Meanwhile, back with the Twins ...

On the same day that the New York Mets completed their sweep of the Chicago Cubs and the Toronto Blue Jays staved off elimination, the Twins made their first roster moves of the offseason: They outrighted catcher Eric Fryer, outfielder Shane Robinson and left-handed pitcher Aaron Thompson.

This takes all three off the 40-man roster. All three are likely to test free agency, and I doubt any of them will find a team willing to offer a major league contract. I rather expect the Twins to offer them minor league deals, Fryer in particular. Robinson might be the least likely for them to retain; he's a fourth (or fifth) outfielder on a team with a lot of young outfield talent.

The Twins ended the season with a full 40. They have, according to Mike Bearadino, five pending free agents (I believe they are Blaine Boyer, Neil Cotts, Brian Duensing, Torii Hunter and Mike Pelfrey), and they come off the roster after the World Series. They also have Ryan Pressly and Logan Darnell on the 60-day disabled list, and they will either be restored to the 40 next month or go through waivers; I would expect the Twins to keep both. So I make the effective 40 to be at 36.

Expect some more deletions in the next few days. Berardino listed six prospects who will be Rule 5 eligible this winter, and there isn't enough room to add them all now. One thing is certain: The Twins have the opportunity, again, to overhaul their bullpen corps this winter, especially the left-handers.

The Twins didn't kneed this

As this 10th-inning play illustrates, the 2014 rule changes
have not eradicated home plate collisions. 

Kurt Suzuki is not having a good year even by his own standards. The 31-year-old backstop is below his career averages in all three of the slash categories (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage), and his OPS+, which compares his production to the league average, is a mere 68.

Still, he entered Wednesday's game having hit .290 over the past four weeks, and he bopped a homer to open the scoring. And, of course, he exited the game with assistance after the above play.

There was nothing wrong with Dyson's play, and nothing Suzuki did wrong either. Blaine Boyer hung Suzuki out to dry with a sloppy throw on the comebacker.

The Twins announced before the game ended the Suzuki has a bruised knee. Paul Molitor sounded a bit wary of that diagnosis in the post-game presser, and I don't blame him. That looked like a ligament-damage play to me. We'll see what comes of it today.

Bruise, sprain or worse, it certainly seems possible that Suzuki won't be playing for a few days at the least. The Twins have an off day today, but the games will resume on Friday, and somebody's gotta catch.

About the only thing keeping Suzuki's many online critics from demanding his benching is the belief that neither Chris Herrmann nor Eric Fryer are capable replacements. My thought is that Herrmann might be a competent hitter if given a straight platoon role -- limit his exposure to left-handed pitching and play him regularly versus right-handers. What he's gotten is something else again: 104 plate appearances scattered through the season, a fourth of them against lefties. If Suzuki is, as I suspected immediately after the play, out for the season, I'm OK with a straight platoon of Herrmann and Fryer. It might be better than we anticipate, not that that's a tremendously high bar.

Two things we know aren't going to happen: Joe Mauer isn't strapping on the gear, and Josmil Pinto isn't coming up. I keep seeing those suggestions online. Really, folks. We might as well ask for Terry Steinbach to return.

No Berrios, at least for now

The first wave of September callups were notified Monday in Rochester after the Red Wings' game, and they are guys we've seen before. Kenny Vargas. Danny Santana. Michael Tonkin, A.J. Achter. Eric Fryer.

Not included was Jose Berrios, who started Monday for the Wings. This spurred some consternation on my Twitter feed Monday night, but I can't see any reason to be riled up about it.

Realistically, they aren't calling up a 21-year-old who is already well above his previous high in innings to displace a (healthy) veteran in the rotation in a playoff push. It doesn't make sense in developing Berrios, and the risk outweighs the rewards. (Tyler Duffey is not a veteran, but the Twins obviously think he's ahead of Berrios.) Nor is there a immediate need for Berrios in the bullpen. The late inning guys are doing well, and there's little immediate payoff in long relief.

And even if the Twins do have a role for Berrios, hes not going to pitch for at least four days anyway.

Two other Rochester players whose absence is notable but not surprising: Oswaldo Arcia and Alex Meyer. Neither earned it.

As for the guys who did get the callup, none (my opinions) should be major pieces in the stretch run. Santana put up good numbers for Rochester as a hitter, but he was also charged with a pair of errors Monday. The Twins were pretty consistent in Santana's previous stints with the big club this year -- if he was here, he was the No. 1 shortstop. I hope they stick with Eduardo Escobar now, but I won't guarantee it.

Vargas and Fryer will make it easier to pinch hit for a catcher. Vargas to pinch hit, Fryer for catching depth. Tonkin and Achter will eat meaningless innings.

The Twins do have a move yet to make, because Fryer is not on the 40-man roster and the roster is full. So somebody has to come off. I wouldn't be surprised if they move J.R. Graham to the 60-day DL and end his season

Shows what I know

On Monday, evaluating the Twins catching situation, I surmised here that the Twins would stick with Chris Herrmann as the No. 2 catcher behind Kurt Suzuki.

