The Twins announced this afternoon they’ve optioned corner outfielder Trevor Larnach and infield prospect Jose Miranda to Triple-A St. Paul. Neither player will break camp with the big league club.
Larnach played in just under half of Minnesota’s games as a rookie last season. The former first-rounder and top prospect only managed a .223/.322/.350 line in 301 plate appearances, striking out at a 34.6% clip. Those swing-and-miss concerns resulted in the Twins optioning Larnach back to Triple-A in August, and he’ll start this season in the minors as well.
With a projected regular outfield of Alex Kirilloff, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler, there weren’t everyday at-bats to afford to Larnach early on. The 25-year-old is still a valuable long-term piece for the organization, and they’d evidently prefer to get him regular run in the minors as opposed to having him start the year as a part-time player.
That’s also the case for Miranda, a 23-year-old who broke out with a huge .344/.401/.572 line between the minors’ top two levels. That earned him a place on the back half of Baseball America’s and FanGraphs’ Top 100 Prospects lists this winter, but he’ll head back to St. Paul to start the year. Minnesota has offseason acquisition Gio Urshela at third base, with Jorge Polanco and Luis Arraez options at the keystone and designated hitter. Miranda, added to the 40-man roster in November, figures to get his first big league look at some point this year. That’ll be put on hold by the Twins enviable collection of infield depth.
Strong as Minnesota’s position player group looks, the team’s rotation is still a major question mark. The Twins entered the offseason likely needing to add three starters from outside the organization. They’ve done so, acquiring Sonny Gray from the Reds and signing free agents Dylan Bundy and Chris Archer. Each of Bundy and Archer comes with durability and performance questions related to tough 2021 seasons, though.
The Twins were recently connected to A’s starters Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, both of whom would still be marked upgrades to the starting staff. The latest reports suggest Oakland could elect to keep both of those hurlers, and Montas in particular now seems unlikely to be moved before Opening Day. The Twins were linked to Montas/Manaea before they signed Archer on Monday, and it now appears they’ll break camp with a rotation of Gray, Bailey Ober, Archer, Bundy and rookie Joe Ryan.
In an appearance on SKOR North’s Mackey & Judd podcast this week, Darren Wolfson noted the Twins talks with the A’s had “stagnated.” Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press hears the A’s never made a formal ask for anyone from Minnesota in Montas and Manaea discussions. Wolfson suggests the Twins could be willing to revisit discussions on Montas and Manaea at some point, but Minnesota chief baseball officer Derek Falvey indicated this week the team is content with their existing rotation options. “We’ll always stay open-minded to everything,” Falvey said about the possibility of acquiring another starter (via Helfand). “I know I always say that, but that’s true. It’s just at this late stage as we approach Opening Day, it feels like the group is probably in this room.”
Like every team, the Twins will need to rely on more than five starters throughout the course of a 162-game season. Righty Josh Winder, Baseball America’s #6 prospect in the organization, would appear to be the top depth option out of the gate. Winder has yet to make his MLB debut, but he pitched to a 1.98 ERA with excellent strikeout and walk rates (31.3% and 4.8%, respectively) in 10 Double-A starts last season. The Twins could start him in the St. Paul rotation, but manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) today they’re open to carrying him with the big league club as a long relief option.
The organization no doubt views Winder as a starting pitcher long-term, but keeping him in the MLB bullpen could allow him to stay stretched out and get his feet wet in the big leagues. Given the rather thin rotation, the VMI product figures to be starting games before long.
Twins are going for the season… they will acquire an ace… and Lucy won’t move the football when charlie Brown goes to kick it..
Our off-season makes absolutely zero sense if we don’t get a true ace and a reliable bullpen option. It’s astounding the lack of attention our pitching staff received in free agency. But who needs to worry when Dylan Bundy is your #2 starter??
Totally agree!! We bring in Correa….Then they need to go hard full bore for top quality starter(s)! This starting rotation is not good enough for contention. Gray was a nice pick up….but then add on with him. Just sayin!
