Twins Rumors

AL Central Notes: Royals Pitching, Rodriguez, Manning

By Mark Polishuk | November 9, 2024 at 5:17pm CDT

With Michael Wacha retained on a three-year deal worth at least $51MM, “we don’t expect to be in the market for a starter moving forward. We’re going to focus on some other things,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo told MLB.com’s Maria Guardado and other reporters during the GM Meetings. Picollo cited the projected top five of Wacha, Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, Brady Singer, and Alec Marsh, and said that the Royals continue to view Kris Bubic and Daniel Lynch as starters even though both pitched primarily as relievers in 2024. All in all, the GM is “very comfortable with our starting pitching right now,” and added that “we feel very good about the depth of our bullpen right now” as well.

As noted by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers, it is possible the Royals could still add a veteran arm as depth, so the door probably isn’t closed entirely on Kansas City’s starting pitching plans even if re-signing Wacha checked a major box on the to-do list. There were some reports earlier this week suggesting that the Royals could consider moving Marsh or Bubic in order to land lineup help, and such a trade would in all likelihood lead to K.C. pursuing some extra pitching to shore up the depth chart. Some level of relief additions are also probably likely, even if these might take the form of minor league signings if Picollo is really as set as he claims about the bullpen mix.

Carlos Santana Aiming To Play Three To Four More Years

By Steve Adams | November 5, 2024 at 9:17am CDT

Free agent first baseman Carlos Santana will turn 39 in April, but he’s not thinking of calling it a career anytime soon. Agent Ulises Cabrera of Octagon tells MLB.com’s Jon Morosi that Santana would like to play another three or four seasons before he considers retirement.

That’s an ambitious goal for any player approaching 40, but Santana’s recent play suggests he could have the longevity needed. The veteran switch-hitter signed a one-year, $5.25MM deal with the Twins last winter and delivered his best overall performance since 2019. Santana slumped through a dreadful first month of the season before finding his groove at the plate. He connected on his first homer on April 25, went on to homer in three straight games, and never looked back. Over his final 514 plate appearances, he slashed .253/.342/.460 (129 wRC+), boosting his season-long batting line to .238/.328/.420 in the process. He popped 23 home runs and hit 26 doubles in 594 plate appearances over 150 games.

Santana remained a tough strikeout, fanning in just 16.7% of his trips to the plate. His walk rate also remained plus, checking in at a stout 10.9%. He tormented left-handed pitching and was a roughly league-average bat against righties. Thriving on the short side of a platoon would be more problematic for a typically defensive limited first baseman, but Santana showed he’s far more than that. He took home a Gold Glove — surprisingly, the first of his career despite long rating as a plus defender at first base — and was credited with 8 Defensive Runs Saved and 14 Outs Above Average.

Overall, Santana was 14% better than average at the plate (by measure of wRC+) and excellent in the field. Baseball-Reference pegged his 2024 output at 2.5 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs was slightly more bullish at 3.0 WAR. Santana proved that he can still play at a high level, and while it’s not clear whether that’ll result in multi-year offers, his strong season and apparent desire to play into his 40s at least creates a slight possibility of a two-year pact.

As is the case with any free agent heading into his age-39 campaign, a one-year deal is the much likelier outcome. Santana likely played his way into a raise from last year’s modest salary, however. It helps that there are several clubs on the lookout for help at first base — the Astros, D-backs, Yankees, Nationals, Giants, and incumbent Twins potentially among them.

Twins Outright Five Players

By Nick Deeds | November 4, 2024 at 2:39pm CDT

The Twins have outrighted right-handers Scott Blewett, Randy Dobnak, Josh Winder, and Daniel Duarte as well as first baseman Yunior Severino off their 40-man roster, as noted by Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune. While none of the quintet were previously announced as having been designated for assignment, all five has cleared waivers and been sent outright to the minors. The club also triggered a $1.5MM club option for right-hander Jorge Alcalá, per Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic on X.