Tuesday night they optioned Herrmann to Triple A, put Ricky Nolasco on the 60-day disabled list, and pulled Eric Fryer off the U.S. roster for the Pan Am games.

Fryer hit .299 for Rochester this year, albeit with little power (one homer and just seven extra base hits in 184 at-bats). He's regarded as a better defensive receiver than Herrmann, but I think Herrmann, despite his poor major league numbers to date, is a better hitter. Plus Herrmann's left-handedness provided a platoon option, even though Paul Molitor didn't always take advantage of it.

Fryer wasn't on the 40-man roster, but putting Nolasco on the 60-day DL opened a spot for him. Nolasco is to have surgery on his ailing ankle. I don't know how likely he is to return this year. If he does, it probably won't be until September, and the opportunities for him to get tune-up starts in the minors will be limited.

---

Another guy went on the 60-day DL Tuesday: Former Twin Justin Morneau, out since May 16 with yet another concussion.

The Rockies say the move doesn't indicate any deterioration in his condition, and he's about a week away from being eligible to come off the 60-day DL anyway. But reading between the lines, it doesn't appear that the 2006 AL MVP and last year's NL batting champ is going to be able to take the field any time soon.

To repeat what I've said before about Morneau and his brain injuries: It's his life and his health, but it's probably in his best interest to retire.

The Twins by position: Catcher

Kurt Suzuki had a career
year hitting last season and
parlayed that into a two-year
contract extension.

I saw an item this weekend about the Arizona Diamondbacks' catching situation. Miguel Montero had been their No. 1 catcher since 2009, but his offense has been down the past two seasons, he has a sizable contract and he'll turn 32 this summer; the Snakes traded him earlier this winter to the Cubs for a couple of minor leaguers.

Now they're looking for catching help, and not getting anywhere. They have two on their 40-man roster: last's year's backup Tuffy Goeswisch, a 31-year-old with all of 55 games on his major league resume, and Oscar Hernandez, a Rule 5 draftee out of the Tampa Bay organization who was left off the Rays' 40 after repeating Low A ball.

It's not a promising duo. Yet when the Twins outrighted Eric Fryer -- their primary backup catcher for most of 2014 -- last month, Arizona didn't claim him. Presumably they didn't see Fryer as any sort of upgrade over Goeswisch or Hernandez, and certainly not as a guy they could start 125 games behind the plate.

Catcher is a unique position, the most supremely specialized of the non-pitching positions. Kurt Suzuki, the Twins No.1 catcher these days, doesn't do any one thing superbly, but he does everything well enough. If Suzuki stays healthy, the Twins are OK behind the plate.

Behind him ... well, there's Josmil Pinto, who hits better than Suzuki but is regarded as a poor receiver, and there's Chris Herrmann, who hits left-handed and has some positional versatility. In fact, the Twins list Herrmann on their 40-man roster as an outfielder.

Paul Molitor should already know this, but Herrmann doesn't hit well enough to merit sustained playing time in the outfield. If he makes the team, it's as a backup to Suzuki. Pinto hits well enough to merit sustained time at designated hitter, but Ron Gardenhire was reluctant to play him there without a third catcher on the roster, and now Kennys Vargas appears to have the first crack at the DH job.

And Fryer, while not on the 40, remains in the organization and remains the superior defensive option as Suzuki's caddy.

Were Gardenhire still the manager, I would assume Fryer will be the backup catcher. Who makes the roster figures to tell us something about Molitor's priorities -- how he balances hitting potential and defensive skills, and how he views the importance of the platoon advantage.

Parmelee goes, Fryer stays

Eric Fryer caught
28 games last year
for the Twins and
hit .213.

My read last week about what the two players removed from the Twins 40-man roster would do proved correct: Chris Parmelee opted for free agency, and Eric Fryer accepted his assignment to Triple A Rochester.

It's all about opportunity. Parmelee (and his agent) can't see much in Minnesota. There's Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas ahead of him at first base and DH, Torii Hunter and Oswaldo Arcia ahead of him in the outfield corners. Fryer, on the other hand, sees an unsettled situation behind Kurt Suzuki at catcher.

Presumably Fryer will join Mitch Garver, Tyler Grimes, Dan Rohlfing and Stuart Turner as non-roster catchers invited to spring training; unlike the other four, Fryer has a chance to make the major league roster. But that he was outrighted rather than Chris Herrmann or Josmil Pinto suggests that he should not be the favorite to emerge as the No. 2 backstop.

I will be curious about where Parmelee lands. I've suggested before a parallel between him and Garrett Jones, another left-handed hitting first baseman/corner outfielder who was blocked in Minnesota by Justin Morneau and has carved out a respectable career since being axed by the Twins. (Jones was traded this winter to the Yankees, and the idea seems to be that they will find platoon at-bats for him.)

Without studying the issue in any depth, Baltimore strikes me as a possibility. The Orioles have had a knack in recent years with castoff  first basemen/corner outfielders (Steve Pearce, Delmon Young, Chris Davis, even Lew Ford) and they lost two corner outfielders in free agency (Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis).

