Tinkering with the 40

The Twins got a head start on paring their 40-man roster Monday, outrighting Ian Miller, Ryan LaMarre and Ronald Torreyes. None of them were on the 40 before September, and they might not have been on the 40 had it not been for all the injuries the Twins were dealing with in the final month. Cutting them is no surprise.

So the 40 is down to 37, and there will be more coming off the 40 when the World Series ends and free agency begins. Off the top of my head, that includes Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson, Michael Pineda, Sergio Romo, Jonathan Schoop and Jason Castro. I had thought C.J. Cron was on that list also, but he has another year of arbiration eligibility.

They also have two guys on the 60-day injured list. Byton Buxton will certainly be restored to the 40, and I presume Sean Poppen will also, although I can see the Twins deciding to outright him also.

Roster additions

Today is the deadline for teams to add minor leaguers to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. On Monday the Twins added infielder Nick Gordon and outfielder LaMonte Wade, bringing their 40-man roster to 38.

Wade and Gordon were generally viewed by outsiders as guys the Twins had to protect or lose in the draft next month. I guess I agree, if only on the basis that Gordon was a high first-round pick and among the Twins top 10 prospects a year ago, and somebody would take a shot at that as free talent. But I've been skeptical of him as a hitter for sometime now, and certainly nothing he did in Triple A has shaken that skepticism.

Unprotected, at least at the moment, is another infielder, Luis Arreaz. He's a level behind Gordon and has never been seen as a potential shortstop; he's strictly a second baseman. But he's always hit better than Gordon, and in my view that makes him a better prospect.

Wade, too, didn't hit worth a darn upon reaching Triple A last summer, and his stat lines are generally lacking in power. I'm not sure either was really an obvious choice to be claimed if left off the 40.

If the Twins were looking to "game" the system and protect the most likely claimants, I think they missed him. Tyler Jay has the Gordon high-draft pick pedigree. He's had injuries and didn't fare well in Double A last year -- but he's a left-handed pitcher. In an era of 13-man staffs, I can see somebody claiming him and figuring that they can carry him for the season as a LOOGY or even as an opener.

He's a more likely Rule 5 loss than either Wade or Gordon (or Arreaz). But lsat year demonstrated that the current front office isn't very concerned about losing minor league relievers in Rule 5.

Reducing the 40

Five Twins became free agents Friday. Later the Twins announced that three others had been removed from the 40-man roster.

There will be more deletions, and additions, to come.

The free agents are pitchers Matt Belisle, Bartolo Colon, Dillon Gee, Glen Perkins and Hector Santiago. Multi-position guy Niko Goodrum cleared waivers and was outrighted; I think he's been in the organization long enough to opt for free agency. Pitcher Randy Rosario was claimed by the Cubs, outfielder Daniel Palka by the White Sox.

If there is any surprise here, it's that this wave of 40-man roster deletions wasn't more extensive. Somehow the ax missed Buddy Boshers, Michael Tonkin and Nik Turley; I can't imagine they will make it through the winter unscathed.

I don't think Chris Gimenez has ever gone through a winter on a 40-man roster. And I expect that at some point Kennys Vargas will wind up with a deal to play in Korea or Japan.

My count has 18 pitchers, three catchers, six infielders, six oufielders and one designated hitter remaining on the 40 as of this morning -- plus four pitchers on the 60-day disabled list who must either be returned to the 40 or cut loose (J.T. Chargois, Phil Hughes, Trevor May and Ryan ORourke). Add those four back, and it's at 38. That's too tight for all the prospects who must either be added to the 40 or exposed to the Rule 5 draft next month.

For me, Rosario was the most interesting loss. I saw him pitch in Cedar Rapids in 2015 and thought he had Perkins-like stuff -- mid 90s fastball and a quality slider. It was easy to envision him as a bullpen piece. And he still has an option left.

But he had a down year in Double A this year and did nothing useful in a brief callup in midsummer. Gabriel Moya has certainly passed him as a lefty bullpen option.

Still, the raw material is there. The Cubs claimed him on waivers, which is interesting. Rosario isn't good enough for the Twins 40-man roster, but he is for the Cubs. At least until they try to sneak him through waivers themselves.

Meanwhile, back with the Twins ...

On the same day that the New York Mets completed their sweep of the Chicago Cubs and the Toronto Blue Jays staved off elimination, the Twins made their first roster moves of the offseason: They outrighted catcher Eric Fryer, outfielder Shane Robinson and left-handed pitcher Aaron Thompson.

