Twins rumors: 3 players who could be roster casualties this offseason
By Josh Hill
Jordan Luplow
This sort of feels like a no-brainer, especially if the Twins are looking for a salary to dump in order to pursue something bigger over the winter. He figures to make around $1.6M should Minnesota retain him, but that seems unlikely given the number of upcoming moves the team can make in the outfield.
One of the hottest names to watch this offseason is Austin Martin. He's expected to be called up and factor into the Opening Day roster if all goes well in Spring Training, which everyone is assuming it will. He was acquired back in 2021 as part of the Jose Berrios trade, and has spent the last two seasons bubbling below the Major League surface. A UCL injury wiped out most of his season this year, but he was on track to potentially be a September call-up had that injury not set him back.
Before his injury, Martin was slashing .241/.367/.316 at Double-A Wichita. If hearing about a guy hitting well at Wichita sounds familiar, it's because Martin is in Edouard Julien's company in that regard -- although Julien is much further ahead.
Martin is a shortstop but can play both outfield and second base, which makes him another classic utility piece for the Twins to use. He's also only 24 years old and could help roll the youth movement into next season. All of this is to say there's so much upside in just this one guy that it makes little sense for the Twins to use $1.6M to retain Luplow on the 40-man roster.