Twins Rumors

Quick Hits: Twins, Rays, Minor League CBA

By Darragh McDonald | October 28, 2022 at 3:45pm CDT

The Twins announced that they have hired Nick Paparesta to be the club’s head athletic trainer. Paparesta has spent the previous 12 years in the same role for the Athletics. Prior to that, he spent five years with the Rays and 11 years with Cleveland.

A new head athletic trainer usually wouldn’t be especially noteworthy, but there are a couple of reasons to think this could be an impactful move for Minnesota. Reporting on the vacancy last week, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune pointed out that there’s been a large amount of turnover in the club’s strength and conditioning departments, including having three different head trainers since 2016.

Also, the Twins were leading the AL Central for much of 2022 before a rash of injuries dragged them down to a 78-84 finish. While the training staff can’t be reasonably blamed for every health issue that pops up, any improvement in that department could have big ramifications for the club. If Paparesta can provide some stability to the department, it could help the Twins on the field, especially with a roster that features some players with injury concerns, such as Byron Buxton, Tyler Mahle, Jorge Polanco, Royce Lewis and others.

Some other notes from around the league…

The Tigers recently hired Rob Metzler to be their assistant general manager, plucking him from the Rays organization. Since Metzler had been working as senior director of amateur scouting for Tampa, that left them with a vacancy in their scouting department. The Rays turned inward to replace Metzler, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Times reports that they promoted Chuck Ricci to director of amateur scouting. Ricci has spent the past nine seasons as national crosschecker for the Rays and has evidently impressed the organization enough to get a bump up the ladder. Additionally, David Hamlett was promoted to assistant director of amateur scouting. The Rays have earned a reputation for finding talented young players from various areas, something that is essential for their success as a franchise that typically doesn’t spend at high levels. Though the departure of Metzler will surely create challenges for them, the club will be hoping that Ricci and Hamlett can step up and fill the void.
In recent months, the Major League Baseball Players Association sought to represent minor league players in negotiations with the league, an effort that ultimately proved successful. The arrangement became official in mid-September, with an arbiter validating the organization efforts of the union and the league agreeing to recognize the MLBPA as the bargaining representatives for minor leaguers. It was reported around that time that minor leaguers would be negotiating a separate agreement to the one that affects major leaguers, and Evan Drellich of The Athletic reports that those talks have now begun. As the recent MLB CBA negotiations showed, these situations can drag on for months, so it’s unclear how long this agreement will take. It might also prove to be even more challenging since these are uncharted waters, with minor leaguers having never been unionized before. More details will surely emerge as the negotiations play out, but many minor league players have been vocal about dissatisfaction with various elements of their work environments, including housing and payment, among others.

AL Central Notes: Maddon, White Sox, Hedges, Guardians, Twins

By Mark Polishuk | October 22, 2022 at 9:09pm CDT

As the White Sox continue to hunt for a new manager, one prominent name yet to be involved in the mix is Joe Maddon. The former Rays/Cubs/Angels skipper told the Cubs Talk podcast (on NBC Sports Chicago, hat tip to Tim Stebbins) that “I’ve not heard from [the White Sox] at all,” though Maddon would “of course…be interested” in chatting with the team. Maddon has yet to be publicly linked to any of the open managerial vacancies this winter, though he has remained in the news due to a publicity tour for his upcoming book.

For a White Sox team that is reportedly hoping to replace Tony La Russa with another experienced manager, Maddon would seem like an intriguing candidate on paper, given both his long and successful track record and his past Chicago ties. However, of the four candidates linked thus far to the Sox job, two (Ron Washington and Ozzie Guillen) have past experience managing in the majors, while the other two (Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol and Astros bench coach Joe Espada) would be first-time skippers at the MLB level.