This takes all three off the 40-man roster. All three are likely to test free agency, and I doubt any of them will find a team willing to offer a major league contract. I rather expect the Twins to offer them minor league deals, Fryer in particular. Robinson might be the least likely for them to retain; he's a fourth (or fifth) outfielder on a team with a lot of young outfield talent.

The Twins ended the season with a full 40. They have, according to Mike Bearadino, five pending free agents (I believe they are Blaine Boyer, Neil Cotts, Brian Duensing, Torii Hunter and Mike Pelfrey), and they come off the roster after the World Series. They also have Ryan Pressly and Logan Darnell on the 60-day disabled list, and they will either be restored to the 40 next month or go through waivers; I would expect the Twins to keep both. So I make the effective 40 to be at 36.

Expect some more deletions in the next few days. Berardino listed six prospects who will be Rule 5 eligible this winter, and there isn't enough room to add them all now. One thing is certain: The Twins have the opportunity, again, to overhaul their bullpen corps this winter, especially the left-handers.

Starting the roster trimming

Yohan Pino made
11 major league starts
for the Twins, fifth
most on the team.

Terry Ryan and the rest of the Twins brain trust are in Fort Myers this week holding the organizational meetings.

Even without a manager, even without a coaching staff, some decisions have to be made.

The first made public was the removal of infielder Doug Bernier and pitcher Yohan Pino from the 40-man roster.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Twins re-signed either or both to minor league deals. Nor would I be surprised if the 34-year-old Bernier wound up with a minor league managing or coaching gig.

The Twins now have 37 players on the 40. Mike Pelfrey is still on the 60-day disabled list, which means he's off the 40; at some point he'll be reinstated to the 40, so it's effectively at 38. 

The Twins will need to clear more space to protect the likes of Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario and Alex Meyer. Those three are obvious must-protects, and there are other Rule-5 eligible players they probably will want to protect as well, such as Sean Gilmartin, a left-handed starter and former first-round pick. So there are more cuts to come. 

Tender is the deadline (updated)

Today is the deadline to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players; those who are non-tendered become free agents.

Also today, the Twins have a pair of free agent not-quite-signees in for physicials, the major hurdle in turning Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes into bona fide signees.

The Twins as of this morning had 39 players on the 40-man roster, so they'll need to drop somebody to add both Nolasco and Hughes. Presumably the Twins will want to play in the Rule 5 draft at the Winter Meetings next week; that requires an open spot. If the rumors about adding a catcher and/or yet another pitcher are valid, still more spots will be needed.

The convergence of the free agents and the tender deadline is coincidental, and the decisions shouldn't be connected — by which I mean, the Twins shouldn't nontender Brian Duensing merely to make room for a free agent. Dropping one of their three arbitration-eligible players (Duensing, Trevor Plouffe and Anthony Swarzak) should be based on their projected salary via arbitration (which will be a sizable raise for each) versus their value to the team.

I expect the Twins to tender all three. There is room in the budget and roles on the squad for them. The one most at risk is probably Duensing, but I don't envision the Twins cutting him loose.

Still, there are cuts ahead. The front office, I'm sure, knows who will be removed from the 40-man roster. My guesses: Liam Hendriks and Kris Johnson, with Chris Colabello also a real possibility. Eric Fryer, as I said a week or so ago, will probably remain on the roster unless and until a catcher is added.

UPDATE: I was apparently a bit ahead of myself on the Hughes physical. A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday for the Nolasco signing. And the Twins indeed announced today that they were tendering contracts to Duensing, Plouffe and Swarzak.

Setting up the 40

Max Kepler was added to the 40-man roster
in what may have been an unnecessary move.

Wednesday was the deadline for teams to move Rule 5 eligible players to the 40-man roster. The Twins put four players on the 40 -- LHP Logan Darnell, OF-1B Max Kepler, 2B-SS Jorge Polanco and 1B Kennys Vargas. They also outrighted RHP B.J. Hermsen off the roster, leaving them with an open slot.

Of the four, the only one close to earning major league time is Darnell, who split 2013 between Double A New Britain and Triple A Rochester. The other three spent last season in A ball -- Vargas in High A Fort Myers, Kepler and Polanco in low A Cedar Rapids.

