Minnesota Twins Opening Day roster starting to take shape

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It's the Skornorth Twinshow.

Baseball.

Woo, doggy.

All right.

Decks here on the Skornorth Twinshow.

Some breaking Twins news coming down the pipe here in the last hour

plus some roster updates, some cuts, some players being named

to the starting rotation.

Some guys going to AAA and whatnot, so welcome.

My name's Decks.

I'm Deckling Goff.

I cover the Minnesota Twins in a podcast form.

Opening day is six days away in Baltimore.

If you haven't already, hit the like button and the subscribe button here

on the Skornorth Twinshow YouTube channel.

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I'll be live after some post games and stuff too from home and after road games too.

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Appreciate that.

So let's get into it here.

A little solo episode on the Skornorth Twinshow.

Let's start from the top here.

The Twins have cut ties with Liam Hendrix, the veteran closer,

the veteran reliever, the former twin.

Liam was brought in here on a minor league deal right before spring training started.

The hope was, from what I had gathered, that they were kind of hoping he would number one regain

his form in general.

He's only played in just a dozen plus games over the last few years.

He had a surgery again this off season.

Everyone is well aware of his battle against cancer that he beat.

So very cool story, but the player himself too, trying to get back to form.

The twins were hoping that he would return to that form and potentially even be their

closer for opening day.

I know that sounds a little crazy of a variance of closer or bust.

But his velocity, which was like around 94-95, still down significantly from his peak.

And he has the veteran status in his contract where if he is sent to AAA, which it felt like

that was the move.

And he was officially released just about five minutes before the live button here.

He has the right to opt out of his minor league deal at certain dates and points.

So the twins told him, you're not making the roster.

If you would like to go to St. Paul and still work on things, you're a call away.

You're 20 minutes down the road.

Liam being the veteran that he is says, nope, I would rather just be released.

Maybe go sign with the Big League club.

You know, I'm not sure what his intentions are and still pitching in the major leagues.

Maybe he just hangs it up too.

But Liam Hendrix no longer in the twins bullpen plans, which is still completely up in the

year.

Does this mean, you know, Dan Altavilla, Altavilla, Altavilla gets the last spot in the twins rotation.

He was on team Italy.

He might be there too.

The twins have a problem with the right side of their bullpen.

So Liam Hendrix asked for his release.

The twins granted and he's no longer in their bullpen plans for 2026, which everyone knows.

Their bullpen is very much in flux.

It's easily the biggest weakness of this team.

And they have decided that Liam Hendrix won't be part of that for the 2026 season.

That's the first piece of news.

Second piece of news, Joe Ryan officially named the opening day starter,

not like a huge surprise by any means for that.

But with Pablo being injured, Joe now slides into the opening day role.

He had the backstift issue when he was supposed to make his first start in the great league

at spring training, pushed him out, kind of shelved him for a couple of weeks.

He just did some light running and some sprints and eventually built back up

was maybe supposed to pitch even in the championship game for team USA.

Instead, he is not chosen for that.

He remains in twins camp.

And now he's officially been named the opening day starter.

Derek Shelton was kind of joking a lot throughout the off season.

That I'm not named in the opening day starter at the time.

You know, it was obviously very likely going to be Pablo before his arm blew up.

But now Joe Ryan was six days out from Baltimore,

Camden, Joe Ryan will be on the rubber for the twins.

He'll get the ball in opening day.

Speaking of the rest of that rotation, we finally have clarity on who gets that last fifth spot

in the rotation.

Right before we hit record, Zebi Matthews has been option to AAA,

which would entice that make Abel has won the final rotation spot in the twins starting rotation.

Mixed been phenomenal, at least since spring training starts.

He's gathered a lot of swings and misses.

And the last two spring training starts specifically.

You have kind of seen the floor and the ceiling of him as a pitcher.

I think stuff wise, and I'm not trying to be hyperbolic here.

And I know we love hot takes and whatnot stuff wise.

He legitimately might have some of the best stuff of any twins pitcher on the roster.

His execution though in getting strikes, not drawing up his pitch count,

not walking guys, not hitting guys.

That still remains a work in progress.

And you saw that even in the last start yesterday against Boston, I believe,

where he walked a few guys.