Eduardo Nunez Announces Retirement

By Nick Deeds | October 20, 2022 at 4:08pm CDT

Former major league infielder Eduardo Nunez announced his retirement from professional baseball today in a post to his Instagram. “Today, it is with mixed emotions that I officially announce my retirement from professional baseball,” Nunez wrote. “I had the opportunity of a lifetime to play the game I love for more than a decade while competing for five amazing MLB teams.”

Nunez, 35, played for the Yankees, Twins, Giants, Red Sox, and Mets during a career that spanned 11 seasons in the majors. His last season in the majors was 2020, when he appeared in two games for the Mets. He played in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in 2021 and did not play professionally during the 2022 season.

He made his major league debut with the Yankees in 2010, the first of four seasons spent in a utility role in their uniform. During his time in the Bronx, Nunez slashed .267/.313/.379 (86 wRC+) in 270 games while logging time at second base, third base, shortstop, and both outfield corners. Nunez’s career as a member of the Yankees ended when he was traded to Minnesota in 2014, where his career would begin to improve, with the highlight of his Twins tenure being the 2016 season that earned Nunez not only his only career All-Star appearance, but a deadline trade to the Giants. That season, he slashed .288/.325/.432 (101 wRC+) while splitting time between second base, third base, and shortstop.

Nunez would remain with the Giants until the following year’s trade deadline, when he would be swapped to the Red Sox. He re-signed with Boston during the 2017-18 offseason, and split time between second and third base while batting .265/.289/.388 (78 wRC+) in 127 games as the Red Sox won 108 games en route to a World Series championship. Nunez remained with Boston in 2019, appearing in 60 games before being designated for assignment in July.

Altogether, Nunez spent parts of 17 seasons playing professional baseball and batted .276/.310/.404 (90 wRC+) in his 3008 major league plate appearances, collecting 776 hits, 142 stolen bases, and 1136 total bases along the way. MLBTR wishes Nunez the best in his future pursuits now that his playing career has officially come to a close.

Danny Coulombe Outrighted By Twins, Elects Free Agency

By Darragh McDonald | October 20, 2022 at 2:20pm CDT

The Twins have outrighted left-hander Danny Coulombe, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic. Coulombe cleared waivers and elected free agency.

Coulombe, 33 next week, has been on and off the Twins’ roster over the past few years. He was signed to a minor league deal prior to the 2020 season, got his contract selected but was designated for assignment shortly thereafter. He signed another minors deal for 2021 and spent a few months with the team before losing his roster spot at year’s end again.

A third straight minor league deal followed prior to 2022, with Coulombe getting selected to the big league team once again. He tossed 12 1/3 innings with a 1.46 ERA despite a 17% walk rate but made two trips to the IL due to a hip impingement that eventually required surgery. For his career, he’s thrown 192 2/3 innings with a 3.92 ERA, 22.1% strikeout rate, 9.9% walk rate and 52.5% ground ball rate.

The Twins suffered a large number of injuries this season, leading to them placing many players on the 60-day injured list. However, since there’s no IL between the World Series and Spring Training, those players will soon have to take up roster spots once again. In anticipation of that, the club has been placing some players on waivers in recent weeks, having lost Caleb Hamilton to the Red Sox, Jake Cave to the Orioles and Jermaine Palacios to the Tigers, in addition to outrighting Jhon Romero, Devin Smeltzer and now Coulombe. Players who have more than three years of MLB service time or who have been previously outrighted in their career are eligible to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. Coulombe qualified on both counts.

Given that Coulombe and the Twins have continued to re-engage each other in recent years, it’s entirely possible that they do so again. However, Coulombe will be free to pursue other opportunities for the time being, while the club will likely wait and see how the lefty recovers from his surgery.

Twins Likely To Explore Catching Market This Offseason

By Steve Adams | October 17, 2022 at 11:32pm CDT

Though the Twins’ top priority at the moment is likely ascertaining whether they have a real chance to extend Carlos Correa before he formally triggers his opt-out clause, they’ll head into the winter with a lengthy list of needs. Among the priorities will be looking for some help behind the plate. President of baseball ops Derek Falvey recently spoke of the “co-catcher” model — that is, two catchers splitting time more evenly rather than a conventional starter/backup committee (link via Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic). He implied that there’s “an opportunity to match up” right-handed-hitting Ryan Jeffers with a partner who can provide some more offense against right-handed pitching.

