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Twins Re-Sign Daniel Duarte To Minor League Deal; Three Others Elect Free Agency

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The Twins quickly re-signed right-hander Daniel Duarte to a minor league contract after passing him through outright waivers, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Three other players who were outrighted elected free agency, including right-hander Scott Blewett and former top prospects Josh Winder and Yunior Severino.

Duarte, 28 next month, bounced from the Rangers to the Reds to the Twins via the DFA circuit last winter but wound up sticking in Minnesota and getting an early-season look after a nice showing in 12 1/3 spring training innings (2.92 ERA, 12 strikeouts, no walks). He made two appearances in the season’s first week, tossing a total of four innings and allowing one run with three strikeouts and a walk, but Duarte hit the injured list with an elbow issue shortly thereafter. A month later, it was announced that he’d require season-ending elbow surgery.

Duarte has pitched 38 1/3 innings in the majors and turned in a 3.99 ERA, albeit with a sub-par 17% strikeout rate and a bleak 14.5% walk rate. Duarte showed considerably better command in his brief look with the Twins, however, walking just one of the 61 batters he faced between spring training and the regular season. He also flashed a heater that averaged 96.1 mph. It’s a small sample, obviously, but if any of the gains in command prove sustainable, Duarte is fairly intriguing as a mid-20s reliever with a strong fastball and a career 47.3% grounder rate. On a minor league flier, he’s a sensible depth add.

Blewett came to the Twins on a minor league deal last offseason and wound up pitching well both in Triple-A and the majors. The former Royal logged a 3.79 ERA, 22.7% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate in 54 2/3 innings with the Twins’ Triple-A club in St. Paul and added another 20 1/3 MLB frames with a 1.77 ERA. His strikeout and walk rates were both worse than average, however, and he benefited from a 90.5% strand rate that isn’t sustainable over a longer sample. Even with some expected regression, fielding-independent metrics felt he was a solid arm (4.00 FIP, 4.05 SIERA).

Winder, 28, once ranked comfortably within the Twins’ top 10 prospects and even drew some top-100 fanfare back in 2022, placing 78th on FanGraphs’ rankings. The 2018 seventh-rounder raced through the minors with standout showings in 2019 and 2021. However, a series of shoulder injuries has regularly set the 6’5″ hurler back. He’s posted a respectable 4.39 ERA in 110 2/3 MLB frames, fanning a below-average 18% of opponents against a sharp 7% walk rate. He’s also been on the injured list four times since 2022, owing to a shoulder impingement, shoulder strain (twice) and a stress fracture in his shoulder.

Severino, 25, once ranked as highly as tenth among Twins farmhands at Baseball America. He belted 35 homers between Double-A and Triple-A as recently as 2023 but did so with an alarming 32.8% strikeout rate. He cut back a bit in 2024, fanning in 27.6% of his plate appearances, but also saw a downturn in power, with 21 round-trippers on the season. Severino is a .249/.337/.450 hitter in two Triple-A seasons. He clearly has plus raw power but is a below-average defender and runner whose longstanding strikeout issues still remain problematic.

Twins CEO Dave St. Peter Steps Down; Derek Falvey, Jeremy Zoll Promoted

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More major organizational changes are underway for the Twins. After general manager Thad Levine stepped down earlier in the offseason and chairman Joe Pohlad announced his intent to explore a sale of the franchise, president and CEO Dave St. Peter announced that he is stepping down after 22 years and moving into an advisory role. Derek Falvey will assume many of St. Peter’s duties and now hold the title of both president of baseball and business operations. Falvey, who’s been running Minnesota’s baseball operations since 2016, will have a new general manager working alongside him as well. The Twins promoted assistant GM Jeremy Zoll to the GM role that was vacated when Levine left the organization.

“This is a difficult decision because this [team] has been my life,” St. Peter tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Phil Miller. “This has been my journey. I’ve given everything I have to this organization and have been proud to do it. … I feel truly convicted that Derek is the right successor, and I want to support him in every way and set him up for success, hopefully, over the long haul. The move is important because it signals, I’m hoping, to the broader organization and to our partners that there is stability and continuity.”

Falvey was originally hired away from Cleveland, where he’d been an assistant general manager. The Twins initially tabbed him with the seldom-used “chief baseball officer” title before promoting him to president of baseball operations and extending him in 2022. St. Peter tells Miller that Falvey has been preparing for a shift of this type for years, participating in discussions and meetings regarding the team’s business, media and partnerships for some time.

Similarly, Falvey explained to Miller how Zoll, 34, has been taking on a larger role in baseball operations over the years. Per Falvey, Zoll ran point on numerous free-agent and trade negotiations, including Minnesota’s acquisition of right-hander Sonny Gray back in 2022. A product of Pennsylvania’s Haverford College, Zoll has been working in baseball ops for more than a decade. He worked with the Reds and Blue Jays before joining the Angels as their director of advance scouting in 2014 and then moving onto the Dodgers, where he held the title assistant director of player development. Falvey hired Zoll as the Twins’ director of minor league operations in 2017, and he was elevated to assistant general manager two years later.

“I’ve always tried to throw myself at whatever opportunity was in front of me to the best of my ability,” Zoll tells Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. “When this all finally came to pass, it’s in a real way a validation of a lot of hard work and being able to know that so many people around me have been able to help accomplish a lot of successes to put me in this position.”

Changes atop the organizational hierarchy are only part of the story in a transitional time for the Twins organization. In addition to front office shuffles and the looming potential of a sale, Minnesota dismissed four members of manager Rocco Baldelli’s coaching staff and severed ties with Diamond Sports Group/Bally Sports, turning broadcast rights directly over to Major League Baseball. The Twins (re)hired Matt Borgschulte away from the Orioles to serve as their hitting coach but still have multiple vacancies to fill. Given the fact that Falvey’s role is growing and Levine’s title has been filled internally, it’s also possible there’ll be some additional hirings in the baseball operations department to help shoulder some of the workload there.

