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The Twins have a full 40-man roster at present and there appear to be some players in St. Paul and perhaps Wichita who could help this club. Also, they only have two catchers on their 40-man roster, so an injury to one of the catchers (even if the player doesn't go on the Injured List) would necessitate a 40-man move. First, let me run down the players who could be reasonably considered for promotion: Mark Contreras, Jake Cave, Jermaine Palacios, Curtis Terry, Chance Cisco or Jose Godoy, Devin Smeltzer, Juan Minaya and probably a half dozen other pitchers and Austin Martin in Wichita (although he is off to a slow start). Others may play themselves into consideration as the year rolls along. With 24 pitchers on the 40-man roster, it would figure that a pitcher or two could be taken off the 40-man roster. Candidate #1 IMHO is Chris Vallimont. He's 25 years old, only reached AA and hasn't been effective at that level. #2 is Cody Stashak, who was just activated and knocked around by the Red Sox yesterday. To me, he doesn't look like the same pitcher who debuted in 2019. He doesn't have above-average velocity and has had injury issues. #3 is Jhon Romero, who the Twins claimed from the Nationals. He's 27 and has worked a grand total of 7 major league innings. For the Twins, he has allowed six hits in three innings. #4 is Drew Strotman, being converted to relief at St. Paul. He's 25, hasn't made his MLB debut and has had control issues. With teams cutting back to 13 pitchers, I would think there would be a decent chance that none of these guys would be claimed. I don't advocate a DFA for all of them, but if the Twins want to upgrade their active roster, they will need to clear space on the 40-man.

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.

It`s nice to have money like NYY to be able buy expensive, proven, developed, polished players. These exceptional players I will convey them as "diamonds". Most teams have to settle for what`s left over in FA or try to scout, draft, develop & trade for prospects that have great potential to become "diamonds" or what I`ll call "diamonds in the rough". They are & should be valued & hard to come by because teams don`t want to give them up. Some get lucky get a prospect which quickly shine & develop into stars other prospects need a lot of patience. Stars like Cruz & Donaldson developed later in life. When a "diamond in the rough" has a set back & develop slower some teams & fans are ready to devalue & dispense of them which normally proves regrettable. Of course a true evaluation is needed to determine if indeed you have a diamond or a lump of coal. But once it`s determined you have to be patient. I believe Romero could be a "diamond in the rough". Pertaining to pitching teams like Cleveland & LA have a system to eye & develop "diamonds in the rough". Cleveland like us are low market they never are buyers of "diamonds" but always sellers, which produces resources to obtain more "diamonds in the rough". LA & Cleveland hold onto their "diamond in the roughs". This is what I aspire for the Twins, w/ Wes Johnson to obtain & develop these "diamonds in the rough" where we have a steady influx of aces & cull out when needed.We need to hold onto our "diamonds in the rough" like LA so I was disappointed when we traded Graterol. LA really develop their pitchers so when you get a pitcher from them, they aren`t much up side for improvement. On the other hand a team like PIT does not, so a pitcher from them, there is a lot of up side for improvement. Therefore a pitcher like Archer I am very high on. He could have been very cheap but now his stock is constantly rising. People look at him & say look at his stats even at Tampa they weren`t that impressive. At Tampa, everyone saw his potential so PIT got him & couldn`t develop him. With new coaching at PIT, Archer will take off but not as much as if we had him here at MN, he should have been pursued. Jon Gray is another "diamond in the rough" which his stats don`t show his true value. At Colorado the ball really carrys so they stress GP% & pitchers are limited to that style. MN has a lot of very good pitching prospects but I featured Romero, Graterol, Archer & J Gray because they are under valued. Although I enjoy watching "diamonds" pitch, I get excited about "diamond in the rough" because that`s where the greatest value & opportunities lay.

We talk about all the stats and analytics like we are working with computers and not human beings. But that is not the case and thus we can look at players who have been mishandled by the team and wonder what would have happened if the club had been a little more intelligent in the personal needs department. Oswaldo Arcia is one person who really jumps out at me his minor league slash was 296/368/530 then he came to the Twins and his world and his potential fell flat. What happened. I know he failed with others, but once the slide starts it seldom rights itself. Miguel Sano was 269/385/530 as a rookie 3B and the major league brains said - put him in RF. He hit 236/319/462. Thankfully he has recovered from this wise decision. Now I look at Fernando Romero who was 3 - 3 with a 4.69 ERA as a major league starter. 45/19 k/BB as a starter. So lets make him a reliever. 0 - 1 7.07 ERA, 18/11 K/BB. WHIP went from 1.41 to 2.14. Sometimes changing a players role is good - other times it stinks. I remember the great notes about Romero coming up - nothing like that is written now. Did we out smart ourselves?

Eno Sarris’ top 175 pitchers for the 2019 fantasy baseball season The Twins top five according to Sarris all make it in the top 175! Berrios 18 Above Strasburg, Corbin, Price, Wheeler, Morton and Greinke Kyle Gibson 60 Above Matz, Woodruff, Lucchesi, Quintana Odorizzi 69 Above Jimmy Nelson Pineda 71 Above Stroman, Gonzales, Smith and Gray Fernando Romero 135 Above Valdez, Cease, Gohara, Williams, Lynn Take all those positions and average them out and our rotation comes out in with an average of 70. It is interesting to see how Gibson/Odorizzi/Pineda are all bunched and that they project Romero. Based on 32 teams that is pretty average - a 500 team. 32 teams would have five rotation places or 160 spots. At least Romero keeps us above the 160 mark.

Manager Paul Molitor has not yet named his opening day starter. I have an out-of-the-box suggestion: Fernando Romero. Romero has not yet allowed a run - or a hit - in spring training. He's been nearly perfect. Yes, I know, he's not expected to make the opening day roster. Here's my thinking: • Clearly Ervin Santana cannot be the opening day starter – he's recovering from finger surgery. • Jose Berrios would be the next logical choice, but Molitor wants him to pitch in Puerto Rico, his native land, later in April. That does not line up easily with an opening day start. • Lance Lynn may not be ready by opening day. With the late signing, Lynn may need a few more days to get up to 60-90 pitches. • Jake Odorizzi and Kyle Gibson have not proven enough in spring training or last year to warrant being the opening day starter. • Romero has electric stuff, had a great year last year in the minor leagues, and he's been nearly perfect this spring. Let's see if he's ready for the big show. I realize there are rules about sending a player down who is on the opening day roster. He might have to start two games. But that would give ample time for Lynn to get up to speed. The Twins could carry both Lynn and Romero on the roster at the beginning, and have one less batter. If the Twins were to go with Zack Granite over Robbie Grossman, Granite could start out in Rochester, and be called up when either Romero goes down, or if there's an injury. What do you think?