MLBTR Podcast: What We Learned From The Offseason
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- At the start of the offseason, we expected players to do better than in 2023-24 and it seems like they did. What can we learn from that? (1:50)
- Apart from Juan Soto and Willy Adames, a lot of top position players have been struggling in free agency. Is this signal or noise? (7:10)
- There seems to be growing frustration from fans of small-market clubs, with new CBA talks just over the horizon. How will baseball respond? (20:00)
- The Mets outbid the Yankees on Soto. Is this a paradigm shift in New York? (36:40)
- Does the Soto deal help the top of next year’s market, guys like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kyle Tucker? (45:50)
- Many Central division teams had almost no money to spend due to TV revenue concerns. Are there solutions coming in the future? (54:40)
- With the Rays stadium situation, the Twins being for sale, the White Sox and Royals trying to get new stadium money, is expansion possible in the near term? (59:30)
- Things we’re excited about going into the 2025 season (1:05:55)
Check out our past episodes!
- The Rays’ Stadium Deal Is Dead, Rangers’ Rotation Issues, And More! – listen here
- Lawrence Butler’s Extension, Gerrit Cole’s TJ, And Rays’ Ownership Pressured To Sell – listen here
- Jose Quintana, Luis Gil’s Injury, The Nats’ TV Situation, Salary Floor Talk, And More! – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Mickey Gasper, DaShawn Keirsey Make Twins’ Roster; Twins Exploring Bullpen Market
March 25: Castellano has cleared waivers and been returned to the Phillies, per Nightengale.
March 24: The Twins optioned infielder/outfielder Austin Martin to Triple-A St. Paul this morning, per a team announcement. They’ve also informed catcher/infielder Mickey Gasper and outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. that they’ll break camp on the Opening Day roster, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. That sequence likely locks infielder Edouard Julien into the final spot on the position-player side of the roster.
Gasper, 29, came to the Twins in a December trade sending lefty reliever Jovani Moran back to the Red Sox. He has just 18 MLB plate appearances to his credit, but Gasper is a .317/.422/.498 hitter in 70 Triple-A games and a .276/.401/.455 batter in 176 Double-A games. He’s had a big camp, batting .308/.417/.487 with more walks than strikeouts. Gasper’s status was briefly up in the air after an infield collision yesterday resulted in a laceration on his ankle that required six stitches. He’s patched up and been cleared to start the season on a big league roster for the first time in an eight-year professional career.
Like Gasper, the 27-year-old Keirsey is a 2018 draftee who’s making his first Opening Day roster. He hit .275/.375/.375 this spring and is coming off a .300/.368/.476 performance in Triple-A last year. Keirsey is a plus runner and outfield defender who can handle all three slots. He made a brief big league debut last year, getting into six games and going 2-for-13 with a homer in that debut effort.
The pitching side is largely set, but Minnesota does appear to have one bullpen vacancy, at least in the short term. Righty Brock Stewart was already on the mend from arthroscopic shoulder surgery and also suffered a hamstring strain in camp. He’ll start the 2025 season on the injured list alongside Michael Tonkin, who’s dealing with a shoulder strain.
On top of Stewart’s injury, the Twins have already informed Rule 5 pick Eiberson Castellano that he won’t make the club. He’ll presumably be placed on waivers soon if he hasn’t been already. Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune adds that they’ve also told non-roster relievers Scott Blewett and Anthony Misiewicz that they won’t make the club. Both will head to Triple-A.
Both Nightengale and Dan Hayes of The Athletic suggest Minnesota could look to bring in a reliever who’s not currently a part of the organization. There’s space to place a waiver claim or scoop up a veteran who’d been a non-roster invitee with another club but has since opted out. Jalen Beeks, Adam Ottavino, Drew Pomeranz, Ross Stripling and Jake Woodford are among the names who were recently granted their release after triggering opt-out clauses. Righty Tyler Phillips was DFA by the Phillies over the weekend, too.
