The trade deadline is in the rearview mirror, and the Twins are into the part of the season where every roster spot matters. Jeremy Zoll already added multiple pieces, those newcomers are on the active roster, and Minnesota’s attention now turns to the final two months and a push for a postseason berth.
But the front office doesn’t have to stop looking for ways to get better. Some of the most meaningful upgrades are already in the organization, waiting in St.
Paul while the big-league club carries players who aren’t making much of an impact. If the Twins want to maximize the stretch run, there are three moves they should make right now.
First: option Tristan Gray to Triple-A St. Paul and bring up Kaelen Culpepper.
Gray’s call-up when Byron Buxton went on the injured list was puzzling then, and it looks even stranger now. Since joining the Twins on July 29, Gray has gotten only two plate appearances, and both ended in strikeouts.
When a player barely gets on the field, that tells you plenty. Minnesota clearly doesn’t trust him enough to put him in the lineup, which means the club has effectively been operating with one less roster spot.
Culpepper is the better use of that space. The organization’s top shortstop prospect has dealt with injuries this season, but he has looked healthy since coming back and keeps producing.
He owns an .826 OPS at Triple-A and showed it again Tuesday night, going 3-for-5 with a triple. He hits right-handed, which Minnesota needs, and he brings much more upside than Gray.
If Culpepper takes over regular work at shortstop while Ryan Kreidler handles a reserve role, the Twins get younger, more athletic and more dangerous offensively. At some point, the team has to find out what it has in one of its best prospects. Right now feels like the time.
Second: designate Alex Jackson for assignment and recall Matt Wallner from Triple-A.
Three catchers made sense before the deadline. Ryan Jeffers was one of the most obvious trade candidates on the roster, and Jackson gave the Twins insurance if they had moved him.
They didn’t. Jeffers stayed put, and now there’s not much reason to keep carrying that extra catcher.
Jeffers and Victor Caratini are already one of the stronger catching duos in baseball. That means the roster spot Jackson occupies could be put to better use.
Jackson has been a nice surprise since arriving, and with a $1.35 million contract, there’s a decent chance he could clear waivers and remain in the organization if another team passes. But the more important move is replacing him with Wallner.
Wallner’s demotion in May made sense after his rough start, but he has answered since landing in St. Paul.
He has a .938 OPS with 20 home runs since being sent down, and he added another homer Tuesday night. That’s not just a rebound - that’s forcing the issue.
Minnesota has been chasing more consistency at the plate for weeks, and Wallner’s power gives the lineup another real threat in the middle. That’s a far better use of a roster spot than a third catcher with no obvious role.
Third: option Alan Roden to Triple-A and select the contract of Walker Jenkins.
When the Twins brought up Roden in early July, the logic was easy to follow. He was hitting well at Triple-A, he was healthy, and he had earned a shot. But the results haven’t followed.
Over his first 50 plate appearances with Minnesota, Roden has a .514 OPS and no extra-base hits. The Twins also haven’t shown much comfort using him in center field, which limits what he can offer even more. With the bat quiet and the defensive role narrow, he hasn’t done enough to stick.
Jenkins should get that opportunity instead. He’s one of the top prospects in baseball for a reason.
At Triple-A this season, he has an .818 OPS, and he’s looked even better since returning from injury at the end of June. The eye test backs up the numbers, too.
He looks ready for the next step.
With Buxton sidelined, there are plenty of at-bats to go around. Jenkins can play either corner outfield spot and can handle center field as well, giving manager Derek Shelton another athletic option while adding one of the organization’s highest-upside bats.
There comes a point when prospects stop being helped by Triple-A and start being helped by major league innings. Jenkins looks like he’s there.
The Twins have had trouble scoring runs lately, and hoping the offense just wakes up isn’t a plan. The front office already handled outside additions before the deadline. Now it should make the most of what it already has in-house.
Culpepper, Wallner and Jenkins would bring youth, upside and more pop to a lineup that needs it. If Minnesota is serious about making a run over the final two months, these are the kinds of aggressive roster moves it should be making now.
In Other News...
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The bigger question now is how much more the organization can learn from him if he keeps handling the workload this way. Castro missed time with shoulder inflammation, then came back to turn in a run of stronger outings, a stretch that has only sharpened the attention around a pitcher who is starting to look like more than just depth in the system. [Read more 🡒]
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The Twins are still right in the mix in the American League Central and the Wild Card chase, and that keeps the conversation in Minnesota focused not just on what the current roster can do, but on what might be coming next. Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper and Gabriel Gonzalez have all put themselves on the radar with strong minor league work, giving the organization a handful of young options as the season enters its stretch run.
For a club trying to hang around long enough to matter in September, those prospects could become a real part of the equation before the year is over. Whether the Twins choose to lean on one or more of them will depend on how the roster holds up and how the playoff picture tightens, but the possibility of adding fresh talent has become one of the more interesting subplots in the final weeks. [Read more 🡒]