Twins remove 5 players from 40-man roster, exercise Jorge Alcala's club option

Offseason moves are underway for the Twins.

Sep 8, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Jorge Alcala (66) pitches during the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

The Twins have outrighted five players off of their 40-man roster and exercised the 2025 club option for relief pitcher Jorge Alcala on Monday as the offseason officially gets underway.

These are the five players who were trimmed from the 40-man roster and cleared waivers:

- RHP Scott Blewett
- RHP Randy Dobnak
- RHP Daniel Duarte
- IF Yunior Severino
- RHP Josh Winder

The four pitchers all made at least one appearance for the Twins this season, although none threw more than Blewett's 20.1 innings. Severino is a 25-year-old infielder who put up solid numbers for Triple-A St. Paul this year (21 HR, .775 OPS) and hit 35 homers across two levels in 2023 — but hasn't yet reached the big leagues. All five players could potentially remain in the Twins' organization and play for St. Paul in 2025.

Those five join four free agents (Max Kepler, Carlos Santana, Caleb Thielbar, Anthony DeSclafani), two players whose options were declined by the Twins (Manuel Margot, Kyle Farmer), and one retired player (Alex Kirilloff) in departing the 40-man roster since the offseason began.

For Alcala, it's a $1.5 million club option for next season. The 29-year-old had a 3.24 ERA with 58 strikeouts in 58.1 innings in 2024. He struggled a bit in the second half after posting a sterling 1.60 ERA through August 2, including a 5-run blowup in Texas on August 18 that sparked the Twins' collapse, but it was still a strong season for him on the whole.

Alcala projects as a low or medium-leverage option in a 2025 Twins bullpen that should again be led by Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Cole Sands, among others (Louie Varland, Justin Topa, Brock Stewart, Michael Tonkin, and potential newcomers could all be in the high-leverage mix).

He's set to hit free agency after the season.