Rosterman

The Twins have the perfect opportunity to see all of Strotman, Balazovic and Ryan pitch. Right now a five-man rotation would give starters up to 8 games. If you need to limit pitch counts to Ober, or have seen enough of Barnes, please bring up and play the future. Let them get their lumps. Now instead of next year.

It is all about depth and where the guys now fall in the pecking order. Colina has age on his side, but will be spending his third year on the 40-man and, assuming he is healed by spring training, more than likely starting in the minors. The team has to look closely if they will be adding Enlow to the 40-man, who will also be spending a year in rehab. Ad you have Duran, who we hoped would be getting a major league tryout this season (along with Balazovic). That would suddenly be four names that you can't count being in the majors to start the season, and you play wait-and-see where they progress during 2022. Stashak is also the same. You can cut him and maybe resign him, but if no one claims him for their own 40-man, I believe he is a free agent. But a 40-man spot is valuable, unless you are arguing keeping him or any of the over 30-arms of Albers, Farrell, Thielbar, Minaya. All of whom could probably also be resigned to minor league contracts if they don't take services elsewhere. I believe Smeltzer may have an option year left with the Twins and they would keep him if no one else claimed him. Remember that all teams are dealing with the same dilemma as the Twins, which is why guys like a Smeltzer isn't waived until the last minute when all teams are adding their Rule 5 saves. I think the Twins could get Smeltzer thru waivers. The Twins can also move Dobnak off the 40-man. They still control him, they just have to pay him. Shades of Nick Blackburn and Joe Mays. If another team would claim him, the salary would be theirs to keep. The Twins could let him start the season at AAA without having him on the roster, and see where he goes from there. Garlick is so far behind the pecking order, once Buxton returns. Remember, he beat out the now released Broxton, Refsnyder, Larnach and Kirilloff for a spot on the major league roster. Celestino is now also ahead of him. Cave is still in the picture (although he ahs probably priced himself out of an arbitration backup job). And the Twins have Kerrigan and Contreras both performing well in St. Paul, neither of whom would probably be taken in the Rule 5. Do you take the chance someone will grab Colina? Remember, you always need a couple of names on the roster who can be jettisoned if you sign a free agent, and at that time it is often easier to get them thru waivers and late enough that the only alternative for the player is to sign and stay with their team. Be interesting to see how the Twins treat their roster of pitchers like Thorpe, Jax, Thielbar, Stashak, Farrell, Law, Minaya, Coulombe, Albers, Garcia, Garza, Gant, Barraclough, not to mention Hamilton. I would look at each case as a competing general manager looking to improve my club and if any of those names were available, would I leap, run, be joyful adding them to my own 40-man roster at the expense of...whom.

Wow. Barnes threw over 100 pitches and even got enough innings to win the game...if Sano hadn't decided to go on paternity leave. If the Twins could free up some roster spots, they could send Barnes and Ober (literally shutting them down early) to St. Paul and have Strotman, Ryan and Balazovic come up and join the rotation. Who could they jettison to give them a couple of roster spots, plus one for Miranda since Donaldson is the designated hitter now?

I was wondering why the Saints always seemed to have 30+ players active on the roster all season. Used to be that it was tighter rosters for the minors so everyone played more often...few bench players.

You gotta like how he can work a pitcher. You need him to bat five times in a game, and ahead (or behind) the proper hitters. Line-up construction is something I have trouble understanding in the Baldelli-era, not that the batting in 2021 offers much in the way or iron-clad choices.

Well, gotta do a lot of looksees. Not sure how badly we want to protect 35-year-old lefthanded pitchers on a 40-man roster. Vincent was still able and is gone. Thielbar ahs been one of the success stories for the year. Albers gave us long relief, from a lefty, which means he almost went thru the order---twice. The Yankees order. That is/was one of the plus marks for Gant, plus he ahs another year of arbitration (at what price). He can spot start, or go long relief. But he, too, is auditioning for a 40-man spot in the off-season, We forget that St. Louis was happy to give us a guy who might be too expensive for their needs and a possible Rule 5 for a pitcher they felt could be turned around for the remainder of the season. So Gant is auditioning, too. As is Coulombe, amongst now a whole host of other names. That list of 10 names in the bullpen is a far cry from opening day: Rogers, Duffey, Alcala, Stashak, Thielbar, Robles, Colome, Waddell, Thorpe. Talk about turnover!