Randy Dobnak Will Make Twins Roster
Over the weekend, the Twins told reporters (including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) that Rule 5 draft pick Eiberson Castellano would not make the Opening Day roster. That decision meant Minnesota would soon have an open spot on the 40-man – the Twins can’t keep Castellano if he isn’t on the active roster or the IL. It also meant the team had one more spot to fill in the Opening Day bullpen. Today, Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that both of those spots will go to Randy Dobnak. The right-hander will take on a long relief role to begin the year (per Nightengale).
Dobnak, 30, has spent his entire career in the Twins organization. He signed with the club as an undrafted free agent in 2017 and made his big league debut just two years later. The righty earned a regular role in the rotation the following season, making 10 starts with a 4.05 ERA and 4.56 SIERA during the shortened 2020 campaign. Although he failed to miss many bats (13.5% strikeout rate), Dobnak led all pitchers (min. 40 IP) with a 62.1% groundball rate. He faced 200 batters and allowed just three home runs.
That performance earned Dobnak a nice little extension ahead of 2021, a five-year, $9.25MM guarantee with escalators and club options that could increase the total value of the contract to $29.75MM over eight years. Yet, the Twins put him back in the bullpen to start the season, and while he ultimately made it back to the rotation for a handful of starts, he struggled in both roles. Across 14 games (six starts) and 50 2/3 innings, he pitched to a 7.64 ERA, though his 4.53 SIERA was almost identical to his SIERA from the year before.
Things continued trending downhill for Dobnak in 2022, and he ended up sitting out most of the season with a right middle finger strain, an injury that had also given him trouble in 2021. While he was healthy again in 2023, he did not make his way back to the big league roster, spending the season with the Triple-A St. Paul Saints. Dobnak finally returned to the majors in 2024, albeit briefly, tossing 9 2/3 innings in relief. He gave up six runs on 11 hits and five walks, while striking out seven. All told, he has a career 4.99 ERA and 4.43 SIERA over 135 1/3 innings, including 21 starts and 17 games out of the ‘pen.
The Twins initially reassigned Dobnak to minor league camp two weeks ago, but evidently, he pitched well enough over there to change the team’s mind. Now in the final guaranteed year of his contract, Dobnak is a useful depth piece for Minnesota. He has experience as both a starter and a reliever, and he has thrown at least 125 innings in each of the past two seasons. What’s more, the Twins can add him to the 40-man and subsequently outright him as much as they would like with little risk of losing him. He does not have the necessary MLB service time to reject an outright assignment without forfeiting his remaining salary.
Pohlad Family Reportedly Seeking At Least $1.7 Billion In Twins Sale
The Pohlad family’s efforts to sell the Twins hit a major stumbling block when presumed front-runner Justin Ishbia dropped out of the process to increase his minority share of the White Sox. The Pohlads continue to evaluate the market, but there’s no longer a clear timetable for when a sale could be reached — nor is it a guarantee that they’ll sell at all.
According to a report from Dan Hayes, Ken Rosenthal and Brittany Ghiroli at The Athletic, the Pohlads are “believed” to have an asking price of at least $1.7 billion. The Athletic writes that the Pohlads viewed a $1.5 billion purchase price that was floated by one potential buyer to be “a non-starter” in discussions.
Last year, Forbes estimated the club’s value around $1.46 billion. Sportico’s 2024 valuation was more in line with the apparent asking price, as that publication valued it at approximately $1.7 billion. The Orioles, the most recent franchise sold, went for a $1.725 billion purchase price in January 2024.
Interestingly, The Athletic writes that Twins executive vice president Joe Pohlad prefers to keep control of the organization. The 42-year-old Pohlad only took over daily operations in November 2022. His grandfather Carl Pohlad purchased the team for $44MM back in 1984. After Carl Pohlad died in 2009, his son Jim (Joe’s uncle) took control. Jim Pohlad turned over operations to his nephew 13 years later. It seems there’s varying levels of interest within the family about selling the team.
