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What the Recent Number Changes can Tell Us


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On December 10th, it was announced that a few Twins had changed their jersey numbers. Trevor Larnach from 13 to 9, Emilio Pagán from 12 to 15, Kyle Farmer from 17 to 12, Bailey Ober from 16 to 17, and Griffin Jax 65 to 22.

This is nothing out of the ordinary; a few players each offseason on any team will request a number change for one reason or another. However, this time, something peculiar happened shortly thereafter.

Joey Gallo was signed less than a week later, and he claimed the 13 number, his number in Texas and New York, which had conveniently been vacated by Larnach. Is this a coincidence? My money is on no; it's incredibly meaningful.

I did exactly what you have come to expect from old Gregg--I've scoured the list of remaining MLB free agents to see what this might mean for the rest of the offseason, and it leaves more questions than answers. Here are my findings:

#9 (Taken by Trevor Larnach)

The only remaining free agent who wears 9 is Dee Strange-Gordon, Nick Gordon's half-brother. Might there be a rift between Larnach and Gordon now that he's preventing his big brother playing for Minnesota? Probably. It's a good thing that Correa is back to try to help keep the locker room intact. Between this and fighting over left field playing time, things could get ugly.

#12 (Vacated by Emilio Pagán; Taken by Kyle Farmer)

Farmer really stepped on Pagán's toes here. It looks like Emilio may have been trying to open the door for Rougned Odor to don a Twins jersey, which makes sense given his history of sucker-punching opponents who homers off his pitchers. Having Odor at second base would definitely help keep Pagán's homerun numbers in check. Watch for a rift between these two teammates as well.

#15 (Taken by Emilio Pagán)

It's been a rough 24 hours in Twins territory with the last two #15 free agents signing elsewhere in Raimel Tapia and Brian Anderson. When will the team finally pull the trigger on the guys they really want?

#16 (Vacated by Bailey Ober)

This was the spot that showed the most promise, though with Trey Mancini coming off the board this week, the remaining pool is thin in Cesar Hernandez and Travis Jankowski. I would bet that the Twins were more in on Mancini than suggested, given that they clearly forced Ober to change numbers to attract him.

#17 (Taken by Bailey Ober)

Ober apparently looked Chris Archer in the eyes and said "This town ain't big enough for two five-and-dives" and took his number, preventing his return. Go get 'em, Bailey!

#22 (Taken by Griffin Jax)

Learned men like me know that there was no shot of the Twins getting Andrew McCutchen with this stunt pulled. Think of the team, Griffin!

This also rains on Jeremy Nygaard's hopes to bring back Miguel Sanó. Surely the big man wouldn't come back if he couldn't get his number back from a relief pitcher. To make matters worse, this also eliminates Robinson Canó from contention. Sure, he switched his number for Roger Clemens in New York, but Jax is no Rocket; he's Air Force, not Space Force.

This also removes Luis Torrens as an option. Sad day for those of you with Luis Torrens on your offseason bingo card.

#65 (Vacated by Griffin Jax)

There isn't even a potential free agent with Griffin's old number. So selfish.

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This story is great—love the “oh he’s gone, I can finally get my old number back” angles.  You obviously have to expand to the trade market, though.  Sandy Alcantara is #22, so either Jax is going to be included in the trade or he’s setting himself up for a big payday when the trade occurs.

Reminds me years ago about a story John Kruk told, trading his number to Mitch Williams for 20 bucks and a case of beer. He said that after a while, the money was gone, Williams was gone, and the beer was gone, too.  Sad!

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4 hours ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

This story is great—love the “oh he’s gone, I can finally get my old number back” angles.  You obviously have to expand to the trade market, though.  Sandy Alcantara is #22, so either Jax is going to be included in the trade or he’s setting himself up for a big payday when the trade occurs.

Reminds me years ago about a story John Kruk told, trading his number to Mitch Williams for 20 bucks and a case of beer. He said that after a while, the money was gone, Williams was gone, and the beer was gone, too.  Sad!

I checked about 130 Baseball Reference pages. I wasn’t about to check everyone who might be traded too 

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On 1/20/2023 at 7:00 AM, h2oface said:

Ober goes from 16 to 17?

That's odd.

I think there was a story last winter where Ober had 17 for a minute in the post-Berríos era, chosen because it was his lucky number or something, but then Archer got signed and wanted the number and they deferred to his veteran status.

Was Trevor May still on the market when Jax vacated #65?

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28 minutes ago, whosafraidofluigirussolo said:

I think there was a story last winter where Ober had 17 for a minute in the post-Berríos era, chosen because it was his lucky number or something, but then Archer got signed and wanted the number and they deferred to his veteran status.

Was Trevor May still on the market when Jax vacated #65?

It was just a joke. A bad one, I guess. From an even to an odd number....... 17,,,,, that's odd.  :blink:

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Pagan realized he had a better opportunity to become the all-time bWAR leader among Twins who primarily wore No. 15 (currently Al Worthington at 10.0) than among those who wore No. 12 (Cesar Tovar at 25.9). 

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