5 players who are entering their final days on the Twins roster
It's looking like the end of the road for a few Twins players.
As the end of the season nears, it's more than just the razor thin playoff races that fans should be paying attention to.
Only one team wins the World Series, which means most of the league will spend October watching the postseason at home while trying to figure out the right roster construction for making a run at a title next season. Nobody is exactly sure what that means when it comes to the Minnesota Twins, a team that is expected to be competitive but is also looking to dump money.
The Twins slashed $30 million out of the payroll last offseason and reportedly weren't interested in making trades at the deadline that involved players with years left on their contracts. Both decisions hindered the front office's ability to meaningfully add to the roster and resulted in half-baked additions like Trevor Richards and Josh Staumont -- neither of whom are still on the team.
Once again the Twins will be faced with some decisions after the season ends, and that starts with seeing who is on the roster now that might not be in a few months.
5 players who are entering their final days on the Twins roster
Max Kepler, OF
This is a tough one, but the writing seems to be on the wall for Max Kepler. He showed some offensive flash this year but not enough to warrant the contract he'll get elsewhere when he hits free agency this winter.
Kepler was hitting .253/.302/.380 when he went on the IL for a second time this season, which is basically his career with the Twins in a nutshell. He has started to find the groove he was in back in 2019 but hasn't been able to consistently hold things there.
He's been a huge part of the lineup, but he's not someone the Twins will bend over backward to keep around, especially since the qualifying offer he'll get is expected to be around $21 million. He's not expendable to the point where he a return shouldn't be considered, but Minnesota is looking to cut costs -- or at least keep them low -- and Kepler's contract will likely be outside of what it's willing to pay.
Like most things this winter, that's ultimately what a decision to let Kepler walk will come down to.
Kyle Farmer, INF
Last winter as the Twins slashed payroll, Kyle Farmer was quietly given the biggest contract the team handed out. It came in the form of an arbitration settlement, but everything that's happened since has made it one of the biggest overpays of the year.
After getting $6 million to return, Farmer proceeded to have the single worst season of his career. He's hitting .196 and has been pushed out of the lineup and down defensive platoons when everyone is healthy. His value late in the season has been that he's able to fill in for injured players as Rocco Baldelli desperately shuffles the lineup, which is not what you want the greatest value of the most expensive signing of the offseason to be.
Farmer has brought veteran leadership and by all accounts he's one of the most respected players in the clubhouse, but that might not be enough to keep him around. The way he's fallen off an offensive cliff will probably mean the end of his time in Minnesota, although it's yet to be seen how much his leadership is worth as far as potentially bringing him back.
He has a mutual option for another $6 million next year, though, one that a team trying to cut costs likely won't be picking up.
Caleb Thielbar, RP
It's been a truly brutal season for Caleb Thielbar, one that seems as though it will be his last in Minnesota.
Overall it's been tough sledding for the Twins' bullpen, so the struggles aren't exclusive to Thielbar. If anything, his decline was rather unexpected, as Minnesota was looking forward to getting him back from the IL after he began the season there, but things just didn't pan out once he returned.
Thielbar enters the home stretch of the season with a 5.63 ERA and is virtually unplayable in high-leverage situations. He has a -0.7 WAR, a 1.525 WHIP, and isn't someone the team can reliably go to, which essentially defeats the purpose of having him around. Things settled down a bit after a gnarly stretch over the summer, as four of his last five starts saw him allow zero runs and just five total hits.
It's appearances like the one against Atlanta where he was tagged for two big runs in just 1/3 inning that stick out the most, though. Thielbar contributed to or flat-out surrendered key leads at numerous points this season to the point where fans wondered if he'd get DFA'd. That didn't happen, but those blown games are coming back to haunt the Twins as they try to stay alive in an excruciatingly tight race in the AL Central.
Thielbar is a free agent at the end of the season, which means the Twins can let him walk.
Manuel Margot, OF
The Twins didn't make a ton of moves during the offseason, but one of the more notable ones was trading for Manuel Margot. He was brought in as Byron Buxton insurance but ended up being more of a frustration to fans than anything else.
Margot hits lefties well, which is exactly why the Twins traded for him to backup Buxton rather than bringing back Michael A. Taylor. Just like his predecessor, Margot is likely going to be with another team when Opening Day rolls around next year.
To his credit, Margot is hitting .393 against left-handed starters and .293 against all left-handed pitching this season. The flipside is that he's a .211 hitter against righties this season, an average that drops to .191 when facing starters. He's also been a defensive liability on more than one occasion, which doesn't help his cause.
Add to that the fact that he's now on the IL and it begins to be clear that his days in Minnesota are numbered.
Once again, money might be the deciding factor. Margot was due $10 million this season, but the Twins' front office worked its magic to get the Dodgers to pay it down to much more palatable $4 million. He has a $12 million mutual option due this winter that Minnesota absolutely will not be picking up and adding to the books.
Carlos Santana, 1B
It wasn't until February that the Twins actually made a meaningful splash in free agency. After trading Jorge Polanco, Minnesota used some newfound cash to sign Carlos Santana to a $5.25 million deal, one that took a bit for him to start living up to.
For as much frustration as fans felt with Santana at the beginning of the season, where he started pretty slow, he leveled out and has since turned in more good moments than bad. Santana's .238/.328/.425 slash pretty much lines up with the positive trend he built with Milwaukee last season and isn't far off from the .240 he hit with both the Brewers and Pirates combined.
The problem is he's an aging veteran on a one-year deal, which means the liklihood that he's back is pretty low. Minnesota passed on bringing back Michael A. Taylor and Donovan Solano this past winter, both affordable players who had positive impacts on the roster.
Santana seems to have some gas left in the tank, which could tempt a team to give him a nice contract in free agency. Minnesota has a need at first base, but it might not fill it by giving Santana more than what he got this year, which seems like he could be in line to make this winter.
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