{"id":612927,"date":"2026-03-08T06:31:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T06:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/612927\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T06:31:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T06:31:30","slug":"al-central-notes-twins-rojas-buxton-gaddis-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/612927\/","title":{"rendered":"AL Central Notes: Twins, Rojas, Buxton, Gaddis, Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Mark Polishuk<\/a> |
\n at March 7, 2026 2:27pm CDT <\/p>\n

The Blue Jays started asking the Twins about Louis Varland<\/a> three months before the reliever was actually dealt<\/a> at last summer\u2019s trade deadline, and Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune<\/a> writes that the Twins aimed high in negotiations by asking for one of Trey Yesavage<\/a> or Kendry Rojas<\/a> in return.\u00a0 Yesavage (the Jays\u2019 top pitching prospect and future postseason breakout star) wasn\u2019t going anywhere, but Toronto eventually budged in moving Rojas and outfielder Alan Roden<\/a> in exchange for Varland and Ty France<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to Spring Training, and Roden is competing for a starting job in Minnesota\u2019s outfield while Rojas\u2019 high-90\u2019s velocity is turning heads in camp.\u00a0 The 23-year-old Rojas got rocked over 32 1\/3 Triple-A innings in 2025 and is still trying to harness his control, but he could be a candidate to make his MLB debut at some point this season.\u00a0 The Twins will continue to develop Rojas as a starter but some scouts believe a high-leverage relief role could be in the southpaw\u2019s future.\u00a0 An initial call-up as a reliever could help Rojas ease his way into the big leagues while not closing the door on a potential future as a rotation piece.<\/p>\n

More from around the AL Central\u2026<\/p>\n

Guardians right-hander Hunter Gaddis<\/a>\u2018 imaging on his forearm \u201ccame back clean,\u201d manager Stephen Vogt<\/a> told MLB.com\u2019s Tim Stebbins<\/a> and other reporters earlier this week after Gaddis experienced forearm tightness after his first spring outing on February 27.\u00a0 Gaddis has resumed his throwing progression and it doesn\u2019t seem like the issue will impact his Opening Day status, as Vogt said \u201ceverything I\u2019m hearing is that it\u2019s good news and we\u2019re good to go.\u201d\u00a0 Stebbins writes that the Guardians were already giving workhorse relievers Gaddis and Cade Smith<\/a> gradual builds into the season, as a reflection of how much both right-handers pitched in 2024-25 \u2014 Gaddis\u2019 151 appearances were the second-most in baseball over the last two seasons, and Smith was right behind with 150 appearances.\u00a0 Gaddis augmented that durability with a 6.3% walk rate and 25.2% strikeout rate, and he\u2019ll again be leaned on for key leverage innings in Cleveland\u2019s bullpen in 2026.
\nBeau Brieske<\/a> is slated to throw a bullpen session today as the Tigers gauge his recovery from right ribcage tightness.\u00a0 Brieske has pitched in just two games this spring but manager A.J. Hinch told the Detroit Free Press\u2019 Evan Petzold<\/a> and other reporters that Brieske \u201chas plenty of time as a reliever to accomplish what he needs to make a run at this team.\u201d\u00a0 Ankle and elbow injuries limited Brieske to 22 Major League innings last season, and his health setbacks surely contributed to a 6.55 ERA.\u00a0 While the ribcage issue is another setback, Brieske is aiming to return to his past role as a solid swingman on Detroit\u2019s staff.
\nBookending the post with some more Twins news, x-rays were negative on Byron Buxton<\/a>\u2018s forearm after the outfielder was removed from a World Baseball Classic game yesterday after being hit by a pitch.\u00a0 United States manager Mark DeRosa told reporters (including MLB.com\u2019s Ryan Kelapire<\/a>) that the sixth-inning removal was just precautionary, and done in part because the USA already had a big lead in what ended up as a 15-5 win over Brazil.\u00a0 Even minor injury situations like this can\u2019t help but raise extra concerns given Buxton\u2019s checkered health history, though it appears the outfielder should be fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Mark Polishuk | at March 7, 2026 2:27pm CDT The Blue Jays started asking the Twins about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,2259,2223,947,26513,4,5196],"class_list":["post-612927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-beau-brieske","tag-byron-buxton","tag-hunter-gaddis","tag-kendry-rojas","tag-mlb","tag-trey-yesavage"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116192154284876637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}