I expected the Twins to protect Darnell and Polanco; either could easily have been taken in the Rule 5 draft in December. The other two are less likely to be targeted.

I expected, frankly, to be defending the Twins for not protecting Kepler. He is a very good prospect, but he's also extremely raw. I cannot imagine any team, even the talent-gathering Astros, taking him in the Rule 5 draft and carrying him on their major league roster for the full season. (Rule 5 draftees must be kept on the 25-man active roster or offered back to their original organization.)

There are, basically, three types of players who tend to be picked in Rule 5 and kept, and the third is pretty rare:

• Pitchers, especially lefties, who can be kept as the last man in the bullpen. (Darnell)
• Middle infielders with speed, who can be a second utility infielder and pinch runner. (Polanco)
• A catcher, who might be a backup on a team with a strong No.1 catcher or a No. 3 guy if he is a hitter who is weak behind the plate. 

It's very rare for an outfielder or first baseman to be taken in Rule 5, especially if they're being taken out of A ball. I don't deride either Kepler or Vargas as prospects, but I doubt the Twins needed to protect either this year. Obviously, the Twins see it differently.

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The Detroit Tigers traded Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers for Ian Kinsler. I don't feel like doing an exhaustive analysis of this deal right now, but I will say that:

• Both teams rearranged talent in useful ways;
• The Tigers got rid of a really painful contract for a less painful contract;
• The Tigers got the better end of the deal. My opinion.

Some minor moves

The Twins on Monday elevated left-handed relief prospect Edgar Ibarra to the 40-man roster rather than allow him to become a minor-league free agent. They also, over the weekend, reinstated Sam Deduno to the 40 (he had been on the 60-day disabled list).

Ibarra is 24, from Venezuela, and is said to have a mid-90s fastball and a decent change but shows a poor control record. He will presumably compete with Brian Duensing and Caleb Thielbar for a LOOGY role in the Minnesota bullpen, although there is speculation that the arbitration-eligible Duensing may be cut loose rather than give him a raise.

The Twins now have 36 or 37 players on the 40, depending on how you view Mike Pelfrey, who officially becomes a free agent at some point but was still listed on the Twins website Monday evening.

Also on Monday, the Twins formally announced a handful of minor league signings, including Wilkin Ramirez, Doug Bernier and Lester Oliveros, all of whom have seen some major league time in the past few seasons. Others: Dan Rohlfing, Aaron Thompson, Jermaine Mitchell and James Beresford. Those seven all got invites to major league camp.

As I said in an earlier post, I'm not sure what the point is to having both Bernier and Beresford when the Triple A middle infield figures to be manned by Double A graduates Danny Santana and Eddie Rosario.

Three other minor league vets were signed without the invites: Vigil Vasquez, Jairo Rodriguez and Reynaldo Rodriguez.

A little Series off-day Twins news

Pedro Hernandez
was 3-3, 6.83 in
56.2 innings for
the Twins.

The Twins on Tuesday announced that LHP Pedro Hernandez has been outrighted to Triple A, thus removing him from the 40-man roster. The Twins now have 35 players officially on the 40, plus Sam Deduno, who remains on the 60-day disabled list but should soon be reinstated to the roster.

The Hernandez move is hardly a surprise, and — as noted with previous roster-clearing moves — not the last such move to come this offseason. He's left-handed, and he's only 24, but his Triple A numbers weren't particularly appealing and his stats with the Twins are terrible.

---

Larry Corrigan, once a significant behind-the-scenes figure in the the Twins baseball operations, is returning to the organization.

He was, at various times, the Twins scouting director, director of minor league instruction and a special assignment scout. He left the Twins within weeks of the ascension of Bill Smith to the general manager's job when Terry Ryan stepped down at the end of the 2007 season; with no evidence other than the timing, I've always figured that Smith's rise prompted Corrigan to depart.

---

While the Twins have made no formal announcement about Corrigan and his future role, they did on Tuesday release their plans for TwinsFest, post-Metrodome. I really don't know how well Target Field will work for a late January event like that. but in all honesty, I haven't been to TwinsFest in years. (Driving in a Minnesota winter becomes less appealing as I grow increasingly older.)

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On a purely personal note: Happy birthday, Mom.

Notes, quotes and comment

Doug Bernier appeared in 33 games for
the Twins, with a slash line of
.226/.339/.283.

