Twins Claim Trevor Megill, Outright Jake Cave

[Seth Stohs]

The Twins announced that they have claimed right-handed relief pitcher Trevor Megill. In news that will make too many Twins fans happy, outfielder Jake Cave has been outrighted to St. Paul. Later, the Twins announced that Megill had be non-tendered off of the 40-man roster. 

Dustin Morse tweeted that the Twins have claimed 27-year-old right-handed pitcher Trevor Megill off of waivers from the Cubs. To make room on the 40-man roster, outfielder Jake Cave was outrighted to St. Paul. 

Megill turns 28 next week. In 2021, he pitched in 28 games for the Cubs. He went 1-2 with an 8.37 ERA in 23 2/3 innings. He walked eight and struck out 30 batters.  

Megill stands 6-8 and 250 pounds. He was originally drafted by the Padres in the seventh-round of the 2015 draft out of Loyola Marymount. A year earlier, the Padres drafted him in the third round but he didn't sign. He was the Cubs Rule 5 pick in December of 2019. He didn't pitch at all in 2020.

Megill is blessed with a 96.4 mph average fastball. He also throws a slider in the mid-80s and a curveball in the low-80s. His two breaking balls were each thrown about 16-18% of the time. It wouldn't be surprising if Wes Johnson worked with him and got him to eliminate one of the breaking balls and use the other a lot. 

The other half of the transaction should relieve some Twins fans angst. Last week, the Twins signed Cave to a non-guaranteed contract. Today, he was removed from the 40-man roster, went unclaimed and was outrighted to St. Paul. According to Darren Wolfson, he had a split contract in which he would make $800,000 in the big leagues and $300,000 at Triple-A. 

Over his first two seasons with the Twins (2018-19), he played in 163 games and hit .262/.329/.466 (.795) with 27 doubles, four triples, 21 homers and 70 RBI. 

Unfortunately over the past two seasons, he has played in 118 games and hit .202/.263/.332 (.595) with nine doubles, three triples and seven home runs. 

UPDATE - Trevor Megill was non-tendered by the Twins on Tuesday night. However, according to Kiley McDaniel, there is a once-a-year loophole that makes it make a little bit more sense. 

 

Feel free to share your thoughts on Megill or Cave. 

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[nicksaviking]

Megill seems to have some pretty intriguing peripheral numbers. Good strikeout and walk rates and good velocity. Usually the tall guys either struggle with walks, or are surprisingly soft tossers. I don't really want him taking up a 40-man spot, but I guess he'll do for now. 

And uh, based on the consensus feeling on this site, a bag of M&Ms taking up a roster spot was preferable to Jake Cave, so obviously that part's a win.

[Dman]

Surprise, surprise Cave cleared waivers hard to believe (bites toungue). Nobody else wanted him either?  Well he gets a chance to rebuild himself at AAA at least.  Why the Twins were so worried about losing him makes me wonder about their player evaluation ability.  Heck 80 percent of this board could see he wasn't worth rostering this year not sure what took them so long.

Megill looks a lot like Vallimont part 2 only he is exclusively a reliever. Maybe they think that with the success they had with Ober they can tame another giant.  Hard to say but odds are they drop him and hope he clears waivers for them.  They need 40 man room for actual real starting pitchers so I don't think taking on Megill at the MLB level is an option.

[Diesel]

At first I thought this was Tylor Megill, a somewhat promising young Mets starting pitcher. Then, I got flashbacks of Matt Magill, the mediocre Twins reliever, Now, I see it’s Trevor Megill, a flame throwing reliever who somehow can’t miss bats. Falvey/Levine seem to be like Mr. Maggoo, as they are shortsighted in attempting to find elite relief pitchers at the bottom of the barrel a few too many times. I will be happier when the front office shows more megalomaniac behavior. This series of moves will most likely have little magnitude on the team.

 

(I’m sorry)

[chpettit19]

Not much to see here. Feels like a nothing offseason move. Just like signing Cave to that deal didn't mean anything, picking up Megill really doesn't either. He's likely pretty close to the top of the list of DFA's as they look to bring in different players.

I'm glad Twins territory can sleep well tonight knowing the Cave situation played out in a pretty predictable way and he wasn't earmarked as the starting CFer and 3 hole hitter. Said much ado about nothing when they signed Cave and I'll say it again now about Megill. These are dime a dozen moves that happen constantly. 40-man is still nowhere near set and Megill is no more guaranteed to be on it come spring training than Cave was a week ago. Megill is interesting, though. I'm also guess Wes tells him to drop a breaking ball and start throwing the other one about 50% of the time.

[wsnydes]

5 minutes ago, Diesel said:

At first I thought this was Tylor Megill, a somewhat promising young Mets starting pitcher. Then, I got flashbacks of Matt Magill, the mediocre Twins reliever, Now, I see it’s Trevor Megill, a flame throwing reliever who somehow can’t miss bats. Falvey/Levine seem to be like Mr. Maggoo, as they are shortsighted in attempting to find elite relief pitchers at the bottom of the barrel a few too many times. They have been I will be happier when the front office shows more megalomaniac behavior. This series of moves will most likely have little magnitude on the team.

