Exploring The Back-End Of The 40-Man Roster

Buddy Boshers, LHP

Boshers has made 75 appearances over the last two seasons with the Twins. During that time he has a 4.56 ERA with a 1.25 WHIP and a 65 to 17 strikeout to walk ratio. Last season, the left-handed hurler held lefties to a .655 OPS while righties managed a .904 OPS. Boshers will be 30-years old this season and he has never posted an ERA under 4.00 in any of his three big league seasons.

Dietrich Enns, LHP

Enns joined the Twins organization last year along with Zack Littell as part of the Jaime Garcia trade. He only made two appearances and allowed three earned runs in four innings. However, he’s posted a 1.86 ERA with a 1.12 WHIP in 116.0 innings at Triple-A. Those numbers are hard to ignore. Enns will turn 27-years old in the middle of May. Minnesota’s new front office saw enough in him to include him in the trade so maybe that keeps him safe.

Tyler Kinley, RHP

The Twins just acquired Kinley from Miami during December’s Rule 5 Draft. Because of the rules associated with his acquisition, the club has to keep him on their 25-man roster for all of 2018 or offer him back to Miami. Between High-A and Double-A last season, Kinley had a 3.54 ERA with a 1.22 WHIP and a 72 to 22 strikeout to walk ratio (53.1 innings). It’s rare for Rule 5 players to be sent back to their clubs this quickly but the Twins might not have anticipated adding Fernando Rodney and Addison Reed.

Gabriel Moya, LHP

Originally signed by the Diamondbacks, Moya was dealt to Minnesota for John Ryan Murphy. He made seven big league appearances last year and allowed three runs in 6.1 innings. In the minors last season, he was almost untouchable. He compiled a 0.77 ERA while striking out 13.4 batters per nine innings. Moya was able to do this while being over two years younger than the competition in the Southern League.

Kennys Vargas, DH

Earlier in the off-season, reports had Vargas open to playing overseas. Vargas is out of options and would need to stick with the Twins next season. His lack of defensive flexibility makes it hard to pencil him into the team’s line-up on a regular basis. Players like Joe Mauer, Robbie Grossman and Mitch Garver might all need to see time at DH. At the big league level over the last four seasons, he has hit .252/.311/.437 including double digit home runs in each of the last two seasons.

How would you rank the back end of the 40-man roster? Who will be the first to go? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.