Twins Rumors: Lewis, Santana, Paddack

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The Twins are contemplating a full-time move to second base for young infielder Royce Lewis, writes Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Minnesota briefly experimented with Lewis shifting from third base to second base late in the season, but a more permanent move is under consideration. Making the shift at the beginning of a season, when Lewis has an entire spring training exhibition schedule to acclimate to his new defensive environs, would presumably benefit the 25-year-old slugger as opposed to last year’s on-the-fly look, when Lewis logged only eight innings at the position.

Lewis is just one piece of a crowded infield puzzle in Minnesota. The former No. 1 overall pick and top prospect has been playing third base in deference to Carlos Correa but was drafted as a shortstop. From the time he was drafted in 2017, some scouts have questioned whether he’d stick at shortstop or move to third base, second base or perhaps center field. A pair of ACL tears in the same knee in consecutive seasons has probably impacted that decision for the organization as well.

In addition to Lewis and Correa, the Twins will be looking to juggle playing time between top prospect Brooks Lee (the No. 8 overall pick in 2022), Edouard Julien (who posted terrific rookie numbers in ’23 before struggling in ’24), Jose Miranda (who rebounded nicely from a 2023 season ruined by shoulder surgery) and utilityman Willi Castro (.251/.334/.395 with 21 homers, 47 steals in 282 games with the Twins).

Carlos Santana’s potential departure in free agency and the surprising retirement of injury-plagued former top prospect Alex Kirilloff opens some at-bats at first base, which could be handled by Julien and/or Miranda. Lee, considered a better defender at third base than Lewis, would presumably be in line for the bulk of the playing time at the hot corner if he makes the roster. Lee missed considerable time with injury and struggled in his first taste of the big leagues last year, however, so if he opens the season in Triple-A, that’d leave Miranda and Julien to share the corners early in the season, with Castro (who has extensive outfield experience as well) mixing in all over the field. The Twins also have fast-rising prospect Luke Keaschall to consider; the 2023 second-rounder has played second, third, first and center field in the minors and currently ranks 39th on Baseball America’s ranking of the game’s top 100 prospects.

One option the Twins could explore, of course, is a reunion with Santana. The 39-year-old switch-hitter is aiming to play at least three or four more seasons and by all accounts quite enjoyed his time in Minnesota. President of baseball operations Derek Falvey recently told the Twins beat that he’s not ruling out the possibility, even if it would “create some other changes that we have to consider on the roster” (link via Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com). Santana hit .238/.328/.420 with 23 home runs and won a Gold Glove at first base in 2024 after signing a one-year, $5.25MM deal in Minnesota.

It’s possible that the glut of infield talent could lead a trade of some variety this offseason, though given the team’s payroll situation, trades of veterans on somewhat notable salaries are considered likelier. That could include Castro, who’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $6.2MM in his final season of club control, but there are other areas where the Twins have notable salaries they could shed. Catcher Christian Vazquez and his $10MM salary are one option, and Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote recently that there’s an expectation that righty Chris Paddack will also garner some calls this winter. (We ranked Paddack 16th on our list of MLB’s top trade candidates heading into the offseason.)

Paddack, 29 in January, is signed through the 2025 season and will earn a $7.5MM salary next year. He returned for his first full season following a second career Tommy John surgery in 2024 and pitched 88 1/3 innings with a 4.99 ERA. That’s not a flattering number, but a substantial portion of the damage against Paddack came in one nightmare outing where he yielded nine runs in 5 1/3 innings to the Orioles in April. From that point forth, he posted a 4.38 ERA with a solid 22.3% strikeout rate and excellent 5.1% walk rate. He spent the final two months of the season on the injured list due to a forearm strain.

A former top prospect who looked on the cusp of stardom after a dominant rookie season when he gave the Padres 140 2/3 of 3.33 ERA ball with plus strikeout and walk rates, Paddack is still something of a project even as he approaches his 29th birthday. That said, he’s younger than most free agent pitchers and paid roughly in line with what might be expected of an older reclamation project. For instance, Alex Wood ($8.5MM), Wade Miley ($8.5MM) and James Paxton ($7MM) all signed one-year deals in this range coming off injury-shortened seasons of their own last winter.

Paddack’s deal may not be teeming with surplus value, but the Twins also might not need to eat any money in a trade. Dealing him would thin out the team’s rotation supply, but the Twins could still pursue some more cost-effective depth arms to complement Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and top prospects David Festa and Zebby Matthews, both of whom made their MLB debuts in 2024 (each struggling to varying extents). Prospects Marco Raya and Andrew Morris are also on the near-term horizon.

Emmanuel Rodriguez Undergoes Thumb Surgery, Expected To Be Ready For Spring Training

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  • Twins outfield prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez underwent a “cleanup procedure” of a right thumb operation after the season, president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale and other reporters.  Rodriguez is expected to be recovered and ready for the start of Spring Training in February.  Even with thumb problems limiting him to 47 games and 209 plate appearances across four minor league levels in 2024, Rodriguez was still a force at the plate, hitting .280/.459/567 with nine homers.  This has essentially been the story of Rodriguez’s young pro career, as his potential has stood out despite playing in only 230 games over parts of four seasons due to multiple injuries.  Baseball America ranks Rodriguez as the 14th-best prospect in the sport, and assuming he can stay healthy, the outfielder should be making his Major League debut at some point in 2025.

Carlos Santana Aiming To Play Three To Four More Years

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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