Latest moves clear up Twins’ roster picture
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Barring any transactions between now and Thursday, the Twins’ Opening Day roster seems all however set.
In the largest of the 4 cuts Minnesota introduced on Sunday, the membership optioned right-hander Bailey Ober to Triple-A St. Paul, formally ending his hope that his sturdy Major League observe file and great spring might pressure the Twins to make room for him on the roster. They additionally reassigned left-hander Danny Coulombe, right-hander Aaron Sanchez and outfielder Kyle Garlick to Minor League camp.
Though nothing is official, these 4 strikes successfully carry an finish to any place battles, and any doubt there could have been concerning the Twins’ supposed roster composition.
Sunday’s cuts trimmed the camp roster to 32 gamers. Five usually are not anticipated to be wholesome sufficient for Opening Day: Ronny Henriquez, Josh Winder, Jorge Polanco, Alex Kirilloff and Gilberto Celestino. Non-roster catcher Tony Wolters additionally stays in camp, however the Twins intend to carry solely two catchers north (Christian Vázquez and Ryan Jeffers).
That will get the Twins to 26 for Thursday’s season opener in Kansas City. Here are the three largest takeaways from Sunday’s news:
1. Willi Castro seems in line to make the roster
With Garlick’s reassignment to the Minor League facet, Castro is the final wholesome man remaining to function the membership’s thirteenth place participant.
The slower buildups of each Kirilloff (restoration from proper wrist surgical procedure) and Polanco (left knee bone bruise final season) have created a gap for not solely Trevor Larnach however Castro, who isn’t but on the 40-man roster however may give the Twins added roster flexibility by means of his positional versatility (he performed each place however catcher and first base final season for the Tigers) and his switch-hitting bat.
Castro’s swing-and-miss tendencies have continued to flare up this camp, as he entered Sunday with an .878 OPS this spring — but in addition 17 strikeouts in 44 plate appearances. He’s nonetheless 25 years previous, with 4 seasons of MLB expertise with the Tigers.
2. Jovani Moran and Cole Sands seem in line to make the roster
Moran was on the unfortunate finish of a number of roster crunches final season, which he spent often shifting backwards and forwards between the Twins and the Triple-A Saints regardless of pitching to a 2.21 ERA in 31 huge league appearances, together with 54 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings. He seems to have a extra stable foothold on a bullpen slot after permitting one hit in a scoreless spring.
And with Minnesota’s choice to maintain an extended reliever, Sands made sense as a match each as a consequence of his historical past as a starter and his remaining Minor League choices, which is able to permit the Twins to take care of flexibility with the roster spot — as they’ve wanted to rotate by means of long-relief choices in seasons previous.
If wholesome, Winder and probably Henriquez would have been forward of Sands within the pecking order. But each tracked behind this spring — Winder as a consequence of some offseason shoulder soreness, and Henriquez with elbow soreness early in camp.
3. The Twins will use a five-man rotation
Though president of baseball operations Derek Falvey briefly floated the opportunity of a six-man rotation, the Twins will finally break camp with a standard five-man grouping of, so as, Pablo López, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda.
That left Ober because the tough-luck odd man out. The Twins will nearly definitely finally want him as a starter, so it is sensible to maintain him on an everyday pitching schedule (particularly as a consequence of his harm historical past and his near-total lack of expertise in popping out of the bullpen). The early off-days within the Twins’ regular-season schedule would even have made it troublesome to make use of a six-man rotation.
