Inbox: As Twins heat up, who's safe in OF?

MINNEAPOLIS -- Well, one thing's for sure: This first Twins inbox of the regular season almost certainly carried a much different tone than it would have had even a week or two ago.

After a tough start that had them at the bottom of the American League standings, the Twins have shown promising signs of life heading into Thursday's off-day, with four straight wins and six victories in their last seven games. That's sorely needed momentum that the Twins will have to carry through the rest of this stretch against Baltimore and Kansas City.

With that in mind, let's take a look at what's on the minds of folks around Twins Territory.

Who will be the odd man/men out in the Twins outfield once Buxton returns? Buxton, Kirilloff, Larnach, Kepler, Refsnyder, Garlick ... it's a full outfield. Would they roll with six outfielders? At the very least, it seems Cave's likely played his last days in a Twins uniform, right?
-- @JaredALee

As we've seen time and time again this season (and in seasons past), these roster crunches generally have a way of working themselves out, whether due to injuries or otherwise. It now seems unlikely that Byron Buxton will return within the next week, because he's still having a bit of trouble decelerating without pain, and a lot can happen in that time.

Rob Refsnyder has been a fantastic story thus far and seems like a very easy guy to root for -- but keep in mind, too, that this has been a miniscule 12-game sample size, and there's no guarantee that he'll keep it rolling. He is a career .231/.315/.326 hitter in the Majors, after all -- but he has made noticeable changes to his stance and swing, and it'll be interesting to see if they help him sustain this success.

I think Refsnyder's roster spot isn't in too much danger because he's played a capable center field, and he seems like a good fit in the Jake Cave "backup center fielder with versatility" role. Max Kepler can also play center, but he's not fully healthy, and the Twins' preference at the start of the season was clearly to leave him in right field.

If the Twins do eventually face this roster crunch, I think Kyle Garlick and Trevor Larnach would be the first two out. Garlick's niche is playing a corner spot against left-handed starters, but the Twins also like Refsnyder's bat against lefties, and he's likely an upgrade on defense. (Plus, Garlick has a Minor League option left.) As a top prospect, I don't think Larnach will stay in the Majors if he's not playing close to every day. And as far as I'm concerned, Alex Kirilloff is here to stay for good -- assuming wrist health.

If Refsnyder keeps this up, think he sees time at second? This team suddenly feels tight for roster spots.
-- @buxtonSupporter

It feels unlikely, but I could see it becoming a possibility if Refsnyder forces the issue. The bottom line is that versatility never hurts. Refsnyder said that his focus with the Twins' organization has almost exclusively been in the outfield, but second base is also the position where he has the most appearances -- by far -- in both the Minors and the Majors. It's definitely in his toolkit.

We'll see what happens with Luis Arraez (right shoulder strain) and Jorge Polanco (right ankle soreness) first, especially since middle infield isn't exactly an area of depth in the organization. The only other middle infielder on the 40-man roster is Nick Gordon, and there is some appeal in Refsnyder as a right-handed bench bat on a largely left-handed team with ability to play both infield and outfield.

Who are some names we could see added in the bullpen from St Paul? Team as a whole playing much better lately but still have little faith in this bullpen.
-- @komtvedt7

There's still a collection of arms with Major League experience over in St. Paul -- a group that includes Andrew Albers, Danny Coulombe, Ian Gibaut, Ian Hamilton, Derek Law, Robinson Leyer and Juan Minaya -- but I'm not sure that any of them will be the answer that will suddenly fortify this bullpen.

The Twins' most promising candidates in that regard coming out of Spring Training were Law and Brandon Waddell, and neither lasted long as even a low-leverage man with the big club. And seeing the way the Twins have used Law, Waddell, Luke Farrell and Shaun Anderson this year, they're not exactly bringing them in to pitch in leverage situations. It'll take time for them to earn trust, but the Twins don't really have much wiggle room for that, either, given their record.

Is there really high potential pitching help in the farm system pipeline that could perhaps save the season? If so, who? Thanks.
-- @BrianO55

... Which brings us to this question. The Triple-A relievers might not be impact additions with upside, but if you're looking for that, keep an eye on three hard throwers that were around the big league environment in Spring Training: Jhoan Duran, Josh Winder and Matt Canterino.

All three are working as starters, but they all have the raw stuff to play out of the bullpen if needed, with big fastballs and plus offspeed pitches. Duran made his season debut over the weekend with the Saints and lit up the (almost certainly hot) radar gun up to 103 mph, while Winder is off to a strong start in Double-A and Canterino has put up big numbers in High-A.

It's probably a safe bet that we'll see Duran up as a starter in some capacity this season. As for Winder and Canterino, their stuff is close to big league ready, but consistency will be key. There's precedent for the Twins moving starting prospects to relief and accelerating their timeline to the Majors, as they did with Jorge Alcala and Brusdar Graterol in 2019.

If the Twins don’t rebound in the next few weeks, how soon could they start selling and which players would have the highest odds of being moved?
-- @KarterKudrna33

I understand the sentiment considering the Twins' concerning start to the season, but there's really no reason to rush into any idea of selling, especially since this team believes that the first few weeks' results aren't indicative of their true talent level. Of course, if the Twins continue to struggle in the coming weeks (and they're in a particularly soft patch of their schedule right now), those assumptions will need to be challenged.

But for now, with only a few exceptions around the league, it still looks like teams are in the evaluation stage, with the action stage still largely waiting until July, when teams have a better sense of what their realistic possibilities for a stretch run will look like. For the Twins in particular, in the midst of a year in which everyone firmly believed they would contend, I don't think any "sell" decision will come with haste.

If it does come to that, it'll likely be the guys on expiring deals that would be shopped around -- that's Nelson Cruz, Michael Pineda, Andrelton Simmons, J.A. Happ, Matt Shoemaker, Hansel Robles and Alex Colomé. José Berríos and Buxton are a year away from free agency and could draw a larger prospect haul, but I think they'd be tougher to part with -- barring a huge return -- considering the Twins will hope to contend again in 2022.