Today is a big roster churn day, as the 60-day injured list goes away and doesn’t come back until spring training. Since players on the 60-day IL don’t count against a club’s 40-man roster count, this leads to roster crunches around the league. As such, the Twins have removed five players from the roster and passed them through waivers.

Dobnak has been passed through waivers a couple of times before, a reflection of his contract and service time status. Going into 2021, he and the Twins agreed to a five-year, $9.25MM extension but his results failed to live up to that deal. Players need to have at least five years of service to both reject an outright assignment and keep all the remaining money on their contracts. Dobnak was and is well shy of that, meaning he has continually turned down chances to elect free agency, allowing him to keep collecting his paychecks on the deal. That is likely how this will play out. He got back to the big leagues this year for the first time since 2021 but posted a 5.59 earned run average over his five outings, bringing his career ERA up to 4.99.

Blewett, 29 in April, signed a minor league deal with the Twins in the winter and ultimately tossed 20 1/3 innings for them with a 1.77 ERA. However, he wasn’t going to continue stranding 90.5% of baserunners, which is why his FIP was 4.00 and his SIERA was 4.05 for the year. He has been outrighted before in his career so he has the right to elect free agency.

Winder, 28, was drafted by the Twins and has been on the roster since November of 2021. Since then, he has tossed 110 2/3 innings with a 4.39 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 37.2% ground ball rate.

Duarte, 28 next month, was claimed off waivers in the offseason and made two appearances for the Twins this season before requiring season-ending elbow surgery. His timeline for returning to play is not currently clear. He has a previous career outright and is therefore eligible to elect free agency.

Severino, 25, was added to the club’s 40-man roster a year ago to keep him out of the 2023 Rule 5 draft. He put up a solid line of .254/.342/.434 in Triple-A this year but the offensive environment was strong in the International League this year, leading that to translate to a roughly league average wRC+ of 101.

As for Alcalá, he and the Twins avoided arbitration last year by agreeing to a $790K salary with a $1.5MM club option for 2025 that came with a $55K buyout. He went on to toss 58 1/3 innings for the Twins this year with a 3.24 ERA, 24.7% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate. Based on that performance, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Alcalá to get a raise to $1.7MM through the abr process. The Twins have instead gone for the lower price of the club option to bring him back next year.

Twins Decline Mutual Option On Kyle Farmer

By Anthony Franco | October 31, 2024 at 7:45pm CDT

The Twins declined their end of a $6.25MM mutual option on Kyle Farmer, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X link). The veteran infielder will collect a $250K buyout and becomes a free agent for the first time in his career. Minnesota also declined an option on outfielder Manuel Margot this morning.

Farmer, 34, spent two seasons in the Twin Cities. He had a solid .256/.317/.408 slash during his first year after being acquired from the Reds. Minnesota brought him back for his final season of arbitration. Farmer struggled this past season, though, hitting .214/.293/.353 over 242 trips to the plate. He missed around a month with a strain in his right shoulder.

That made it an easy call for Minnesota to move on. The $6MM net decision was too pricey for a utility player coming off a down year. Farmer could be able to find a major league contract this offseason. He can play anywhere on the infield and carries a career .283/.344/.468 slash versus left-handed pitching.

The Twins still have Willi Castro and Austin Martin on hand as utility options behind Brooks Lee, Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis. Minnesota will need to address first base with Carlos Santana hitting free agency and Alex Kirilloff’s surprise retirement.

Twins To Decline Option On Manuel Margot

By Steve Adams | October 31, 2024 at 1:48pm CDT

The Twins have informed outfielder Manuel Margot that they will decline their end of his contract’s $12MM mutual option, reports Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News and SKOR North Radio. He’ll receive a $2MM buyout — paid by the Rays, not the Twins — and become a free agent.

Margot, 30, was traded twice last winter, first going from Tampa Bay to Los Angeles and then from the Dodgers to the Twins. The Rays agreed to pay the buyout on his option as part of that first trade, and the Dodgers picked up all but $4MM of his salary in that second deal sending him to Minnesota. The Twins used Margot as an affordable fourth outfielder, replacing departed free agent Michael A. Taylor, but didn’t get the results for which they’d hoped.

