Goodbye, Deduno

Sam Deduno had
 a 16-18, 4.26 record
with the Twins.

The Twins' second-half roster churn continued during the weekend with Sam Deduno going to the Houston Astros on outright waivers.

Deduno spent most of the season in the bullpen and was better in that role (3.21 ERA in 22 outings, 53.1 innings) than in his eight starts (6.52 ERA in just 38.2 innings). It seems safe to infer that the Twins figured they have better choices for the 2015 bullpen, and I think that's true.

Deduno spend bits of the past three seasons with the Twins, and always seemed more interesting as a rotation candidate. He had a couple of stretches in which it seemed he might finally have tamed his self-described "crazy fastball." But those stretches never lasted. His lack of command and injury history meant he wasn't capable of working deep into games.

Aaron Thompson had
an ERA of 3.98 for
Triple A Rochester
this year.

When the Twins waived Deduno, they already had two openings on the 40-man roster. They filled one with Aaron Thompson, a left-handed reliever who entered the organization the same winter Deduno did and in the same manner (as a minor-league free agent). Thompson was added to the 25-man roster Sunday and made his first major-league appearance since 2011, when he worked four games for Pittsburgh.

Thompson's September trial appears to indicate a dissatisfaction with the left-handed set-up men, Brian Duensing and Caleb Thielbar. I don't expect Thompson to be any improvement on them, and I expect the Twins to look for more lefty bullpen alternatives this winter. (Neither Duensing nor Theilbar are eligible for free agency this winter.) Or the Twins could consider giving one or more of the lefties in the upper minors a shot. (Mason Melotakis, headed to the Arizona Fall League, comes promptly to mind.)

One such lefty, Edgar Ibarra, was dropped from the 40 on Sunday, once again creating three openings. So I suspect that the Twins plan to add three players now off the 40-man roster for the season's final month. That fun can begin today, although the call-ups probably won't happen until Rochester and New Britain end their seasons.

The first injuries

A sign of spring (training) in Fort Myers.

The Twins, or at least the pitchers and catchers, held their first official workouts of the spring Monday in Fort Myers, Fla. As usual, Day One brought news of previously undisclosed ill health.

Most prominent: Regular shortstop Pedro Florimon had his appendix removed Monday in a minimally invasive manner. He'll be out a couple of weeks. Considering that position players don't officially start for another week, this isn't likely to be an issue.

Meanwhile, Ron Gardenhire declared that Florimon is his shortstop. Had the manager made that statement a few weeks ago, he would have saved this blogger the mental exertion required to generate this analysis of the possibilities for the position.

Edgar Ibarra, a 24-year-old lefty reliever from Venezuela who was added to the 40-man roster early in the offseason in a move to keep him from becoming a minor league free agent, was diagnosed a few weeks ago with Hepatitis B. He didn't throw his scheduled bullpen and will be limited for a while. Ibarra had a strong 2013 split between Double A and Triple A, a season markedly better than anything he'd had before, but he wasn't particularly likely to crack the Opening Day roster even if healthy. Which he isn't.

Some minor moves

The Twins on Monday elevated left-handed relief prospect Edgar Ibarra to the 40-man roster rather than allow him to become a minor-league free agent. They also, over the weekend, reinstated Sam Deduno to the 40 (he had been on the 60-day disabled list).

Ibarra is 24, from Venezuela, and is said to have a mid-90s fastball and a decent change but shows a poor control record. He will presumably compete with Brian Duensing and Caleb Thielbar for a LOOGY role in the Minnesota bullpen, although there is speculation that the arbitration-eligible Duensing may be cut loose rather than give him a raise.

The Twins now have 36 or 37 players on the 40, depending on how you view Mike Pelfrey, who officially becomes a free agent at some point but was still listed on the Twins website Monday evening.

Also on Monday, the Twins formally announced a handful of minor league signings, including Wilkin Ramirez, Doug Bernier and Lester Oliveros, all of whom have seen some major league time in the past few seasons. Others: Dan Rohlfing, Aaron Thompson, Jermaine Mitchell and James Beresford. Those seven all got invites to major league camp.

As I said in an earlier post, I'm not sure what the point is to having both Bernier and Beresford when the Triple A middle infield figures to be manned by Double A graduates Danny Santana and Eddie Rosario.

Three other minor league vets were signed without the invites: Vigil Vasquez, Jairo Rodriguez and Reynaldo Rodriguez.