The Twins on Friday outrighted infielder Doug Bernier, who thus becomes a minor league free agent. This officially reduces the 40-man roster to 35, but the unofficial tally of 37 is more accurate, since it accounts for Wilkin Ramirez and Sam Deduno, who are on the 60-day disabled list.

This was certainly the most glorious season of Bernier's professional career: He got to spend almost three months in the major leagues after hitting .295 in a half-season as the primary shortstop for the Rochester Red Wings.

The Twins never really had a role for the 33-year-old — no matter how thin his bench, Ron Gardenhire always seems to have somebody who doesn't have much purpose sitting around — but I'll guarantee you, Bernier preferred that to playing every day in Triple A.

His removal from the 40-man roster was inevitable. It's possible that the Twins will seek to retain him as Triple A roster depth, but Danny Santana figures to be the primary shortstop in Rochester next season, and Eddie Rosario may be the primary second baseman if the Twins don't return him to the outfield or use him in a trade, and then there's James Beresford, who's considerably younger than Bernier, as a utility guy.

There may not be a place for Bernier in this organization. And at his age, it's not going to be easy to find a place to keep his dreams going.

Dusty Baker has managed the Giants, the Cubs and
the Reds into the playoffs over the years, but has
never managed a World Series winner.

---

The Cincinnati Reds surprised a lot of observers Friday by dismissing Dusty Baker as their manager.

Baker's been around a long time — he is 16th on the all-time managerial wins list — and even at age 64 he doesn't appear inclined to go into retirement. He still wants to manage, and I suppose somebody will give him a job.

But he's not a manager I'd be particularly interested in having run my team. Even discounting his often-bizarre statements about the game (such as his complaint that hitters who draw walks merely clog up the basepaths), his tenures have been marked by a rather hands-off approach to player behavior, and inevitably there are incidents that appear to be the direct result of players knowing there will be no ramifications for immature behavior.

Cincinnati and Washington are two clearly win-ready teams with managerial openings. Those kinds of jobs aren't often available.

Beginning the roster purge

Josh Roenicke:
3-1 with one save
in 62 innings.

The subtext to Monday's announcement that Ron Gardenhire would return as manager was: The Twins' lousy record was the result of a bad roster, not the result of subpar managing.

The first purge of that roster came Wednesday, as four players were outrighted from the 40-man major league roster (in a sense, 42-man roster, since the Twins have two players on the 60-day disabled list).

Getting the ax on Wednesday were outfielder Clete Thomas and pitchers Cole De Vries, Shairon Martis and Josh Roenicke. All will be minor league free agents; I suspect the Twins will re-sign at least one of De Vries and Martis as Triple A fodder, maybe both.

The closest thing to a surprise here was Roenicke, 31, who was on the big league roster all season and made 63 appearances out of the bullpen with a 4.35 ERA. He had a poor walk-to-strikeout ratio (36 walks, 45 strikeouts) and pretty much fell apart in September (ERA of 2.91 on Sept. 3, but he closed with 12 earned runs allowed, plus an unearned one, in his final 6.1 innings). The process was ugly all year, and it finally caught up with him.

These are, again, just the first loppings. There will probably be a couple dozen players out of the 42 removed from the major league roster over the next several weeks, as Terry Ryan works against the old adage that you fire the managers because you can't fire the players. We're about to see a lot of players fired.

Making roster room

Wilkin Ramirez accepts dugout high-fives after scoring a run
last week in an exhibition game.

Two more non-roster pitchers, Sam Deduno and P.J. Walters, were reassigned to the minor-league complex Tuesday. This boiled the major-league side to 26 healthy players and, at least as reported by the various beat guys, left the roster competition down to three arms for two bullpen jobs (Alex Burnett, Tyler Robertson and Josh Roenicke).

If so, the Twins are opening with 12 pitchers and will carry outfielder Wilkin Ramirez as a bench bat. I'm not sold on Ramirez for that job, but that's a minor issue. The Opening Day roster will not last long, and I fully expect that by the time Anthony Swarzak and/or Scott Diamond are ready to come off the disabled list the Twins will have decided they need a 13th pitcher.

And when they get to that point, whose roster spot will he take? Probably Ramirez's.

Keeping Ramirez will make this an aspirational roster. The Twins want to have a 12-man staff, not a 13-man staff, so they'll open with 12 and hope that the rotation doesn't immediately become a train wreck. If — when — it does, they'll deal with the fallout then.

