Rosterman

I'm disappointed in three things: pulling the starters, but better to pull at 70 pitches than 80, I guess. April must be spring training for rotation arms. Second, line-up construction. Of course, all players having the ability to strikeout makes this a challenge. Third, bullpen usage. Let's extend the bulpen guy after sitting him between innings. Okay. No one knows what to expect from a group that has no clear-cut roles. Who is the "K" pitcher, or the flyout guy, or the put-in-play arm. No closer? Whata re the strengths of the situational lefties?

LUKE FARRELL has signed a minor league contract with the Cubs. He pitched out of the Twins bullpen in the 2021 season. Daniel Camarera was released by the Padres organization. Jake Reed, a former high-round draft pick, started the season on the Mets injured list, his fourth team since departing the Twins in 2020 off-season (Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, and now Mets), was sent down to the minors. Marcos Diplan was called up by the Orioles.

I was just thinking about changes that need to be made, especially with the Saints carrying some 23 pitchers on their roster, and at some point guys have to advance forward in the minors. I would still play out the next dozen days with most of what we have. May 1 is going to be a moment most of us have never seen in our lifetime of atching abseball transactions, as some 60 players will suddenly have to move from the majors to...elsewhere. We can really look at the fluff on the 40-man. Would this be the time to jettison Vallimont? I doubt another team would pick him up. But the Twins would have to make a decision, again, to add him next off-season if they feel it is necessary. Thielbar, Stashak, Romero, Jax all have to be on the bubble. A couple could stay and go back to AAA. But all four could be removed easily (suddenly we would have five free spots). The Twins will also have to make a decision of Garlick. Do they keep him, or perhaps cycle in Cave (again) or a third catcher sooner rather than later. I hope to see the Twins make a hard decision oin their closer. Looks like Pagan, at the moment, although I wish they would try Duran. Minaya, Smeltzer, Cano are all viable candidates to advance to the 40-man. Or do you wait just a bit longer and create the rotating spot so you can look at Bashlor, , Sanchez, Gonzalez, Gossett, Faria, Ramirez, Megill, Pinto, Jurado, Petricka (wow, that's a lot of guys to use and throw-out). Before you think about Mason, Gore, Strotman or Ian Hamilton (what's up with Ian?). I'm actually a but shaken right now, thinking there are easily 6-7 guys on the current 40-man that could be easily replaced by others promising more in this still young season.

We just expect Sano to break out. Call it the David Ortiz-syndrome. We don't want him to go away and become a mainstay somewhere else. So we gamble that he will be more than he has shown to be. .243 average and 35 homers a season (hopefully more with men on base). But a slight dip in eitehr of those numbers, and we basically can run-the-slush-pile each season for a 1B or DH at this point. Sano had value, at times, when he played a decent third base. But, in hindsight, we always seem to be asking "what about Sano." Should we get a real third baseman, biut then where do we play Sano instead of our current 1B or DH. Do we make him a fulltime DH, but then we go and get others who need to play that spot. Like Ortiz, who the Twins didn't feel was worthy of going to the "higehr arbitration" salary, the Twins will make a hard decision on paying him for 2023, or watch him, in all liklihood, go and sign somewhere else on the cheap, and cross out fingers that he doesn't produce bigtime. Of course, if he starts a tear, I would entertain any and every offer possible mid-season at this point in time, especially if Kirilloff is back and playing.

I'm picturing a lot of pitching staff movement come May 1. Who goes. Who stays. Who comes up from St. Paul (Minaya, Smeltzer, Moran ready yet, can they keep Cano down on the farm much longer, Megill.) Of course, Lewis Thorpe, yes!

No one claimed Derek Rodriguez. He returns to an overstuffed pitching staff in St. Paul!

Or a wasted major league signing. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/11/twins-claim-jharel-cotton-outright-rob-refsnyder.html

We gotta give it the month of April at the least. Yes, it was all about clearing the Donaldson salary, not just this season but next.

I was wondering the same thing as 36 players are on the St. Paul roster, and it seems teams will need "Covid" replacements when travelling to Tornto as you need to be vaccinated to play in Canada.

We all dream of the BIG free agent signing. Yes, we got it, at least for a year, with Correa. But he doesn't pitch. Maybe what the front office showed is that they would be willing to grab a half-season rental if their place in the standings warrant such an acquisition. Pitchers? Always a gamble. Especially if you look at overall production of the last few the Twins have signed. Thankfully Jake Odorizzi got a pro-rated salary during the 2020 season. Ervin Santana, Michael Pineda. Even back to Hector Santiago. The best the Twins could do? Of course, no one wants to come to Minnesota, it seems. You have to develop from within. You also, sadly, have to make an effort to keep what you develop (Jose Berrios) or take a chance, maybe, on others on the cusp or fringe (Liam Hendriks, Kyle Gibson). Hindsight? The Twins did grab Sonny Gray. He's good for another year. We keep forgetting that Kenta Maeda will also be back. Chris Paddack is now a part of the immediate future. Chris Archer, Dylan Bundy are placesetters. Partly because all those pitchers on the cusp still need a little work on tweaking things, as well as a lot more innings in, well, a less stressful environment than daily American League pitching. Winder and Duran are getting some reps in the majors out of the pen. Will Duran be the rotation arm the Twins can always use, or does he have the stuff to be a light's out closer. (Joe Ryan, if he fails as a starter, definitely has the stuff to be a closer). Why are our top prospects on the injured list (Balazovic?). Sands should see the majors. Enlow and Centerino should advance to AAA and have a shot in spring training, if we are lucky. Woods-Richardson and Varland and others are in the pipeline. Hell, even Smeltzer is a prospect now. And we can't forget...Randy Dobnak, can we? I still shake my head at pitching and bullpen management, though. This is the year I'm paying extra close attention to this important part of the game!

