Rosterman

Yes, what kind of playing time with all those of days. But the Twins also DON'T need that many pitchers. They have two guys capable of long relief (at least) in the pen. The hopes are that Pineda and Odorizzi will be able to get you into the sixth inning sooner rather than later. Although that will be decided soon. The Twins MAY have a better chance of sneaking Austin thru waivers, especially if he doesn't show anything in the first 4-5 weeks of the season. Again, though, glad we have him as an alternative if something would happen to Cron or Cruz. Better him than nothing. Especially with Conzalez handling third. Heck, I would like to see Nick Gordon start the season if Polanco goes in the DL. Just saying...give fulltime reps to the future, rather than the reserve.

Hey, we have Adrianza in the wings!

Be interested to see the fate of Austin. Will he get a temporary roster spot? And Reed, too, since Cave has options. I see Romero will probably start in the minors (and hopefully start). Curious to see how the AAA/AA rosters break out. A lot of names down there for those two teams, and looking at the Twins current minor league system, it is really really pitcher heavy! Also, Adrianza. Is he on the bubble? Could anyone not on the 40-man be added. That is a big hurdle. The Twins aren't exactly rich in release candidates with nearly a dozen minor league prospects on the 40-man. And the death of the situational left, or a pitcher now appearing in more games than innings pitched...that will be a thing of the past!

The pain is that with so many "prospects" on the roster - Littell, Thorpe, Moya, Vasquez, Romero, Gonsalves, Stewart (and Wade, Arraez and Gordon), the Twins ability to play musical chairs with any of the minor league free agent types is hit-and-miss. You play them, discard them (and they might move on) but you do need a 40-man spot for them to take. So do the prospects get the call first or names like Harper and Morin and Collns and Guilmet as well as the placeholders currently on the 40-man like Magill and Duffey (and maybe Mejia). Who will close? No situational lefty anymore...these guys are having their career destroyed now having to pitch to 3 guys!

I almost picture Austin making the bench until a decision has to be made on Sano. Who you cut from the 40-man to add someone is the BIG question coming out of spring training. If you add a pitcher, Magill or Duffey will be out!

You do want to cut players on the 40-man who won't make the majors sooner rather than later. If something happens to them and they become injured, you are obligated to keep them on the disabled list for a certain period of time, allowing them to not only make major league pay, but then having to option them back to the minors once their rehab is done. Be interesting to see who is in the next round of cuts. Picture Gonsalves, Arraez, Wade and Gordon. Moya and Littell could also be in this group if the Twins are deciding to have Romero and Mejia fight for bullpen spots down to the wire. Remember, these guys can ALL be called back to play games as spring training continues. The Twins do have a number of 40-man guys on the bubble that they will probably keep up as long as they can and play the possible injury game (Duffey, Austin, Reed, Torreyes, Magill) all who could be lost or removed from the roster when the time comes.

A one-year deal, with the option of flipping him if the Twins don't compete in 2019. But doing so, you lose a draft pick. You also lose one (or both) of Perez and Mejia. Often we forget that a signing means someone goes from the roster. Also, signing him now would also mean opening a roster spot. Who does go with that move. Tyler Austin on that much of a bubble? Is he actually a better choice for a longterm deal (yes, he throws lefthanded) than, say, signing Kyle Gibson for the same number of years and/or amount? How hurt is anyone that spring training has begun? The Twins got burned last year from slow starts of Lynn and Morison, so I picture the front office going with what they have, unless we do have any serious injury concerns.

Go back and look at this pitching staffs of the sixties. No running 25-30 pitchers thru the mound. Sometimes the Twins had just four starters (some who relieved), one or two swing men, and a bullpen of 4-6 arms. Maybe a dozen arms all season. Of course, a starter pitched every fourth day and many did complete games, or at least got you into the sixth. And a bullpen arm would pitch multiple innings, even every other game. Worthington was amazing for the Twins. He basically was a nothing for his first decade in the National League, then showed some light with the Red before dominating with the Twins, except his last season where Billy Martin basically convinced him to return from retirement and still managed to squeeze some work out of him. 1969 was a perfect example...the Twins had 11 pitchers appearing in 21 or more games, and four guys who were in a half-dozen games of less. 9 pitchers started games. 7 pitched more than 100 innings. Three 240 or more innings. But in the days of the closer, Nathan was second best of the time to Rivera. Aggie was a gem, although he wanted so badly to be a starter. Mike Marshall worked more innings than many a bullpen arm in the modern-era of baseball. And Ron Davis got so many opportunities you wonder what someone was thinking.

