The Twins have outrighted six players off their 40-man roster after they went unclaimed on waivers, as first noted on the transactions page at MLB.com. Right-handers Kyle Barraclough, Nick Vincent, Ian Gibaut and Luke Farrell were all removed from the roster, as were lefty Andrew Albers and infielder Drew Maggi.
All of the players dropped from the roster today will be eligible to become free agents. The 30-year-old Farrell spent more time in the big leagues than any of the bunch this season, tossing 24 2/3 innings with a 4.74 ERA, a 22.1 percent strikeout rate and an 11.5 percent walk rate. It was the fifth straight season with some Major League action for Farrell, although the Twins are already his fifth big league team as well. In 87 2/3 innings at the MLB level, Farrell carries a 4.93 ERA.
Vincent, 35, is the most experienced of the group, having accrued more than seven full years of Major League service time across the past 10 seasons. He held opponents to just one run in 12 2/3 innings, albeit with a tepid 19.1 percent strikeout rate, a higher-than-average 10.6 percent walk rate and a fastball that averaged just 89.3 mph. Vincent was set to become a free agent anyway, based purely on service time, so his outright is largely a formality.
The 31-year-old Barraclough worked in a setup role for the Marlins from 2015-18, logging 218 2/3 innings of 3.21 ERA ball with a hefty 29.8 percent strikeout rate but also a bloated 14.3 percent walk rate. He’s bounced around the league a good bit since that time, and in 13 frames with Minnesota this season allowed eight runs on 12 hits and eight walks with 18 strikeouts — a 5.54 ERA on the whole.
Albers, 36, returned for a third stint with the Twins and was tagged for 16 runs in 19 innings (7.58 ERA) in a late-season call back to the big leagues. He had a solid year in the rotation for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate, logging a 3.88 ERA in 102 innings. Albers had spent the three prior seasons pitching with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, logging a 4.02 ERA in 266 1/3 innings.
Gibaut, 27, only pitched 6 2/3 big league innings with the Twins. He held opponents to a pair of runs in that time but spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A St. Paul, where he posted an unsightly 6.80 ERA with a solid 26 percent strikeout rate against a 10.1 percent walk rate. He’s now seen MLB time with the Rays, Rangers and Twins but only managed a 5.40 ERA in 33 1/3 innings.
Maggi, 32, had his contract selected to the Majors late in the season, but the Twins somewhat surprisingly didn’t get the veteran minor leaguer into what would’ve been the first big league game of his career. He’s spent two seasons in their system and turned in a .252/.354/.456 batting line with a career-best 16 home runs and a dozen stolen bases while playing shortstop, second base, third base and left field in Triple-A this year.
Today’s slate of subtractions will help to open roster space for a Twins club that finished the year with eight players needing to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list. They’ll still need to open a couple more spots to accommodate a 60-day IL group that includes Kenta Maeda, Taylor Rogers, Alex Kirilloff, Cody Stashak, Devin Smeltzer, Randy Dobnak, Kyle Garlick and Lewis Thorpe.
They will probably just DFA a couple of the guys coming off the 60 day IL would be my guess. Garlick for sure and probably at least one of Dobnak/Thorpe/Stashak.
Dobnak and Garlick are gone for sure
Dobnak isn’t going anywhere he just signed a 5 year 30 million dollar contract in March so highly doubt they’ll DFA him.
Exactly. I realize that not everyone has a good memory but all this stuff is easily available if you use google. Most here seem to think they can make player evaluations on all 1200+ players. There is zero chance Dobnak is going anywhere. They aren’t going to eat that contract because he had one really bad year. It’s hard to follow every team, so don’t try and be a expert.
$9M over 5 years. Not sure where you got 30… it may not be a good deal, but it is certainly not the catastrophic deal you suggest.
$9m guaranteed. Potentially $29.75m over 5 years.
I think they will DFA Smeltzer. Dobnak will be given another chance and Stashak has good stuff and deserves another look. Garlick would be better than Cave or Refsnyder.
kinda sucky MIN promoted Maggi and then didnt let him get into a game
I agree. They couldn’t find one opportunity to get him an AB or throw him in the field for an inning over those 2 meaningless games?
Can’t Maeda still be on the IL? He’s not coming back for several months, if at all in 2022.
WHEW!!! Refsnyder stays on the roster. What do you all think, 5 years, 50M???? Cheap price for the HOFer.
Twins didn’t want to put Baddoo on the 40 man but had mediocre players on the outskirts of it all season long. Also didn’t want Lamonte Wade. Twins front office isn’t as good as many think.
Hubba Hubba, still out there humping up his brand of 89 mph cheese. His World Bullpen Tour continues in Feb.
Hate to see Dobnak go purely based on his Utica Unicorns roots. American Dream stuff at its unlikeliest. A dinky wee baseball league was created to pursue the most foolish of dreams, and I like thinking that a real Roy Hobbs or Joe Hardy can one day happen.
Well, thanks to Randy, a Shore leaguer at least started an MLB playoff game. It actually happened (so did his getting hammered…but still amazed by that). Crank around your shoulder and go out for a run. Oil up that comfy old mitt. You could be next.
Staschak Smeltzer, Garlick are goners for sure. Would not be surprised if Thorpe and Dobnak joined them.
Dobnak has 30 million reasons why he won’t join them.
$9M over 5 years. Not anywhere near 30…
Front office is making room for a free agent Blockbuster signing!
I’m still confused as to why the Twins gave Dobnak that bloated contract. He had a nice debut year in 2019, but he was average to slightly below average in the “full” 2020 season. His K’s per 9 are atrocious too. I know he got hurt this year but the wheels came big time before he was put on the 60 day IL.
I agree with the consensus that Minnesota will not DFA him due to his contract but all signs point to another below average season for him in 2022. I’d much rather have a Martin Perez or Nick Pivetta for that amount of money. Maybe they can swap him for another bad contract somehow.
Martin Perez was awful when he pitched for the Twins
Perez was good for a month or two when he threw inside and added several mph to his fastball Then he started nibbling again and went back to stinking.