There's a price to pay for that aspiration. The Twins will have to open a spot on their 40-man roster  for Ramirez, a non-roster invitee. The 40 has been full all spring, and the injuries that sidelined Swarzak and Tim Wood — plus the fact that Rule 5 pick Ryan Pressly earned a roster spot — have allowed the Twins to avoid having to cut any of the bullpen use-or-lose guys (the other being Roenicke) for now.

Somebody will have to outrighted, released, traded, sold — removed from the roster — to make room for Ramirez. It probably won't be a significant loss of talent, but the gain — a week or two of Ramirez — seems marginal at best.

Clearing room on the 40-man roster (updated)

Thomas Field's 2012 Topps card.

Last week, the Twins had 40 players on their roster. After a week of subtraction, they're now down to 37 36.

Wednesday: IF Thomas Field was lost on waivers to Anaheim
Thursday: CF Denard Span was traded to Washington; Alex Meyer, the pitcher they got back, isn't on the 40-man roster and probably won't be put on the 40 until he's put on the 25-man active roster.
Friday: RHP Deolis Guerra was outrighted to Rochester; RHP Lester Oliveros was nontendered.

The Span trade, of course, has gotten plenty of commentary, here and elsewhere. The other moves, not so much.

The Twins claimed Field on waivers from Colorado early in November. As I predicted when the Twins acquired him, the Twins tried to slip him through waivers themselves. On Wednesday we learned that Anaheim claimed him. So he's gone.

Deolis Guerra has
been in the Twins
organization since
2008, but is only 23.

The Twins probably picked Field up with the intent of making him the shortstop at Rochester. Now the organization has a bit of a hole to plug there. Last year the Red Wings used Brian Dozier or Pedro Florimon at short (Dozier to open and close the season, Florimon while Dozier was in Minnesota), with Tsuyoshi Nishioka at second base. Nishi won't be back, of course, and Dozier, Florimon and Eduardo Escobar are all in the mix for jobs at the big league level. I expect another infield addition in the Twins future.

Guerra, the last remaining piece from the Johan Santana trade, cleared waivers, which means nobody else wanted to give him a spot on their 40-man roster. He remains in the organization and will be in major league camp this spring. He was out of options anyway, so had he not cleared waivers now and didn't make the team the Twins would have had to waive him in the spring. Guerra had had a good start to his 2012 season and seemed likely to get a call-up, but tailed off and missed a good bit of time to injury.

Oliveros' nontender took me by surprise. Friday's deadline for making "qualifying offers" generally focuses on the arbitration-eligible players -- in the Twins case, Drew Butera, Jared Burton and Brian Duensing. All three were retained. Oliveros, a hard-thrower acquired in 2011's Delmon Young trade, will miss 2013 after having Tommy John surgery, and the Twins apparently decided it wasn't worth keeping him on the 40-man roster. (Update: The Twins have re-signed him to a minor league deal.)

All this frees up plenty of space for either free agent signings or activity in the Rule V draft. The word from Twins execs after the Span trade was that their focus at the winter meetings next week would be on talking to agents rather than trades, so making room was necessary.

Nineteen pitchers and not enough arms

The 40-man roster is almost always a work in progress, and that's never more true than during the offseason.

And it figures to be particularly true of the Twins this winter. Yes, they stuffed their 40-man roster to the brim on Tuesday. But it is almost impossible to imagine that the 12 (or 13) pitchers who will make up the staff on Opening Day are all on the 40 right now.

Here's the breakdown of the 19 pitchers on Minnesota's 40-man roster:

Cole De Vries is (shudder) probably
the most established right-handed
starter on the Twins current roster.

Right-handed starters (4)

Cole De Vries
Kyle Gibson
Liam Hendriks
B.J. Hermsen

Left-handed starters (2)

Scott Diamond
Pedro Hernandez

Left-handed relievers (4)

Brian Duensing
Glen Perkins
Tyler Robertson
Caleb Thielbar

Deolis Guerra, the
last remaining piece
of the Johan Santana
trade, is out of options.

Right-handed relievers (9)

Jared Burton
Alex Burnett
Casey Fien
Deolis Guerra
Lester Oliveros
Josh Roenicke
Anthony Swarzak
Michael Tonkin
Tim Wood

I put Duensing with the relievers because that's where I think he belongs, but the starting candidates are so thin that he may well wind up there.

