Most of bullpen from this year can be gone.  Expect Rogers and Shaggy to stay around.  Would use Wimmers as a long man to start and Duffey here is you want him in the pen.  Rest is audition time for most of the AA and AAA relievers.  Perkins will be a lock if he has anything left.

 

Not sure how Baxendale would fit into the "Lock" category. He'd fit into the Burdi/Hildy/Reed category for me. I would have liked to see him come up, but it didn't bother me in the least when Wimmers got called up. Much bigger decision to make on him since he's a free agent at the end of the World Series if he hadn't been brought up. At least he got an opportunity, which is is very appreciative of. The decision on Baxendale is whether or not to add him to the 40 man roster in November, and that's far from a given. 

 

I just have a hard time saying anyone who has no big league experience should be a "lock." That just doesn't make sense to me. 

 

Hildenberger should be given a legit shot in spring training, but so much of that depends on his elbow situation.

 

Melotakis was good in his return. The Twins didn't pitch him more than one inning. He didn't pitch on back-to-back days. He still ended up on the DL a couple of times for additional rest. That's all positive. Let's not think that he suddenly jumps into the big leagues because 1.) AAA time won't hurt him, and 2.) at least early, they'll want to test out a few things first. Can he pitch more than one inning? Can he pitch on back-to-back days. Those were the considerations with Chargois. You can control that all in AAA. As we've seen with Chargois in the big leagues, it's all-hands-on-deck, so he's pitched more than 2 innings once or twice, and back-to-back games often. He likely woudln't have been ready for that earlier in the season and certainly not in 2015. I'm on board with the Twins plans for Chargois now that I understand it and see how it changes in the big leagues, and I"m on board with them doing the same with Melotakis. 

 

Pressly turns 28 in December. He's not old! Unless you're like 18.

Baxendale is a near lock for me in the same way Rogers was going into 2016. Thanks to being a starter for most of his time in the minors, he's had plenty of experience and has very little to nothing left to prove. His 35 innings in AAA have been very good. He was sufficient as a minors starter but his stuff can play up in the bullpen. He can start as a long reliever or a 6th/7th inning guy depending the other bullpen pieces.

 

Baxendale is a near lock for me in the same way Rogers was going into 2016. Thanks to being a starter for most of his time in the minors, he's had plenty of experience and has very little to nothing left to prove. His 35 innings in AAA have been very good. He was sufficient as a minors starter but his stuff can play up in the bullpen. He can start as a long reliever or a 6th/7th inning guy depending the other bullpen pieces.

 

Rogers wasn't a lock going into 2016, though he was up within a week. I'm not sure Baxendale will even be put on the 40-man roster, but if he was, he'll certainly have a chance.