Falvey notably emphasized that Jeffers isn’t viewed as a strict platoon candidate, but there’s little denying that the 25-year-old has been vastly more productive in platoon matchups to this point in his career. Jeffers hit .306/.377/.532 in a small sample of 70 plate appearances against southpaws this season and carries a career .263/.344/.450 output against left-handers. Comparatively, he’s batted just .185/.256/.361 against right-handers. From a pure power standpoint, Jeffers’ .187 ISO against lefties and .176 mark versus righties are comparable, but Jeffers strikes out more often and walks less against same-handed opponents. He also makes far less hard contact against righties and pops up nearly four times as often in those matchups as he does against lefties.

While the pure offensive splits do speak to a potential platoon scenario being advantageous, it’s also worth pointing out that Jeffers is still young and any such numbers are coming in a small sample. Though he’s been a prominent factor in the Twins’ catching mix since late in the 2020 season, injuries have limited his availability. Most recently, spent more than two months on the injured list this season due to a fractured thumb. Considering that Jeffers hit .276/.362/.427 against righties in his final full minor league season (2019), the Twins may not want to completely cut off his avenue to at-bats against right-handed pitching; there’s still time for him to improve in that regard.

Beyond that, limiting Jeffers to a platoon setup inherently subtracts as quality defensive player from the lineup. True, Jeffers’ 19% caught-stealing rate is five percentage points below the league average during his three years in the Majors, but he regularly grades out as a strong framer and has long drawn praise for his receiving skills on the whole. In about a season’s worth of innings over the past two years, he’s been credited for eight Defensive Runs Saved.

Still, there’s some obvious cause to add not just catching option who can provide some clout against right-handed opponents, but one who can shoulder the workload in the event of any additional absences from Jeffers. This year’s injury was fluky in nature, but the Twins’ system is generally thin on catching prospects at the moment, so adding a veteran who can step up and take a bigger role, if needed, makes good sense.

Unfortunately, among this year’s group of free-agent catchers, the options in that regard are fairly limited. Certainly, the market’s top catcher, Willson Contreras, would provide some extra thump against right- and left-handed pitching alike (and bring more than enough bat to occasionally mix in at DH), but the competition for him figures to be strong. Some lefty-swinging backstops are available in the form of Omar Narvaez and switch-hitting Tucker Barnhart, but neither did much against righties or lefties in 2022. Both are coming off down seasons, though Narvaez in particular does carry a career .268/.345/.406 line against right-handers. The trade market will present everything from top-tier regularsi (Oakland’s Sean Murphy) to out-of-options rolls of the dice (the Angels’ Matt Thaiss).

The quintet of Jeffers, Gary Sanchez, Sandy Leon, Caleb Hamilton and Jose Godoy combined for a .197/.275/.355 batting line while catching in 2022, equating to an 81 wRC+ that ranked 17th in the Majors. Twins catchers were far from the sport’s least-productive unit, but that’s as much an indictment on the current production (or lack thereof) from catchers throughout the league as a testament to the Twins’ catching corps. Whichever route Falvey and his staff take, some form of complement to Jeffers feels inevitable. And, with only about $52.5MM on next year’s payroll (when factoring in Correa’s opt-out and the likely exercising of Sonny Gray’s club option), there’s plenty of room for upgrades up and down the roster.

The Twins’ Third Base Decision

By Anthony Franco | October 17, 2022 at 9:13am CDT

The Twins were one of baseball’s most aggressive teams last spring, and they’re in for another active offseason over the coming months. Carlos Correa has already implied he plans to opt out of the final two years of his contract, as expected. How to proceed at shortstop may be the biggest question facing president of baseball operations Derek Falvey and his staff, but they’ll also have a call to make at the other position on the left side of the infield.