Never give up the dream! Especially if you are a lefty!

I hope they figure out Buxton so they know what they can do with Martin and Lewis going forwards. If they feel they can put together a decent rotation amongst Maeda, Jax, Barnes, Oder, Strotman, Balazovic, Ryan with names like Sands, Duran and others close behind, I could stomach a Pineda, although I think they could probably trade prospects, too. Can they get a real closer? I don't want to see so much dumpster diving behind the dollar store.,..anymore.

Who is on the Twins taxi squad that travels with the team these days, anyway?

Mason they advanced to AAA to see if they need to add him or not. He's been struggling a bit (shades of the late Tom Hackimer who was in a similar situation). I now fully expect that Vasquez will also get a shot. He's only 27! I doubt Cano will get a call this season. He won't even be eligible for the Rule 5. I wonder if he will pitch in the Fall league, or play winter ball somewhere. Barraclough was drafted by the Twins waaaaay back in 2011, but didn't sign.

If Sundergaard would accept a obe-year deal, he would take the qualifying offer and use that season to not only have a grat paycheck, but be playing for free agency bigtime. The Mets would hope he would excel in his play, if need be he could play as a trade chip. So I would count him out if he is offered a QO. I don't see any team paying $100 million for three weeks out of the pen at this season's end. If the Mets don't offer, than he is fair game. I want to see more of Miranda, now. If he can play third, Polanco at short and Arraez at second. I want to see how BAD it might be in the infield. Please, front office. Especially if you are playing Rooker in the outfield (who not also first base) and Donaldson seems to be the DH - which would be a luxury to have a DH who could also play third if need be. I'm also hoping we see Strotman, Balazovic and Ryan for at least 3-4 starts each. Go with the six man rotation or pair up a couple of guys to keep Barnes and Ober innings down. Quite frankly, I see the Twins going cheap in 2022. Unless they take the plunge and get a first-rate closer. And one would only come here if they think the young team could win, so we probably will have Rogers again, or a "project" arm. I'm not averse to the young and exciting Twins. My worries are people like Sano and Kepler who have fallen, and if Jeffers and Larnach can improve drastically. Average and all seems down across the majors, so we aren't cringing as much as we should of a lineup that can't go 1 for 4 in game.

Yeah, the reality is that it may not be as big of a crunch as thought. Regarding Enlow, something similar happened to Nick Burdi. He went on the 60-man, did a couple of rehabs, I think he was added to the roster in the final month. He spend most of the next season, also on the IL. But they got him some more major league time when they could, or the Twins just didn't want him back. Which also brings up that if a team doesn't keep a Rule 5, and if the Twins don't want him back, he can still be grabbed by another team if they are willing to play by the Rule 5 rules. The Twins also have a Rule 5 guy, Alejandro Machado, who was on the IL for a whole season, and when the Twins decided to cut him the next season, the Royals didn't take him beck. One of those guys that has been on the major league roster (25 man) and never appeared in a game with the Twins, like Tomas Tellis, Chuck Schilling and Carlos Torres from season's past. Now regarding potential minor league free agents: I ask if they are better than ANYONE we have on the roster. Who would I be willing to jettison in favor of this guy that I can probably resign as a minor league free agent. Also, looking at potential 40-man roster cuts. As a general manager outside the organization, would I leap at a chance to add Smeltzer to my own 40-man, or Stashak, or Burrows. And at the cost of what player. Looking at Rule 5 candidates, would I, as a general manager, really waste one of my precious (and they are precious) 40-man spots on a player like Enlow. When players now go into Tommy John land, it can be almost two seasons of wasted time. They age in that time, fall further down the pecking order, or eventually run out of options like the Twins are facing with Thorpe. Is it worth the 40-man spot to gamble on a prospect? Sure, the Twins did it with Santana. The Tigers did it with Baddoo. And with 26-man rosters, you can take that gamble more these days, especially for a waaaay back of the bullpen arm that you may have to carry, eventually, for 90 days. You gotta think on every player move...is this guy getter than someone I have to kick off the roster to add them. When will that player make the major leagues and actually help the organization. What would other organizations think of players that I am letting, basically, walk. And I think injuries are going to play more-and-more into decisions on who to keep and not to keep. That and the missed minor league season. When you look, all these guys got one year older, had one less season of play, and there are a helluva a lot of players out there scrambling for jobs outside of those controlled by the organization.

