Twins Add Three Pitchers and One Position Player to 40-Man Roster (+ a BW Family Health Update)
The roster is now full
First, a (not so) brief aside.
I apologize for the spotty content schedule of late. There have been good reasons for this, however. That is good as in joyous, and good as in “oh no, but that makes sense.”
Last Tuesday morning, our family welcomed a handsome little man named Curtis Jon Warne into the family. Isn’t he precious?
Things went off without much of a hitch at the hospital, and by Thursday we were headed for home ready to start our lives as a family of four.
Not so fast.
I’ve been sick for about three weeks or so. My wife had COVID around that time and my symptoms were similar, so I just assumed I had it too. We hunkered down, more or less got better and went about our merry way. I even had a negative COVID test, so I assumed whatever I was battling was done.
About a week later, I realized I was getting worse again and went into Urgent Care. They told me I had viral bronchitis — which I assumed was just a secondary effect of COVID — and I took my prescription and went, again, on my merry way.
A week later our little guy was born. That Saturday, however, I woke up and again felt terrible. I went into the emergency room, got a swab up my nose and was again told I had viral bronchitis but was given a different, more apt/potent prescription with instructions that I’d know in about 24 hours if I had COVID, Influenza A or just a really nasty, nasty case of bronchitis that the first meds hadn’t touched.
The next morning, my wife’s blood pressure spiked. Her mom was still with us, so they went into the emergency room with CJ with the idea that they’d come home later that day.
Well that was Sunday. She’s still in the hospital. It’s Tuesday night. As I was planning to run down some emergency supplies to the hospital later Sunday evening, I got an email with my test results.
Abnormal. Positive for COVID-19. F.
So I canceled that plan and made other arrangements. My neighbor — who is a nurse practitioner — told me to get my hands on Paxlovid and fast.
CVS said they couldn’t give it to me because their night pharmacist wasn’t trained to. Cub told me I needed a prescription. CVS Online said I didn’t qualify because I didn’t have enough risk factors.
So the next day I sent out a medical message and saw a random doctor at my provider’s office over a video call. He said I should get Paxlovid, but he also dropped another bomb on me.
“We should also get you on some Tamiflu for Influenza.”
Now I was really baffled. I hadn’t seen that as a positive test on my email, but somehow it was there and I’d missed it. So not only did I have COVID, but also Influenza A at the same time.
So that’s what I’ve been dealing with for the past month/weeks/days/whatever.
I’m on some meds and progressing well, and back to feeding the content machine.
TL;DR: it’s been a wild ride. Hopefully, my wife will be able to come home Wednesday, and if you’re the type to say a few words to the man upstairs, my family would appreciate it greatly.
Let’s get down to the business you’re here to read, though.
Tuesday marked the deadline for MLB teams to add players to their 40-man rosters to protect them from selection in the Rule 5 draft at next month’s Winter Meetings.
This season, the Twins protected four players — though perhaps some of them are exactly household names unless you, dear reader, are a prospect hound.
Here’s the lowdown on each (with age on Opening Day 2023):
Brent Headrick (25) - 3.32 ERA, 11.3 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 1.08 WHIP in 108.1 innings (25 games/23 starts) between High-A Cedar Rapids and Double-A Wichita
Headrick is a massive, well-built lefty — listed at 6-foot-6, 235 lbs. who was a ninth-round pick out of Illinois State University in 2019. He has struck out everyone in sight in three minor-league seasons (11.6 K/9) but did develop a bit of a home run problem at his Wichita cameo last season (11 in 43.0 innings).
Headrick works in the low 90s with a fastball that he appears to command well up in the zone, as well as a sweeping curveball in the upper 70s and what looked to me like a pretty good changeup in the low 80s.
Headrick is not listed among the team’s top-30 prospects at MLB Pipeline, so this is likely a projection protection with the team thinking he has another level — perhaps even coming out of the bullpen.
Matt Canterino (25) - 1.95 ERA, 13.1 K/9, 5.6 BB/9, 1.16 WHIP in 37.0 innings (12 games/13 starts) between FCL Twins (Rookie) and Double-A Wichita
Canterino, the team’s No. 9 prospect via MLB Pipeline, has struggled to say healthy since the Twins took him in the second round out of Rice in the 2019 draft. He has a starter’s repertoire but has not shown the durability necessary to think he can be anything more than a power reliever.
That’s not that much of a slight, however. He strikes out everyone in sight working with a mid-to-upper 90s baseball (he did hit 99 in a bullpen session before camp in 2021), a low 80s curveball and a slider that comes in a bit harder as well. He’ll also flash a changeup from time to time, but it’s unclear how that’d fit in if he ends up in the bullpen.
If/when he helps the Twins, it won’t be anytime soon — he underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of August last year. The Twins can put him on the 60-day IL in spring, but that would mean he’d accrue a year of service time without pitching. Ideally the Twins would like to avoid that, but sometimes the 40-man can get a bit hairy with other players getting injured.
Casey Legumina (25) - 4.80 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 1.44 WHIP in 86.1 innings (33 games/16 starts) between High-A Cedar Rapids and Double-A Wichita
Legumina, who is the team’s No. 26 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, has a four-pitch mix with a fastball that sits in the mid 90s and a really strong, sweeping slider. He worked as a swingman with Wichita, and finished the season much better than he started it.
Between June and July, Legumina pitched in nine games and had a 4.42 ERA, .782 OPS against and 32-11 K/BB ratio in 36.2 innings with six home runs allowed.
From Aug. 1 on, however, he was a much different pitcher. He had a 2.81 ERA over 25.2 innings (17 games), and allowed just two home runs with a 31-8 K/BB ratio. He also closed out the regular season with 10 straight scoreless appearances, holding opposing batters to just a .175 batting average with zero extra-base hits over the season’s final three weeks.
Edouard Julien (23) - .300/.441/.490 in 508 PA at Double-A Wichita
Julien is the team’s No. 14 prospect, though with the way he’s been swinging that might be conservative.
Julien hit a ridiculous .400/,563/.686 in 21 games (96 plate appearances) with Glendale in the Arizona Fall League this year, with 23 walks against just 22 strikeouts.
Here’s what MLB.com had to say about Julien when it named him their 2022 All-Arizona Fall League Team second baseman:
Speaking of approach vs. power, Julien was known best for his Double-A-best .441 OBP during the regular season for Wichita before showing he can mix in some pop too with Glendale. He was one of the five players with five homers and also led AFL qualifiers with a 1.249 OPS while finishing second with a .686 slugging percentage over 21 games. Julien still stuck to his strengths, tying Rumfield with his .400 average and leading the circuit with a .563 OBP and 23 walks, but the increase in power helped him secure Breakout Player of the Year.
Not bad for an 18th-round pick (in 2019), huh? Now the question is where his defensive home will be.
With these four additions, the Twins’ 40-man roster is full. That of course doesn’t preclude the Twins from adding players this offseason. It just means corresponding moves will be required.