Obviously, every player is playing for their jobs. If you play poorly, you’re constantly at risk of seeing yourself pushed out of an organization. However, that pressure is amplified for young (let’s just say under-30) players who have used up their minor-league options.

Major League Baseball has many convoluted rules, and no set of rules may be more confusing to fans than those related to minor-league options. In short, players on the 40-man roster can be on the active MLB roster or in the minor leagues. However, players on the 40-man roster cannot be kept in the minor leagues indefinitely. If a player spends more than 20 days in the minor leagues while on the 40-man roster, they use one of their minor-league option years. They have three such option years. If the player has already used their three options, they must stay on the active roster and can only be moved to the minors if they are waived (meaning any of the other 29 teams can claim them) and then removed from the 40-man.

Why does this matter in this discussion? Well, the Twins have a small handful of players who are out of options next season. That puts a bit of a target on their backs, because the organization needs to have some confidence that they’re big-league contributors. A player like, say, Mickey Gasper isn’t a guy a team has confidence will stick on an MLB roster, but because he has options, he can stick around as a depth option.

When a player transitions from a fungible depth option to a roster lock, the bar rises. And when that bar rises, the calculus on keeping him around changes. Over the offseason, that might mean some guys will be out of a job. As the season winds down over the next couple of weeks, the Twins have five such players who will force decisions that might not happen if they could be sent down.

(Ok, technically, there are eight, but three of those are Thomas Hatch, Michael Tonkin, and Génesis Cabrera, relievers here to soak up innings. I guess you could make an argument that fans should care if you have a favorite reliever in that bunch, but I’ll skip discussing them for reasons that should be obvious.)

Jose Miranda
Did you forget about Jose Miranda? Many have. This one appears to be the clearest case (no pun intended) among notable players out of options. Miranda was demoted in April, burning his final option, and has been one of the worst hitters in Triple-A this season, slashing .194/.271/.303. It’s probably the end of the line for his Twins career, and nothing he does down the stretch will change that.

Edouard Julien
Julien was a fixture in the Twins’ 2023 lineup and slated to be a mainstay at the top of the lineup for years, but he’s sputtered in 2024 and 2025, burning his last two option years as he oscillated between Triple-A and MLB. He was called up after the trade deadline fire sale for what might be one final opportunity, and he’s played more often than not against righties either at first base or designated hitter. He’s been squeezed out of second base reps, with even Austin Martin getting time there over him.

And he hasn’t been good, slashing .188/.284/.299 in the majors this season, with a .548 OPS since his August 1 tryout began. Julien has theoretical upside as a hitter, but he hasn’t flashed that in two years. The Twins could be talked into chasing that dragon again in 2026, but with Julien being out of options, that’s a harder bridge to sell.

Kody Clemens
You could call Clemens Julien-adjacent, as there might be something of an internal battle over who the default lefty first baseman is going into next season. There might be room for one of them, but not both, and Clemens has hit better this year, played a better second and first base, and shown flexibility in the outfield.

If we were having this conversation a month ago, it’d be much more straightforward, but Clemens, the only player on this list currently out of options (which is why the Twins got him for cash considerations from Philadelphia), has struggled mightily down the stretch, slashing .154/.214/.282 as the Twins’ primary first baseman.

Given his great start and middle of the season and his flexibility, he’d probably be a no-brainer to at least be penciled into the plans next year, but his skid and lack of options muddy that. He probably has a better chance of hanging on the roster over the offseason than the first two on this list.

James Outman
The prized jewel from the Brock Stewart trade everyone loved and totally understood, Outman is a lefty outfielder for a team I’m pretty sure has no other left-handed outfielders. Outman has a very clear path to playing time, given that there are no other left-handed outfielders on the major-league roster or in the high minors, so I’m sure his being out of options won’t play a factor in any decision-making for him or adjacent players. Certainly, he won’t be given a spot due to the sunk cost fallacy and will instead get a lot of playing time because there’s a clear role for him on next year’s team. (Hang on, I’m being handed a note…)

At least he plays center field. And has a .642 OPS as a Twin. Who knows, honestly? I’m not mad; I’m still just confused.

Simeon Woods Richardson
Okay, joking about Outman aside, this is the big one. This is the case that got me thinking about the topic. Woods Richardson kept the Twins rotation afloat in 2024, providing much-needed depth, with a 4.17 ERA in 28 starts. He struggled early in 2025, necessitating a trip to the minors, which burned his final option year.

Woods Richardson has been a productive backend starter. Not sexy, but competent enough. However, the Twins have eight MLB starters (or seven, pending the health of David Festa), and the 2026 rotation is not yet apparent. Joe Ryan, Pablo López, and Bailey Ober seem to slot in ahead of him, and Zebby Matthews is likely ahead of him, as well. Taj Bradley has about the same amount of big-league action as Woods Richardson, and he’s viewed as a higher-upside youngster.

So what does that mean for Woods Richardson? He’d be a perfect next-man-up, but he can’t be stashed at Triple-A to open the season. There’s no clear path for him in a bullpen role either, given his pitch mix and stuff. There may be a trade of Ryan or López that clears this logjam up, but Woods Richardson seems like the odd man out, unless they demote Bradley or Matthews, and that says nothing about other prospects vying for depth innings like Mick Abel, Connor Prielipp, or Kendry Rojas.

He hasn’t looked great over his past three starts since recovering from a stomach virus, running a 6.59 ERA across 13 2/3 innings in three starts.

Woods Richardson is a competent backend starter with four more years of team control, but that may have to come for another team. It’s difficult to map out a role for him going into next year, with the pitching corps as constructed and no ability to demote him to the minors. That will be the story for more than one of this quintet.