The 2024 season was Margot’s worst as a big leaguer. He hit just .238/.299/.337 (79 wRC+), and his once-elite defensive grades in the outfield continued their decline in the wake of his notable 2022 knee injury. The Twins were down enough on Margot’s glove to only give him 136 innings in center field. Utilitymen Willi Castro and Austin Martin wound up logging more time in center than Margot, despite neither having anywhere near the same level of experience there. But Margot’s range and sprint speed have declined precipitously since he suffered that knee injury; Statcast credited him in the 88th percentile of big leaguers in sprint speed back in 2021 but just the 53rd percentile in 2024.

To Margot’s credit, he held his own against left-handed pitching, batting .269/.322/.391. That’s still a drop from his career marks, however, and his right-handed bat was completely overmatched by fellow righties on the mound — evidenced by a woeful .208/.257/.283 slash in right-on-right matchups.

As it stands, the Twins enter the offseason with Trevor Larnach, Byron Buxton and Matt Wallner as their projected starting outfield. A right-handed hitter who can play center field if (or when) Buxton misses time and spell lefties Larnach and Wallner at other times could be on the front office’s to-do list. Had Margot performed better, re-signing him at a more affordable rate might’ve been more palatable. As it stands, it seems likely the Twins will instead look for an alternative option.

Both Castro and Martin will return in 2025 — barring a trade of Castro as he enters his final season of club control — but neither is considered an especially adept defender in center. Options on the free agent market could include Randal Grichuk, Austin Slater and the aforementioned Taylor, and the trade and waiver markets will feature myriad alternatives as well. As for Margot, he’ll head to the open market for the first time in his career but could very well be limited to minor league offers on heels of a down season.

Alex Kirilloff Announces Retirement

By Nick Deeds | October 31, 2024 at 9:41am CDT

Twins outfielder and first baseman Alex Kirilloff is retiring from his playing career, as he announced on his personal Instagram account this morning. The Twins subsequently confirmed his retirement in an announcement on X. The soon to be 27-year-old would have been slated for his second of four trips through arbitration with Minnesota this winter.

The surprising decision comes due to the numerous injuries Kirilloff has sustained throughout his career. The outfielder was plagued by a number of wrist, shoulder, and back injuries throughout his career that have caused him to make seven trips to the injured list during his four years in the majors, limiting him to just 249 games played at the big league level. That long list of injuries includes three surgeries: two on his wrist and one on his shoulder.

“In my nine professional seasons, I’ve encountered numerous injuries, which led me to search for new ways to overcome the pain. These challenges have taken a toll on me mentally and physically; over time, I’ve realized that my passion for playing the game has shifted,” Kirilloff said in his announcement. “Baseball demands an ‘all-in’ approach, something I’ve brought to every season. However, I can no longer give it the total commitment it requires. I’ve always believed that playing this game requires 110% effort, and anything less would not do justice to my teammates, coaches, fans, or the game itself.”

Kirilloff’s professional career began when he was selected 15th overall by the Twins in the 2016 draft. While he didn’t make his full-season pro debut until 2018, Kirilloff tore through the lower levels of the minors with a .348/.392/.578 slash line in 130 games at the Single-A and High-A levels in that first full season, which immediately catapulted him towards top prospect status. He entered 2019 as a consensus top-20 prospect in the sport, and even following a slight downturn in production in his first taste of Double-A action that year he remained a consensus top-30 prospect in the game when he made his big league debut in 2021.

Though hampered by a torn ligament in his wrist, Kirilloff’s first season in the majors was generally a solid one as he slashed a roughly league average .251/.299/.423 with eight home runs and 11 doubles in just 231 trips to the plate. Unfortunately, those wrist issues continued to plague Kirilloff in his second year as a big leaguer as well, limiting him to just 156 trips to the plate across 45 games and leading him to undergo wrist surgery for the second consecutive season.