This past season, third base was primarily the purview of Gio Urshela. Acquired from the Yankees alongside Gary Sánchez in the deal that offloaded Josh Donaldson’s contract and sent Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the Bronx, Urshela went on to start 131 games at the hot corner in Minneapolis. He stepped to the plate 551 times and hit at a solid .285/.338/.429 clip with 13 home runs and 27 doubles. By measure of wRC+, the Colombia native was 19 percentage points better than the league average hitter.

That represented a bounceback from a pedestrian final season in the Bronx, when Urshela hit .267/.301/.419 through 442 trips to the dish. He didn’t recapture his breakout 2019-20 form — a combined .310/.358/.523 mark — but he no doubt had a productive offensive season. He finished the year well, hitting .294/.343/.419 after the calendar flipped to September. Urshela doesn’t take many walks, but he makes contact at an above-average rate and has enough power to approach or exceed 30 doubles and 15 homers during his best seasons.

While Urshela has been an above-average hitter in three of the past four seasons, his defense draws more variable feedback from public metrics. Ultimate Zone Rating has consistently pegged him as an above-average third baseman, which aligns with the general reputation he’d had as a prospect. Defensive Runs Saved has varied in its enthusiasm for his work but comes in slightly positive overall, while Statcast’s Outs Above Average has rated him as a below-average defender in every season of his career. There’s a fair bit of variability in all public defensive metrics, but Urshela has proven particularly divisive across those measures. Consider his cumulative runs compared to average as a third baseman by each measure since he emerged as a regular with the Yankees in 2019:

UZR: +6.4
DRS: +5
Statcast: -9

The Twins’ internal evaluation of Urshela’s defense could go a long way towards determining how they proceed at third base. The 31-year-old is under club control for another season, and Minnesota could simply pencil him back into the everyday lineup. He’s a valuable player, and there’s something to be said for retaining stability. Yet the Twins will have to weigh his production against a fairly lofty salary; MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Urshela to receive roughly $9.2MM for his final year of arbitration eligibility.

That’s certainly not an outlandish figure, particularly if the Twins view Urshela as an above-average defender. At the same time, it’s not a completely insignificant sum for a team that entered this season with a franchise-record payroll in the $134MM range, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. Assuming Correa opts out and the Twins exercise their option on Sonny Gray while buying out Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer, they’ll head into the offseason with roughly $51MM in guaranteed money on the books, according to Roster Resource. Minnesota’s arbitration class, led by Urshela, is projected for north of $37MM on top of that. Not everyone in the arb group will be tendered contracts — Emilio Pagán is projected for a $3.7MM salary and seems likely to be cut loose — but the Twins could have roughly $84MM in internal expenditures before looking to address shortstop, the bullpen and catcher.

An outright non-tender of Urshela would be a bit surprising. It’s easy to imagine the Twins entertaining trade possibilities, however, particularly with rookie corner infielder José Miranda an option to step in at third base. Miranda has always been a bat-first prospect, and he spent more time at first base than at third during his debut campaign. After hitting .268/.325/.426 through his first 483 MLB plate appearances, the 24-year-old Miranda is guaranteed a regular role somewhere in the lineup. Would the Twins feel comfortable turning to him on an everyday basis at third base, where he spent the majority of his minor league career? That’d leave more first base/DH at-bats for Luis Arraez, who’s not a good defender at either second or third, and potentially clear a path to at-bats for former top prospect Alex Kirilloff. Kirilloff will be returning from a second season decimated by wrist injuries and presumably has to earn his way into the lineup, but he has the offensive potential to do so.

Falvey indicated last week the team was at least open to Miranda playing more third than first moving forward (link via Aaron Gleeman of the Athletic). “We want to keep third base in his mix, for sure,” Falvey said. “We think he can play over there. It just worked out roster-wise that first is where he had to play a lot. I think our best team, our healthiest team, has Jose playing a lot of games at third, and some at first. But we want him to play both corners.”

