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Twins make roster moves, trades ahead of Rule 5 Draft deadline

Minnesota protected one additional prospect, made a minor trade with the Marlins, and sold a guy to Japan.

By Maija Varda
Minnesota Twins v Detroit Tigers Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

In case you weren’t aware, the deadline for MLB organizations to add prospects to their 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft was today (Tuesday) at 7:00 pm CT. The Twins already placed shortstop Nick Gordon and outfielder LaMonte Wade on the 40-man roster last night, but made a few more interesting moves before the deadline today.

But first — if you’re not sure what the Rule 5 Draft is, you can read a little primer here. Briefly, the Rule 5 Draft is the thing where teams can steal prospects from other organizations, but then they have to keep that prospect on the 25-man roster (i.e., in the big leagues) for the entire next season. It’s how the Twins got Ryan Pressly from the Red Sox, and most famously, Johan Santana from the Astros back in the day.

In addition to Gordon and Wade, the Twins added infield prospect Luis Arraez to the 40-man roster Tuesday. Injuries limited Arraez to only three games in 2017, but he bounced back impressively in 2018, hitting .320/.373/.421 over 60 games in High-A and .298/.345/.365 over 48 games in Double-A. The kid is still only 21-years-old, but it appears the Falvine front office thinks highly of him.

In addition to Arraez, the Twins made a few other moves:

  • The Twins made a minor-league trade with the Marlins, sending pitcher Nick Anderson down south for infielder Brian Schales. Anderson, 28, is a Minnesota-native who held a 3.30 ERA and 1.13 WHIP over 60.0 innings pitched in Triple-A in 2018. Schales, 22, is a third baseman who hit .258/.354/.403 in Double-A last season. Very exciting trade, of course.
  • Pour one out for Alan Busenitz, as the Twins sold him to the Rakuten Golden Eagles in NPB (aka Japan). Apparently is was Busenitz’sidea, as he released the following statement:

After today’s moves, the Twins 40-man roster stands at 38 players. Of course, not filling the 40-man roster completely is customary as the Twins look at free agents and other trades.

Some were surprised the Twins did not protect former first-round draft pick Tyler Jay, but I feel like we’ve addressed the Tyler Jay thing already.

Thoughts?

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