Twins Spring Training 2019: One more roster update before final cuts

The Minnesota Twins are just a little over a week away from Opening Day at Target Field and still currently have 40 players in camp playing Grapefruit League games. It’s commonly known around baseball that teams can only carry 25 players on their active roster (until next year) and commonly known around math people that 40 is more than 25. Although the Twins have made cuts recently, they will have 15 players to cut before they begin the regular season. Let’s take a quick look at who’s been cut, who’s left in camp, and what their chances are of landing on the 25-man roster for the Minnesota Twins.

(Note that players with an asterisk are non-roster invitees. The date in parenthesis is the date that the player was cut. All stats below are through March 19 and courtesy of baseball-reference.com.)

Catchers

Most Likely: Jason Castro, Mitch Garver
Maybes: Willians Astudillo
Dark Horses: Wynston Sawyer*
Cuts: Tomás Telis* (3/18), Brian Navarreto *(3/18), Ben Rortvedt* (3/8)

As it has been for this year’s Spring Training, it is expected that Castro will be the Twins’ starting catcher while Garver backs him up. The main question is if the Twins will go north with Astudillo on the bench as a third catcher/utilityman. Sawyer is still in camp with the team as a non-roster invitee and has seen more time at first base than catcher and is a very dark horse candidate for a bench spot as he has quite a few names ahead of him on the depth chart.

Infield and Designated Hitter

Most Likely: Jonathan Schoop, Jorge Polanco, C.J. Cron, Nelson Cruz, Marwin Gonzalez
Maybes: Ehire Adrianza, Tyler Austin, Lucas Duda*
Dark Horses: Ronald Torreyes, Adam Rosales*
Cuts: Randy César* (3/18), Nick Gordon (3/12), Luis Arraez (3/12), Royce Lewis* (3/10)
Other: Miguel Sanó (injured, heel), Dean Anna* (retired)

With Sanó going on the Injured List to start the season, Gonzalez is expected to take over the hot corner in the interim. Additionally, this opens up another spot on the plane ride back to Minnesota for Opening Day. Adrianza, who is out of options, is familiar with the organization while Austin and non-roster invitee Duda, whose opt-out date is on Friday, are also battling out for a bench spot to back up for first base and/or fill-in DH duties. Torreyes (who has an option remaining) and Rosales (opt-out date is on Saturday) still hang on in camp.

Outfield

Most Likely: Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler
Maybes: Jake Cave
Dark Horses: Michael Reed
Cuts: LaMonte Wade, Jr. (3/12), Alex Kirilloff* (3/8), Luke Raley* (3/8), Brent Rooker* (3/8)
Other: Zack Granite (traded to Texas Rangers)

Like the catching corps, the outfield looks to be Rosario-Buxton-Kepler going into Opening Day. The question mark is if Cave will be on the bench as the fourth outfielder or if Rocco Baldelli will opt to do some juggling with Gonzalez, Astudillo, and Adrianza if and when one of the outfielders need a day off. Reed is still in camp with the team and could be a long-shot to make the active roster. (editor’s note: or maybe not a long-shot, check later today for analysis of this battle)

Starting Rotation

Most Likely: José Berríos, Kyle Gibson, Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda, Martín Pérez
Cuts: Chase De Jong* (3/16), Zack Littell (3/14), Stephen Gonsalves (3/12), Lewis Thorpe (3/8), Kohl Stewart (3/8)

It has been made pretty clear that the Twins will go with Berríos, Gibson, Odorizzi, Pineda, and Pérez for their starting rotation this year, albeit not in that order. La MaKina has been tabbed as the Twins’ starter for Opening Day, but the rest is a question mark with the abundance of off-days the team has at the beginning of the season.

Bullpen

Most Likely: Taylor Rogers, Addison Reed, Trevor Hildenberger, Trevor May, Blake Parker
Maybes: Matt Magill, Fernando Romero, Adalberto Mejía, Ryne Harper*
Dark Horses: Gabriel Moya, Tim Collins*, Justin Nicolino*, Jake Reed*, Ryan Eades*, Preston Guilmet*, Mike Morin*
Cuts: Tyler Duffey (3/16), Andrew Vasquez (3/8)

The Twins still carry 16 bullpen arms in major-league camp right now. Parker, May, Mejía, and Magill do not have any options remaining, so the Twins will most likely have to take a chance on a player going through waivers by the time they hit the grass at Target Field if they would like to keep any of those arms. Mejía could be a bullpen arm as the Twins’ starting rotation is set. Most of the non-roster invitees look to be cut as there are few bullpen slots available and so many arms. Moya has not seen much action as he has been sidelined with a shoulder injury for most of Spring Training and will most likely land on the Injured List to start the season.

That’s the run-down of players left in camp. What position do you think is the hardest to predict to make the roster? Is there a non-roster invitee left that you think is going to make it? Talk it out in the comments!