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Minnesota Twins Rule 5 and Minor League Free Agent Preview

By Benjamin Chase

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 8: Minnesota Twins mascot rallies the crowd during Game One of the American League Championship Series against the Anaheim Angels on October 8, 2002 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Dome in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Angels 2-1. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - OCTOBER 8: Minnesota Twins mascot rallies the crowd during Game One of the American League Championship Series against the Anaheim Angels on October 8, 2002 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Dome in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Angels 2-1. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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Rule 5 Rules

The general rules come down to the age of a player when signed. If they were 18 or younger at signing, they have 5 seasons to play with their signing club before becoming Rule 5 eligible. If they were 19 or older, they have 4 seasons to play with their signing club before eligible.

That means (in general) international free agents and high school picks from 2013 and college picks from 2014 are going to be eligible for the first time this year. Those who were eligible previously but not selected are also eligible.

Minnesota Twins roster room

Currently, the Twins 40-man roster has 45 names listed on it due to 60-day Disabled List assignments. Those will all be erased before the offseason begins as there is no such thing as an offseason disabled list, meaning anyone injured on the 40-man roster is occupying an active spot, not a 60-day DL spot.

The Twins currently have free agents that will come off of the roster. The team let Glen Perkins know that his option will not be picked up, so that takes care of their one option case. On top of Perkins, Bartolo Colon, Hector Santiago, and Matt Belisle are all free agents. They also have 8 players who are eligible for arbitration – Kyle Gibson, Eduardo Escobar, Ryan Pressly, Chris Gimenez, Ehire Adrianza, Trevor May, Robbie Grossman, and Michael Tonkin. Just to get to 40, one of the arbitration eligible players or one of the current players on the 40-man roster needs to be designated for assignment off of the 40-man roster.

Some possible candidates to be DFA’d would be J.T. Chargois (who is currently on the 60-day DL), Ryan O’Rourke (who is currently on the 60-day DL), Randy Rosario, Nik Turley, Niko Goodrum, Daniel Palka, and Kennys Vargas. Those players could get through waivers, though in each of these cases, they would then also be exposed to Rule 5.

So for every one of these in the next few slides that is added to the 40-man before the Rule 5, one person currently on the Rule 5 will need to be removed as the Twins don’t even have enough free agents to cover the guys they have currently on 60-day DL currently on the 40-man roster.

Let’s start with the guys that are absolutely worth making room.

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