DFA Possibilities

[stringer bell]

The Opener is on the horizon! The Twins and all teams need to cut their roster down to 28 players. At the fringe of all rosters are players on minor league contracts. Most have big league experience, but aren’t on the 40-man roster. Many of these players will be added to active rosters before Opening Day, necessitating someone being dropped from the 40-man roster. The Twins are no exception. Pitchers Deven Smeltzer and Danny Coulombe and an outfielder (Cave or Garlick) could be added, but someone would have to be dropped from the 40-man roster and exposed to be claimed by any team. 
 

In the Twins case, who would be let go? It is a dangerous proposition. One has to weigh the value of the player, their chance to contribute both short term and long term and the chances another team will pick them up. Another factor is minor league options. If a player can be freely sent to the minors or recalled from the minors, it is a huge managerial factor. 
 

I think there are five possibilities for DFA now and when rosters are reduced to 26. 1) Jharel Cotton. Cotton was claimed from Texas and has no options. He’s looked decent in camp, but he was made available by the pitching-poor Rangers. 2) Similarly, John Romero was claimed by the Twins this spring. Any player that was exposed once is somewhat suspect, so Romero could be DFAed. 3) Cory Stashak. He was a find in 2019, but since has had injuries and when not injured, hasn’t been nearly as effective.  4)Nick Gordon. The speedy Gordon improved his stock last year by avoiding injury and playing acceptable center field. His problem is he wasn’t very good offensively and sits as no better than a third option at the three up-the-middle positions he’s played. He is out of options, so he can’t go back and forth from Triple A. 5) Brent Rooker. His skill set has been much debated on TD. He is the third or fourth option at DH and has poor defensive marks. Rooker has two options remaining, but he’s 27 and moving closer to suspect than prospect. 
Are the Twins forced to DFA any of these player in the next week or on May 1? Are there other players who could be moved off the 40-man roster? Please discuss. 

[DJL44]

Has Vallimont looked any better this spring? He was bad in Double-A last year.

[DJL44]

Griffin Jax is on the bubble. He's already been demoted to the bullpen.

[4twinsJA]

In retrospect, since no rule V draft this year, would be good to have Vallimont off 40 man. But don't see Twins DFAing him. I agree  with OP options for DFA, hard to judge recent additions. Do Twins pick up someone else's DFA? Twins seem to like a certain type of pitcher, may add someone they feel has more potential than Stashek. Stashek would be first on my list and Rooker first for hitters. 

[Doctor Gast]

Very good point, Stringer, I wish the FO would consider this. I'd trade some players on the 40 man to obtain a viable 4th OF/CF sub and any other need we have.

[Rosterman]

It is always the perfect time to DFA players, as every other team is doing so and 40-man roster spots are at a premium. If you claim someone, you have to have them on the 40-man, at least for the moment.

 

The flip side is, like the case with Lewis Thorpe, if no one claims them you either have to find a place for them in your own system, often with players that are on the cusp of surpassing the recently DFAed player, or you outright release them.

 

Like, unbelievable, the Twins just claimed three pitchers for their (upper) minor league rosters in the past two days. Where or where are they going to go when you already have nearly 40 pitchers to fill two upper minor league staffs. Complicated ever further when (it would be assumed) the Twins will carry two extra pitchers on their 28-man roster who will have to move backj to the minors after an April of games.

 

I'm not hearing that there will be extra players carried at AAA like the past two seasons for COVID replacement parts in a last minute major league need.

 

It can also be a wonderful time for players, too. They can find a new organization when you are considered the last player cut from a roster, which means you were almost good enough to make the majors, but not...quite.

[Dman]

That is a good list.  If the Twins need room they have options.  Unless Cotton really underperforms  I think the Twins are planning on him as an arm that can go multiple innings.  Fangraphs did a nice writeup on the former top 100 prospect and he was a starter at one time.  The Twins have kept him on the 40 man this long I don't see them giving up on him early, but to your point if he doesn't perform he is an easy DFA.

I don't love Gordon and someday there will be no room but I think the Twins would have to be hard pressed to DFA him any time soon.  If some other players namely Lewis, Martin or Celestino look ready then yes maybe Gordon goes, but right now he essentially covers center and the infield so he has value to the team.  I do agree his day will come and he likely will be a DFA unless the Twins can work out a minor trade.