It's not too difficult to tick off several names there who won't be on the Opening Day roster. Oliveros is unlikely to pitch at all in 2013 after Tommy John surgery. Tonkin hasn't pitched above A ball. Hermsen and Hernandez are far more likely to be in the Triple-A rotation than the major league one.

And there will be changes in this list in the coming months. Count on it.

Filling out the 40

The Twins entered Tuesday with 32 players on their 40-man roster. They closed Tuesday -- the deadline for moving minor leaguers to the major-league roster -- with all 40 slots filled.

This surprised me. I expected them to leave slots open to fill via trade or free agent signings; I didn't see eight guys who needed to be protected.

Filling the roster now doesn't rule out future moves. It just means that if the Twins sign a free agent to a major league deal, they'll have to take somebody off the roster. It does hint that the Twins are unlikely to delve into the Rule V draft next month.

The promotions: Kyle Gibson and Aaron Hicks were givens. Michael Tonkin, right-handed relief pitcher, had a big year in A ball — 97 strikeouts in 69.1 innings — and followed it up with a good run in the Arizona Fall League; as a reliever, he was a likely Rule V target if left off the roster. The others, as I see them, weren't:

• Daniel Santana, an infielder of whom I wrote last week, struck me as a marginal roster choice even if he is in fact the best shortstop prospect in the system; I can't see anybody taking him in Rule V and keeping him in the majors all season.
• B.J. Hermsen is a RH starter who doesn't walk or strike out many. Spent most of last year at Double A. The Twins certainly need starters, but the low strikeout rate suggests he isn't an answer.
• Tim Wood, RH reliever, is a curious story. He had a big year in Triple A for Pittsburgh, who decided they had no use for him anyway; the Twins signed him to a minor-league deal earlier this month, and now have put him on the 40. Perhaps there was enough competition for him as a free agent that the Twins feared he'd be snatched up in Rule V. (This happened to them in 2008 with R.A. Dickey.)
• Caleb Thielbar is a LH reliever. A Minnesota native who went to South Dakota State, he opened last season in High A and ended in Triple A, putting up good to decent numbers at each level. Numbers fell off when he hit Triple A. He turns 26 in January. Being left-handed certainly helps his stock.
• Josmil Pinto, a catcher, was named to Baseball America's High A postseason all-star team. His strong 2012 followed an unimpressive 2011. Maybe somebody would have taken him in Rule V and carried him as a backup catcher all year, but I doubt it. Turns 24 in March.

The bulleted five are probably marginal prospects. Maybe Santana and/or Pinto can develop into major league regulars, but they aren't going to do so in 2013. I would have thought the flexibility of one or more open roster spots would be worth the risk of exposing some of them to Rule V predation. Obviously, the Twins didn't see it that way.

First moves in reshaping the roster

Matt Capps: 1-4,
3.68 in 2012 with
14 saves.

The Twins announced on Wednesday their first roster moves of the offseason:

• They will not pick up their option on Matt Capps;
• They lost relief prospect Carlos Guterriez on waivers to the Chicago Cubs;
• They outrighted outfielder Matt Carson and right-handed pitchers Jeff Manship, Luis Perdomo, Esmerling Vasquez, Kyle Waldrop and P.J. Walters;
• They restored pitchers Scott Baker, Cole De Vries and Carl Pavano from the disabled list. 

Capps, Baker and Pavano will be free agents after the World Series, but for now they remain on the Twins 40-man roster. The others aren't, and many of them will also become free agents. For now, the Twins have 35 players on the 40-man roster.

I wouldn't rule out the Twins re-signing some of these guys. Walters and Waldrop might be of interest on minor league deals, and Capps' option was too pricey ($6 milion) for the role he would play if he returned.

But I don't expect any of them to be re-signed. If Capps does return, it will be for less than the $4 million he got in 2012, and without the promise of the closer's role. I think he'll look elsewhere. And for the others, being taken off the 40-man roster implies that they'd be behind the pitchers they did retain.

Walters, for example, would rank behind DeVries and Sam Deduno in the rotation pecking order, and the indications are that those two, and probably some others, will at best be duking it out for the fifth starter spot.

I'm slightly disappointed in the outrighting of Waldrop; I'd rather see him in the 2013 bullpen than Alex Burnett. But both are fringy middle relievers.

Some other notes:

Carlos Gutierrez, a
first-round pick,
never reached the
majors with the Twins.

