The Minnesota Twins made a puzzling move this week.
The Minnesota Twins have closed the book on Alex Jackson for the 2026 season. On Monday, they designated the 30-year-old catcher for assignment. The move cleared room for the major-league debut of first baseman Aaron Sabato. It also ended weeks of carrying a player the club had no real intention of using.
The decision shines a light on how the front office has mismanaged its active roster during their second-half playoff push. As Twins writer Aaron Gleeman detailed on X, Jackson spent 42 games on the active roster after Aug. 1.
In that entire span, he logged just five plate appearances and made zero starts. For nearly two months, Minnesota willingly operated with a short bench. The problem was never Jackson’s bat. It was his redundancy. The club already had a settled catching tandem in starter Ryan Jeffers and veteran backup Victor Caratini, one of the better duos in the league.
Carrying a third catcher is a luxury few contenders can justify. That is especially true when the third option never plays. The spot could have gone to a fresh bullpen arm, a pinch-runner or another prospect. Instead, the Twins held a player they rarely used while trying to make the playoffs. Having a different player may not have prevented the Twins from collapsing, but wasting a roster spot made no sense either.
When Jackson did get in this year, he produced. He hit .304 with a home run and five RBIs across 33 games this year.
Minnesota has been eliminated from playoff contention. The club enters Tuesday at 73-84 and fourth in the American League Central. By holding onto Jackson through August, the front office passed on a chance to evaluate younger talent earlier.
The spot now belongs to a player with a future in the organization. Sabato, a 27-year-old first baseman, earned the call after a strong season at Triple-A St. Paul. He slashed .273/.349/.528 and tied the single-season Triple-A record with 25 home runs. Sabato officially made his debut Monday in a loss to the San Francisco Giants.
The Twins have spent September leaning into a youth movement. Sabato joined Walker Jenkins, Kaelen Culpepper and Emmanuel Rodriguez as the latest rookie prospect to earn a September promotion.
The roster spot finally went to someone the organization actually wants to watch. The real question is how much sharper the bench might have looked had the Twins made that call while the games still mattered.
