Build Your Own 2022 Minnesota Twins Roster

[Nick Nelson]

With the World Series about to get underway, we've officially started delivering the brand-new 2022 Twins Daily Offseason Handbook to those who pre-ordered. You can buy your copy now and receive it immediately!

We're also launching our interactive 2022 roster builder tool at TwinsPayroll.com. Free and accessible to anyone with a Google account, this spreadsheet can be used in conjunction with the Handbook to build a realistic contender for next year. Let's take a tour.

Rounding Out the Roster

When you get started, you'll find a number of players preset in their expected roles, although you're free to change and move things around. This base layout brings back most of the incumbents, with Alex Kirilloff in left field, Luis Arraez as the utility man, and Ryan Jeffers as backup catcher. The shortstop and DH positions are open and need to be filled, along with a couple of bench jobs. 

On the pitching staff, we've got six spots needing to be filled, and that feels like the bare minimum. (It assumes that Taylor Rogers is back, Joe Ryan gets a rotation spot, and Randy Dobnak opens as the long man in the pen. But again, you can change those too.) 

You'll also notice a "Dead Money" section. If we want to realistically reflect payroll obligations, we need a space to account for things like Kenta Maeda's sunk-cost 2022 salary, Alex Colomé's option buyout, and any money being eaten in – say – a Josh Donaldson trade.

Filling Open Spots

If you scroll down in the spreadsheet, you'll find a number of internal options listed for these open roles, along with projected 2022 salaries. These include ready or near-ready prospects, and players with optional contracts. 

To include these players in your blueprint, simply copy-paste or write their names into an open field, and then fill in the associated salary, which will be reflected in the TOTAL on the right side. 

If you scroll beyond the budget to the far right side of the spreadsheet, you'll find a number of free agent options listed at SP, RP, SS, and Other, although this sample of names only scratches the surface of what we cover throughout the Handbook. Plug in the players and salaries you're adding via free agency or trade to fill out key offseason needs. 

Setting Payroll Limits

Of course, it's easy to say "Sign Scherzer, Gausman and Correa" as your grand plan for a dramatic offseason improvement. That'd be sweet. However, Minnesota's front office isn't realistically equipped with a blank check. You'll need to stay within a certain spending threshold, which means you've got finite resources, and must selectively choose where you want to allocate. 

The BUDGET field on the right side includes a dropdown menu, which you can use to set your own parameters. Do you think the Twins will realistically cut down significantly on spending in a rebuilding year? Then choose the "Big Cut" option and do your best with $32 million in available payroll. Think ownership will double-down on their championship aspirations and endorse a few big moves? Select a 10% raise. 

For what it's worth, Derek Falvey has indicated that he expects payroll to remain relatively steady, so the "Even" option ($130M) might be most probable.

Let's See Your Offseason Blueprint!

We'd love to see what you come up with! Once you've finished filling out your roster, take a screenshot and share it with us on social media or here on the Twins Daily Blogs! 

If you are one who took the front office to task for their misses in the previous offseason, here's a chance to back up the talk. Can you fix the Twins? Grab the Offseason Handbook and head over to TwinsPayroll.com – let's see what you've got!

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[roger]

Great piece, Nick.

Think I will sit back and see what the FO actually does rather than speculate.  Will you be maintaining the above as they make their moves?

[tony&rodney]

Why not play? We are all in the dark anyways. It would be nice to play at $150. I cheated a 5% raise.

[jmlease1]

36 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Why not play? We are all in the dark anyways. It would be nice to play at $150. I cheated a 5% raise.

This is...interesting? I can't see spending $17M on Marte to play LF under any circumstances, though, and dropping $14M on veteran bullpen adds while filling the rotation via quantity over quality scares me. (I also don't see Garlick making this team next year) Gray makes sense to me as an option and bringing back Adrianza as a utility option who can actually play SS is interesting.

[KFEY93]

Is there an option to remove Rocco in this little guide? 

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

Why not play? We are all in the dark anyways. It would be nice to play at $150. I cheated a 5% raise.

According to baseball trades the median value for Alcantara and Montas is 123.5 and I would guess they are  not getting traded unless the receiving team pays dearly.  How are you going to come up with the prospect capital to make this happen.  I don't think we have a single elite prospect that it would take to get either Alcantara or Montas.  Seems like we would have to trade a boat load of our top 10 prospects including Miranda, Ober, and Ryan.  Curious to see what you would propose.

[Minny505]

For SS: Trade a 10-15 prospect or a vet at a position of need to Cardinals for Paul DeJong. Alternative is a 10-15 young prospect to Orioles for Ramon Urias.

Sign Syndegaard for a one year pillow at $15 (I'm out if it goes higher). I also love Pineda, Kikuchi, and/or Jon Gray on this roster. I'm keeping Ober, Dobnak, and Ryan, in the rotation (either AAA or MLB).