It’d hardly be unprecedented if the Pohlads eventually reversed course and took the team off the market. Angels owner Arte Moreno announced in August 2022 that he was exploring a sale; he pulled the team back five months later. The Lerner family had considered selling the Nationals between 2022-23 before abandoning that process in February of last year. Twins fans are encouraged to read The Athletic column in full, as they explore the challenges (e.g. the collapse of the Twins’ previous TV deal, declining attendance figures, and the team’s higher than average debt that reportedly exceeds $425MM) in greater detail.
Brooks Lee To Open Season On Injured List
The Twins informed reporters (including Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) that infielder Brooks Lee and reliever Brock Stewart will both begin the season on the injured list. What’s more, Helfand notes that Rule 5 selection Eiberson Castellano has been informed that he will not make the team.
Lee, 24, has been sidelined in recent days by lower back tightness. The eighth overall pick in the 2022 draft, Lee is a former consensus top-50 prospect in the sport but hit just .221/.265/.320 in 50 games during his rookie season with the Twins last year. Even so, he entered camp as the clear favorite to handle second base duties for Minnesota on a regular basis this year and looked solid enough in Spring Training this year. Unfortunately for the youngster, he’ll now spend at least the first week of the season on the injured list, though a specific timeline for his return to action has not yet been made clear.
Losing Lee from the roster would be far more manageable for the Twins if they weren’t already set to go without Royce Lewis to open the season after he was sidelined by a moderate hamstring strain last week. Lewis was poised to serve as the club’s everyday third baseman, and with both him and Lee out of commission the Twins will now have to fill two spots on the infield with only shortstop Carlos Correa and first baseman Ty France locked into their current positions. Fortunately for Minnesota, they do have fairly solid depth options to help handle the injuries. Jose Miranda turned in a solid season for the Twins in 2024 while splitting time between first and third base, and should be able to step in for Lewis at the hot corner rather seamlessly. Meanwhile, Edouard Julien had an excellent rookie season as the club’s starting second baseman in 2023, and despite a sophomore slump last year should be a viable fill-in option for the club.
If the Twins aren’t comfortable with either Miranda or Julien starting on a regular basis, they also have super utility man Willi Castro available. Castro isn’t penciled in for a regular position on the diamond, but already figured to be play nearly everyday while bouncing around the infield and outfield offering breathers to the club’s regulars. A roughly average .251/.334/.395 hitter in 282 games since arriving in Minnesota prior to 2023, Castro has ample experience all around the diamond and could be called upon to handle either second or third base regularly as needed. Meanwhile, Austin Martin and Mickey Gasper appear to be the most likely candidates to fill Lee and Lewis’s roster spots, taking on the bench roles previously set to be occupied by Julien and Miranda.
As for Stewart, the right-hander suffered a “mild” hamstring strain last weekend. The issue doesn’t appear likely to keep him off the club’s roster long-term, but for the time being he’ll opening the season on the 15-day injured list. While Stewart struggled to a 5.17 ERA in 16 games with the Twins last year, he struck out 30% of opponents and posted a solid 3.80 FIP that left clear room for a big step forward in 2025. That opportunity will be put on hold for the time being, however, as the Twins will instead turn to pieces like Justin Topa, Jorge Alcala, and Cole Sands to handle the middle innings from the right-hand side.
Meanwhile, Castellano’s future is in question after he was informed he would not be making the club’s roster. The 23-year-old signed with the Phillies out of Venezuela and made his pro debut back in 2021. He made it up to the Double-A level with the Phillies last year, pitching to a 3.79 ERA in 40 1/3 innings at the level. That intrigued the Twins enough for them to take a shot on him in the Rule 5 draft, though his 7.59 ERA in 10 2/3 innings during camp suggested he may be overmatched at the big league level. With Castellano set to not make the club’s roster, the Twins can either put the righty on waivers and offer him back to the Phillies if he clears, or else they could attempt to work out a trade with Philadelphia in order to acquire the full rights to Castellano and simply option him to the minor leagues.
