If you're a Minnesota Twin, and you're not in Fort Myers right now, you're officially late.
Do you hear that, Carlos Santana?
It's the official Day 1 of full-squad workouts in Fort Myers, and what better time to take our first stab at what the Opening Day roster might look like when the Twins open up in St. Louis in six weeks?
There's almost always a surprise when it comes to the Opening Day roster, which renders these exercises obsolete in fairly short order, but that's also what makes them fun. This is how guys like Willi Castro go from "minor-league signing unlikely to make the team" to "AL All-Star" in the span of 16 months.
As one would expect, there are some obvious choices. There are also some less obvious ones, and what'll no doubt differentiate this projection (if you can call it that) is that yours truly still isn't convinced the final piece of the big-league roster is even in the organization yet.
Let's dive in:
Starting lineup (9)
- C- Ryan Jeffers
- 1B- Ty France
- 2B- Willi Castro
- 3B- Royce Lewis
- SS- Carlos Correa
- LF- Trevor Larnach
- CF- Byron Buxton
- RF- Matt Wallner
- DH- Jose Miranda
The lowdown
This is where exercises like this can get sort of...funky. It's not as easy as just distilling a standard starting nine for a Rocco Baldelli-managed team. But make no mistake, this isn't unique to just the Twins — it's just a way of life in baseball today.
The "starting lineup" on a given day also has to take into account handedness of the opposing starter, and if it's a southpaw this lineup definitely takes on a different look (Harrison Bader starting, things of that nature).
With that said, there's plenty of talent here. It'll come down to certain players starting healthy — you know who they are — and others finding their way either to the best versions of themselves for the first time, or getting back there.
I like this offense. I like it quite a bit, actually. But I also liked last year's offense, and for long stretches of time, it just stagnated....badly. I suppose therein lies the true charm of the game; every offense is going to hit the skids and make you question why you watch this dumb game in the first place.
Bench (4)
C- Christian Vazquez
IF- not-yet-acquired backup shortstop
IF- Brooks Lee
OF- Harrison Bader
The lowdown
I'm well aware that the France signing reportedly "takes the Twins out of the backup shortstop market," but I will try to call that bluff.
To go into this season without a proper backup shortstop is to not learn the lessons of 2024, when Correa missed a huge swath of the second half and left Castro and others to show what they were, and in many cases were not, capable of at short.
Maybe the Twins trade for a backup shortstop. I've floated on multiple platforms that they could maybe flip Chris Paddack for Isiah Kiner-Falefa (hypothetically, as I'm not sure I'm actually onboard with it) or something of that order.
That's close to a salary-neutral swap, and helps both teams fill a role more vital than what they're currently operating with.
But more likely I feel like this is the Twins signaling to Luis Urias and/or Jose Iglesias that their asking prices are still too high. Or, perhaps, that the Twins don't view either of them as true backup shortstops.
But then...why weren't they more in on DeJong, if that's the case? He may be a declining shortstop, but he's at least played there recently.
I don't know; I just don't buy that they're done adding when backup shortstop is a clear need. This would likely knock Austin Martin and Edouard Julien both off the 26-man roster (in conjunction with the France signing), but I don't really think that's unfair.
Both Martin and Julien have plenty to prove to get playing time in the big leagues.
For my money, Urias (hits lefties well) and Iglesias (good defensive shortstop reputation, good in clubhouse, has long stretches where he can really hit) are both good fits on this team if the Twins have any reason to believe they can play short on a semi-regular basis.
But there's no Noah Miller walking through the front door here. The Twins don't even have a no-hit, all-glove shortstop prospect they can lean on if things get, well, lean.
This is why I think it's absolutely vital to still add a shortstop to this team's bench.
Starting rotation (5)
- Pablo Lopez
- Joe Ryan
- Bailey Ober
- Chris Paddack
- Simeon Woods Richardson
The lowdown
Here's another place that things get funky in an Opening Day projection/prediction — pitchers get hurt. At least one of the 13 pitchers we have listed in this exercise won't be ready for one reason or another.
So while David Festa isn't in the first roster prediction, he's pretty obviously the next man up, followed by Zebby Matthews and a few other reliever types.
The Twins would likely still probably be OK with moving Paddack, but there's no reason to just give him away, either. At the very least, if he gives the team 100 innings of league-average production — not a tall task based on his stats when he's available — that's 100 fewer frames they'll need to squeeze out of younger pitchers who may or may not be ready.
Giving that away to simply shed salary would be foolish — though perhaps par for the course with the lame duck ownership group.
SWR pitched well enough for long enough in the 2024 season to have a leg up on some of the other youngsters, but neither of the back two rotation spots are what you'd consider signed in Sharpie. Festa looked tremendous at times last season and Matthews' meteoric rise shouldn't be dampened too much by a few tough innings in his first cup of coffee.
This group has depth, and probably just enough of it. My preference all along was to add another playoff-game-starting-caliber pitcher, but short of trading for Dylan Cease or Michael King, it just doesn't seem likely.
Bullpen (8)
- Eiberson Castellano
- Michael Tonkin
- Danny Coulombe
- Jorge Alcala
- Brock Stewart
- Cole Sands
- Griffin Jax
- Jhoan Duran
The lowdown
I have a confession to make — I've been citing this list from Roster Resource for weeks now and it has just now dawned on me that Justin Topa is not listed among the eight.
And again, there's where depth comes into play. There's almost no chance all eight of these guys are ready to go on Opening Day for one reason or another. Heck, maybe even Topa isn't.
But to have Topa, Louis Varland and a few others with big-league experience (hello Kody Funderburk) is, again, a nice luxury to have.
Would the Twins send Topa to Triple-A at age 34 in order to keep Castellano on the roster, as mandated by his Rule 5 status? Is that simply begging the question too much at this stage of the exercise.
Again, this is what makes it fun.
And unpredictable/quickly rendered obsolete.
But also still fun.