If we are going to a retool year instead of a compete year, keep the FA SP to two. Veterans just clog the roster, preventing all our AAA SP prospects from getting valuable innings in this situation.

I'm fine with BP FAs, but not spending more than $4mil on any one guy. I'd rather trade corner OF/IF/2B depth for 25yr old failed SPs.

[Major League Ready]

18 hours ago, Minny505 said:

For SS: Trade a 10-15 prospect or a vet at a position of need to Cardinals for Paul DeJong. Alternative is a 10-15 young prospect to Orioles for Ramon Urias.

Sign Syndegaard for a one year pillow at $15 (I'm out if it goes higher). I also love Pineda, Kikuchi, and/or Jon Gray on this roster. I'm keeping Ober, Dobnak, and Ryan, in the rotation (either AAA or MLB).

If we are going to a retool year instead of a compete year, keep the FA SP to two. Veterans just clog the roster, preventing all our AAA SP prospects from getting valuable innings in this situation.

I'm fine with BP FAs, but not spending more than $4mil on any one guy. I'd rather trade corner OF/IF/2B depth for 25yr old failed SPs.

I highlighted the big question.  Plans to retool, even for a year, will be in the minority here.  IMO, that approach makes the most sense.  My guess is that they will retool with an eye on 2023 while putting a better product on the field in 2022.  The best way to do that IMO is to spend on the high quality (young) free agent they can get to come here and be part of the next window of contention.  Fill one other slot with Pineda or equivalent and let Dobnak / Winder / Balazovic and others fight it out for the 5th spot.  Add a SS and a couple RPs and we will have a plus 500 team that could even stay in the race if everything goes well.  Youthful SPs played significant roles on playoff teams this year.

I think over the course of 2022 they will look to work Miranda and Martin into the lineup.  They will give 3-5 SP prospects a look over the course of 2022 looking to establish SPs to fill out the rotation with Ryan and Ober.  Establishing those SPs would give them the budget to tweak the roster in 2023.

[tony&rodney]

5 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

let Dobnak / Winder / Balazovic and others fight it out for the 5th spot.

Does this mean you see Ryan and Ober as #3 & #4 pitchers? I don't necessarily disagree, but turning the team over to AAA pitchers does mean a steep learning curve, ala Detroit, Houston and so forth. 

I am not certain of the path that Falvey has planned for the future and just play with speculation like others, but it might be a tough time for the Twins to sit at the bottom of the AL Central for a few years.

[tony&rodney]

On 10/25/2021 at 10:36 AM, Major League Ready said:

According to baseball trades the median value for Alcantara and Montas is 123.5 and I would guess they are  not getting traded unless the receiving team pays dearly.  How are you going to come up with the prospect capital to make this happen.  I don't think we have a single elite prospect that it would take to get either Alcantara or Montas.  Seems like we would have to trade a boat load of our top 10 prospects including Miranda, Ober, and Ryan.  Curious to see what you would propose.

Shoot high. The baseball trade value site has some interesting numbers. I have looked at it but do not find it particularly relevant for teams. It does give some context, however, and  I am certainly not dismissive of it. 

Trades? Ideas? I don't know actually what a GM would see as reasonable or risky but I will throw out a few just for ... whatever.

The Twins have a difficult situation with Byron Buxton and I want to keep him, but also want some protection as well so - sign Starling Marte. 

Trade #1: Larnach, Jeffers, Sands, Celestino, Dobnak, and Canterino for Alcantara. Perhaps the Twins might look to get Lopez instead or widen the trade to pry away Meyer. 

Trade #2: Arraez, Rooker , Duffey, Cavaco for Montas. Oakland also has a couple of other pitchers worth discussing, such as Bassitt and Manaia (sp).

The general idea is to add pitching, use the duplication that currently exists on the roster along with a couple of prospects. I also wonder if Royce Lewis, much coveted by Twins fans, might help the Twins get the pitching they need that would allow Winder, Duran, Balazovic, and W-R to develop and gain a little acclimation to MLB rather than being thrown into the fire. In any event, the Twins will need to have a plan going forward that brings fans to Target Field. I remain open to all ideas for an improved team in 2022.

[farmerguychris]

Played around with it for a bit.... As much as I'd like to see them sign one of the big name SS's on the market - I just don't see them doing it with our  needs.  I would guess we will sign one of the next tier guys for a 1 year deal so we can consider our internal/young options for 2023.  I'll also guess we will likely only bring in 1 medium quality RP, and fill the rest of our spots with internal guys or minor league deal guys.  Had better luck turning them around than we did big names in 2021 anyway.

Starting pitching.... Good grief - some big names out there but most are so old (for MLB anyway) at such high salaries!

As others have said, what they do with Buxton will change and set the tone for everything!