 

(I’m sorry)

That roller coaster was so crazy that I got motion sickness just reading that! ?

[nicksaviking]

16 minutes ago, Dman said:

Surprise, surprise Cave cleared waivers hard to believe (bites toungue). Nobody else wanted him either?  Well he gets a chance to rebuild himself at AAA at least.  Why the Twins were so worried about losing him makes me wonder about their player evaluation ability.  Heck 80 percent of this board could see he wasn't worth rostering this year not sure what took them so long.

Megill looks a lot like Vallimont part 2 only he is exclusively a reliever. Maybe they think that with the success they had with Ober they can tame another giant.  Hard to say but odds are they drop him and hope he clears waivers for them.  They need 40 man room for actual real starting pitchers so I don't think taking on Megill at the MLB level is an option.

If they were worried about losing him, I doubt they would have put him on waivers; there's still a ton of names they could remove from the 40-man without regret. People got upset about the Cave situation last week and here it looks like they played it exactly right. They paid him just enough to make sure no other team would claim him and now they get to stash a CF capable player in AAA for as ever long as they need.

The front office has been very disappointing this off season, but this was actually pretty clever.

[Dman]

11 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

 

The front office has been very disappointing this off season, but this was actually pretty clever.

If you can call clever keeping a guy with a  541 OPs last year clever then sure.

[nicksaviking]

Just now, Dman said:

If you can call clever keeping a guy with a  541 OPs last year clever then sure.

He's not even on the roster.

There's enough shade to throw on the front office this winter, there's no need to make up and exaggerate more crimes.

[AceWrigley]

13 minutes ago, wsnydes said:

That roller coaster was so crazy that I got motion sickness just reading that! ?

I'm just glad his name isn't Miguel Megill.

[AceWrigley]

So, the Caveman is a Saint after all.

[Rosterman]

I guess it was pay Cave or watch him walk. $800,000 is a significant backup to have him start at St. Paul and be there if you need him. Of course, a few weeks ago was still unsure about the Buxton situation longterm, so they did that "just in case."

 

Not sure who the Twins will remove if they sign a free agent.

 

Did Garlick also stay with the Twins? Haven't heaerd any mumblings. Plus they say Smelzer went unclaimed. Is he staying the the Twins or going free agent.

 

Plus, over in Twins staffing land, they list Rody Hernandez as now being a minor league corrdinator along with Kevin Morgan with Edgar Vareda still as a hitting coach?

 

 

[nicksaviking]

2 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

I guess it was pay Cave or watch him walk. $800,000 is a significant backup to have him start at St. Paul and be there if you need him. Of course, a few weeks ago was still unsure about the Buxton situation longterm, so they did that "just in case."

 

Not sure who the Twins will remove if they sign a free agent.

 

Did Garlick also stay with the Twins? Haven't heaerd any mumblings. Plus they say Smelzer went unclaimed. Is he staying the the Twins or going free agent.

 

Plus, over in Twins staffing land, they list Rody Hernandez as now being a minor league corrdinator along with Kevin Morgan with Edgar Vareda still as a hitting coach?

 

 

Cave is on a split contract, he only makes 300K if he stays in St. Paul. Which, obviously is incentive to keep him there too.

[Trov]

Now all the fans that were upset about signing Cave and calm down.  He is off the 40 man roster.  Many comments were that he could be removed from 40 man roster without an issue, but some fans figured he would be on 40 man all year. 

[jmlease1]

I'm fine with this? Stashing Cave in Saint Paul is fine by me; I just didn't want him on the 26-man. Paying him a bit extra to keep him that way is ok.

Megill is interesting, and I think Seth's point is right on: Wes probably thinks that he can improve one breaking pitch and get better performance and consistency by simplifying him down to basically two pitches as a reliever. If he busts, we're not really out much and he's easy to cut and move on from. But there's some things to like about him as a righty reliever, so why not take a flyer and see what he looks like in spring training?

[roger]

The split contract remains in effect even though he cleared waivers?  If so, agree with those above that the $300k minor league payday may have caused some to back off claiming him.  Both interesting and smart.  Who knows, may set the AAA on fire and be back, or not!

[TPetter]

We got Trevor Megill?  Now we can consider this a successful off-season. 

[LA VIkes Fan]

Why not do this? We take a shot at a reliever with a 96 mph fastball; cut him if we can't make him more consistent. Who cares about Cave? He gets 300k a year - chump change by MLB standards - and we see if he can somehow come back to where he was in 2018/2019 when he looked like an upgrade over Kepler. And if Cave hits .200 in AAA we lose him. Until then he's insurance in case Celestino isn't ready to be the backup CF/4th OF. All makes sense. 

All of this is just a reminder that we have to break out of the 24 hour news cycle and give things time to play out. Good idea, but hard to do, I had my pitchfork out when Cave was signed and couldn't understand why the FO wasn't talking to Buxton. Those idiots!! Then it turned out that they were talking to Buxton all along and signed him to a contract that actually seems to make sense for both sides and kept a guy who has shown some promise at the big league level that they could stash in the minors. Now I'm furious that they haven't signed or traded for a FA starting pitcher or closer when we need at least 3 of the former and one of the latter. Those morons! All the good ones are either gone or going to be gone soon! Hmmmm, maybe I should wait a few weeks before I decide whether the FO moves back to the idiot category....

