Who should the Minnesota Twins move to free up 40-man space?

Likely DFA Candidates

A number of players on the 40-man roster will likely pass through waivers if the Twins would designate them for assignment in order to remove them from the 40-man roster to gain a spot on the roster.

Buddy Boshers
Boshers looks like he would be a guy to toss a major fastball with his 6’3″ bulky build, but he instead his fastball averages around 90 with a curve that he seemed to lose the feel on in 2017 at times and a change that plays above-average. In short, Boshers has stuff from the left side that is really a dime a dozen, and there are likely a half dozen guys who threw at least some at AA in 2017 that could take Boshers’ spot on the roster if he was claimed.

Coming off major health issues, Chargois could be a candidate to attempt to sneak through waivers. He has plenty of talent when he’s healthy hut it’s getting healthy that is the issue. Chargois will draw some certain interest if he was DFA’d, but if done early in the offseason, other teams will have roster crunches of their own to consider, and he could possibly be snuck through.

Jorge has a powerful fastball that would portend a tremendously dominant starter or reliever. However, Jorge gets minimal strikeouts due to his fastball working much more as a sinking variety, generating weak contact. He struggled in a pair of starts at the major league level in 2017 and may be better suited to the bullpen in the future, but he’s certainly at this point around 8-9 on the starting rotation pecking order for 2018 without bringing anyone else in, let alone if another starter is acquired to front the 2018 rotation. Jorge could also be a prime candidate to be added into a trade as a secondary piece.

O’Rourke underwent elbow surgery in spring training, and while he did undergo the newer modified version of

, that still means his first pitches have yet to be thrown against hitters, and unless he gets some winter work that hasn’t been announced currently, his first time on the mound will be in spring. O’Rourke offers a four-pitch mix, but he gets a drastically different result with that mix, using deception in his delivery and pitches that move in ways that affect left-handed hitters more adversely than right-handed batters to put together splits of over 250 OPS points in difference between the two. As primarily a LOOGY, O’Rourke certainly has value, but how much is up for question, and he could be risked to being picked up, especially with a flood of tough lefties on their way up the system.

Rosario jumped on the scene after moving to the bullpen in 2016, showing well in the Arizona Fall League. His performance in 2017 was rocky, but there’s still potential, but without showing that yet, he likely would fall through DFA limbo and get more time to hone his craft in the bullpen in AA to open 2018.

An older prospect when he was signed by the Twins out of independent leagues before the 2017 season, Turley showed what excellent control and command can do for a pitcher with average stuff as he blew through AA and AAA to the majors. His time with the big league club, however, exposed his lack of true stuff. He may get claimed, but he really wouldn’t be a major loss to the organizational depth if he did.

Blessed with incredible athletic gifts, Goodrum took 7 years in the minor leagues to get to the major leagues. After hitting .059 in the majors, Goodrum may end up back in the minors and likely would not get claimed if he was DFA’d.

Blessed with an impressive physical build (6’5″, 290 pounds), the switch-hitting Vargas has spent at least 45 games with the big league club each season since 2014, but he seems unable to crack into the starting lineup. In total, he’s played 236 games and hit 35 home runs. He’s walked 7.6% and struck out 29.2% of his plate appearances. Vargas hasn’t really been able to show consistent approach at the plate worthy of a roster spot, and Vargas may end up a guy that the team puts through DFA in order to attract a trade partner, especially if they are able to sign a power bat that also plays 1B/DH.