I guess I can understand. Only 10 pitches. Why not try a second inning. And Sano, right on track. A homer every 6-7th game.

The 2022 Minnesota Twins outfield - Garlick, Larnach and Celestino!

I almost wish we had included him in the Padres deal and took Hosmer. Throw in Sanchez and get their catcher Campusano. And we also take Myers salary and give them Cave as an option for the season. And not send them any monies.

The hope always is one homer for every 20 at bats gives us at least 25 for the season.

On the minor league side, the Twins cut Stevie Berman from the Saints, who was their return in the Andrew Vasquez trade with the Dodgers. The veteran minor leaguer quickly signed with the Blue Jays on a minor league contract.

Well, they bypassed Jake Cave, who is drawing a pretty heft salary playing at AAA St. Paul. The thing now is that the Twins have three outfielders, two of whom SHOULD be playing everyday in St. Paul rather than riding the major league bench. What we are about to see is how weak the Twins 40-man roster is if players go on the disabled list. There are a couple of names that can be cycled out and replaced by other names to be cycled in-and-out. Miranda and Lewis are it for remaining becnh bats. Of the 8 pitchers, three are on the disabled list (Balazovic, Stashak, Henriquez), and three have little chance of picthing in the bigs before September (Sands, Enlow, Vallimont). Which leaves the Twins with Strotman or Moran, or any of a dozen minor league free agents.

Former Twins pitcher DEREK LAW has signed a minor league deal with the Detroit Tigers. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lawde01.shtml The recently released Saints catcher Stevie Berman, who came to the Twins for Andrew Vasquez last season, signed a minor league contract with the Blue Jays.

He was the youngest guy in the Johan Santana deal. Spent 2008-2014 in the Twins minors and never got the call, not even a cup of coffee, before signing with the Pirates and playing for four other teams since. Deolis Guerra goes under the Tommy John knife! https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/04/deolis-guerra-undergoes-tommy-john-surgery.html

$4 to get in the door is a bargain. You got a lot of seats to choose from in the upper decks if the place is only a third full, or totally empty above. Target Field is a comfortable roaming stadium with lots of standing rest stops while you savor food fare. So just having a cheap entry and knowing you can sit somewhere is a bargain.

Who can play first. Arraez? Miranda? Maybe move Kepler there? What will Sano's batting average be when he egts his first hit?

You get three innings out of Rodriguez? You need more? But you can't keep starters in for five innings? Like, Griffin Jax is just in the pen holding down the cooler? You got a day off tomorrow. If you can't at least make an effort to play against the good (great) teams, tell the front office to saying we are "set to contend in 2022." Man, what will the Twins be like when they have a couple fewer arms on the roster. Wait, the light-rail will run daily between St. Paul and Minneapolis until all 22 pitchers on the St. Paul roster get a game in Target Field!

I will be doing recaps of former Twins every couple of weeks, since MLB allows you to see and pull their stats easily over that specific time period. Fernando Rodney (as well as Bartolo Colon) are both in Mexico hoping to get jobs once that season open in a couple of weeks. Those rosters haven't been finalized at all yet, as well as the first of the Indy Ball leagues that also opens at month's end, with most of the other Indy leagues seeing play mid-late May.

What we saw in the game tonight was a true contending team and one that thinks they can contend. Although the game seemed tight thru the first few innings, as both starters held their own, we saw a breakdown when the Twins went to the bullpen. Rather than play to win, they played with the master-plan that so-and-so works now and we hope he gives us what we want. And we will give guys time to pitch and play, and......man...look at the Twins that aren't hitting really NOT hit against great pitching. First major league game for Josh Winder on a cold rainy night. Against the Dodgers. Well, guess what. You gotta throw strikes. You can play the corners and be cute with your pitches. Of course, you are facing major league batters which means unless you really know what you are doing, they will probably make contact if you do throw a strike. He learned a lot, got out of the inning. Now that he ahs the experience, he will (hopefully) be a fine piece of the team's future. The epic was taking advantage of the new kid on the base paths. Someday we may actually see the Twins have a running game. Winder got out of the inning amazingly with a bad called third strike, and wo hard hit flies, not to mention the near homerun foul. Sitting in the stands, I told my wife "this is a guy who can give the Twins innings." Unfortuantely, he didn't...and we got to see a patchwork bullpen when the starter can't go five. Of course, it was a wet night. Should the game have been stopped after six and continued the next day? How much "wet" can you have, showing up in fielding errors and low command of the ball, before the umpires see that it is futile to play in a drizzle? But saw little confidence as Twins ran thru their bullpen. You realize that the pen has a few arms that are in no way the future of the Twins. Even hoping to get a second inning out Pagan, which you don't do on a cold wet night making a guy sit in the dugout. Again, the Dodgers just watched the bullpen try and be cute rather than try and command the count and the strikezone. Nine walks don't win you games if your own bats are silenced by superior pitching. . Sanchez was horrible at the plate, making swings we wouldn't wish on Sano. Talk about totally overmatched, as pitchers should be when in command of the plate. The Dodgers are an expensive and quite good ballclub. Cotton being released the next day tells you all you need to know about the Twins. Was at the game with great seats. Shooting picture thru the netting, they come out looking like a painting.

Usually the major league roster moves, as well as minor league roster moves, are reported in the daily wrap ups under "transactions" at the beginning of the post.

The guy can work a count and is a delight to watch at the plate. He puts the ball in play. I would love to just see him play two weeks at one position. Or a month. But..... The glove isn't always the best (is he in the game as much in the field as he is at the plate?), and...his lack of speed. Which is, sad to say, why the Twins need to sell high at some point. Before the longjam in the infield makes him obsolete as even a Twins reserve.