Twins

"He can do a lot of things with the bat," Paul Molitor said of Eddie Rosario in March, following one of many impressive offensive performances by the young outfielder in spring training.

That observation has shown to be true in Rosario's initial exposure to the majors, if only sporadically. But it's his glove that might help him stick around.

First it was Sam Fuld, now the Minnesota Twins front office has worked its waiver wire magic on Jordan Schafer.

On Thursday night, Schafer continued his unexpectedly solid batsmanship against the Royals. In five at-bats, he collected three hits including a double, drove in three, scored another two and also swiped a base. Just another day at the office for Schafer who is now hitting .328/.411/.438 in 77 plate appearances since coming over to the Twins.

Who could have seen this coming?

What are we to make of the 2016 season of Kennys Vargas? In 47 games, he hit .230/.333/.500 (.833) with 11 doubles and ten home runs. The slugging first baseman/designated hitter will be out of options in 2017. Can he be an everyday big league player or will he need to fit into a role of some type? Let’s dig into some of his minor league and big league numbers to see what they might tell us.

Let’s start by looking back a bit.

The actions (or lack there of) from the Twins' front office appear to have thrust Kennys Vargas into a position to be the team's designated hitter. While Twins fans are familiar with Vargas after seeing him in cameos the past three seasons, expectations are varied.

And for good reason. We've seen Vargas look like a force worthy of an everyday role, and we've seen him struggle to the point it's fair to wonder if he is slapped with the dreaded Quad-A hitter label at some point.

Don’t look now but the team’s ERA leader is none other than Mike Pelfrey. Is this performance legit or should we all brace for more impact?

This post should come with a disclaimer in a big, bold font that screams out SMALL SAMPLE SIZE AHEAD but most people should realize that three outings is nothing to base any long-term projection on. That being said, in this small sampling Pelfrey has shown some indication that he may actually be a serviceable back-of-the-rotation starter.

The Minnesota Twins are expected to compete for the American League Central division crown once again in 2022. After the 2021 season wound up being a flop, it was clear the front office went out looking to push the envelope this offseason. Now with the roster set, who’s going to beat the odds?