Tuesday was the deadline for MLB teams to add players to their 40-man roster in order to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft, which is exactly what the Minnesota Twins did with at least one key prospect.
There were a handful of prospects the Twins could protect from the Rule 5 Draft but only one that seemed like a total no-brainer. Minnesota added Marco Raya to its 40-man roster on Tuesday, which protects him from being stolen away but could also move him one step closer to playing a bigger role with the team this season.
Twins adding Marco Raya to 40-man roster could be more than just Rule 5 Draft protection
Minnesota adding Raya to the 40-man roster is mostly about making sure he isn't exposed to the Rule 5 Draft, as he'd be pretty much a lock for some other team to swoop in and steal him away. It's worth looking into a bit more than being just a superficial move to protect him, though, as the wheels are now turning on him potentially moving into the big picture for 2025.
It's seems abdantly clear that the Twins are uninterested in meaningfully investing in the roster, as the Pohalds are unlikely to add to the payroll this winter. That means the front office is once again going to be forced to pay for a mansion with magic beans, which is probably going to lead to most of the upgrades coming in-house.
That's where Raya comes into play. While he's not going to be in the Opening Day roster conversation, it's not unrealsitic to think that he'll be on the same trajectory that David Festa and Zebby Matthews were a year ago.
Both Festa and Matthews made their debuts ahead of schedule out of neccessity, as the Twins rotation had been picked apart by injuries and the lack of roster care in the offseason forced prospects to get elevated as replacements.
Raya was in that same conversation with Festa as being part of the next generation of pitching talent bubbling beneath the surface before the latter distanced himself. It wouldn't be shocking at all to see Raya become a Top 100 prospect this season before making a debut in the summer.
That's what the Twins are protecting, but such a move is made a lot easier already having him on the 40-man roster. We have a long way to go before Raya proves himself at Triple-A St. Paul but it's not crazy to think that he could end up being a key player for the team at some point this season.
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