3 player who are DFA candidates thanks to the Twins youth movement

With the Minnesota Twins down by two and a runner on Matt Wallner smoked a fastball into the seats, tying the game in the seventh inning against the Chicago White Sox, sparking the offense and leading the team to an extra-inning win on July 8.

However, Wallner hasn’t had an easy 2024 after a promising 2023. He started the season going 2-for-25, earning himself a demotion to Triple-A for a reset. This reset worked as Wallner hit 19 home runs in Triple-A and got recalled to the Twins.

Wallner was recalled due to Austin Martin going on the 10-day injured list. But Wallner isn’t the only Twins player recently called up making noise in MLB. Brooks Lee, one of the Twins top prospects, debuted on July 3rd and has more than looked the part. 

Twins superstar Royce Lewis made room for Lee when going on the 10-day IL. Now that Lee and Wallner look like they are here to stay, how do the Twins make room when Lewis and Martin return from injury?

3 Twins players who could get pushed off the roster in July

Manuel Margot

Margot has had ample opportunities to stick with this team but it just hasn’t worked out. The 29-year-old veteran is only batting a modest .235 and has the worst WAR on the team among position players at -0.7. 

Martin has shown that he adds more value to the Twins offense with a .265 batting average.

With Wallner looking like he has his swing back and Martin able to play in the outfield, the position is getting a bit crowded and Margot is the most likely piece to go.

Kyle Farmer 

Farmer has been struggling this year, only batting .192 and nothing to show in the home run column, his WAR is also sitting at -0.5. Making matters worse is the hum of his $6 million contract in the background of everything that's been going wrong for him.

Minnesota cut $30 million out of the payroll but paid Farmer the most out of anyone this winter, which makes his lack of production even harder to handle. The 33-year-old is on borrowed time with the Twins because Lee is the obvious choice in the infield. 

So far, in just six games, Lee is batting .458 with a home run and eight RBIs. When Lewis returns from injury, the infield will be stacked full of stars with Correa, Castro, Lewis, Miranda, and Lee. 

It’s tough to see how Farmer makes it beyond Lewis’s return from the IL.

Caleb Thielbar 

Thielbar had about as rough a start to the year as a reliever could have, with an ERA of 11.81 in June and has a disastrous WAR of -0.9 because of it. He's shown some signs of life in July, though, but the sample size is small. He’s only pitched in three innings but got a big hold against the Chicago White Sox.

It will be important for Thielbar to continue progressing back to the mean if he wants to stay on the roster when Martin and Lewis return. One slip could spell the end for the 37-year-old from Northfield, Minnesota.

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