[Dman]

30 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

He's not even on the roster.

There's enough shade to throw on the front office this winter, there's no need to make up and exaggerate more crimes.

I just take issue with you calling it "clever" lol when no brainer is what it has been for months now and they proved that by doing it over a guy who likely won't even make the the 40 man. Not sure how I can be bashing the FO when they did the expected.  

Sure I felt they could have done it sooner but what they have done so far has been fine.  Although I would say clever is overselling it the opposite direction.

 

[IndianaTwin]

39 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

... Plus they say Smelzer went unclaimed. Is he staying the the Twins or going free agent....

 

Not sure how these rules all work, but according to Seth's "Arbitration Deadline Day Thread,"...

 

"...lefty Devin Smeltzer was DFAd, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A."

[IndianaTwin]

24 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

....All of this is just a reminder that we have to break out of the 24 hour news cycle and give things time to play out. Good idea, but hard to do, I had my pitchfork out when Cave was signed and couldn't understand why the FO wasn't talking to Buxton. Those idiots!! Then it turned out that they were talking to Buxton all along and signed him to a contract that actually seems to make sense for both sides and kept a guy who has shown some promise at the big league level that they could stash in the minors. Now I'm furious that they haven't signed or traded for a FA starting pitcher or closer when we need at least 3 of the former and one of the latter. Those morons! All the good ones are either gone or going to be gone soon! Hmmmm, maybe I should wait a few weeks before I decide whether the FO moves back to the idiot category....

Thanks, LA Vikes Fan! Could you please add this perspective to the bazillion TD posts we're seeing about the Twins not yet having made any moves to address the rotation? Tomorrow is only Dec. 1, folks.

(And while you're at it, please cut-and-paste to most "news" sites these days, but that's another discussion. ?) 

[Otto von Ballpark]

I don't think the Cave contract was necessary to help him clear waivers at all.

Assuming Cave hadn't already agreed to a 2022 contract, a team claiming him on waivers right now would have had to tender him a contract for 2022 as today is the tender deadline. In Cave's case, with 3 years service time, that means salary arbitration if the two sides can't come to an agreement by January. MLBTR estimated a $1.1 mil arbitration award for Cave. And arbitration contracts are NOT split contracts -- if Cave was optioned or outrighted to the minors by his new club, at any time before or during the 2022 season, he'd still get the full $1.1 mil. (His new club could have released -- not outrighted -- Cave before opening day with 30-45 days termination pay, approx. $177k-$266k.)

I think Cave was arguably more attractive on waivers with the $800k/$300k split contract that he signed with the Twins. Any claiming team would have had the benefit of paying him only $300k as minor league depth for 2022, without the risk of having to pay his full salary or arb award if he didn't make the majors (or having to pay $177k-$266k just to release him before opening day).

[Otto von Ballpark]

And of course, the only reason for Cave to sign a $800k/$300k split contract with the Twins was if he knew the likely alternative was clearing waivers and getting outrighted before the tender deadline (in which case, he'd get nothing but normal, non-guaranteed minor league pay, less than $300k).

If there was a decent chance of getting claimed and/or tendered a 2022 contract via arbitration, Cave would have never signed this split contract in the first place.

[TheLeviathan]

Well, I like that this signals Cave isn't plan B at CF.  But now we, you know, actually need one.

[Squirrel]

1 minute ago, TheLeviathan said:

Well, I like that this signals Cave isn't plan B at CF.  But now we, you know, actually need one.

Gordon, Kepler until Celestino is ready mid-season

[TheLeviathan]

Just now, Squirrel said:

Gordon, Kepler until Celestino is ready mid-season

That has been the Plan B.  That plan has mostly stunk IMO.  We should invest in a better one.  Even if it's only a year until Celestino takes that role.

We can't afford to keep fielding a craptastic OF every time Buxton gets hurt.

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

I'm just glad his name isn't Miguel Megill.

Megill, A Gorilla.

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

He's not even on the roster.

There's enough shade to throw on the front office this winter, there's no need to make up and exaggerate more crimes.

Who's playing CF in AAA? Cave or Celestino, because if it's Cave.....

[bean5302]

Meh. Doesn't matter.

I'm not sure why this is some sort of shrewd move regarding Cave. I have nothing against Cave personally, I just don't see the interest in having him in the system at all at $300k or $800k. Unless there's a dramatic change in his production, he's not even a good option as a utility outfielder.

A 28 year old relief pitcher project is one of those, "sure, why not" signings.

[Squirrel]

20 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

That has been the Plan B.  That plan has mostly stunk IMO.  We should invest in a better one.  Even if it's only a year until Celestino takes that role.

We can't afford to keep fielding a craptastic OF every time Buxton gets hurt.

I think Celestino will be ready to take over the role sooner than 2023. He really came on strong at the end of 2021. A little more AAA seasoning and I think he will be ready to fill that role mid-season. For half a season I don't think Gordon and Kepler are that stinky.