After that second wrist surgery, things finally appeared to be looking up for the talented youngster last year. His season debut was delayed until early May by recovery from the aforementioned surgery, but he hit quite well out of the gate with a .314/.448/.486 slash line in that first month back in the majors. While his production tailed off a bit from there, he remained a regular fixture in the Twins lineup throughout the first half and was hitting a solid .270/.357/.442 through the end of July. Unfortunately, he promptly found himself sidelined by a strained right shoulder that would cause him to miss the entire month of August. Though he managed to return late in the year to play another 19 games in September, the ailment ultimately required yet another surgery that left him to spend his third consecutive offseason rehabbing.

When Kirilloff returned to the Twins lineup in 2024, he once again hit quite well early in the season with a .259/.323/.471 slash line through May 1. Unfortunately, the outfielder began to struggle even as his underlying metrics were solid, and he hit just .135/.207/.284 in what would ultimately be the final 30 games of his big league career. Once again hobbled by an injury, Kirilloff was placed on the injured list in mid-June due to a back injury he had been attempting to play through. The injury proved to be due to a nerve issue, and though he began a rehab assignment with the Twins in late August, that lasted just one game before he found himself sidelined once again. With a fourth consecutive offseason set to be dominated by the rehab process, that Kirilloff found himself in his own words unable to give the “110% effort” required to be a professional ballplayer is understandable.

In all, Kirilloff wraps up his big league career with 249 games played in the majors and a respectable .248/.309/.412 slash line across 884 trips to the plate. We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Kirilloff on the hard work and perseverance he showed throughout his career and wish him all the best in retirement.

Phillies Sign Cody Stashak To Minor League Deal

By Nick Deeds | October 30, 2024 at 9:28am CDT

The Phillies have signed right-hander Cody Stashak, according to a report from Ted Schwerzler. Per The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, the arrangement is a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.

Stashak, 30, was a 13th-round pick by the Twins in the 2015 draft who first made his big league debut with the club back in 2019. It was generally an effective rookie season for the right-hander, who pitched out of the bullpen (barring one start as a two-inning opener) to solid results with a 3.24 ERA and 3.01 FIP in 25 innings. Stashak struck out 24% of opponents that year while walking just one batter all season. That impressive command over the strike zone showed up again during the shortened 2020 season, as Stashak turned in another strong season with Minnesota: across 15 innings of work, Stashak posted a 3.00 ERA with a 3.26 FIP, a 29.8% strikeout rate, and a 5.8% walk rate.

Unfortunately for the right-hander, his performance would take a nosedive during the 2021 season. Stashak saw his walk rate skyrocket to 13.3%, and while his strikeout rate was an excellent 34.7%, the additional traffic on the bases left the right-hander with awful results despite a solid enough 3.62 FIP. In 15 2/3 innings of work, Stashak surrendered 12 runs (all of them earned) for an ERA of 6.89. Despite those ugly run prevention numbers, Stashak’s strong track record and solid peripherals were enough to convince the Twins to keep him around for the 2022 season.

That proved to be a solid enough decision, as Stashak quickly bounced back to his old form. While his 3.86 ERA was somewhat pedestrian and his 23.1% strikeout rate was the lowest of his career, he had clearly recaptured his excellent command as he did not walk a single batter that season. Unfortunately, the righty’s season was cut short in early June when he went under the knife to repair a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder. The Twins designated him for assignment the following offseason rather than keep him on the roster while he rehabbed, and he elected free agency rather than remain with the club in the minor leagues.

Since recovering from that surgery, Stashak had a brief stint in the Atlantic League with the Lancaster Barnstormers before signing with the Giants on a minor league deal. He struggled badly in his first outings following his return to affiliated ball late in the 2023 season, but the Giants nonetheless retained him on a minor league deal this past year. Stashak posted mediocre numbers at Triple-A for the club this past year with a 5.45 ERA in 36 1/3 innings of work, though that figure is a bit inflated thanks to the extreme offensive environment in the Pacific Coast League. Stashak’s trademark control was on display this year as he walked just 7.4% of opponents against a 27.2% strikeout rate, however.