I don't like to see Stashak on this list but this is what it has come to now that he has lost his consistency. Hopefully he finds what made him successful soon and he won't be on this list but as things stand he looks the shakiest of all the DFA candidates IMO.

Romero as you stated was already dropped but the numbers other than his MLB debut look good and he has stuck out the side 2 of the 3 times he has been out there this spring.  I think that is someone you want to take a closer look at.  Also I just found out he has three options left so he has flexibility as well.  Have to wait and see if he can keep it up but he looks good right now.

Rooker just doesn't feel like a good fit for this team but he is a right handed bat with power.  Hopefully he catches fire but most certainly is the first cut once Celestino or Wallner are ready.

It is a good list and I agree with all the choices.  All 5 are in some jeopardy but if they continue to perform well then all still could make it as well.

[DJL44]

45 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

the Twins will carry two extra pitchers on their 28-man roster who will have to move back to the minors after an April of games.

I guarantee at least 2 pitchers will be on the injured list by the end of April

[Otto von Ballpark]

3 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I guarantee at least 2 pitchers will be on the injured list by the end of April

Is that a threat?

[nicksaviking]

There are 4-5 players with a RP behind their names that should be safe. Pretty much all others are DFA possibilities in my book.

[PatPfund]

I'd probably have only 1 or 2 from your list. Rooker peeves me, but they'll probably give him at least one more serious chance this year (unless 2-3 people pass him by, which is possible). Cotton will start in the majors, and either succeed or pitch himself off the team. More on Gordon below. My list:

1. Stashak. Not good enough right now to make the big leagues, and highly unlikely to be claimed. He turns 28 in June, so we are looking at his prime right now.

2. Thielbar. Love him, but… he’s 35, the really straight fastball is only going to slow down, and there are likely better options for the Twins right now (like Moran). And is he even in baseball two years from now? I also don’t think he’d be claimed, but I almost hope he would so he’d have a shot at going on. The young arms are going to swarm past him.

Two spots is all I think they need right now, because I expect some of the retreads will play themselves off the roster in a couple months, but if you needed a third…

3. Put Enlow on 60 day DL (gives him a couple extra weeks of recovery, gets the Twins an extra roster spot for two months).

4. and 5. If needed, I’d probably drop Vallimont (who has really only had one good year in the minors, though the Ks are there), and Romero (mostly because of the thin history).

No freakin’ way I’d drop Gordon. I’ve seen him ripped in these forums for his iffy defense, but in 2021, I saw a kid finally healthy, experiencing MLB for the first time ever, suddenly asked to play a premium defensive position he’d never played before (CF), and he did it quite well. I also see him ripped for his offense, but last year I saw a kid in his first exposure to MLB hitting .240 (while often playing out of position on D), and giving competitive at-bats through the season, including some late inning clutch hits. And his speed on the bench can be quite a weapon in the late innings (or as a pinch runner in the 10th). I think he has earned the right to play himself off the roster.

Oh, and if I had to guess who pitches themselves off the roster first in the regular season, it would be Joe Smith. He sounds about as excited about playing this year as Lance Lynn did as a Twin.

[PatPfund]

(Giggle) And I swear I wrote that about Gordon before checking the Strib site and seeing he knocked in 5 today with a 3 run HR, and a 2 RBI triple!

[Nashvilletwin]

3 hours ago, PatPfund said:

(Giggle) And I swear I wrote that about Gordon before checking the Strib site and seeing he knocked in 5 today with a 3 run HR, and a 2 RBI triple!

Haha. That didn’t age well. Ok, I’ll try to jumpstart another Twin using your method.

What about Sanchez?  The Angels DFA’d Upton today even owing him $28MM this year. He hit a little above 0.200 with 17 dingers in 89 games last year.

Should we expect more from Sanchez this year? Sanchez is owed $11MM this year, but will probably block ABs for some emerging prospects. For example, Sano could be the everyday DH, Kiriloff at 1B, and either Larnach, Celestino, or even Martin in LF getting valuable experience. Lucky for Sanchez he’s catcher, albeit a not very good one,

Ok, I know this won’t happen at least until we are out of contention and move someone (Correa?) for a bit of catching depth (among other players).  But. hey, maybe now that I wrote this Sanchez will break out tomorrow like Gordon did for you!