The Twins’ baseball ops leader didn’t tip his hand as to whether that meant Urshela was likely to be on next year’s roster. “We’ll have some decisions to make, not just on him but a few others in the arbitration space,” Falvey said (via Gleeman). “He finished in a really good spot. He played really well down the stretch, and he was a great teammate, a great person in (the clubhouse). All of those are conversations we’ll start to have as we get closer to November and December.”

If the Twins did make Urshela available via trade (or non-tender), it’s easy to envision a few teams having interest. The D-Backs, Marlins, Cubs, Giants and Tigers could all look for third base help this offseason. There aren’t many obvious solutions available in free agency (particularly if Nolan Arenado sticks with the Cardinals by foregoing his opt-out clause or signing an extension), leaving the Twins to weigh their options with Urshela over the coming weeks.

19 Players Elect Free Agency

By Nick Deeds | October 15, 2022 at 1:02pm CDT

Players hit minor league free agency on a daily basis during the postseason, as opposed to major league free agents who hit free agency following the World Series when their contracts expire. On Thursday, MLBTR covered 15 players who elected minor league free agency, and we will continue to provide occasional updates as players continue to hit the open market, as noted on the MiLB.com transactions log.

If a player is not on their organization’s 40-man roster at the end of the season, he will hit minor league free agency as long as he has at least 3 years of MLB service time, been assigned outright more than once in his career, and/or has played in the minor leagues for parts of seven or more seasons. Everyone on today’s list is part of that group of players, and most will search for another minor league deal this offseason, though a few may manage to latch onto a major league club and secure a bench or bullpen spot entering the 2023 season.

Infielders:

JT Riddle (Mets)

Outfielders:

Willie Calhoun (Giants)
Monte Harrison (Angels)
Magneuris Sierra (Angels)
Dillon Thomas (Angels)
Marcus Wilson (Mariners)

Pitchers:

Kyle Barraclough (Angels)
Drew Carlton (Tigers)
Jesus Cruz (Braves)
Julian Fernandez (Rockies)
Carson Fulmer (Dodgers)
Kevin Herget (Rays)
Jake Jewell (Twins)
Michael Kelly (Phillies)
Matt Koch (Mariners)
Adam Kolarek (A’s)
Denyi Reyes (Orioles)
Locke St. John (Mets)
Tanner Tully (Guardians)

15 Players Elect Free Agency

By Anthony Franco | October 13, 2022 at 7:33pm CDT

As the postseason rolls along, players hit minor league free agency daily. It’s customary each offseason for dozens of players to hit the open market, separate from the players who reach MLB free agency at the end of the World Series based on the expiration of their contracts while having six-plus years of MLB service time.

Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of MLB service, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minor leagues has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group falls under that umbrella. The majority will take minor league deals over the winter, although one or two could find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

MLBTR covered 34 players who qualified for minor league free agency last week. We’ll periodically provide updates as plenty more hit the open market, as reflected on the MiLB.com transactions log.

Pitchers

R.J. Alvarez (Mets)
Shaun Anderson (Blue Jays)
Anthony Castro (Orioles)
Alex Claudio (Mets)
Phillip Diehl (Mets)
Dusten Knight (Rays)
Brian Moran (Angels)
Cristofer Ogando (Rays)
Cam Vieaux (Pirates)
J.B. Wendelken (D-Backs)

Infielders

Mike Ford (Angels)
Deven Marrero (Mets)
Yolmer Sanchez (Mets)
Elliot Soto (Twins)

Outfielders

Luis Barrera (A’s)

Twins Outright Devin Smeltzer, Jhon Romero

By Simon Hampton | October 12, 2022 at 12:03pm CDT

The Twins have continued a busy few days of 40-man roster management, outrighting pitchers Jhon Romero and Devin Smeltzer after the pair cleared waivers, the team announced. Romero was outrighted to the minors, while Smeltzer elected free agency, per his MLB.com transaction log. It comes after the team recently lost outfielder Jake Cave, catcher Caleb Hamilton and infielder Jermaine Palacios on waivers.