Well, needed to keep Thorpe in St. Paul for his start today and pitch, say, Gant instead. Now will Thorpe go on the IL and really screw up evaluation of him? I would also just cut Colome. You battle back, ake the lead, and the guy throws potential wild pitches with the tying run on third...and.... Just throw Colome and Simmons out there and be done. Bring up Miranda to play third. Put Polanco back at shortstop. We lose games with SImmons there, will we lose more have Arraez at second and Polanco at short? Two open roster spots. Bring in three new pitchers for the road trip. Let Strotman take some lumps if need be. We just better have Ryan, Balazovic when we can expand rosters. Let Pineda go, maybe get picked up by a contender. Save the money you can get by not paying free-agents to be who gave you little or none in trade va,lue before the deadline.

Thorpe needed one more start in St. Paul. Thus this became a bullpen game, and we have another tomorrow with Gant as the starter who can maybe go 4-5. I would've started Gant today. And, like others, I see Thorpe as a hopeful lefty long-man out of the pen. Decision time.

I would have left him ion St. Paul for at least one more start and started Gant. Looks like Gant tomorrow. So pushing everyone back? Time to call up candidates and go with a six-man rotation for the remainder of the season and using someone like Thorpe in long relief, or maybe as an opener if you need be, for Ober or Barnes.

Does Canterino move up to Wichita? Does Balazovic, this start aside, move to the Saints? In a team building for the future, should the Twins spend time on old AAAA guys giving them major league service time? Does it help their pensions?

