Help Me Understand Falvey and Levine’s Obsession with Waiver Wire Pitchers

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

I'd love to see Moran and Miranda getting their feet wet. But I can also understand them not forcing themselves into decisions before they have to. I don't know if it's when the Twins season ends or when the playoffs end, but the Twins will have to make 6 cuts immediately as the 60 day IL goes away during the offseason. But after that they have until the Rule 5 deadline to make final decisions on their 40 man. Why not give yourself that cushion? Neither Miranda or Moran (or any other prospect, really) is likely to play a big enough role on next year's team that they can't get the jitters out early. Moran will be a mid-relief option who doesn't see a high leverage situation all year probably. Miranda is likely a DH/Util-IF guy next year, not the 3 hole hitter. Winder, and all the other bigger name prospect arms, are going to get rotated through the back end of the rotation, but none of them are going to be relied upon to fill front end roles (or at least they shouldn't).

I would enjoy seeing Moran in the bigs, but I don't think it's crazy that the Twins aren't calling him, or Miranda, up right now. I think taking some swings at lottery tickets from outside the org has it's uses while you know your guy is still there and ready to be added to the 40-man after the season. 

How about get the jitters out in the lost season, not next year? Vincent has no place on this roster next year. 

[Vanimal46]

24 minutes ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Winder went on the AAA injured list after just 4 AAA starts -- hasn't appeared in a game since July 21st.

That's generally the issue with most of our options right now. Moran is pretty much the only healthy guy that deserves a call-up. And there's still 7 weeks left in the season to do it.

Ah dang, didn’t realize Winder is hurt too. There’s still time for sure. I will be disappointed if Vincent or Minaya is on the 28 man September roster. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

4 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Ah dang, didn’t realize Winder is hurt too. There’s still time for sure. I will be disappointed if Vincent or Minaya is on the 28 man September roster. 

I suspect they wouldn't have added Vincent at this late date without the expectation that he will finish the season.

Minaya has been on a roll lately -- 5 games, 0 runs, 2 inherited runners stranded, 13 Ks in 6.2 IP.

Garcia and Garza can be optioned, so I'd guess we could see them sent down at some point if necessary. St. Paul's season runs later than ours now, into October, so they can keep playing at that level.

[KirbyDome89]

On 8/15/2021 at 6:06 PM, Seth Stohs said:

I also think... why not check out some arms that you can get for free. Give them a couple of weeks or a month, see what's there, and move on (good or bad). The Rays do this all the time. The Blue Jays are notorious for it. Cleveland has done well. The Twins have done well with claims over the years. Just another way to add players and see. 

If the Twins are making a claim then the arms aren't free right? If there are internal options that could get a look, why not give them the first shot, particularly when the organization has already invested money and time developing them? When the Twins reach TBs level of internal scouting maybe they'll get the benefit of the doubt in these situations but the FOs recent track record of identifying in house talent isn't all that great. 

 

[chpettit19]

14 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

How about get the jitters out in the lost season, not next year? Vincent has no place on this roster next year. 

I have no problem with them coming up, and said I'd like to see them up. But Vincent is here because he's easily DFA'd. He's here because the Twins have 46 guys on the 40 man roster right now. Adding Moran or Miranda or whoever else that isn't already on the 40-man means you have to cut 2 guys. 1 immediately in order to add that player and 1 when someone comes off the 60-day. They're giving themselves time to make their final 40-man decisions while taking fliers on guys who they won't think twice about DFAing (Garcia and Garza) in the meantime. 

So in a vacuum, yes, I want to see Moran and Miranda up, but it's not in a vacuum. There are other factors, namely the 40-man situation. If any of these guys were going to be counted on to be main cogs in the 2022 team I'd be more worried about them getting their feet wet, but neither Moran nor Miranda (the 2 guys most ready to come up, and still healthy) are playing huge roles at the start of next season. So, yes, nice to get their feet wet this year, and they still may in September, but it's not vital. I don't have a problem with them being added, but also don't think it's egregious or unreasonable that the Twins are adding waiver guys like Garcia and Garza to see if they can add talent to the org. Vincent is simply a last-guy-out-of-the-pen place holder and easy DFA.

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

I have no problem with them coming up, and said I'd like to see them up. But Vincent is here because he's easily DFA'd. He's here because the Twins have 46 guys on the 40 man roster right now. Adding Moran or Miranda or whoever else that isn't already on the 40-man means you have to cut 2 guys. 1 immediately in order to add that player and 1 when someone comes off the 60-day. They're giving themselves time to make their final 40-man decisions while taking fliers on guys who they won't think twice about DFAing (Garcia and Garza) in the meantime. 

So in a vacuum, yes, I want to see Moran and Miranda up, but it's not in a vacuum. There are other factors, namely the 40-man situation. If any of these guys were going to be counted on to be main cogs in the 2022 team I'd be more worried about them getting their feet wet, but neither Moran nor Miranda (the 2 guys most ready to come up, and still healthy) are playing huge roles at the start of next season. So, yes, nice to get their feet wet this year, and they still may in September, but it's not vital. I don't have a problem with them being added, but also don't think it's egregious or unreasonable that the Twins are adding waiver guys like Garcia and Garza to see if they can add talent to the org. Vincent is simply a last-guy-out-of-the-pen place holder and easy DFA.

It really is this straight forward.  getting a glimpse at Moran is not so valuable as to ignore the 40 man implications.  It's also not hard to find many examples of waiver wire pick-ups that are productive, especially when we have Minaya pitching so well.