Baker, who had Tommy John surgery around Opening Day and did not pitch, and the Twins are said to be making progress on a contract. It's uncertain Baker will be ready to pitch in the majors when the 2013 season begins.

Gutierrez was a first-round pick in 2007 who only appeared in 10 games last year for Triple A Rochester because of injury. The Cubs took a flier on him, but I'm not sure why they'd prefer him to Waldrop. They're both sinker-ballers with low strikeout rates, but as far as I can tell, Waldrop is the better of the two.

Vasquez put up some interesting numbers as a starter in Triple A, but given several starts in September in the majors displayed a reluctance to throw a breaking ball. Perdomo throws hard but without any real clue.

Ryan Doumit and other roster moves

The Twins had a fairly busy day Friday, even if the lead item isn't official yet.

Ryan Doumit has agreed to a one-year deal with the Twins (this according to his agent), reportedly for $3 million plus performance bonuses. He's got to pass a physical before it becomes official.

I was skeptical to critical of the Jamey Carroll signing. I'm far happier with this move. Doumit is a flawed player. His defense is marginal to poor at any of his three positions, he's made regular trips to the disabled list for a variety of injuries -- including (shudder) concussions. He's a switch hitter, but he's been a markedly better hitter left-handed than right, which doesn't help balance the Twins lineup much.

But he can hit, and the Twins need that. They can deploy him at catcher, at first base, in right field, at DH ...

And that last raises a roster issue. Let us say that Justin Morneau remains primarily a first baseman, that Joe Mauer is indeed a 130-plus game catcher, and that Doumit is the primary designated hitter.

Is Ron Gardenhire willing to do what Jim Leyland did in Detroit last season -- carry two catchers and use one of them as his DH? I doubt it. If Doumit's to be the regular DH, I suspect Gardy will carry Drew Butera so as to have a legitimate catcher available on the bench.

This may well be a moot point. Morneau may be the primary DH in hopes that limiting his activity will avoid a repeat of last summer's season-ending concussion. It's odd, but Butera's chances of remaining on the active roster may hinge on Morneau's health.

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The Twins also added three players to their 40-man roster from the minors -- outfielder Oswaldo Arcia, right-handed pitcher Carlos Gutierrez and left-handed pitcher Tyler Robertson -- and outrighted RHP David Bromberg to Rochester.

2011 was a largely
lost season for David
Bromberg.

Seth Stohs is unhappy with the Bromberg demotion. I don't think it's as crazy as he thinks it is. Bromberg was added to the 40 last winter, so when he was sent to the minors in spring training they burned his first option. He broke his arm early in the season and wound up with all of 42 innings pitched.

If he wasn't ready for the majors last spring, he's not going to be ready this spring -- and if he remained on the 40, they would have burned his second option when he got sent back to the minors. He cleared waivers, so he's unlikely to get nabbed in the Rule V draft.

Bromberg has reason to be unhappy that the Twins have stopped his option clock, but it hardly means the Twins no longer take him seriously as a prospect. It merely extends their control of his contract.

When the Doumit deal becomes official, the Twins will have 38 players on the 40. Two slots to play with this winter.

Twins drop two more players

Brian Dinkleman hit
.301 for the Twins but
just .243 for Rochester.

Last week, at the end of their organizational meeting, the Twins removed four players from their 40-man roster. On Thursday, they dropped two more, Brian Dinkleman and Phil Dumatrait.

Dinkleman's fate isn't a surprise -- in fact, I wonder why he wasn't lopped last week, with Jason Repko, Rene Rivera, Anthony Slama and Matt Tolbert. While Dinkleman hit .301 in his brief major league stint, it was an empty .301 -- just one extra-base hit, that a double. He's not a good enough hitter to justify playing in the outfield, not a good enough defender to justify playing at second base.

Dumatrait, on the other hand, is a guy I could imagine the Twins deciding to keep around. His ERA (3.92) wasn't all that bad, he was effective against lefty hitters and he never coughed up a lead.

Phil Dumatrait
would be eligible for
arbitration had he
remained on the
40-man roster.

But he's really not good, either -- 25 walks and 29 strikeouts in 41 innings -- and I find it encouraging that the Twins recognize that he's easily replaceable.

So the Twins now have 36 players on the 40-man roster. That number will decline some more soon, when the World Series is over and Michael Cuddyer and others officially become free agents. If the Twins chose not to exercise their option on Joe Nathan, they could enter November with as many as eight open spots on the 40-man roster.