Combo deal of Manaea/ montas plus trivino fits the needs for Minnesota. On the flip side, A’s gutted their offense and defense yet keep montas, manaea who will need defensive and run support. Their stats will get worse as a result of a worse defense, bullpen, and offense. Trade them soon, at least manaea who only has a year left
The bullpen is fine imo. Rogers/Duffey/Thielbar/Alcala/Smith is a solid group
The whole AL central is a mystery…..noticeable holes are evident, without much desire to fill them …. except Detroit probably but they had more holes to fill and they probably should have waited for the Correa market to shake out
The Twins believe their pitching prospects will deliver this year. After all the injuries suffered by their prospects last year, it is a gamble, but the talent is evident.
we have been hearing that for decades.. they made the moves so it would look to the fans like they were doing something .. but they sure didn’t build what anyone would look at and say… there is a world series quality team… no better to finish the rebuilld and stop trying to hide it… bring up all the young talent and let them play to their own level..
Finish what rebuild?
It’s still a better team than I expected that the Twins would field on opening day. I expect to see a decent amount of young arms getting their shot this year as the Twins “contend this year.” But I also expect many trades by July (if their record is or especially is not very good). They should be pretty set for 2023 and know what they need to add.
You don’t invest in Correa,only to have a subpar rotation and the twins have blocked prospects to trade from
Why not? You sell some tickets to fans, you spend some of the money that should have spent earlier before the lockout (thus quieting other angry fans), you have a pretty decent team that might make the playoffs if things fall right, and you have a lot of players that can be traded (including Correa) if things instead go south quickly.
Twins really need to assess what they have right now in the minors for their pitching to set up for seriously competing in 2023, but that’s harder to sell to fans in 2022 without someone like Correa being added to the team now. Just look at him as a one year (maybe less) rental. And… you never know, he might love it here and stay in 2023.
“Just look at him as a one year (maybe less) rental. And… you never know, he might love it here and stay in 2023.”.
@ The Einheri;
Could be.
Could also be that Mr. Correa gets injured again during the first half of the season, and that no team is going to be wild about taking on his contract.
I love Scott Boras’ work. But every owner in MLB should view him through a lens containing a Warning Label. Past history has shown that when Mr. Boras bypasses the FO that doesn’t care for what he’s selling and goes directly to the Owner…….
I believe the Twins owner is right up there with those of the Rangers, Rockies, and Reds; although it may be possible that a light has started flickering in the Marlins owners head.
A short term deal for someone with Correa’s abilities in the literal prime of his career is not something I would lose sleep over.
He tears his ACL maybe he opts in but that deal is perfectly fine.
Good argument for a one year deal, but with Correa you either get a single season of good performance or 3 years of a massively overpriced SS. Gambling on that one year while also gambling on pitching prospects seems like a bit much.
That’s not the only outcome. Correa eventually leaves after he has a really good year or he may stink/get injured and you keep him for all 3.
Either way—I’ll take that gamble on a 27 year old 7 WAR player. Beats the hell out of giving Marcus Semien 175 million until he’s 38. Or Corey Seager 300. Seager has his own share of injury concerns. Or even what the Tigers gave Baez
The Tigers are hoping for Baez to opt out in 2 years. They are taking a similar gamble. I don’t see either contract being an anchor if either team pays all of it.
Baez also plays baseball, unlike Correa who feigns injury after injury ever since it became glaringly evident that he was falling hopelessly short of the hype that surrounded him as a prospect. Baez has had a couple injuries here and there, but has also played at least 138 games in 5 of 7 full seasons as a big leaguer. While Correa has eclipsed that mark only twice in 6.5 seasons. When shockingly “healthy,” Correa’s power was middling at best in a bandbox of a home stadium, even with the benefit of trash cans. Add to that in recent years Houston has full red lighted him, and he doesn’t steal a SINGLE base anymore. None. He’s a so-so power, so-so OBP, so-so AVG player, that produces in an unimpressive fashion with the bat, while playing solid defense. He reeks of over-hype and is grossly overrated. Yeah, Baez has plenty of his own faults, but these 2 deals aren’t even close in value.
Twinkies didn’t go get Correa. Boras “gifted” him to the team. In what seems like typical Twins fashion, they fail to identify a target and then go out and find a way to get him. They instead just seem content to sit back and wait for other clubs to come to them and accept the castoffs of other organizations. And in free agency, they nibble on the edges and scrape the bottom of the barrel as opposed to going after top talent. An effective front office is proactive, definitive, and aggressive. The Twins, historically and currently ARE NOT.