He fell behind some hitters to give up a couple runs.

Still gathered six strikeouts and had a bunch of swing and miss.

And that's great, but he was able to edge out Zebi.

And Zebi, and you can take the spring training starts

what they are and the appearances, but make able perform better than Zebi Matthews.

And with the twins starting pitching depth in a serious kind of,

I don't know if peril is the right word.

It probably is, to be honest, with Pablo injured David Festa,

kind of basically shut down at this point.

The twins went into spring training with starting pitching

at the major league level and at the triple A level being a big strength.

Well, two cogs out of that plans.

And now all of a sudden it's thin, right?

So Zebi will be essentially the sixth starter.

He'll be a call the way if there is an injury to the starting rotations.

Zebi would come up and take that person's spot.

But make able acquired in the derand trade of 15th overall pick.

A former top 100 prospect in baseball has earned that final spot in the twins rotation.

I will say the twins have a bunch of off days built in.

They'll have an off day, obviously, after opening day on the 27th.

That's a Friday.

They'll have another opening day in Kansas City that they'll experience on the road.

On Monday, the 30th, they're off on Tuesday.

So, you know, Zebi and the need for a fifth starter,

not like completely bearing right or needed right away.

However, after those two off days, I believe the twins what play 13 games in a row.

I actually think it's more than that.

I think it's like, yeah, 14 games in a row from the time they

resume their series in Kansas City to their next scheduled off day is not till the 16th.

So, they will not have an off day from basically until April 16th once the calendar flips.

So, Zebi will be a start away from there.

But make able gets that last spot in the twin starting rotation.

Again, I think he's earned it.

We'll see how he performs.

Again, that execution, that execution and looking at his stuff that is really good,

you know, that's still going to remain a thing for him.

The rest of the twins rotation.

After Joe Ryan will be interesting.

Taj Bradley's in it.

Simeon Wood-Richson is in it.

I'm assuming Bayley-Ober is in it.

And that's going to be a really interesting thing to watch.

Because Bayley's velocity is still kind of not where it should be.

Yes, he's six foot nine, and he's never been a high V-low guy.

But when you lose just a couple ticks from a 90 to 91,

you become a sub 90 guy.

That's a big deal.

And his changeups are really good pitch still.

But he's going to have to learn how to pitch without velocity,

without his fastball being where it should be with his velocity.

So, could he still redefine himself and become a decent starting pitcher?

Sure, he can.

But now you're talking about a pitcher that has to kind of change up his entire makeup

and his approach, which with the season starting is not ideal.

You maybe would like to do that in spring training.

And he's kind of had a loss for words where he can't figure out

where this velocity and where this mechanical issue went for him.

So, pending breaking news coming down,

Bayley-Ober is going to be in the rotation.

We'll see if he can survive, obviously, just on the mound.

But also, if he gets hit around a little bit,

is there a pause?

Is there something else deeper going on, you know, physically with him?

He'll be in the starting rotation.

Taj Bradley has, you know, just like McAble,

maybe been one of the biggest bright spots in the spring training this year

for the twins.

He'll have one of those spots.

Simian Woods Richardson has gotten hit a little bit,

but again, like, what are you else they're going to do?

You know, they're not going to option him down.

And I believe he now officially might be out of options, too.

So, he has to be on the big league roster

and then McAble will round things out.

So, that's your twin starting rotation.

It's in some order, Joe Ryan, Taj Bradley, Bayley-Ober, Simian,

and McAble as your twin starting rotation.

It still is on paper at decent.

You know, they lose Pablo Lopez,

but the starting rotation is still, I think, a strength for them.

But it's tested now, obviously, with some depth here.

A few other things on the score in our twin show

that I'll get to here.

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I see some comments, though, on the YouTube side.

And I, two of these kind of go back to back.

Inside the zone says, why not move Zed to the bullpen?

We need arms and Zebby can get through the order once.

And even Hulker says, I wish they would stick Zebby in the pen.

He was the great first time through the order.

He really needs to be Louis-Varlin 2.0

and Lord knows a bullpen needs decent arms.

Here's kind of the conundrum the twins are facing, though,

with those type of plans,

because both you guys bring up that point.

And I think if they had the depth,

I actually would agree with you.