Smeltzer, 27, tossed 70 1/3 innings of 3.71 ERA ball across 12 starts and three relief appearances for the Twins this season. Advanced metrics were less impressed with Smeltzer’s work, and his FIP sat at 5.23. The lefty struck out just 13.9% of batters this season while giving up walks 6.6% of the time.

The Twins acquired Smeltzer from the Dodgers in 2018 in the Brian Dozier deal, and he’s logged 140 innings of work through parts of four seasons as a swingman. Smeltzer’s out of minor league options and having already been outrighted previously in his career, he had the option to elect free agency after passing through waivers. It seems likely he’ll land somewhere on a minor league deal as pitching depth.

Romero, 27, was claimed off waivers from the Nationals during spring training and pitched out of the Twins bullpen to start the season, logging just five innings of 3.60 ERA relief before going down with what would wind up being season-ending biceps tendinitis on April 23. Romero was signed as an international free agent out of Colombia by the Cubs in 2015, and was traded to the Nationals in the Brandon Kintzler deadline deal in 2018.

He throws a fastball, slider, changeup mix and struck out roughly a third of the batters faced as he came up through the minors. Romero’s spent most of the season on the 60-day IL, meaning he wasn’t occupying a spot on the 40-man roster. There remains no clear timeline on his recovery, but regardless of his injury status the Twins would have needed to add him back to the 40 man before the start of the offseason.

Following their recent bevy of moves, the Twins’ 40-man roster now stands at 36 players.

Tigers Claim Jermaine Palacios, Designate Drew Hutchison

By Simon Hampton | October 11, 2022 at 9:13pm CDT

The Tigers have claimed utility man Jermaine Palacios off waivers from the Twins, according to MLB.com’s transaction tracker. In a corresponding move, Detroit is designating starting pitcher Drew Hutchison for assignment. Chris McCosky of the Detroit News has confirmed the moves.

Palacios made his debut in the majors this year, appearing in 30 games for the Twins and slashing .143/.184/.229 with two home runs. That underwhelming offensive return was offset somewhat by the defensive versatility the 26 year old offered, logging time at all four infield positions. Palacios did hit a much healthier .283/.341/.462 with 14 home runs across 428 plate appearances at Triple A St. Paul, so there is some hope for his bat to develop a bit in the majors.

Palacios was signed out of Venezuela in 2013, and spent five years in the Twins organization before being dealt to the Rays in the 2018 trade for Jake Odorizzi. He elected minor league free agency at the end of 2020, and he rejoined the Twins that offseason and checked in as their 18th best prospect this year, according to MLB.com. He’ll add some defensive versatility in the Tigers infield, while they’ll look to unlock a bit of the potential he’s shown in the minors with the bat.

For Hutchison, it’s the third time he’s been DFA’d by the Tigers this year. After initially signing with the Tigers on a minor league deal he made the team out of spring training but wound up being DFA’d and released in May and June before immediately re-signing with the team. Hutchison logged 105.1 innings for the Tigers in 2022, pitching to a 4.53 ERA across 18 starts and ten appearances out of the bullpen. The 32 year old struck out just 14.7% of batters faced, while walking 9.1% of the time. Those numbers are largely in line with Hutchison’s career numbers, having pitched to a lifetime 4.89 ERA across nearly 600 innings in the big leagues.

Hutchison is arbitration eligible for another season, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him to receive a $1.8MM salary. That always made him a likely non-tender candidate, so it’s not surprising to see Detroit take him off the roster when a player of interest popped up on the waiver wire. Hutchison seems likely to clear waivers and elect free agency, where he’ll seek out another opportunity this winter.

« Previous Page

Load More Posts

Show all

Headlines

Twins Rumors

Navigation

MLBTR INFO

Connect