The Yankmes are laughing.. seems they fulfilled all their needs with one trade..
. ” Sánchez led the AL in passed balls in three of the last five seasons, and pitchers threw 60 wild pitches with Sánchez behind the plate last year, a career high. Torres was moved to second base last Sept. 13 after making 18 errors, second-most among AL shortstops at the time of his move.
“We feel by doing this trade that we’ve upgraded defensively and offensively at third, defensively at shortstop, placed Gleyber at a position he’s best at — at second base — so on the infield side, we’ve upgraded three different ways,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “And improved the defense on the catching side, as well. It was with one transaction with one particular team that solved a lot of areas of focus that we had targeted.” ” apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-new-york-new-york-ya…
Donaldson wont play more than half the season…calf injuries..just wait!!
@Jacksson13
Funny. I can substitute any number of teams for “Twins” in this post which only demonstrates that either all teams are clueless or all fans are. Feel free to choose which applies.
It only demonstrates that some teams are hampered by their front office and others are hampered by other factors such as: payroll, tradable talent, team chemistry, terms of contracts, positional depth, and demands of other teams.
I’m not sure how you said they went and acquired 3 pitchers with a straight face when one of them was Dylan Bundy.
The Twins are linked to every pitcher. In 2017, with the first pick, they take a position player, Royce Lewis, instead of Hunter Greene who will be starting for the Reds.
But he’s so signable. How can you pass up such an opportunity for such a signable young man like that?
What does everyone make of the new MLB Home Run Derby X?
I doubt kids in Seoul who don’t care about MLB will care now because Nick Swisher is hitting batting practice homers with a bunch of other old players they never heard of.
Here’s the thing: Its great that MLB is trying something new that isnt complete game changing rules to try and get more people into it. But they chose the absolute most random group of players to represent the Home Run Derby X. Like who said “Yes, we want the face of our new movement to be represented by Nick Swisher, Jonny Gomes, and Geovanny Soto”? I know they can’t always get guys like Big Papi or Jeter to do stuff like this because of scheduling conflicts along with other things, and I’m not saying that Soto, Swisher, and Gomes are bad people or anything, but there were no better players to get than those?
Jonny Gomes is a perfect HR derby hitter.
Willy Mo Peña would’ve been great to see too.
Yeah but not only is it not a home run derby, but nobody thinks “home run derby” and “Jonny Gomes”. No knock on Gomes, but he’s just such a random player for this.
It is ever thus in the Falvey/Levine universe. All hot air and no action when it comes to pitching.
Gray/Bundy/Archer are really no different than the Twins getting Happ and Shoemaker last year or Maeda, Rich Hill, and Homer Bailey the year before. The Twins best years in the early 2000’s the team had mostly homegrown pitching, not yearly patchwork veterans
Sonny Gray is at best a #3 starter right now. Dylan Bundy is at best a #5 starter. If Chris Archer is in your starting rotation with those guys …… Your bats will still struggle to produce a .500 season.
Something like SWR & Balazovic for Montas.
If they’re truly pushing chips in. 2 years of control. SWR is looking like more of a backend guy but those 2 arms have value. Close to the bigs which seems like what the A’s are interested in
If they’re close to the bigs why wouldn’t the Twins just keep them and have two arms for 6 years? The Twins window isn’t just this year or next, they have a good pool of young players.
I could see the twins making a trade with San Diego for Chris Paddack. Not saying that’s a needle mover or a move we should make but it sounds like the type of move we’d make especially since I don’t think he’d cost a ton.
Which is your offer? we need outfielders.
I must say it amuses me all the people saying “same old cheap twins” because they haven’t traded for a top arm yet after signing the #1 free agent. This report says the A’s didn’t even make player requests, maybe the Twins floated a trade offer and the A’s told them they would need to triple it so the Twins just walked away. That’s called being smart. Bad GMs are the ones who recklessly spend money or prospects just to make it look like they are doing something and neither of the A’s pitchers is worth selling the farm for. They probably think it’s better to start the year and see if any of the young pitchers excel right away and then make a trade later based on how things pan out verse getting screwed over on a trade for a #2/3 starter just to say you did something.