You lose Pablo, you lose Festa,

you lose two guys in your 40-man roster

and presumably in your 26-man roster,

your big league roster of healthy,

you now no longer have the luxury of having depth

of starting pitching at AAA.

If the twins have an injury to their starting rotation,

which is inevitable,

Zebby Matthews is now the best option there for that.

And Andrew Morris is right there.

That's a drop-off.

And that's no disrespect to Andrew Morris,

but a maybe organizational prospect,

not exactly a high ceiling type of guy.

You might be able to survive for you for four or five innings,

but that's where that depth gets tested.

And if you remove Zebby from that plan,

well, now Andrew Morris is your sixth starter.

And again, that's a huge issue.

So long-term, like,

is Zebby Matthews probably profiling

as a better relief pitcher than a starting pitching option

for the longevity of his major league career?

I think it's probably tracking that way.

But as of right now,

they're not in a position where they can remove someone like Zebby

and say, go focus on being a bullpen guy.

I think they've done that with Marco Raya.

Maybe I'm being misquoted or maybe I've heard the wrong things.

You know, they had him as a reliever.

I'm not sure if the starting pitching woes

and the depth, maybe they do turn them back to a starter.

I think that's a guy that they do keep as a reliever

because they're going to need that.

And he showed glimpses of really good stuff,

just like Mick Abel.

It's execution with him.

It's not drawing up high pitch counts.

It's not walking guys hitting guys.

It's executing your stuff a little bit better.

He has really good stuff.

Marco Raya does.

But right now, they're obviously not in a position

where they can say,

we should move Zebby Matthews to the bullpen.

So that's probably why you won't see that.

I think David Festa,

I think that probably should have been part of their plan.

You know, I think if Festa was healthy,

I would have loved to see him Festa as a reliever.

I think he profiles perfectly as a reliever.

But with his injury with the shoulder situation,

you know, they are not in that area

where they can move Festa to the bullpen even.

And they're potentially going to carry three lefties

in that bullpen.

You know, we'll see what happens.

Obviously Taylor Rogers in there, Bond is in there.

Bond might be their best relievers.

Easily just like Rogers,

they're most experienced.

Those are two lefties.

And then the final lefty battle for camp

would be between Funderberg and Andrew Chafin.

And I'm assuming that Chafin,

who was kind of told when he was signed here

that he has the fast track to earn the big league rotation spot

and then eventually being added to the active roster,

I'm assuming Chafin goes.

So that's three lefties that you have to carry.

And a lot of other, you know,

let's have a detailed this.

No air and gleam is detailed this.

And if you just go look at their splits in general too,

you know,

those three lefties are not good at getting writings out.

So the justifiable reason of maybe keeping the three

because oh, they're also good at getting writings out.

They're not.

They're not good at getting writings out.

Which then puts added more stress on the right hand

inside of the bullpen to deliver.

And boy oh boy.

I mean, Cole Sands just entopened.

And Topas, you know, gotten roughed up a little bit here

at spring training.

I don't know if there's a next level gear

where they graduate into high leverage reliever status.

The twins are banking on that.

But they, the bullpen is still easily their biggest weakness.

They're starting pitching might be able to hold up a little bit.

And we'll get some position player battles here in just a sec.

But you're like, if Royce and Walner and Luke Keishaw

who's having a hell of it, if all those guys,

you know, consistently play well.

Okay, that those are, that's a bones of a pretty good team.

Man, it gets flushed away if you have a four to lead

or a three to lead in the seventh eighth inning

because you don't have anyone in that bullpen

to to make life easier.

So remains their biggest weakness.

And it's volatile like bullpen's are random to predict.

Maybe there's a world where we start the season

and the bullpen's not the problem.

But that'll be an interesting thing to watch.

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On the position players side

at spring training with the twins,

we're basically kind of coming down to a few things here.

Trevor Larnick actually was back in the line up

after battling some injuries.

He's starting today.

I think the twins are literally playing as I record this

and record this at like 12, 35 central time

the twins are playing a spring training game here.

Larnick's back in the line up, which is good.

But Trevor Larnick and Alan Rodin and James Outman

Austin Martin who had a concussion.

I'm not sure the status of his return.

