Notes, quotes and comment

Remember my (no doubt silly) notion of including catching prospect Mitch Garver in a starting pitcher deal? Much less likely now ...

Source confirms ex-#mntwins catcher Chris Gimenez is signing with #Cubs. I'm told it's a minor-league deal. @ChrisCotillo 1st.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) January 23, 2018

The Twins have signed some other catchers to minor league deals, but Garver is clearly (and correctly) ticketed for the backup role now. Bringing back Gimenez was almost certainly the preferred fallback.

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Does this imply that the Twins are out on Yu Darvish? I doubt it. The personal connections stuff we've heard about -- Thad Levine in the front office, Gimenez behind the plate -- is nice, but the real reason Darvish is still a free agent some three weeks before pitchers and catchers report is money. Nobody is offering (yet) the years and total he's looking for, and he isn't settling for less (yet).

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#mntwins lose LHP Bully Bouch (aka Buddy Boshers) on waivers to #Astros. Held lefties to .258 OBP last season. https://t.co/q6idVTJ0mS

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) January 22, 2018

And good for Boshers, who gets to remain on a 40-man roster, at least for a few more days.

Berardino noted later that the last two World Series winners have this offseason claimed lefty relievers off the Twins, the other being Randy Rosario by the Cubs. I think the Twins are more likely to regret losing Rosario than Boshers, but that may well be me being fascinated by bright shiny objects.

The Twins have no shortage of lefty relief possibilities without them.

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The Twins have five prospects on Baseball America's Top 100 list, released Monday,. Royce Lewis leads the way at No. 24, and the other four (Brent Rooker, Nick Gordon, Wander Javier and Stephen Gonsalves) are in the 90s.

Of note: The BA overall list includes Gordon, who was No. 8 on the Twins list compiled by Beradino, and not several guys Beradino had higher.