Twinkies could acquire quality starters if Jimmy would loosen the tight Pohlad purse strings.
Maneaa or Montas if the Twins also agreed to take OF Piscotty and/or IF Andrus from A’s..
Starter from Padres if the Twins also agree to take OF Myers and/or 1B Hosmer.
Money is a powerful weapon in the hands of an organization that is willing to use it.
A’s would be dumb to devalue their last remaining pitching assets in manaea, montas just to rid themselves of a piscotty, andrus contracts when they only have a currently a 50 mill payroll, but it also wouldn’t be shocking
That old tired song. They just signed Correa to a $35 million dollar a year deal.
Play it out until the deadline. If things went well spend a little more of those prospects. Things went the other way see ya later Correa and possibly many others. Crazier things than this team competing have happened. 2nd in the division, behind Chicago. FINALLY win a playoff game please!!!!!!!!!
I don’t understand their approach with Winder. If he’s ready to face big league hitters, why not let him start? Use Bundy as long relief. The Twins have no reason to guarantee Bundy a spot in the rotation. If the Twins believe Winder has a chance to be a viable big league starter, they should give him the opportunity to develop in that capacity. Their approach might explain why it’s been so long since Minnesota developed a pitcher. They don’t know how.
Yeah, Jose Berrios was so long ago.
Fair enough, but the list is still pretty short. My point still stands. The Twins don’t develop many pitchers and it may be a result of their approach
Historically, I agree with you, but it’s much too early to say this front office doesn’t/can’t.
Here is a list of MLB starters drafted 2017 to 2021 in the first five rounds with a WAR (BR) of 0.1 or better:
Trevor Rogers, Tanner Houck, David Peterson, Shane Baz, Griffin Canning, Keegan Thompson, Bruce Zimmerman, Josh Fleming, Casey Mize, Kris Bubic, Shane McClanahan, Brady Singer, Logan Gilbert and Alek Monoah.
That’s it. That’s the list. I picked the first five rounds of the draft because of likelihood of making it and I didn’t want to spend forever doing it. Based on this list, the only teams good at drafting and/or developing SP are the Royals and Rays. Rays have 3, Royals have 2. The rest of baseball has 0-1 developed SP since the 2017 draft.
The 2017 draft was this front office’s first draft. They are in the 0-1 group along with the majority of MLB teams. It’s too early based on the above list. Now if none of their guys from 2017-2021 work out then I will agree this front office can’t either, but right now we just don’t know.
Your point is valid although it doesn’t include international players. What are your thoughts on Winder? This front office may require more time to evaluate their development of pitchers, but most teams don’t develop potential starters in long relief.
I just did a quick search for international players and came up with 0 developed SP from 2017 and on. Ohtani, Kikuchi etc don’t count as they were not developed in/through the minors. If I’m missing someone, let me know. The only international guy I saw who spent some time in the minors was Kohei Arihara but he spent the majority of his 20s pitching in Japan so I wouldn’t count him either.
Winder: I am very high on him. I think he’ll be a good SP. I would rather have him in the rotation vs Archer and I absolutely would rather have him than Bundy. I think he’s the first man put into the rotation when injury/ineffectiveness happens. I would prefer whatever makes that happen faster. I’m also not for wasting bullets in the minors if you’re good enough to be in the majors.
Johan Santana, Chris Sale, David Price, Adam Wainwright are just a few guys I can think of who started out in the BP for various reasons and then were obviously starters after. It happens, more often the other way around, but it happens.
I am not normally a fan of trading within the division. We have a bit of a pitching surplus with the White Sox. Based on what I am seeing with the Twins rotation, Dallas Keuchel to the Twins makes too much sense when you look at that rotation. I think they can safely pencil him into the #4 slot in the rotation. Sonny Gray and Dylan Bundy up front as the #1 and #2 starter. Bailey Ober #3. Keuchel #4 and Archer #5. Not many rotations Keuchel upgrades , but he upgrades this rotation. White Sox will eat $5 million of Keuchel contract. Let him re-unite with Carlos Correa. A Win – Win!
Twins fans ,Chris Paddack and Ryan Weathers are available for now, Padres need a outfielder ,which is your offer.