Saturday Morning Breakfast & Baseball: Roster Fat and Right Handed Batters

by Jesse on Oct 22, 2011 11:51 AM EDT in Breakfast & Baseball

With Delmon gone and Cuddyer's status up in the air, Trevor Plouffe and Danny Valencia are Minnesota's two best right-handed hitters. No offense to those two guys, but that's an issue that needs to be addressed this winter.

This week, the Twins began the process of overhauling their roster for 2012 and beyond. Due to a number of injuries, players being dropped onto the 60-day disabled list, and a couple of trades, the Twins had a bit more roster fat than a number of other clubs. We now know they have 36 players on their 40-man roster, but this was after outrighting these players over the last eight days:

Brian Dinkelman, OF,October 20
Phil Dumatrait, RP, October 20
Rene Rivera, C, October 14
Matt Tolbert, IF, October 14
Jason Repko, OF, October 14
Anthony Slama, OF, October 14

For the uninitiated, to "outright" a player essentially means you're removing them from the 40-man roster without removing them from the organization. This usually happens to players who are out of options, although this wasn't the case for Dinkelman. But it does mean that these players all had to pass through waivers, which meant there was a chance the Twins could have lost them.

These were all relatively easy decisions to make. The 40-man now includes players like Kyle Waldrop and Esmerling Vasquez.

If the Twins front office wants to gamble a little bit and go for big changeover, there are a few more players they could target. Jim Hoey is the next most obvious choice for removal as far as I'm concerned, and players like Scott Diamond, Jeff Manship, Drew Butera, and one or two others wouldn't hurt the team by being outrighted either. But it's early yet, and there are a lot of decisions that need to be made not just in terms of free agents, trades, and their own five and six-year minor league free agents, but in terms of overall roster construction.

One step at a time. As much of a proponent of change as I'll be on this team over the winter, I have to keep reminding myself: it's not a video game. Roster changeover doesn't have to, and probably shouldn't, happen all at once.

But with the departure of Delmon Young, and the impending free agency of Michael Cuddyer, the Twins are once again looking for good right-handed hitting. On our current 36-man roster, your right-handed bats are:

Guess what part two of my off-season blueprint philosophy will be about.

Tweet Comment 16 comments | 1 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Personally

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Twins make a few more roster cuts, but wouldn’t cutting Drew Butera anger Carl Pavano?

On a related note, the general management shakeup could end up impacting the Twins. It is very possible that Gardy could become manager of the Cubs if the price is right and his Twins contract is brought out. A lot of things could happen to the point that the front office if forced to make changes.

I'm a proud fan of the Minnesota Twins and Dallas Cowboys!
"Life is precious and time is a key element. Let’s make every moment count and help those who have a greater need than our own." – Harmon Killebrew
Champagne SuperTolbert Saves the day!!!

by Jessy S on Oct 22, 2011 12:27 PM EDT reply actions

Gardy to Cubs?

Not in a million years.

by Gunnarthor on Oct 22, 2011 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Hard to say

But Gardy is more of a National League manager than American League manager and has preached about the little things though they might be frustrating to some fans. Most of this is because of the General Manager shakeup taking place in the majors.

by Jessy S on Oct 22, 2011 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, but you're just making stuff up again.

by Jesse on Oct 22, 2011 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions 6 recs

Notice I said could

It is just spec by me so chill out. If the front office wants Gardy to return for another season of Twins baseball, as the manager, fine and dandy by me. It is just that Ron Gardenhire is a known commodity and could be a target for the Cubs.

by Jessy S on Oct 22, 2011 4:31 PM EDT up reply actions

No it's not "fine and dandy" by you

You’ve been calling for his head for at least over a year now.

"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any one of us." -Kirby Puckett

by less cowbell, more 'neau on Oct 22, 2011 6:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Not Necessarly

I have been calling for his head, but I backed off when It was clear that the Pohlads want Gardy here. I may have said something to that end where Gardy could be released and somebody would take over on an interm basis. However, I applaud him for Identifying the problems and be willing to fix them. Besides, most of the fans anger is directed at Bill Smith and Joe Mauer.

by Jessy S on Oct 23, 2011 12:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Do we have a list of guys who need to be protected from Rule 5?

That’s probably the biggest thing affecting 40-man decisions right now.

by timprov on Oct 22, 2011 12:37 PM EDT reply actions

We'll be getting to that shortly, too.

by Jesse on Oct 22, 2011 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Jesse...

…I had been thinking of doing that on November 5th. Have all the data in my data base.

If you need it sooner, will do the Ft. Myers review that day.

by roger13 on Oct 23, 2011 10:46 AM EDT up reply actions

No worries Roger.

I’ll leave that one in your more than capable hands!

by Jesse on Oct 24, 2011 2:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Regarding Outrighting

The difference between being outrighted and designated for assignment is that when you’ve been outrighted, you’ve already cleared waivers. When you’re DFA’d, then you have to go through waivers. The player does keep his contract, however. That happened with Brendan Harris a couple years ago. Twins put him through waivers, no one claimed him, so he was outrighted to Triple-A and unsurprisingly, he stayed in Rochester because it meant he got to keep his $1.5 million salary.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller.

by Andrew Bryz-Gornia on Oct 22, 2011 1:23 PM EDT reply actions

Yes, thank you.

Very good point on the difference between outrighting & DFA.

by Jesse on Oct 22, 2011 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Which means that the people that mourned the passing of Brian Dinkleman

Did so too early. This includes you Randball.

by Jessy S on Oct 22, 2011 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Ol’ Stuball was a racehorse,
And I wish he were mine,
He never drank water,
He always drank wine.

I don't know, but I've been told it's hard to run with the weight of gold,
'the other hand, I've heard it said, it's just as hard with the weight of lead.

by montanatwinsfan on Oct 23, 2011 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions

I hope this is the last time

I have to mention the Ramos trade. This was my big objection to his being traded. I always saw him as a Solid RH Bat. At the time I said he could DH when Joe was catching. Yes its time to let that trade go.

by b1 on Oct 23, 2011 1:11 PM EDT reply actions