Head-scratching decisions often make more sense when considering the option information, so let’s overview the system.

First, let’s touch on some rules. They’re a bit complicated but graspable with some patience. If you already know the rules, skip to the player lists.

Minor League Options Defined

To be eligible for an MLB active (26-man) roster, a player must be on that team’s expanded 40-man roster.

A player on the 40-man roster can be in the majors or minors, but only players on the 40-man can be on the MLB active roster. Therefore, any player not on the 40-man roster must be added to both the 40-man and active rosters to be eligible to play.

If there is no room on the 40-man, a current member needs to be removed, generally by exposing him to outright waivers or by transferring them to the 60-day injured list.

If exposed to outright waivers, any other team in the league willing to take on the player’s salary and place him on their active roster (or expose him to waivers again) can claim him. Naturally, a player would need to be injured for the 60-day option to be available.

To send a player to the minors while also on the team’s 40-man roster, they need to have option years remaining. If the player has no option years remaining, they must be exposed to waivers before being sent down.

Number of Options

When a player is added to a 40-man roster for the first time in his career, he has three option years.

Option years are used when the player spends time in the minor leagues, whether it’s a full season or a few weeks spread over months. A player can be sent down once or several times in that year, and it will still count as a single option year, assuming that he meets the 20 day threshold.

Players who do not play in the minor leagues in a given year retain their option years. If a player uses an option year in 2025, he will have two remaining. If he then spends all of 2026 on an MLB roster, he still has two. If he then gets sent down in 2027, he will have one.

If he’s sent down again in 2028, he will have no options left, and if the team wants to send him to the minors in 2029, he would need to be waived first.

Nuances

There are some nuances to these rules to be aware of. First, if a player is in the minor leagues but is not on the 40-man roster, the team is not using one of his options.

However, if he is called up to the major league team, and thus added to the 40-man roster, the team can only send him back down by using one of his options (if he has any) or exposing him to waivers.

As of 2022, a player can only be sent to the minor leagues five times in one season, which includes starting the season in the minors. After the fifth time, the subsequent demotion requires the player to be waived. They will still have any future option years, though.

Occasionally the years are malleable, and additional option years for a player may be added by the league. More specifically, the player must fit the criteria of having used all three options before getting 5 years of professional service (full season baseball). For example, Lewis Thorpe had four option years for this reason. In fact, a few Twins have.

Gilberto Celestino had one option remaining in 2022 and was demoted mid-season. However, he was recalled within days after an injury to an active roster player, and because h

is demotion was so short, he did not use an option year. It needs to be over 20 days to count as an option year.

Players with at least five years of service time (time on an MLB active roster) can refuse a demotion, even if they still have options remaining. You will rarely see a 35-year-old sent to AAA, even if he has an option remaining, because he can simply say no, forcing the team to either release him or send someone else down.

The Twins Roster

Let’s look at the Twins players’ situations with all that out of the way. It should be noted that even if a player is listed with options remaining, that doesn’t mean we think they will be sent down or are even likely to. (Things would have to go really bad for Jhoan Duran to be sent to St. Paul). This information is from FanGraphs’s Roster Resource.

MLB Players who can Refuse Demotion

As discussed, these players have enough service time to refuse demotion. In rare cases, if the player and team agree that some time in the minor leagues would be beneficial, and he still has at least one option year remaining, it could happen. However, it’s rare enough that you shouldn’t hope that Chris Paddack agrees to spend time in St. Paul this season.

Jorge Alcalá (as of this week), Harrison Bader, Byron Buxton, Willi Castro, Carlos Correa, Danny Coulombe, Ty France, Christian Vázquez

MLB Players Out of Options

These players can be sent down, but they would need to be exposed to waivers first. [author’s note: Blewett is currently on waivers].

Scott Blewett, Brock Stewart, Michael Tonkin

MLB Players with One Option Remaining

These players are currently on the active roster (or injured list) and can still be sent down this year. However, if they are sent down and use an option year, they will have no options in 2026. The team could be a little more hesitant to use that final year than they would otherwise.

Jhoan Durán, Edouard Julien, Trevor Larnach, Cole Sands, Louis Varland, Matt Wallner

40-Man Players with Multiple Option Years Remaining

If necessary, any of these players can be sent back and forth with little concern.

Travis Adams, Jair Camargo, David Festa, Kody Funderburk, Mickey Gasper, Griffin Jax, Ryan Jeffers, DaShawn Keirsey Jr., Brooks Lee, Royce Lewis, Austin Martin, Zebby Matthews, Marco Raya, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Justin Topa

40-Man Players in the Minor Leagues with One Option Remaining

These players are currently in the minors (as of 4/12), and if they hit the 20-day threshold then it’s their last year. Come 2026, they would have no options remaining.

Matt Canterino, Diego Cartaya, Jose Miranda

Notable Minor League Veterans without Options and/or Sufficient Service Time

There are a handful of minor league veterans that are not on the MLB roster. If these veterans are called up, they either have no options remaining (*) or can refuse the demotion due to service time (®), so sending them back down would be complicated. Prepare to lose them if you see them (as has already happened with Darren McCaughan).

Mike Ford*, Richard Lovelady*, Darren McCaughan*, Anthony Misiewicz*, Erasmo Ramírez®, Huascar Ynoa*

Notable Minor League Veterans with One Option Remaining

If these veterans are called up, they still have one option remaining, so they can be kept in the system and demoted, but this would be the last year, without exposing them to waivers.

Daniel Duarte, Alex Speas

Notable Minor League Veterans with Multiple Options Remaining

With this group, if they’re called up, they can be demoted with very little option year consideration. Any prospects you have in mind that hasn’t been listed in this document probably has no MLB services time and thus has three options remaining.

Armando Alvarez, Jacob Bosiokovic, Allan Cerda, Randy Dobnak (seriously; his time at AAA has mostly been off of the 40-man roster, including right now), Brady Feigl, Ryan Jensen