Twins trade for catcher, agree to terms for Justin Topa

The Twins made a series of roster moves on Friday morning hours before the deadline to tender arbitration-eligible players a contract for the season first acquiring catcher Alex Jackson who was a candidate to be non-tendered by the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for minor league utilityman Payton Eeles To make room on the -man roster for Jackson the Twins designated outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr for assignment Keirsey spent much of the season in the majors but played sparingly primarily appearing in games as a defensive replacement or pinch runner Jackson once the sixth overall pick in the draft has played parts of six seasons in the majors for five different teams Last year he played in games for the Orioles hitting with a OPS with five home runs and eight RBIs The Twins have employed a catching split for the past three seasons between Ryan Jeffers and Christian V zquez But with V zquez now a free agent Jeffers is likely to step into a bigger role and Jackson serves as a probable backup Eeles was signed out of independent ball and has yet to reach the majors after spending much of the past two seasons at Triple-A Additionally the Twins agreed to terms with reliever Justin Topa who was arbitration-eligible They have until p m to tender contracts to the rest of their arb-eligible players or non-tender them which would make them free agents That list includes Jeffers Bailey Ober Joe Ryan Cole Sands Royce Lewis and Trevor Larnach Larnach who is due a projected million per MLB Transaction Rumors is the biggest question mark of the group Related Articles Twins Saints set for Field of Dreams games Twins commerce for pitcher add six to -man roster Twins new coaching staff includes Toby Gardenhire new hitting coach Twins finalize coaching staff adding specific familiar faces New Twins manager Derek Shelton adding to coaching staff