All Things 2025-26 Minnesota Twins Off-Season Thread

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Breakin' The Plane said:
I don't think Caratini is more than a backup. His arm stinks. He threw out only 1 out of 27 runners last year.
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Jackson, the other backstop, acquired from Baltimore is an excellent defender, who IIRC, has options left. They could start with him at St. Paul, and trade Jefferson at the deadline, as the Phillies likely aren’t a landing spot for him now, based on my prior post.
 



The Cubs resigned former Randolph Rocket/Twin to a 1 Year $4.5M contract a few weeks ago.

cubbiescrib.com

Cubs Free Agency Update: Caleb Thielbar contract details, Bullpen, Chris Martin

In a world where the Chicago Cubs deserve the benefit of the doubt with their offseason intentions, there would be reasons to be impressed with their free agenc
cubbiescrib.com cubbiescrib.com

In another life I just want to be born left-handed and able to throw a 90ish MPH fastball.
 

howeda7 said:
The Twins two best relievers right now are Ryan Pressly and LaTroy Hawkins....
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How many times does signing FA bullpen pitchers work out? It seems like rarely, especially at the price we're wiling to pay.

You build the bullpen from within. They now have what could be 8 starters. They will move some young starters to the bullpen, just like they did with Jax, Varland, etc.

I won't be surprised if someone like Taj Bradley becomes a closer. He has great stuff but can't keep it together as a starter.
 



Gopher_In_NYC said:
Jackson, the other backstop, acquired from Baltimore is an excellent defender, who IIRC, has options left. They could start with him at St. Paul, and trade Jefferson at the deadline, as the Phillies likely aren’t a landing spot for him now, based on my prior post.
Click to expand...
www.mlb.com

Catcher? First? DH? Here's where Caratini could slot in for Twins

This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com

Jackson is out of options, per this article, which also notes that Caratini will also likely play 1B and DH, but he's kind of redundant with Bell, who's also better from the left side of the plate, so there might be more moves coming.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
www.mlb.com

Catcher? First? DH? Here's where Caratini could slot in for Twins

This story was excerpted from Matthew Leach’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com

Jackson is out of options,
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Yes I didn’t recollect correctly.
Breakin' The Plane said:
per this article, which also notes that Caratini will also likely play 1B and DH, but he's kind of redundant with Bell, who's also better from the left side of the plate, so there might be more moves coming.
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Will be interesting to see what follows and glad you subscribed to him; he has some stuff, in my experience, not covered by others.
 







GopherWeatherGuy said:
How many times does signing FA bullpen pitchers work out? It seems like rarely, especially at the price we're wiling to pay.

You build the bullpen from within. They now have what could be 8 starters. They will move some young starters to the bullpen, just like they did with Jax, Varland, etc.

I won't be surprised if someone like Taj Bradley becomes a closer. He has great stuff but can't keep it together as a starter.
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Breakin' The Plane said:
I agree with what Weather Guy said earlier. Taj Bradley looks like the kind of erratic former starter who ends up thriving when moved to the pen.
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FWIW - everything I’ve read and posted previously, the plan going into spring training is to give Bradly every chance to make the rotation, as he has front line starter stuff. He had 6 starts for the Twins last season and 2 were QS (not earth shattering, but a promising start), including the dandy in his last one, 6 IP, 9Ks, 1BB, 2H, 1ER.

They didn’t give up what they did to move him to the bullpen without a lengthy time in the rotation - he’ll be a starting pitcher for 2026.

As we saw last season, you can literally never have too many starters, especially when you may end up trading one or more at the deadline.

The plan is to give Marco Raya and Connor Prielipp, all the opportunities to make the team as relievers, as their stuff is MLB caliber, but they haven’t shown nearly enough durability or thrown enough innings in the minors, for them to be seriously considered as starters at this juncture.

To wit (professional innings pitched) -

Bradley age (24) - 766 innings pitched
Raya age (23) - 324 innings pitched
Prielipp, age (25)- 112.2 innings pitched
 



Breakin' The Plane said:
I agree with what Weather Guy said earlier. Taj Bradley looks like the kind of erratic former starter who ends up thriving when moved to the pen.
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So does Zebby Mathews. I'd move him first. But you still need an experienced closer/set-up guy.
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
FWIW - everything I’ve read and posted previously, the plan going into spring training is to give Bradly every chance to make the rotation, as he has front line starter stuff. He had 6 starts for the Twins last season and 2 were QS (not earth shattering, but a promising start), including the dandy in his last one, 6 IP, 9Ks, 1BB, 2H, 1ER.

They didn’t give up what they did to move him to the bullpen without a lengthy time in the rotation - he’ll be a starting pitcher for 2026.

As we saw last season, you can literally never have too many starters, especially when you may end up trading one or more at the deadline.

The plan is to give Marco Raya and Connor Prielipp, all the opportunities to make the team as relievers, as their stuff is MLB caliber, but they haven’t shown nearly enough durability or thrown enough innings in the minors, for them to be seriously considered as starters at this juncture.

To wit (professional innings pitched) -

Bradley age (24) - 766 innings pitched
Raya age (23) - 324 innings pitched
Prielipp, age (25)- 112.2 innings pitched
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I'm sure they'll give him another shot to start, I'll just be surprised if he sticks.

As far as what they gave up to get him? They gave up Jax, a 31 year old former starter turned setup man/closer.

That has nothing to do with where he'll pitch long term.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
I like giving Zebby another chance as a starter more than I like Bradley or Festa as starters.
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I believe Zebby has the best fastball of the 3. If he tracks as Varland did, he can likely reach 99-100 out of the bullpen.
 

howeda7 said:
I believe Zebby has the best fastball of the 3. If he tracks as Varland did, he can likely reach 99-100 out of the bullpen.
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Because of that he has the highest strikeout rate of the 3 as a starter. Bradley has been a starter for 3 years now with limited success and a SO rate that continues to drop. Festa is more middle of the road, similar to what Varland and Jax were as starters, which would likely get better if moved to the bullpen, which is what happened with Varland/Jax.
 

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