The Minnesota Twins are a third of the way through the 2023 season, and their 26-man roster has been everything but consistent. Injuries, bad performances, and even some good ones have resulted in Minnesota putting 44 total players on their roster this year.
That’s still 17 fewer players than the Twins used in 2022. However, they’ve added an additional 16 players up and down the roster since Opening Day in only the first two months of the season. It is cause for concern.
Max Kepler and Emilio Pagán have been at the forefront of the roster moves conversation. They continue to struggle, and the occasional home run or clean inning of work cannot make up for how often they produce outs at the plate or relinquish leads late in games, respectively.
Kepler and Pagán will likely be at the forefront of these conversations until Minnesota’s front office decides to part ways with one of them. There are other areas of the roster where they need to add a consistent player or two if they want to make a run at their first American League Central Division title since 2020.
The Twins have started a change in the roster today by activating Joey Gallo and sending Kyle Garlick back to the Saints. The main thing that the Twins need from Gallo is for him to remain healthy, so he and Alex Kirilloff can platoon their playing time between first base and left field together.
Both are exceptional defenders at both positions. However, Gallo has more upside in the outfield than Kirilloff. But it’s rare for a team to have two players who can perfectly complement each other at two different positions.
Gallo is all power at the plate, and Kirilloff can place the ball all over the field. Kirilloff is still adjusting to his skills as a defender post-wrist surgery, and Gallo has shown he’s still a Gold Glove-caliber defender when healthy. If these two can remain healthy for the remainder of the year, their positional flexibility will be a great help to some of Minnesota’s current roster construction problems.
Byron Buxton cannot be activated from the injured list until June 16 at the earliest. But when that happens, it will force management to make difficult decisions on the roster. Many fans would consider cutting Kepler upon Buxton’s return as the obvious answer to bolster the lineup. But the final decision may not be so simple.
Assuming the Twins’ front office wants to retain Kepler for their outfield depth, Trevor Larnach is looking like the player they will send down once Buxton returns. Larnach has only three hits in 19 June at-bats, and all three of those hits came in the last series in Toronto.
Injuries and inconsistent playing time have shown that Larnach needs to spend at least two weeks in the minors for at least two weeks to be able to get himself back into a good routine. The only thing that could prevent him from being the guy sent down for Buxton’s return is if he tears apart the Milwaukee Brewers’ pitchers in the short two-game series that begins today.
On the pitching side of things, the looming question for this roster, aside from Pagán, is what will happen once Kenta Maeda returns from rehab?
Maeda is likely to stay with the Saints for the full 30 days of his rehab assignment, which sets his return date at July 1. The plan is still for Maeda to return to the rotation once he’s back from rehab, which makes Louie Varland the odd man out.
Varland has struggled in back-to-back starts against American League East opponents, and his greatest problem is that he’s surrendered 12 home runs in 51.2 innings. However, Varland will at least have three more starts before Maeda’s rehab assignment is done.
Still, Varland could remain on the active roster upon Maeda’s return. While he is a great option for the long-term future of the Twins rotation, a short stint in the bullpen wouldn’t be a terrible place for him to go if Maeda returns to the rotation.
The bullpen has only had one consistently dominant arm, Jhoan Durán, this season. What harm would it be for Varland to spend a month or two in the bullpen to provide consistency where it’s needed most on the team right now?
These are only internal moves the Twins need to address with the roster over the month of June. July will be another story when trade season is in full swing and the price tags are set for available relievers and right-handed outfield bats.
For now, the Twins can make do with who they have, but certain moves will need to be made to ensure this roster can keep the Twins in first place going into the All-Star break.
