Seehafer: Twins, MiLB, etc. chat

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

I'll be sitting in an airport for a couple of hours here soon, so I thought it may be a fun idea to do a chat of sorts here in the forums. Post your questions below, Twins or minor league related, and I'll answer them as I wait for my flight.

[4twinsJA]

Why do Twins keep picking up castoffs from other teams, instead of giving players in AAA an opportunity? I talking mostly pitchers.

[LA VIkes Fan]

I see Gordon has been sent down and Refsnyder brought up. I understand the logic; Gordon has been hitting around .200 with no walks or power for the last month and Refsnyder was hot earlier before he got hurt. We're evaluating both for 2022. 

My question is what do you see for Gordon going forward? Given his play this year, do you think the Twins need to keep him on the 40 man roster or cold He survive the Rule 5 draft? Do you see a long term future for him with the Twins? We could use the 40 man spot but I am concerned about losing him in the draft since he would be easy for a losing team to stash for a season. 

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

23 minutes ago, 4twinsJA said:

Why do Twins keep picking up castoffs from other teams, instead of giving players in AAA an opportunity? I talking mostly pitchers.

A variety of reasons, though perhaps the biggest is that the players at Triple-A have a future with the team and their workloads are infinitely larger than they were last year. That's also why Bailey Ober isn't going long into games. While the season is lost and the MLB experience would probably be great for them, the team is likely wary of pushing their future athletes beyond what the bodies are capable of this season.

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

20 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I see Gordon has been sent down and Refsnyder brought up. I understand the logic; Gordon has been hitting around .200 with no walks or power for the last month and Refsnyder was hot earlier before he got hurt. We're evaluating both for 2022. 

My question is what do you see for Gordon going forward? Given his play this year, do you think the Twins need to keep him on the 40 man roster or cold He survive the Rule 5 draft? Do you see a long term future for him with the Twins? We could use the 40 man spot but I am concerned about losing him in the draft since he would be easy for a losing team to stash for a season. 

I think the Twins view him as a utility man going forward. In my opinion, he displayed enough this season to warrant a 40-man spot during the offseason. He may not be a franchise cornerstone, but he has a role on this team.

[LA VIkes Fan]

I think you're probably right that Gordon has a role on the Twins as a utility guy going forward but I do see a MLB roster crunch and 40 man roster crunch coming. I think a lot may depend on whether the Twins sign a FA SS over the winter or decide to move Polanco back to that spot and have Arraez play 2B full-time. I guess the other option would be if Donaldson is traded and Arraez moved to 3B but then I would like to see Miranda given an opportunity. I guess my point is that Gordon has more value in a utility role if Arraez has a full-time starting position in the infield. Otherwise, Gordon is the 2nd utility man behind Arreaz and his only real advantage is that he can play CF. I don't see Arraez getting a full-time OF job given his recurring knee injury woes.

Well, I guess this is one of those things are going to be evaluating over the next 2 months. It will be interesting to see if Polanco plays more SS from now until season's end. If he doesn't play there other than occasionally just to give Simmons a day off, then I think will know that we're going the free-agent route at SS over the winter with Arraez likely to be in a utility role, perhaps playing more if Donaldson goes more to the DH rule and Cruz is not re-signed. In that circumstance, Gordon may be a 40 man luxury whose spot may come down to a choice between him and 1 of the minor-league pitchers. Just another thing to watch.

[TD Mac]

1 hour ago, 4twinsJA said:

Why do Twins keep picking up castoffs from other teams, instead of giving players in AAA an opportunity? I talking mostly pitchers.

Moving players up too quickly can have adverse effects.  It doesn't seem to those of us who just look at physical tools, but when players aren't ready, they often try to do too much (overthrow for more velocity or break on pitches or overswinging at the plate) and it can actually have a negative affect on the player as they get into a funk that forces them to step back and almost relearn.  That's why you see so few "tool ready" players (i.e. college pitchers), move directly into the bigs without at least a couple years of developing at A-AA 

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

20 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I think you're probably right that Gordon has a role on the Twins as a utility guy going forward but I do see a MLB roster crunch and 40 man roster crunch coming. I think a lot may depend on whether the Twins sign a FA SS over the winter or decide to move Polanco back to that spot and have Arraez play 2B full-time. I guess the other option would be if Donaldson is traded and Arraez moved to 3B but then I would like to see Miranda given an opportunity. I guess my point is that Gordon has more value in a utility role if Arraez has a full-time starting position in the infield. Otherwise, Gordon is the 2nd utility man behind Arreaz and his only real advantage is that he can play CF. I don't see Arraez getting a full-time OF job given his recurring knee injury woes.