I totally agree. Sure, Covid basically stalled the careers of most minor league guys, while hastening the time they become Rule 5 or a free agent. But it was across the board for ALL teams. The Twins have added 33+ minor league free agents/waiver claims to their top two tiers this season alone. That has to be a new record. My sheet here shows Ian Gibault, Ian Hamilton, Kevin Broxton, Chandler Shepherd, Roberto Pena, Damek Tomscha, Glenn Sparkman, Peter Mooney, Robinson Leyer, Jermaine Palacios (who was actually a Twin and is still young), Drew Maggi, Andrew Albers (who was actually a Twin and is quite old), Chris Nunn, John Mitchell, Andrew Romaine, Mitchel Osnowitz, Aaron Rozek, Jordon Milbrath, B.J. Boyd, D.J. Burt, Matt Mellenbach, Eric Minoah, Sherman Johnson, Brandon Koch, Rob Whalen, Daniel Descalso, Bobby Milacki, Jason Garcia, Wilbis Santiago, Kyle Barraclough, Sean Gilmartin, Drew Stankiewicz, Joe Harvey, Breckin Williams, Orlando Rodriguez plus Joe Kurzia in a cash pickup from The Rangers (and now gone). Oh, and Andrew Vasquez is still with the Twins organization again, and doing okay as his hair turns gray in the Saints bullpen. That is one helluva a lot of players taking playing time from prospects. You'd think the Twins were bare at the two upper levels. Maybe they were with all the injuries. And then we got the ones came thru the majors now and forever: Luke Farrell, Derek Law, Brandon Waddell, Juan Minaya and Danny Coulombe (both who were also around last year but dropped off the 40-man at times), Beau Burrows, Nick Vincent, Ralph Garza...and let us not forget Tomas Tellis (who was on the 25-man but never played a game), J.T. Riddle, Tsu-Wei Lin, Kyle Garlick, Rob Refsnyder. Wow, half a hundred! Let's get together and make a couple of teams! You can always argue that a couple of these signings do make the roster, when guys go on a 60-man injury list or prospects do bad in spring training and get waived themselves. That's where Garlick and then Refsnyder got lucky, at the expense of Wade and Baddoo in the scheme of things...maybe. But I was just thinking about going into the final 30-40 games of the season, and would the Twins really be better served with their current roster, or does butcher Thingvall get his way and we do something like this. You cut loose Pineda, Colome, Simmons and Cave. I doubt any of the four would really be back in 2022, and you give them all an opportunity to possibly get a job with another club, maybe be part of the playoff hunt (Pineda and new closer Colome). Do we really owe it to them to give us their major league caliber play to make our season even better, and in the process increasing their value as free agents? The Twins get some salary relief, maybe enough money back in the bank to pay for ALL these waiver wire claims and minor league free agent salaries from 2021. That's four 40-man spots you open. You can for sure add Miranda and Moran into the mix right now. That's two spots of guys you will be adding anyways. You go ahead and bring back Thorpe, and if you need to have Gordon to play the outfield with Arraez. (Don't get me started on that stuff). The bubble players currently in Twins-land are Vincent, Thielbar, Garza, Minaya, Rooker, Burrows, and Astudillo. Farrell, if he comes back, would be in that mix. Oh, and Coulombe. As a side note, the Twins get to make hard decisions on disabled list players in the off-season. Hopefully Duran starts to get a few starts so he can be better prepared to jump to the majors sometime in 2022. But Edwar Colina would be basically a free agent if you cut him, and more than a season away anyways (do you think?). Law, Stashak, Garlick, Smeltzer...I really don't see anyone jumping on these guys. Has their time come and gone with the Twins? Even Dobnak. He still has an option season with the Twins. Would anyone grab him and his salary and add them to their own 40-man? Would Twins fans have a sigh of relief? Would Dobnak be the second coming of Nick Balckburn playing out his contract in the Twins minors, or remember when Glen Perkins was basically available and everyone passed and he accepted the assignment to Twins minors before finding life as a bullpen stopper? And, remember, we have six guys on the 60-day, which means the Twins currently carry a roster of 46 players. I know I have trouble getting my 46-inch waist into my old size-40 jeans. I still want to see Ryan added for the last weeks of the season, as well as Strotman and Balazovic, already on the roster, cross the river and pitch for the Twins when the rosters can go to 28. Hell, I would like to see them now, and the Twins basically run with a six-man rotation for the remainder of the season with some starters doubling up on each other. Yeah, I would like to see Hamilton, but I wonder if the Twins are just keeping him out of the mix with the hopes that if they don't have room to add him, he will somehow stay. You suddenly start to realize how much baseball really plays with the life of players. Yes, the Twins need to make worthwhile additions, guys who can get a jump on what they need to work on in the winter. Is the prospect of having them play Fall League baseball and NOT adding them to the roster before the season end part of the play? Those are the tough decisions (like Colina, he will burn thru 3 years of 40-man and not sure where he will end up). The Twins have enough fears that people will see a jump start in Sands or Villamont...let's keep Wallner at High A to escape the Curse of Baddoo... But, yes...will you really keep Vincent on the 40-man. Or Thielbar? Coming off a disaster season. Adds to the 40-man for sure: Joe Ryan, Jovani Moran, Ian Hamilton, Josh WInder, Cole Sands, Jose Miranda, Royce Lewis. I could open those roster spots tomorrow and, except for Royce, have them all on the field for the remainder of the season (okay, Josh is down, too). P.S. We also have to remember that Byron Buxton MIGHT still be returning to double his games played for the season. That would, for sure, knock someone off the current 25-man roster.

Fernando Abad is back in the majors with the Orioles. The Twins traded him back in 2016 for Pat Light (remember him?). He finished the year with the Red Sox and pitched decently in 2017. Then he signed with the Phillies and got back to the majors in 2019 with the Giants. Since then he was signed and released by the Nationals and Yankees and then kept by the Orioles in 2020. Not a bad career.

So why not have players get real comfortable in a position that they can play for their career. Why I remember seeing a guy in right field, just the other day, play a inside-the-park home run ball that the regular rightfielder wouldn't have had happen. You bring in someone as a defensive replacement late in a =wipeout game to give the regular a rest.