Offseason In Review: Minnesota Twins
The Twins' front office was constricted by payroll limitations for a second straight offseason -- this time in the wake of announcement that the Pohlad family was looking to sell the team. After a quiet winter, they'll hope for better health and improvement from within.
Major League Signings
- Harrison Bader, OF: One year, $6.25MM
- Danny Coulombe, LHP: One year, $3MM
- Ty France, 1B: One year, $1MM
2025 spending: $10.25MM
Total spending: $10.25MM
Option Decisions
- Declined $12MM mutual option on OF Manuel Margot
- Declined $6.25MM mutual option on INF Kyle Farmer
- Exercised $1.5MM club option on RHP Jorge Alcala
Trades and Waiver Claims
- Acquired C/INF Mickey Gasper from Red Sox in exchange for LHP Jovani Moran
- Acquired C Diego Cartaya from Dodgers in exchange for RHP Jose Vasquez
- Traded INF Michael Helman to Cardinals in exchange for cash
- Selected RHP Eiberson Castellano from the Phillies in the Rule 5 Draft
Extensions
- None
Minor League Signings
- Mike Ford, Anthony Misiewicz, Erasmo Ramirez, Huascar Ynoa, Darren McCaughan, Alex Speas, Armando Alvarez, Yunior Severino (re-signed), Scott Blewett (re-signed), Daniel Duarte (re-signed)
Losses
- Carlos Santana, Max Kepler, Alex Kirilloff (retired), Caleb Thielbar, Kyle Farmer, Manuel Margot, Michael Helman, Anthony DeSclafani, Caleb Boushley, Diego Castillo, Brent Headrick (lost to Yankees via waivers), Ronny Henriquez (lost to Marlins via waivers)
On Oct. 10, executive chair Joe Pohlad announced that his family would explore a sale of the team after 40 years of ownership. The 42-year-old had been elevated to oversee day-to-day ownership duties for the family just two years prior and quickly signed off on a club-record deal to re-sign Carlos Correa and an extension for Pablo Lopez just weeks after acquiring him via trade. The Twins entered 2023 with a club-record $154MM payroll, but as their television revenues were upended by the bankruptcy proceedings for Diamond Sports Group/Bally Sports, ownership mandated a payroll reduction of some $30MM in 2024 and placed strict financial limitations on the front office again this offseason.
The composition of that front office, it should be noted, changed dramatically this winter.
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Royce Lewis To Begin Season On Injured List
March 17: Lewis has been diagnosed with a “moderate” hamstring strain and will begin the season on the injured list, writes Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The injury is “not even close” to as serious as the quad strain that sidelined Lewis for more than two months early last season, according to Lewis himself. The team still does not have a formal timetable for his return to the active roster, however.
March 16: The Twins suffered a potentially devastating blow today when third baseman Royce Lewis exited the game after pulling up while running out a grounder. As relayed by Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Twins subsequently announced that the infielder had been diagnosed with a hamstring strain. The severity of the injury is currently unclear, but it seems likely that Lewis will miss at least some time with Opening Day less than two weeks away.
Lewis, 25, is among a number of immensely talented but often injured players on the Twins’ roster. The first overall pick in the 2017 draft, Lewis was a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport all the way back in 2019 and appeared to be on the verge of a big league debut in 2021. Unfortunately, a right ACL tear wiped out the entire 2021 season for the youngster, and while he made his big league debut in 2022 he suffered a second right ACL tear shortly thereafter that sidelined him until late May of 2023.
He’s been a more regular fixture of the club’s big league roster since that second call-up, though he’s missed time over the past two years due to oblique, hamstring, quad, and adductor strains. All of those injury woes have left Lewis with just 140 games played and 564 plate appearances under his belt over the past two seasons, though he’s remained an exciting talent through all of those issues and slashed .265/.328/.493 with a 127 wRC+ and 3.5 fWAR while playing third base for the Twins when healthy enough to take the field.