Those solid peripherals were evidently enough for the Phillies to be intrigued by Stashak. He’ll join the club for Spring Training and look to show he’s returned to the excellent form he posted early in his career with the Twins in hopes of landing a spot in the Philly bullpen next year. There should be a handful of spots available, as leverage arms Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez are both ticketed for free agency along with swingman Spencer Turnbull.

Offseason Outlook: Minnesota Twins

By Steve Adams | October 22, 2024 at 3:35pm CDT

The Twins enraged fans by slashing roughly $30MM of payroll after finally breaking their postseason losing streak last year, only to eventually endure one of the worst collapses of any team in recent history. As fans reeled from seeing a club that was a 95% playoff favorite late in the year somehow miss the postseason entirely, ownership announced its intent to explore a sale of the team. It's going to be quite the offseason in Minnesota.

Guaranteed Contracts

Carlos Correa, SS: $128MM through 2028 (contract contains series of four vesting options)
Pablo Lopez, RHP: $64.5MM through 2027
Byron Buxton, CF: $60MM through 2028
Christian Vazquez, C: $10MM through 2025
Chris Paddack, RHP: $7.5MM through 2025
Randy Dobnak, RHP: $4MM through 2025 (includes $1MM buyout of $6MM club option for 2026)

Guaranteed salary for the 2025 season: $93MM
Total long-term guaranteed money: $274MM

Option Decisions

Manuel Margot, OF: $12MM mutual option with $2MM buyout (Rays responsible for buyout)
Kyle Farmer, INF: $6.25MM mutual option with $250K buyout
Jorge Alcala, RHP: $1.5MM club option with $55K buyout (would remain arb-eligible if declined)

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Willi Castro (5.017): $6.2MM
Jorge Alcala (4.165): $1.7MM (Twins hold $1.5MM club option/$55K buyout)
Ryan Jeffers (4.089): $4.7MM
Michael Tonkin (4.074): $1.5MM
Justin Topa (4.044): $1.3MM
Alex Kirilloff (3.141): $1.8MM
Bailey Ober (3.093): $4.3MM
Brock Stewart (3.093): $800K
Griffin Jax (3.091): $2.6MM
Joe Ryan (3.033): $3.8MM
Trevor Larnach (3.009): $2.1MM
Jhoan Duran (3.000): $3.7MM
Royce Lewis (2.142): $2.3MM
Non-tender candidates: Tonkin, Topa, Kirilloff

Free Agents

Carlos Santana, Max Kepler, Anthony DeSclafani, Caleb Thielbar

It's been less than two years since the Twins installed Joe Pohlad as their executive chair and control person of the club. The grandson of Carl Pohlad, who purchased the club in 1984, and nephew of his successor Jim Pohlad, Joe took over control of the club not long after turning 40 years old. His first offseason instilled hope of a changing tide in Minnesota. The Twins handed out a franchise-record $200MM contract to keep Carlos Correa in Minnesota. By 2023, they trotted out a club-record payroll approaching $160MM and, for the first time since 2002, won a playoff series.

The good vibes didn't last. As soon as last offseason began, talk of reducing payroll amid uncertainty surrounding the team's television deal emerged. The Twins were one of several teams impacted, but few clubs pulled back spending to the extent of Minnesota. Payroll was slashed by about $30MM -- roughly 20% of the team's total spending the year prior -- leaving the front office to operate on the margins and bring in a series of budget-driven, short-term pickups to address a sweeping slate of needs, most notably the departure of 2023 AL Cy Young runner-up Sonny Gray.

Nearly all of the bargain pickups the Twins put together fell short. Carlos Santana proved a successful move, hitting .238/.328/.420 with 23 homers and Gold Glove-caliber defense at first base. The others flopped.

Free agent relievers Jay Jackson and Josh Staumont struggled and were released midseason. Anthony DeSclafani, who'd missed most of '23 with injury, had season-ending surgery before the season began. Justin Topa, acquired alongside DeSclafani in the trade sending Jorge Polanco to the Mariners, missed almost all season with a knee injury suffered in spring training. Steven Okert, acquired for Nick Gordon, was dropped from the 40-man roster in August. The Twins got a couple prospects of note in that Polanco trade (Gabriel Gonzalez, Darren Bowen), so maybe it'll pan out in the long run, but insofar as the 2024 campaign is concerned, every addition fell short.