Well, I picture a bullpen game depending on how Barnes/Jax/Ober pitch, with Gant starting out-of-the-box. Then they have a day off in the rotation, so Thorpe can definitely get at least one more, if not two starts, with St. Paul. A chance to see Garza, Vincent, Minaya throw multiple times in the next 10 days (as well as Coulombe) before deciding some fates. I would actually just go ahead and waive out Pineda (when off the list, Colome and SImmons and replace them with Miranda, Strotman and perhaps Ryan. Let's get innings for the new guys. Thielbar, too. Let the free agents get jobs with others teams, save some money (which the Twins always like) and bring in Moran to be the lefty in the pen. Why play second-hand when new will do, just as good.

If all five of these guys open 2023 with the team, I will be happy. Lewis has a road to climb, actually a mountain. Him and Duran just need the playing time against experienced folks. Martin will be joining him there. Balazovic will start the season there and graduate to the Twins, one hopes. Woods-Richardson will be pushed at Wichita to move to AAA. Quit being down on Lewis. He is only 22. As is Martin. One played collegiate level, one went thru the ranks of minor league ball, which is a learning experience of its own. Fun he we go from a season of Dobnak, Smeltzer, Thorpe in the wings to instead have them replaced by Barnes, Ober and Jax with Sands, Ryan, Strotman, Winder in the wings...and Duran and Balazovic still in the promised prospect camp. And we also have Colina and Enlow in the near mix. Jeez. Talk about prospects keeping us from going out and spending money on a legit arm!

We have to applaud that they did manage to get something for the guy most of us would've just let walk. Change of scenery always helps. I do wonder, still, if they were asking too much for Pineda. Sure, it is nice to have the (old) presence on the roster, but he is gone come October. Can't believe no one made an offer.

Well, Marwin is now gone. Up for grabs if anyone needs someone who can play anywhere...and not hit. The Red Sox begin their own house cleaning.

It was part of grade school outdoor activity. Every playground had a baseball playing field. We would happily play pick-up grames where we just rotated around the field to batting. Favorite pasttime was hitting balls as one jogged the outfield, then trading places. Or pitching in the alley, using the narrow part outside the garage door as the bounce back and strikezone. You used tennis balls and happily enough garages were tall enough that you seldom had to get balls out of fenceless yards, or worry about breaking windows. The Twins came in 1961 and WCCO radio was king, and we would love to listen to Ray Scott and Halsey Hall and Later Herb Carneal. Baseball cards became more important. One card, one stick of gum for a penny. We would trade amongst each other, play a modified game with just dice, and later strato-cards were discovered and games became more elaborate. Cards came out in series, one checklist every four weeks it seemed. Part of city schools, at that time, was using baseball games as special incentives to be a good safety patrol person. Or maybe dad would take you to the bleachers for a knot-hole game. We has a business executive friend who worked for Cargill and he would take me to summer afternoon games in box seats behind the Twins dugout. And every year for a decade to the Twins "Welcome Home" banquet where I and another kid or two were it amongst the suits, which started my autograph collecting which still continues to this day (I just finished my 300th letter for this summer, writing for autographs from ALL Twins players and minor league players, and many others in the organization, plus past Twins in the majors and minors...a task I have done for decades - don't ask me how many autographs I do have). Maybe it was because there were fewer teams, fewer players...but we loved them all. Players that played above and beyond were worshipped. But it all boiled down to that baseball was a game that most anyone could play, if you could run or hit or field or throw straight. Though we may have a dream of playing ball, it wasn't like when I became a dad and you had parents preparing their kids to be prods at T-ball. T-BALL!?! Even in high school, if you wanted to play, you could play on the soph squad. It got a bit more cut-throat for the senior squad and often the amount of practice and work would weed out those of us that did it more for fun, but if you wanted to put in the time and energy, you were...respected. We played a lot more. Random gatherings. Kids ran more free back then. You would leave he house and come back 3-5 hours later, visiting a few homes, stopping at the park a couple of times. You and your folks (or dad) would happily bring a pal or two to a game, as would other dads. And when you had television, black-and-white, you were in heaven. Live! And the announcers. A thrill!

Tommy Milone released by Blue Jays. Has been injured for most of the season anyways. Looks like after just a couple of appearances something popped in the arm of John Curtiss after moving to the Brewers. Probably Tommy John surgery. He'll be out all next year. Sad to see a career setback like that.