After his first fully healthy offseason of his major league career, it seemed as though Lewis was set to finally have a shot at participating in a wire-to-wire MLB season. Those hopes have likely been scuttled for the time being now, though, as his latest hamstring injury appears likely to keep him off the club’s Opening Day roster given Lewis’s lengthy injury and, more specifically, his history of lower half issues. It should be expected that the Twins will proceed with caution when it comes to handling the youngster given that context, although it seems likely that a more specific timetable for Lewis’s return won’t be clear until more information about the severity of Lewis’s strain is available.
If there’s a silver lining in this for the Twins, it’s that the club is reasonably well-equipped to handle the loss of Lewis. Jose Miranda is likely the favorite to step in at third base in Lewis’s place and hit a respectable .284/.322/.441 in 121 games last year as he rebounded from a dreadful 2023 campaign. If Miranda were to stumble, however, they’d have further flexibility as well. Brooks Lee is currently penciled in as the club’s second baseman but could slide over to the hot corner to make room for Edouard Julien or top infield prospect Luke Keaschall at the keystone.
Aside from those possibilities, the club also has a versatile option with no set position at its disposal in Willi Castro. Castro is already slated to serve in a super utility role and could cover any spot on the diamond as needed. If Castro were to play on the infield dirt regularly, that could open up time in the outfield or at DH for potential outfield options like DaShawn Keirsey, Austin Martin, or even top prospect Emmanuel Rodriguez.
Michael Tonkin To Open Season On Injured List
The Twins will be without right-hander Michael Tonkin to start the season, according to a report from Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. Miller adds that the club’s plan is for Tonkin to remain in extended Spring Training for “a few weeks” to build back up to pitching. Tonkin has been sidelined in recent days by a mild rotator cuff strain.
While the news isn’t especially surprising given the nature of rotator cuff issues, it’s nonetheless a disappointing update for both Tonkin and Twins fans. The 35-year-old righty was a 30th-round pick by Minnesota all the way back in 2008 and debuted with the club during the 2013 season. Across parts of five seasons in Minnesota, Tonkin posted a relatively pedestrian 4.43 ERA (95 ERA+) with a 4.57 FIP in 146 1/3 innings of work. That somewhat middling performance in his first stint with Minnesota led Tonkin to head overseas for the 2018 season. In 51 innings for Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters that year, the right-hander posted a solid 3.71 ERA before returning stateside.
After his brief stay in NPB, Tonkin bounced between several minor league systems and independent teams before finally resurfacing in the majors with Atlanta back in 2023. He posted a solid enough 4.28 ERA (102 ERA+) with the Braves that year and was picked up by the Mets on a major league deal prior to the 2024 season. The righty’s stint in Queens did not go especially well, with ten runs (four earned) allowed in five appearances that led him to be designated for assignment in early April.
The righty bounced between the Mets, Twins, and Yankees via the waiver wire early in the 2024 season and eventually settled in the Bronx for the first half. He posted strong numbers with the club but was squeezed off the roster in late August, leading him back to Minnesota. In his final 51 games (70 1/3 innings of work) last year, Tonkin pitched to a strong 3.33 ERA and 3.27 FIP with a 25.2% strikeout rate. Those solid numbers were enough for the Twins to keep Tonkin in the fold for his age-35 season, but now he’ll be shelved to begin the season. An exact timetable for his return to action isn’t entirely clear, though given that Tonkin is expected to spend at least a few weeks in extended Spring Training it seems as though late April or early May could be a reasonable expectation for his return to the majors.
In other Twins bullpen news, right-hander Brock Stewart exited yesterday’s game due to a hamstring issue. Miller reports that Stewart suffered a “mild” hamstring strain but tested well in the aftermath of the injury and shouldn’t be shut down for very long, with the righty likely to resume throwing at some point this week. While Stewart’s 5.17 ERA in 16 games for the Twins last year was hardly exceptional, his 30% strikeout rate and 3.80 FIP were both intriguing enough to make him a valuable piece of the Twins’ bullpen mix headed into this year and today’s announcement regarding Tonkin figures to make him all the more important to the club’s relief depth come Opening Day. Stewart will likely be joined in the middle of the club’s bullpen by Jorge Alcala and Cole Sands as things currently stand, assuming he doesn’t suffer a setback prior to the start of the season.