Injuries last season prevented him from making a name for himself, bringing his speed and defense to the majors. Instead it was Jake Cave who got the call. And LaMonte Wade passed him on the depth chart and other outfield candidates are further in the wings. Glad the Twins were able to at least get a low level pitching prospect for him, rather than just letting him walk. But Granite is the perfect example of the numbers game. You get one chance when you are a player of a certain caliber. You may be decent depth in an organization, but if you can't make good on being that "call-up" when needed, you will be hop-scotching thru other organizations. Yes, he is a decent fourth outfielder, if you can afford to carry that extra bench base player. The Twins haven't in the past.

Well, the Twins will try and get their money's worth out of Castro. But someone else will catch two out of five games...maybe. The big maybe is...do you send Garver to Rochester to catch more often than not with the arms of the future. And can you trust another body (Astudillo) to do the job when called upon to catch in the majors. I am curious to see where Navaretto ends up. And if the Twins push Jeffers and Rortvedt. Especially Jeffers. I doubt that either of the two youngsters will show up before 2021 in any major capacity, so the Twins still need a catching combo for 2020 and could probably stick with Garver and Astudillo. Curious that they did explore other opportunities, which would've meant Castro as an expensive backup and Garver in the minors for sure, as the market for Castro is not huge right now. Although I did say Garver could start at AAA, I'm not sure WHY I would think that. Except that he could catch 3-4-5 starters who will be part of the Twins rotation the end of this season and all of next season?

Good signing in some ways. He can backup third or first well, depending on Sano. Where the question comes is the need for Adrianza. And, also, that bench bat that could play 1B/OF (Austin) or just 1B (Dudas). Looks like Austin will be out for sure now. But see the 40-man spot opening up with the waiver of Torreyes, who could stay with the Twins as more insurance. But the guy is a solid bench bat and can rotate thru the infield, maybe getting equal at bats to everyone else in the line-up one way or another.

You always love the ones that got away and have confusion about the musical chairs same years. Shows that a career with one team in baseball is few and far between, even in the good old days.

Well, I always like to look ahed with the crystal ball. Who will be in the pen in 2020 and 2021. Will any of these guys be a closer-in-training in 2019? If not, then we need to BUY a closer. Not a lot of hold over salary, and enough names in the minors to make us forget people like Duffy and Addison in the near future. Addison Reed is more of a tradechip now than a solution. What is the status of Romero as being a rotation stud? Seems a shame to doom him to the bullpen if he has any promise as being a major arm...unless he can become the light's out closer we need...next day. I'm happy with the bullpen. A veteran closer would be a plus and the Twins can afford the investment if there IS an arm that won't stick it to your payroll in years 2-3-or-4 of a contract.

It's like Denard Span...it might be a bargain contract if Kepler produces and easy to trade for younger talent. Span had defense and speed. Kepler has defense and power.

The three batter rule would be a disaster if the pitcher didn't have their stuff. Of course, he just might walk three guys. But still. Between using an opener and using a closer for one inning, you can already burn thru three pitchers a game. And you usually do with the pitch count limits on starters who can't reach the 6th anyways. Regarding expanding rosters, maybe should expand them to 28 players, and you must rest three ech game (which wouldn't be hard, because you have starting pitchers). But then you would have more one batter pitchers on the roster. But I would like to see an expanded roster to offer either that additional pitcher or batter. Of course, the National League has worked just fine with the pinch hitter using up a bench bat and no designated hitter. Raises problems when pitchers do have to bat from the American League. Having the universal designated hitter would mean pitchers never ever have to swing a bat again. And how can you prevent a team from tanking. At some point, most every team worried about budget goes thru a rebuilding phase. And it may happen in mid-season, with the uncontrolled disabled players, and the opportunity to trade off assets for the future.. If a team chooses to tank, then they face the wrath of the ticket holder. I think the bigthing for major league baseball is to look at cost of going to a game. How do you fill all those empty seats each game in stadiums. Sure, they ride the corporate buyout of season tickets, which is still revenue if the business can't give away the tickets and are content with the business writeoff. But like the Twins, how do you adjust prices to make it a worthwhile experience to fill those 10,000 empty seats each game, as well as get people to purchase the beverages and food. Overall, looking at ALL teams, I don't see major league abseball being a hard ticket to get.

