The Minnesota Twins are more or less done paring their roster down to the 25-man limit for when they take on the Kansas City Royals next Monday at Target Field. Early in the week, the team sent Buddy Boshers to Triple-A Rochester and reassigned utility infielder Tommy Field to minor-league camp.
The roster was further cut down on Wednesday when the Twins sent right-handed pitchers Nick Tepesch and Alex Wimmers to minor-league camp. That more or less firmed up the bullpen; rather, it suggested that relievers Justin Haley and Michael Tonkin had made the team. Manager Paul Molitor confirmed that later in the day with reporters.
The other shoe to fall roster-wise came on Thursday, and it was a big one. First, it was announced that Adalberto Mejia — and not Tyler Duffey — was going to be the No. 5 starter. Duffey instead was headed to the bullpen, ostensibly to work as a long guy, which meant the team was going with 13 pitchers instead of 12.
It also meant another domino had to fall on the bench, and that move was a surprising one as ByungHo Park was sent to minor-league camp. Park had captivated fans and media types alike by hitting six home runs in 51 spring plate appearances — .353/.414/.745 overall — while landing on virtually everyone’s Opening Day roster projections.
But at the end of the day, the only 25-man roster that matters is the one formalized by Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, and he’s not on it.
While it’s true that Park did plenty of damage in Grapefruit League play, it’s worth noting he didn’t exactly light up pitchers who are destined for greatness this year.
Liriano is an interesting bounce-back case with the Blue Jays and Chen is a legitimate major league pitcher, but besides that you have Pomeranz, who is opening the season on the disabled list due to arm issues, and a bunch of lesser-known names. None of this is to say that’s the reason why Park didn’t make the roster, but it could have played a factor.
Beyond that, the roster flexibility that is afforded to the Twins in the meantime means they don’t have to designate a player for assignment to make room for Park — at least not yet. If he goes down to Rochester and pounds the ball — like he ought to and like he did last year — there’s little reason to believe he won’t force their hand when the club undoubtedly goes back to 12 pitchers, which is the norm.
And if Park doesn’t hit at Rochester, what are the odds he would have in Minnesota?
The rest of the roster was firmed up on Thursday as the Twins sent catcher John Ryan Murphy to Triple-A Rochester and reassigned the following players to minor-league camp:
- Eddy Rodriguez (C)
- Matt Hague (IF)
- Bengie Gonzalez (IF)
- Ben Paulsen (IF/OF)
- J.B. Shuck (OF)
The Twins also put infielder Ehire Adrianza (right oblique strain) and reliever Ryan O’Rourke (left forearm strain) on the 10-day DL. That left 27 players in camp, with my estimation being the other two are Kennys Vargas (possible DL/Triple-A candidate) and Glen Perkins (possible 60-day DL candidate) as the only players not pegged for the Opening Day roster but still in camp.
As it currently stands, here’s what the final roster looks like:
Starting Lineup
- C- Jason Castro
- 1B- Joe Mauer
- 2B- Brian Dozier
- 3B- Miguel Sano
- SS- Jorge Polanco
- LF- Eddie Rosario
- CF- Byron Buxton
- RF- Max Kepler
- DH- Robbie Grossman
Bench
- C/IF- Chris Gimenez
- IF- Eduardo Escobar
- IF/OF- Danny Santana
Rotation
- SP- Ervin Santana
- SP- Kyle Gibson
- SP- Hector Santiago
- SP- Phil Hughes
- SP- Adalberto Mejia
Bullpen
- RP- Justin Haley
- RP- Tyler Duffey
- RP- Craig Breslow
- RP- Michael Tonkin
- RP- Taylor Rogers
- RP- Matt Belisle
- RP- Ryan Pressly
- CP- Brandon Kintzler
With a short bench and just a few days until the season starts, there still remains the possibility the Twins could be active on the waiver wire, especially since they have the top priority after last year’s 103-loss season. It wouldn’t be stunning for some other team’s loss to be the Twins’ gain, so keep an eye out for them claiming someone on waivers. Detroit’s Steven Moya — a mountain of a man at 6-foot-7, 260 pounds with massive power but strikeout/plate discipline issues — comes to mind as a possible claim.
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A move that might have slipped a bit under the radar was Tuesday’s announcement that the Rochester Red Wings were hiring Toby Gardenhire to their coaching staff. The 34-year-old Gardenhire, who was the head coach at University of Wisconsin-Stout from 2012-16, played for the Red Wings in 2010-11 and is, of course, son of former Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. Toby was a Lions All-Star in 2001 — the same year as Joe Mauer (Cretin-Derham Hall) and Glen Perkins (Stillwater) — and was twice drafted by the Twins. The second time, he went in the 41st round of the 2005 draft out of University of Illinois and signed with the team. He ultimately spent seven seasons in the team’s system, hitting .232/.292/.274.
LISTEN: Rochester play-by-play man Josh Whetzel joins Midwest Swing
As reported early this year by Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Gardenhire was initially expected to work with the GCL Twins when he resigned from his college coaching job. As noted by Whetzel when he appeared on Midwest Swing, the shoulder injury for manager Mike Quade as well as the physical limitations of some of the other members of the Red Wings coaching staff presented a unique quandary for the team — who would throw batting practice? The addition of Gardenhire — who’ll obviously do much more than that — should help answer that question in the meantime as Quade recovers from a car accident in Florida this spring.
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