Despite those offseason whiffs, the Twins were in contention for much of the season. A good portion of that was spent chasing an upstart Guardians club, but for most of the summer the Twins were given overwhelming odds to reach the postseason. Even on Sept. 5, FanGraphs gave them a 95.4% chance of reaching the playoffs. The Twins faceplanted as the Tigers surged past them. Joe Pohlad opened the offseason by sidestepping payroll questions but pledging to put a better product on the field (X link via Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic).

Within the next two weeks, major changes had seized headlines in Minnesota. The Twins saw general manager Thad Levine -- No. 2 on their baseball operations hierarchy behind president Derek Falvey -- step down and leave the club. Days later, the Twins sent a press release announcing the Pohlad family's intent to explore a sale of the team.

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Could The Twins Deal From Their Positional Depth This Winter?

By Nick Deeds | October 20, 2024 at 9:08am CDT

Despite a lackluster 82-80 record in 2024 fueled by a September collapse that saw the club go just 9-18 during the season’s final month, the Twins are nonetheless poised to enter the coming offseason with one of the deepest groups of position players in the majors. Veteran first baseman Carlos Santana, utility man Kyle Farmer, and outfielders Max Kepler and Manuel Margot all appear ticketed for free agency, but even after those departures Minnesota figures to have more potentially starting-caliber position players than it can fit in the lineup.

Of course, an excess of talent is never a bad thing. That’s particularly true for a Twins club that relies on Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa, and Royce Lewis as key players despite their substantial injury histories. With that being said, strong showings from players like Jose Miranda, Trevor Larnach, and Matt Wallner in 2024 figure to open the door to more regular playing time while the likes of Edouard Julien, Alex Kirilloff, and Austin Martin remain bench options.

In addition, 2022 first-round pick Brooks Lee has nothing left to prove at Triple-A even after struggling through his first taste of big league action, while top outfield prospects Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins both reached the upper levels of the minors with late-season call-ups to Triple-A and Double-A respectively. While it’s unlikely that Jenkins cracks the big league roster in 2025, Lee should be expected to be part of the major league positional group after appearing in 50 games this year and it’s not hard to imagine Rodriguez finding himself in the majors sometime next year either.

While the club’s positional group certainly has its flaws, they nonetheless came together to post a 107 wRC+ that ranked ninth in the majors and placed them right in line with other playoff-caliber offenses like those in Philadelphia (108 wRC+) and Queens (109 wRC+). That could suggest the Twins would be best served leaving their hitting corps largely in tact this winter, but doing so would pose a major problem; the club is expected to have virtually no money to spend this winter, and the pitching staff is in desperate need of improvements.

RosterResource projects the club for a $139MM payroll as things stand headed into next year, and while The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman notes that club officials have suggested payroll won’t be cut in 2025 relative to the already-diminished levels it landed at in 2024, this past season’s payroll stood at just $130MM. That means the Twins likely need to trim payroll by nearly $10MM even before factoring in the needs of the club’s pitching staff. While Gleeman floats trades of relatively pricey veterans such as right-hander Chris Paddack and catcher Christian Vazquez, who are due a combined $17.5MM in 2025, but Gleeman suggests that convincing a team to take on either of those salaries in full could require the club to attach some amount of prospect capital in order to get a deal done.

Given those considerable restrictions, the Twins may need to get creative to make significant additions to their pitching staff. Perhaps that could mean parting ways with versatile utility man Willi Castro, who has impressed with 5.6 fWAR and a 108 wRC+ during his two years with Minnesota while playing every position on the diamond except catcher and first base. Valuable as Castro has been for the club, he’s set to become a free agent following the 2025 season and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Schwartz to make $6.2MM in his final trip through arbitration this winter. That price tag combined with a lack of long-term club control could make Castro expendable for the Twins, and his better-than-average bat in conjunction with the ability to play capable defense all over the diamond (including shortstop and center field) should make him an attractive piece to virtually any club looking to add to its positional corps.