But you're trying to figure out how do we also

carry all these outfielders and do they risk exposing

someone like James Outman to waivers

because he would be exposed.

I think he'd be claimed too.

Does that mean Alan Rodin who has options

is unfortunately the Outman out

because of procedural reasons.

It's easier to send him to triple A.

You know, that's I would I don't love that

because Alan Rodin's also made a really good impression

at spring training after making a rough one

in the dozen games he played

and after being acquired for the Barlin trade.

But regardless,

just like the lefty bullpen thing that I talked about

where it's a surplus of lefties,

they now no longer have.

There's a world where they only have one

right handed hitting outfielder in their lineup

and that's Byron Bucson.

It's crazy.

So is there like a last second trade?

You know, Larnick's values pretty low.

He wasn't he hasn't played much.

And I don't think they're just going to dump him to dump him.

But I'm also in the camp.

IE Peter Griffin of I want to open the mystery box

that is Alan Rodin.

And he hasn't gotten a shot at the MLB level.

Trevor Larnick, maybe we all have egg on our face

and he now graduates becomes like a full-time

really good player against both sides of the plate

or just goes completely gangbusters

and not to be a league average hitter.

But they would rather just send road into AAA

or they'd rather just have the surplus.

Like when they open in Baltimore,

they're playing Trevor Rogers a lefty pitcher.

I have that lineup is going to be rough, man.

That's going to be a rough opening day lineup

because they're going to have guys in there

that probably outside of the top half, I should say,

that I have probably no business being in the lineup.

Like Warner will be the probably the only real lefty in there.

And there is a potential world where

they might have two lefty hitters against the fellow lefty

because they have so many left-handed hitting players

on their opening day roster.

So, yes, you don't face lefty's atana,

especially lefty starting pitchers.

Like, you know, it's, I guess, what is it?

Maybe one in every four games you get one.

So you're obviously always going to be loading up

with the lefty hitters against righties

and we'll see how extreme the platoons

that Derek Shelton leans into.

But those are kind of the remaining position player battles.

I know they're like shopping Alex Jackson a catcher

and Victor Karantino is a switch hitter

who can also play some first in D.H.

So Ryan Jeffers, I think we'll get the bulk of the catching

but they have a ton of lefty hitters.

So we'll see what happens there.

Let's see here.

Anything else on the score or twin show?

I want to hop on here.

I haven't done a live show in a while.

Figured I'd hop on to talk to you guys.

You're on the show.

I obviously wanted to make sure everything was good there.

But yeah.

Name Hendricks cut.

Joe Ryan opening day starter.

Mick Abel getting the last spot

in the twin starting rotation, which is big.

But opening day roster obviously has

is starting to turn to take shape here.

We'll have some other episodes next week.

We're trying to nail down if Trevor Ploof's going to join us.

Either this Tuesday or maybe the Tuesday

after the season starts.

That would be a scheduled off day and the month of March.

So kind of wait and see what coach Trev is doing.

He's been super busy with John Boy Media.

They're at the World Baseball Classic hanging out.

And Trev's obviously pretty busy guys it is.

So Trev will be with us though.

He'll be on Twins TV this year.

He'll be with us once a week on the score and our twin show.

It's super excited for

to have him a part of our show again,

which we've had him for the last few years.

I think next week I will try to debut the 10

mode. Maybe I do it with Trev if he's available.

But the 10 most important players.

I've kind of crafted that list.

And then you know, yeah, we'll be kind of live

and reacting to a bunch of stuff

throughout the season because the season's finally here.

It's off season takes a long time.

But here we are six days away from opening day

in 162 of baseball.

And Boy you better enjoy it.

Because who knows what baseball look like,

obviously in 2000, 2027.

Yeah, appreciate you guys.

Hit the like button, hit the subscribe button.

Love doing this show.

Very excited for year three.

I know this team is probably not tracking to be a good one.

Maybe we're all surprised and they end up being really good.

But I love doing this.

I love doing Twin Show pods.

I love getting the excess and get information

relaying it to you guys.

So thank you.

Appreciate that.

My name is Dex here on the Scornor Twin Show.

More content coming at you.

And anything else kind of breaking news.

I'll have some shorts on the channel too.

Appreciate that guys.

Have a good weekend.

Talk next soon.

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