Minnesota Twins Set Opening Day Roster

Seth: Do you think the Twins would be interested in this Rule 5 guy?

"The Phillies have put Rule 5 Draft pick Andy Oliver on waivers, CSN Philly’s Jim Salisbury reports.  If Oliver clears waivers, Salisbury notes that the Phils could try to fully obtain the lefty’s rights from the Pirates in a trade.  As a Rule 5 Draft player, Oliver must spend the entire season on a 25-man roster or else be offered back to his original club (Pittsburgh)."

The Twins did draft him back in the day... and he is a Lefty...

Lousy luck for Pinto, but I get it. Injury and concussion, he just hasn't played much. Unless Herrmann really takes off, I think he'll be up before too long. Hats off to Herrmann for having a great camp and showing something, but also a tip of the cap to the Twins for not going the previously automatic route of "defense only" backup catcher by moving someone else to make room for Fryer.

That's actually a pretty solid rotation. And not just "for the Twins". Hughes, Santana, a healthy Nolasco, the talented young Gibson who I feel just may be out second best starter before this season is done, and Milone if he pitches like he did in Oakland....really not bad.

Of course....May and Meyer by the second half with Milone and Nolaco traded amidst solid seasons would look even better!

I hope the starting pitchers can each go 8 or 9 every night.

Putting any stock into spring training is a mistake, Hermann, while I am sure is a nice guy, really has no business being on a 25 man major league roster on opening day, he is a decent org depth guy, but come on....he doesn't hit, he doesn't field well, he doesn't have speed. Pinto even with the injury should have been given the spot, no better way to bring him up to speed then having him face some major league pitching.

He pounded AAA pitching last year, is an average defender at four positions, and has average speed.

There's only one actual prospect I would "free" immediately, and that is May. Meyer is on an innings limit anyway, so it is ok if he spends a bit of time in AAA to get going. 

Tonkin isn't a prospect anymore and obviously Hicks and Pinto aren't either. Rosario still needs minors time.

After reading a whole bunch of Len III articles from the last 2 days and some of the comments here, I'm beginning to see a pattern.  Maybe, just maybe, a plan. 

On the team makeup, I see couple things:

1.  This team was put together before Molitor became the new manager.  And as a 1st year manager, he's not going to have that much of a say.  However, after a full Spring Training evaluation of players, he will have a significantly higher say during the season.

2.  Molitor did have a say on this roster in a "Tom Kelly" way. 

Josmil Pinto was sent down to get playing time, i.e.  you don't leave a potential starter for the future sitting on the bench. 

Chris Herrmann was selected because he can play a lot of positions other than catcher. 

Eduardo Escobar played a lot of non-shortstop positions in spring training.

Tom Kelly rotated players a lot to keep them fresh all year long and in time of injuries .  That seems to be the direction Paul Molitor is heading.

Almost forgot:  Aaron Hicks.  Molitor moved firmly past the hype and demoted him, basically saying it's sink or swim time for Hicks. 

Finally, that in-season review by Molitor could play heavy on the pitching staff as well.  A GM tuning down opinions of a highly baseball savvy HOF'er like Paul Molitor?  I don' think so.

Buxton and Sano are coming off missed seasons, so I think they'll be late-season (July or August) call-ups at best. Berrios may fit into that same time. Meyer and May should be up by June or sooner. That could be Rosario's timeline too. I think Burdi could be up by August. Tonkin, Pressly and Achter could be up any time. Darnell could come up and be ready any time. Then guys like Reed, Chargois and Zack Jones could be up early next year. 

This is the nicest thing I have read all spring - please send a copy to Terry Ryan.  Tell him it is okay to trade the wily vets even if we are playing near 500

In a discussion on Buster Olney's podcast yesterday they discussed the fact that teams are now realizing that leaving players in the minors does not extend their career, protect their arms, or even improve them after they have got their basics.  The comment was that teams are bringing players up earlier and getting their max value out of them.  Did the Twins management miss the message board?

The pitching staff reminds me of the scene in Major League where the construction workers are sitting there reading the Indians lineup going "Who are these (expletive) guys?!"

From Vodka Dave: "Hermann... is a decent org depth guy, but come on....he doesn't hit, he doesn't field well, he doesn't have speed."

In other words, he's a triple threat in any league.

This roster was constructed to avoid 2015 being a disaster.  Consider, declining season ticket sales, total paid attendance, and just plain relevance in the entertainment market of Minneapolis.  Toss in a new manager and the inevitable comparisons between the two and a plan was constructed to try and make 2015 season "not stink".  The flies in the ointment with that policy are: this season isn't going to assist in improving subsequent seasons and 2015 for the Twins isn't going to the World Series like 2014  and KC Royals--in short 2015 won't be memorial nor will it help for the future, it will simply stand alone and be forgotten.