Surprised that Granite is still on the 40-mn after his season. He had a missed opportunity last year, and Cave stepped it up and took a position for regular play. But, I think, Cave still ahs options. So if the Twins feel a need to keep the bat of Austin he could start in the minors (with the excuse that they want him to play regularly). Reed and Wade are further insurance. So, it looks like the Twins are set for the outfield for 2019.

Who did we cut?

Pretty much all just getting to come 10 days early and work out with the major league guys. Wondering who the minor league free agent invites are. See they just signed another half dozen guys.

When you start plugging in longer term free agent or two, you have a club built around them, in which those free agents do fill obvious holes, Right now the Twins have a roster with, perhaps, 20-21 holes. It seems no one is in the longterm plans on the current roster, otherwise the Twins would be going out of their way to extend the players. The couple obvious choices for extension are Berrios (they better do something) and Rosario (do you really want to build a franchise around him). So many questions that needed answers last season and the Twins didn't get them, but the promise is still there, so you take another and much longer look. The Twins are playing for the future, the promise of the signings of the current administration becoming the team of the future. Look at the current 40-man roster. ho on the roster should be here in 2020. Who should be here in 2021. Who in 2022. You are better to ask who "might" and some of those "mights" are still in the minors. Kepler and Buxton are still questionable. Sano is a big question for an esxensiuon. The Twins have no 2B/ss. They have patchwork at 1B. The atching is a mess. Not that any/all of these guys could play well in 2019. But the only proven given is an aging DH. The rotation has three guys entering free agency and one longer extension candidate. They have a bunch of starters that you hope can pitch you into the 6th inning. Hope is the big word. The bullpen has no closer and a couple of overworked setup guys, and the usual mix of arms with a couple in the wings. Anyone you want to extend? ANyone you can live without? Before you say May and Rogers, really think about that. Yes, the Twins could sign a couple of HUGHE free agents. But now, they are rebuilding. The pieces they have MIGHT make them competitive if the players want big money in the future (something that should've also happened last year with names like Santana, Lynn, Dozier, Morrison all playing for BIG contracts in the years ahead.) There is a plan. We have to be patient. The front office WANTS to make a team and organization in their own image. It takes time (sadly), but once the pieces start falling into place, we MIGHT have success and actually get young conrollable longterm free agents.

Again if the Twins spend 50% of new revenue above and beyond then tell me what the other 50% is silent on. Operating costs stay pretty stable with cost of living increases. There might be s slight uptick in draft monies but money sient on the limits stays stable. You mighg make a new beer garden but that should pay fir itself. Again spending $130 million on $260 million different then doebding $100 million on $200 million...you have $30 million being soent on what? Stadium beds reduction?

Interesting signing. We have Berrios and Gibson in the toration. Odorizzi needs to pitch more than 5 innings. Pineda is coming off an i jury season. Mejia is out of options but can he go more than 5 innings. Everyone else CAN start at Rochester and make for a nice reserve. If nothing else, Perez and Mejia can battle for a relief role, the winner making the rotation. The bigger question: who is cut?

Yes. but we can't have 5-inning starters. Still out on Odorizzi. Wonder if Pineda will be ready. Still questionable about Mejia also getting the innings. And Gonsalves and Stewart are still unproven. So that is WHY the Twins MAY need to have a first-rate rotation arm if they wish to be HIGHLY competitive. But I think the arms and talent are there in the bullpen for this season and a preview of next.

So who goes? Vote for Magill or Duffey, although the Twins could cut ties with Granite.

I start to look at the list as assets going into 2020, too. See a drop off of at least four names in the next year, sadly. Although a couple of those COULD remain if they are better than OTHER product out there.

I don’t see Cron or Austin being the future of the Twins anyway be it 2020 or even beyond. Rally and Rooker should be battling fir s place on the roster and first basemen are nit a hard commodity to find if you need a place setter for the moment. I hope they do keep Austin thru spring training just in case and keep him st AAA.