Those slots won't be open long. The Twins will have to add a number of players now on minor league rosters to protect them from the Rule V draft. That action will probably come next month.

Tinkering with the edges of the 40-man roster

The Twins on Friday announced that four players — outfielder Jason Repko, catcher Rene Rivera, pitcher Anthony Slama and infielder Matt Tolbert — had been outrighted to Triple-A Rochester and thus removed from the 40-man major league roster.

The four are all low-ceiling players and out of options. The move also indicates that the Twins don't see them as likely to make the 25-man roster coming out of spring training, which is interesting since two of them (Repko and Tolbert) did in 2011.

Let's read between the lines on each player and try to decipher what their demotion tells us about the Twins' plans for 2012:

Jason Repko hit
.226/.270/.286.

Repko: Had he remained on the 40, he'd have been arbitration eligible, and thus in line for a substantial raise. That wasn't going to happen.

Beyond the finances, Repko's value is diminished by the rise of Ben Revere and Rene Tosoni. Repko isn't needed as a backup center fielder. Tosoni is a better hitter — and a left-handed hitter, something managers tend to value in a fourth (or fifth) outfielder.

We don't know how the Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel free agencies will play out, but right now we can assume that the Twins will break camp with Revere and Denard Span as outfield regulars, Tosoni as a reserve, and a veteran holding down right field while Joe Benson gets a year in Triple A.

Rene Rivera hit
.144/.211/.202.

Rivera: Drew Butera stays, Rivera goes. Both are catch-and-throw guys; neither can hit. On a team whose regular catcher starts 130-plus games, either is an acceptable backup; you don't want them catching 100-plus games.

So how do you pick between the two? I believe Butera still has options. I rather expect the Twins to look this winter for a No. 2 catcher who offers something at the plate, in which case Butera goes to Rochester and waits for an injury.

Slama: His minor league numbers have always been better than his scouting reports. The Twins clearly don't think his stuff and command will work in the majors. Plus he had some arm issues in 2010.

He may not have gotten a clean shake from the Twins — seven major league innings is hardly enough to prove that what worked for him in the minors won't work in the bigs — but life isn't always fair.

Matt Tolbert hit
.198/.252./.266.

Tolbert: A victim of the numbers game. The Twins know they have to revamp their middle infield. They have an investment in Tsuyoshi Nishioka; Alexi Casilla was the best of a bad lot; Trevor Plouffe still intrigues somebody with his bat. Plus there's Brian Dozier, their minor league player of the year, who ought to get a good look during spring training.

That's four holdovers, plus the likelihood that the Twins will import somebody from the outside.

Like Repko, Tolbert is arbitration eligible; again, there's no way the Twins were going to give him a big raise.

DL stuff (UPDATED)

Just a quick note about the Twins moves today: Jason Kubel and Jim Thome were put on the 15-day disabled list, with Ben Revere and Luke Hughes recalled. Revere is in the starting lineup today -- in right field, which is a lousy fit for his popgun throwing arm, but whatever.

Perhaps more interesting, on a day in which Joe Mauer caught three innings in extended spring training (his first such action since April), the Twins shifted Mauer to the 60-day disabled list. This (a) means he definitely won't be back with the big club until at least June 12; and (b) opens a spot on the 40-man roster.

Perhaps that slot is going to sit open until Tsuyoshi Nishioka's ready to come off the 60-day DL, and was opened now to squash any speculation that Mauer's nearly ready to return. Or maybe there's another move looming involving somebody not now on the 40-man roster, such as Kyle Waldrop, Carlos Guterriez or even Kyle Gibson.

Brian Dinkleman is
hitting .297/.373/.400
in his second year at
Triple-A.

Update: The 40-man slot was filled by Brian Dinkleman, a left-handed contract hitter with some second base experience who has been mainly playing outfield in recent seasons. Trevor Plouffe has been sent back to Rochester to make room on the 25-man roster.

Dinkleman has had a pattern of hitting better in his second season at a level. But even then, his numbers look good for a second baseman, not so good for a corner outfielder. I assume that his defense at second is deemed substandard, because a good defensive middle infielder is seldom moved to left field. 

It would have been easier to recall Rene Tosoni, who was already on the 40-man roster. The Twins now will have to clear two spots on the 40 when Nishioka and Mauer are ready to play. I assume they have targets in mind.