch well his next two outings, may be a gem for the Twins. Robles also needs to shine. The evils of trading for Berrios is that the team DOES need to be in a position to offer a contract to resign the guy, or they are renting the player, albeit for this AND next season. A pitcher of the caliber of the current Berrios will always entice a contender down to the wire. The only advantage the Twins have trading in the off-season is that a team can get a better idea of what it may take to sign Jose. But the Twins may be desperate and it may be Johan Santana 2.0. Rogers is valuable. Might be able to get a return like the Twins did from the Astros. Duran and Celestino were a good vibe. Maybe both will work out and make us forget that we traded a Rule 5 pickup. I'm not sure Happ would fit in anywhere. Especially on a contending club. So, again, the hard reality is that teams don't want players someone wants to throwout there. They want players that will actually help them. And the Twins, sadly, have a few players that they can just outright say "goodbye" to and other teams MAY be happy to pick them up for a pro-rated part of their salary, after they become free agents, rather than pick up ALL the remaining salary. But I sadly see Happ, Simmons, Colombe going the way of Shoemaker, without pitching for the Saints (which works for Shoemaker at the moment...he ahs housing in town, needs a team to showcase himself...so why not.)

Donaldson WAS a Grade-A player, but the Twins got played, more by the fan base than anything. To prove that they weren't on the cheap, the opened the pocketbooks after being rejected by almost every free agent in the marketplace. As a Twins fan, we always want the pocket book to open BIG and expect that throwing money at players willo egt them to come here. But as the past has shown, we either get mid-range free agents, guys looking to make a bigger comeback, or we are just overlooked. No amount of money will entice the top of the free agent tiers to come to town. Sadly, the truth. So the Twins need to do what Target Field was supposedly built to do. Jeep our own free agents. In the past we allowed Cuddyer, Hunter, Nathan to walk. Are we going to do the same with Buxton and Berrios? Always a gamble, but signing any free agent is a gamble, and even the low-end successes of the Twins have had been short-term and not that gracious when looking at the big picture of year-after-year performance (see Odorizzi, Pineda, Gonzalez, Cron, Schoop...plus the one-year wonders of Homer Bailey, Shoemaker, We keep thinking we are better situated than teams like, say, the Royals, or even the on-the-cheap A's who pull off miracles with low-end signings and trades. Donaldson was a good solid signing for a team in contention who was looking for stability at a position of weakness (at the time), leadership skills on the field, and everyday play. I'll let you decide what the free agent signing has brought us. Maybe as fans we have to stop dreaming that the BIG CONTRACT will happen with the Twins getting the outside superstar to anchor the home-grown talent stage. Or maybe we do have to realize that we need to line-up behind front office choices on drafting, trading, making a team, and supplementing the team with short-term needs (i.e. trade deadline acquisitions/rentals when needed). It has been so long since we had a World Series. We dream that management will make choices that will take us beyond a division win, or entry into the championship tier. Tired of not being on the World Stage after a long season of brilliant ballplay that is fliushed down the toilet in a five or seven game series. If there is a taker for Donaldson, the two questions remain: how much salary do the Twins have to eat, and what is the best prospect/s they can get in return.

Looks like more than 20 of the 32 players currently on the Saints roster in some capacity are not homegrown Twins or prospects.

Yep, do the Twins offer Buxton, Berrios or are they just dumping Happ, Robles, Simmons, Cruz, Donaldson to move 2021 payroll. Let's throw Pineda into the mix. I really don't see teams offering the Twins much for soon=to-be-free agents. But sicne the players really aren't doing it for the Twins, might as well bank money and sign your own to keep sights on...a future.

Allison only played more than 115 games in left 3 seasons. MAYBE SPENT 8 TOTAL, BUT MOST OF HIS TIME WAS IN RIGHT FIELD SINCE HIS CALLUP BY THE SENATORS.

I consider the Twins having strong depth at shortstop, assuming Royce Lewis can play the position. You have Wander Javier, a decision that needs to be made this fall, and far enough back is Keoni Cavaco. If a shortstop is had from another organization, you have to find somewhere to play Lewis, and those other two names are basically tradebait.

Twins keep adding an alphabet of new names to the Saints roster...and none of them from within the organization: Stankiewicz the latest. Barraclough, Burrows, Vincent, Whalen, Johnson and Tomscho supplementing the other minor league free agents still here (or gone).

Well, I would rather give the ball to Ober, Jax or any number of guys who MIGHT pitch for the Twins in 2022 than...Shoemaker. We all know the Twins are doing a standings push between now and the All-Star break! https://www.mlb.com/twins/video/twins-gearing-for-standings-push