Well, I guess this is one of those things are going to be evaluating over the next 2 months. It will be interesting to see if Polanco plays more SS from now until season's end. If he doesn't play there other than occasionally just to give Simmons a day off, then I think will know that we're going the free-agent route at SS over the winter with Arraez likely to be in a utility role, perhaps playing more if Donaldson goes more to the DH rule and Cruz is not re-signed. In that circumstance, Gordon may be a 40 man luxury whose spot may come down to a choice between him and 1 of the minor-league pitchers. Just another thing to watch.

I'll grant, having all three of Arráez, Polanco, and Gordon is pretty redundant. Maybe one of them gets moved. I think the Twins go after another stop gap shortstop this winter to hold the fort for either Lewis or Martin when they're ready to be up fulltime. I think that's when Gordon becomes much more fungible. 

[Dman]

1 hour ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I think you're probably right that Gordon has a role on the Twins as a utility guy going forward but I do see a MLB roster crunch and 40 man roster crunch coming. I think a lot may depend on whether the Twins sign a FA SS over the winter or decide to move Polanco back to that spot and have Arraez play 2B full-time. I guess the other option would be if Donaldson is traded and Arraez moved to 3B but then I would like to see Miranda given an opportunity. I guess my point is that Gordon has more value in a utility role if Arraez has a full-time starting position in the infield. Otherwise, Gordon is the 2nd utility man behind Arreaz and his only real advantage is that he can play CF. I don't see Arraez getting a full-time OF job given his recurring knee injury woes.

Well, I guess this is one of those things are going to be evaluating over the next 2 months. It will be interesting to see if Polanco plays more SS from now until season's end. If he doesn't play there other than occasionally just to give Simmons a day off, then I think will know that we're going the free-agent route at SS over the winter with Arraez likely to be in a utility role, perhaps playing more if Donaldson goes more to the DH rule and Cruz is not re-signed. In that circumstance, Gordon may be a 40 man luxury whose spot may come down to a choice between him and 1 of the minor-league pitchers. Just another thing to watch.

With the emergence of Miranda this exact question has been on my mind more and more.  Beyond Gordon they have Martin now as well who projects as a better bat and a player that can play center and slightly further down they have Spencer Steer who has been doing pretty well this year as well.  With all the pitchers the Twins likely need to add and Miranda plus FA signings there is going to be a 40 man crunch.  I am sure the Twins would like to keep him and possibly build his value back up but I wonder since we are so loaded at that spot if he doesn't get traded or if no team has interest then released.

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

2 minutes ago, Dman said:

With the emergence of Miranda this exact question has been on my mind more and more.  Beyond Gordon they have Martin now as well who projects as a better bat and a player that can play center and slightly further down they have Spencer Steer who has been doing pretty well this year as well.  With all the pitchers the Twins likely need to add and Miranda plus FA signings there is going to be a 40 man crunch.  I am sure the Twins would like to keep him and possibly build his value back up but I wonder since we are so loaded at that spot if he doesn't get traded or if no team has interest then released.

The tough thing with Gordon is that he likely won't fetch anything in a trade. Many teams would love to have him in their system, I'm sure, but they probably don't want to give up anything to make it happen. Also, don't forget that the Twins could drop some players from the 40 man; Lewis Thorpe seems like a prime candidate, so is Kyle Garlick, Rob Refsnyder, etc. So that will open enough some space.

 

 

 

[Unwinder]

How worried should Astudillo fans be about the 40 man roster crunch?

[Lucas Seehafer PT]

1 minute ago, Unwinder said:

How worried should Astudillo fans be about the 40 man roster crunch?

No insider knowledge, but I'd say that the odds he sticks around beyond this season are 60-40 in favor of him being gone. What made him valuable was his ability to catch in a pinch, play multiple positions defensively, and put the ball in play. Well, now the Twins have Gordon, Arráez, maybe Austin Martin to fill those roles and have Ben Rortvedt who can more than fill the third catcher spot. I'm just not sure he has much value on the Twins moving forward.