Twins Prospect Matt Canterino Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery
Twins right-hander Matt Canterino has undergone season-ending surgery to “tighten” ligaments in his throwing shoulder, as relayed by Phil Miller of the Star Tribune.
It’s a brutal blow for the 27-year-old hurler, who will now miss a third consecutive season after last pitching during the regular season back in 2022. A second-round pick by the Twins back in 2019, Canterino has been nothing short of dominant during his professional career but has been had his career thrown off the rails by injury woes. After posting a sterling 1.44 ERA in seven starts down the stretch during his draft year, Canterino missed the entire 2020 season (like all minor leaguers) due to the cancelled minor league season that year.
Upon returning to action in 2021, the right-hander was once again dominant with a sensational 0.78 ERA but made just six starts due to a forearm injury. He returned to action in 2022 and picked up right where he had left off, with a 1.83 ERA and a 34.8% strikeout rate in his first taste of Double-A action, but that 2021 forearm issue resurfaced and he ultimately required Tommy John surgery. That led him to miss the entire 2023 campaign, and in 2024 he was sidelined the entire year due to a rotator cuff strain. He pitched a scoreless inning during Spring Training this year but was shut down earlier this month due to a shoulder strain, which has now required him to go under the knife once again.
It’s a devastating turn of events for Canterino and deeply frustrating for the Twins, particularly given the right-hander’s obvious and immense talent when healthy enough to take the mound. While he’s been limited to just 85 innings in his minor league career, those innings could hardly have been more impressive. He’s posted a lifetime 1.48 ERA during his professional career while striking out a sensational 39.2% of opponents. His 10.5% walk rate is certainly elevated, but that issue is masked by Canterino’s overpowering stuff and an impressive ability to keep the ball in the park. He’s surrendered just three home runs throughout his MiLB career despite his fly ball-heavy approach, and it’s easy to imagine him finding success at Triple-A and even in the majors with his impressive repertoire so long as he can eventually stay healthy enough to use it.
Canterino is currently on the 40-man roster, which means the Twins could theoretically place him on the 60-day injured list to open up a 40-man roster spot should they need to at some point this year. With that being said, doing so would mean that Canterino will accrue big league service time this year despite not having made his MLB debut. Alternatively, Canterino can be placed on the minor league injured list, where he would not accrue MLB service time but would count against the club’s 40-man roster.
Latest On Potential Twins Sale
The Pohlad family’s attempts to sell the Twins hit a major roadblock last month. Justin and Mat Ishbia, who had seemed to be the frontrunners, withdrew from the process to increase Justin Ishbia’s minority stake in the White Sox.
When the Ishbia brothers were still in the mix, the Pohlad family was reportedly hoping to have a sale completed by Opening Day. LaVelle E. Neal III of the Minnesota Star-Tribune writes that hope of settling on a buyer by Opening Day is no longer on the table. Neal speculates that a mid-late summer timeline for a deal could be more realistic.
Neal writes that he still anticipates the Pohlads will find a buyer. Dan Hayes of The Athletic wrote in the immediate aftermath of the Ishbia withdrawal that the Pohlads could consider taking the franchise off the market if they didn’t find a suitable asking price. To be clear, the Star-Tribune report isn’t refuting that. Rather, Neal writes that the Pohlads are receiving sufficient interest to believe that they’ll eventually find what they deem to be an acceptable bid.
The identities of those bidders aren’t known. The Ishbias were the only publicly reported suitor, though reports have long suggested they weren’t the only interested party. Forbes estimates the franchise’s value around $1.46 billion; Sportico’s projection is approximately $1.7 billion. The Orioles, the most recent franchise sold, went for a $1.725 billion purchase price in January 2024.