The first (player) move of the offseason

With or without Derek Falvey on board, with or without an announcement, the Twins made some moves:

It appears #MNTwins have outrighted Milone, Beresford, Albers, Dean and Schafer off 40-man roster. No longer listed on team web site.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) October 17, 2016

No surprises there, really, not even Tommy Milone, who Berardino later tweeted will declare himself a free agent rather than accept the assignment to Triple A Rochester. The veteran cleared waivers during the season, which suggests that trade interest in him was nil; he spent September in the Twins bullpen; and he's arbitration eligible.

So the Twins officially now have 35 players on their 40-man roster, but there are three players who have to be brought off the 60-day disabled list and restored to the 40 -- Phil Hughes, Glen Perkins and Danny Santana. And Kurt Suzuki, free-agent to be, technically remains on the roster until after the World Series. So realistically, the Twins now have three open roster slots.

It's a good bet there are more minor leaguers they want to protect than that, so there will be more deletions to come. These were the most obvious ones.

Notes, quotes and comment

The losing streak is over! Or, in homage to the opposing team's signature broadcaster (Hawk Harrelson), it's OVAH!

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A point I should have made explict in the Thursday post comparing Byron Buxton to Jackie Bradley Jr,: The Red Sox handled Bradley in the past much as the Twins have handled Buxton the last two years, with repeated demotions and callups. It finally clicked for Bradley this year, and if it doesn't click for Buxton this month, that neither means that it never will nor that the Twins have mishandled him.

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Eddie Rosario hasn't started in center field since the game in Toronto in which Max Kepler made an ill-advised dive for a looper that turned into a Little League home run.

The next day Danny Santana started in center; he gave way to Rosario after his injury. The next day Logan Schafer was up and in the lineup, and he played center all three games in Cleveland.

In one of those games, Kepler repeated the ill-advised dive, with the same result -- the ball bounced over him and rolled deep into right field. But this time Schafer was there and held the Cleveland batter to a double. Which prompted this Mike Berardino tweet:

Davis doubles past a diving Kepler in right. Logan Schafer remembers to back up the play. What a concept.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) August 30, 2016

It's quite possible that when Paul Molitor reviewed the Kepler play in Toronto, what stuck with him was that Kepler got to the ball at about the same time as Rosario did -- which suggests that Rosario was standing around admiring Kepler's effort and not anticipating that the ball might get past him.

Out of indy ball

Logan Schafer made his Twins debut Monday evening. He became the 48th player used by the team this season, tying the Twins franchise record; considering the likelihood that at least one September callup will be making his major league debut, we probably should expect a new standard for roster churn.

Shuffling four dozen players through the active roster in five months is a sign of a bad team (as is the won-loss record, as is the current 11-game losing streak, as is ...).

Here's another one: Two of the 25 currently on the active roster were in independent ball earlier this season. Schafer and Andrew Albers -- today's starting pitcher -- both performed earlier this year for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League. (And Buddy Boshers, on the disabled list, was in the Atlantic League in 2015.)

Players wind up in the Atlantic League -- or the American Association of the St. Paul Saints -- when the 30 major league organizations see no purpose to having them on their minor league teams. That the Twins pulled two players out of that baseball limbo to help staff their high minors isn't exactly unique, but that they have given those two major league time is pretty much an indictment of the farm system.

I do not criticize players for playing; there is an honor and dignity in squeezing whatever one can out of the game and one's talent. My criticism is of the organization. Delving repeatedly into indy ball for players is the scouting equivalent of reopening an abandoned mine. The odds are very much against finding a fresh vein of high-grade ore.

It's gonna get worse

Man, that series in Toronto was was ugly. But it's been ugly for a while for the Twins.

In the last 18 games, the Twins are 3-15 with a -61 run differential.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 29, 2016

The Monday print column is about the shoddy defense, with an emphasis on the errors this team has piled up. I wrote the thing Sunday morning. A few hours later, the Twins starting outfield consisted of Robbie Grossman (leads the American League in errors by a left fielder), Danny Santana (a shortstop) and Max Kepler (leads the American League in errors by a right fielder). And on the first play of the game, Grossman and Santana collided on the warning track, with Santana spraining his left shoulder.

The Twins after the game put Santana on the disabled list and called up the legendary Logan Schafer, who they plucked out of an independent league in June. Not Byron Buxton, who can at least make some plays in the outfield and just had a four-game home run streak at Rochester. Nor Adam Brett Walker or Daniel Palka, who've had impressive power numbers (admittedly, neither is a center fielder).

Seth Stohs:

Between today and the end of the AAA season, Walker/Palka will each get 30-35 plate appearances. With Twins, they'd get 8 maybe.

— Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) August 29, 2016

Calling up Logan Schafer is not exciting in any way, but I'm OK with him getting 2 games in 8 days while Walker/Palka keep playing daily.

— Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) August 29, 2016

I don't think the loss of 35 August at-bats matters a whit in terms of development. I think the Red Wings still have a chance of making the International League playoffs, and Twins are loathe to take a big piece of their lineup out to sit on the big league bench.

Which is, perhaps, part of why they still have their valued affiliation with Rochester. It sure does nothing to make the big league club more watchable or interesting.