How will the Twins make space on the 40-man roster?

If you read my Twins 2017 position player projection this morning, you may have noticed that two of the players are not currently on the 40-man roster: designated hitter ByungHo Park and backup catcher Chris Gimenez. They’ll need to be added before Opening Day, which is a week away.

The 40-man roster is currently full, however, so the Twins will have to make to open spots. Here are some of the options that they have.

Add Glen Perkins to the 60-day DL

This option has been discussed before. If the Twins add Perkins, who is still recovering from surgery on his torn labrum, to the 60-day DL, it will create an open spot on the 40-man roster. However, his addition to the 60-day DL cannot be backdated into the final week of spring training, so he would not be able to be activated until at least June 1st.

This option seems like one of the most palatable, because the Twins won’t risk losing any player on waivers. It also forces Perkins to not rush himself and gives him time to make sure he (hopefully) comes back fully healthy.

The downside is that Perkins may be ready before then. Also, he would have to agree to be added to the 60-day DL.

DFA John Ryan Murphy

Trust me—I sooooo wanted the John Ryan Murphy thing to work out. At the time, trading Aaron Hicks for him seemed like a pretty even, smart swap that helped fill a need for both teams.

Unfortunately, Murphy hasn’t done anything since he came to the Twins. In 2016 he played in a total of 26 major league games, hitting .146/.193/.220 with one home run. Of course, he actually spent most of last season in Triple-A, but didn’t do great there either. He played 83 games in Rochester and hit .236/.286/.323 with three home runs. Things haven’t looked any better for Murphy this spring, where he’s hit just .192/.276/.584.

Especially since Murphy isn’t particularly known for his defense, it’s hard to see where this is going. Do the Twins really need four catchers on their 40-man roster? Probably not. The addition of Chris Giminez may make Murphy the odd catcher out.

DFA Buddy Boshers

Buddy Boshers hasn’t had a great spring training, to say the least. It’s a small sample size, but that 10.61 ERA over 9.1 innings still isn’t pretty to look at. Nor is his 4.25 ERA over 36 innings pitched in the majors last year very impressive.

What Buddy does have going for him was an impressive year in Triple-A last season, where he 1.04 ERA with 29 strikeouts over 26 innings. But is that enough? Considering Boshers will be turning 29 years old in early May, the Twins may not have a problem exposing him to waivers.

Return Justin Haley to the Red Sox

Justin Haley is the pitcher the Twins received in this year’s Rule 5 draft—or, more accurately, the player the Angels took in the Rule 5 draft and then traded to the Twins for cash. The limitations of being a Rule 5 draft pick still apply to Haley, though, meaning he has to stay on the Twins 25-man roster all year. It not, the Twins have to figure out a trade with his original team, the Red Sox, or return him.

Haley had a fine spring, posting a 6.08 ERA with twelve strikeouts over 13.1 innings, but it’s possible the Twins could decide that the hassle of stashing him on the 25-man roster for the entire year isn’t worth it.

I don’t think this is the option the Twins will chose, however. The team has reportedly been impressed with Haley and his good eyes.

DFA Danny Santana

Obviously, I don’t think this is going to happen, since Danny Santana was the final player to make my 2017 position player roster projection. However, I know there are a lot of fans who want this to happen. If Ehire Adrianza wasn’t currently injured, Santana’s roster spot would be in a much more precarious position right now.

Why do we pick on Danny Santana all the time? While he is very versatile and can cover many positions, he’s not particularly good at any of them. He has a little speed, but he also gets picked-off and caught stealing quite a bit. Over the past two season, Santana has only been able to rack up negative fWAR, meaning he’s been worse than the average replacement.

But the new Twins front office isn’t beholden to Santana like Terry Ryan and the old crew was. Maybe they’ll do something here that surprises us all and finally kick Danny Santana off the roster? I’m not expecting it, but hey—anything can happen.

How do you think the Twins should make space on the 40-man roster?