Of course, another option would be to deal a controllable player who offers less in salary relief but could either bring back a larger return or be parted with fairly painlessly. Dealing away Kirilloff would undoubtedly be selling low on a former first-round pick, but would save the club his projected $1.8MM salary and could theoretically bring back an arm to deepen a lackluster bullpen that ranked just 19th in the majors by ERA despite solid work from the club’s back-end duo of Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax.

Alternatively, it’s possible to imagine the club parting ways with an aforementioned breakout piece such as Larnach or Miranda if they believe this winter to be an opportunity to sell high on a player who has been inconsistent to this point in their major league career, with such a move being particularly palatable if the club believes a rebound season is coming for a hitter who struggled in 2024 like Kirilloff or Julien. It’s possible that parting ways with one of the club’s more promising young players could allow them to bring in a capable rotation piece, bolstering a starting staff that ranked just 22nd in the majors last year despite respectable rookie performances from youngsters like Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa.

Stadium Notes: Rays, Twins

By Nick Deeds | October 17, 2024 at 8:23pm CDT

As the Rays assess the damage to Tropicana Field following Hurricane Milton last week, the club’s ability to get the Trop back in working order in time for Opening Day 2025 has been thrown into serious doubt. Given that the club was already planning to relocate to a new ballpark nearby in in time for Opening Day 2028, questions linger about whether or not the Rays will look to return to their current stadium at all or instead look for an interim home while their newest ballpark is being constructed.

While it will likely be a few weeks before the Rays are able to fully assess the damage to the Trop and hash out a plan of action, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes that they’re expected to at least begin the 2025 season playing their home games elsewhere. That reality has led to a rash of speculation about where those home games may end up being played, with Topkin noting a push by local media in North Carolina to put the city of Durham, where the club’s Triple-A affiliate plays. Said coverage of a hypothetical temporary move to the area by the Rays includes a piece by Dallas Woodhouse of the Carolina Journal about the possibility that includes comments from a handful of local politicians supporting the possibility.

Whatever hopes North Carolina residents had of MLB games being played in Durham appear to have been dashed for the time being, however, as the Durham Bulls released a statement this afternoon emphasizing that not only have there been no discussions about the Bulls hosting the Rays in Durham, but that the Bulls “do not anticipate” hosting them for the full 2025 season due to “overlapping scheduled and other logistical challenges.” That statement seemingly rules out the possibility of the Rays playing a full slate of 81 home games in Durham next year, though the Bulls statement also notes that they are “always ready to help [their] parent club” and does seemingly leave the door open for the Rays playing part of the season in Durham if necessary.

That could be a useful option for Rays brass if they intend to fix the Trop up in time for the club to play games there later in the 2025 season, or if the club takes another route to filling out its regular season calendar such as sharing time with other minor league clubs or even one of the more extreme possible solutions floated by Topkin such as sharing loanDepot Park with the Marlins. Any of those options would likely come with some scheduling conflicts not unlike the ones that would face the Rays and Bulls in Durham, and a speculative solution to that dilemma could be spreading the Rays’ 2025 home games across multiple sites.

In other stadium news, a recent report from Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press noted that the Twins are only halfway through their 30-year lease at Target Field in Minneapolis. While that wouldn’t be especially noteworthy in most circumstances, the Pohlad family’s recent announcement that they intend to explore selling the franchise has prompted concern among Twins fans that prospective buyers may look to move the club out of Minnesota. If a buyer planned to do that, however, they’d have to wait quite some time in order to do so as the Twins’ lease stipulates that “shall not vacate or abandon the ballpark at any time” during the lease’s term.

In other words, any prospective buyer of the Twins would likely have to wait more than a decade before they could seriously consider relocation, a reality that could lead any potentially interested parties who hope to purchase and subsequently relocate a team to seek out other options that could lead them to their intended destination faster. That’s surely a relief for Twins fans who have in previous decades endured relocation and contraction attempts while the Pohlad family has owned the club.

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