Obviously, nobody thinks today that Parmelee deserves a spot on a 40-man roster. He's going to have to earn one, and that means he's got to hit. I haven't given up on that possibility.

A stocking Stauffer

The Twins on Tuesday signed free agent swingman Tim Stauffer to a one-year, $2.2 million deal.

Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com says Stauffer's ticketed to fill the set-up role vacated by Jared Burton. Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweeted that Stauffer is a fit for the long relief role played by Anthony Swarzak in recent years.

Those are significantly different roles in terms of importance. I don't particularly care for Stauffer in either.

One warning sign right off the bat: Stauffer, 32, has spent his career with the San Diego Padres, who play in an extremely pitcher friendly park in the non-DH league. His career ERA is a fairly pedestrian 3.87, but that splits into 3.07 at Petco Park and 4.64 on the road.

Environment matters. It matters a lot. I sometimes wonder if the Twins front office grasps the difference between the American and National Leagues when evaluating pitchers. The designated hitter rule means an extra half-run a game in ERA for an American League pitcher. But the Twins tend to sign National League pitchers -- Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey, Ricky Nolasco -- and be surprised when they don't match their NL numbers.

That argues against putting Stauffer in a high-leverage job, such as eighth-inning relief.

Long relief is a low-leverage job, and if that's Stauffer's role and he tanks, it doesn't cost the Twins anything but money -- except for the opportunity cost. I would rather see the Twins use the role to ease a young pitcher with upside into the majors with minimum pressure than spend veteran money on a low-ceiling arm to little purpose.

If there's no room in the rotation for Trevor May or Alex Meyer this spring, better that they pitch long relief than in Rochester. They've graduated Triple A.

---

Also on Tuesday: Chris Parmelee and Eric Fryer cleared waivers. Parmelee had been designated for assignment for the Ervin Santana signing; Fryer's removal from the 40-man roster created the opening for Stauffer.

Both can opt for free agency rather than accept their assignment to the Rochester roster. I would expect Parmelee to go elsewhere. Fryer might still believe the Twins to be his best opportunity to play in the majors. I don't have a sense of what Paul Molitor will emphasize from the backup catcher. Bat? Josmil Pinto. Defense? Fryer. Flexibility, both as a limited platoon partner and at other positions? Chris Herrmann. With Ron Gardenhire, defense was generally the point of emphasis, which was how Fryer spent much of 2014 in the majors.

Shuffling the roster

Jason Kubel choose
not to report to Triple-A
Rochester.

A few Twins roster notes to clear out of the way:

* Jason Kubel cleared waivers and declined a minor-league assignment. So the Twins will release him.

Kubel was designated for assignment to make room for Kendrys Morales. This may be it for Kubel as a major league player. He's only 32 and wacked 30 homers for Arizona as recently as 2012, but his bat just up-and-died in midseason of that year.

Seriously: At the All-Star break in 2012 he was slashing .293/.367/.533; after the break, .201/.275/.470. Still a good slugging percentage, but the homers was all he did ... and it got worse from there.

So it's been about two calendar years since he was a truly good hitter. 

* Aaron Hicks went on the disabled list Friday after getting his sore shoulder examined. Sam Fuld was reactivated from the concussion DL.

It's possible Hicks would have been optioned out this weekend to make room for Fuld had he not gotten hurt. He needs more regular at-bats, especially against righties, as he transitions from switch-hitting, than he was going to get in the majors.

Mike Pelfrey's
surgery was done by
Dr. James Andrews,
who also did his
2012 Tommy John
surgery.

* Mike Pelfrey had surgery to remove scar tissue in his right elbow that was pressing on his ulna nerve and causing tingling in his pitching arm.

He kept saying he was healthy, but the radar gun readings said something was wrong. Presumably this was the something.

Pelfrey is to miss at least two months, which would put his return no earlier than mid August. I'll hazard the guess that the only way he gets on a major league mound again this year is if the Twins fall out of contention. (He has another year on his contract with the Twins.)

*Eric Fryer was indeed the callup to replace Josmil Pinto as the No. 2 catcher. Chris Herrmann was at the same time reactivated off the minor league disabled list.

Eye on 2014: Catcher

Josmil Pinto had 26 hits in his
late-season call up, but also struck out
22 times.

When the Twins signed Kurt Suzuki a bit before Christmas, the idea was that he might be the starting catcher, but more likely would be the backup and mentor to rookie Josmil Pinto.

The word out of Twins Fest this past weekend was that Suzuki is likely to be the regular behind the dish.

I infer from this notion that Pinto would be shipped out to Triple A. He's not going to sharpen his defensive chops sitting six days a week, and with Josh Willingham, Oswaldo Arcia and Jason Kubel the presumptive corner outfielders / DH, there doesn't figure to be enough at-bats available to justify Pinto as a DH-catcher.

Suzuki's backup would be either Chris Herrmann or Eric Fryer. Herrmann, a left-handed hitter with the ability to play outfield, is probably the better hitter of the two, Fryer the superior defender.

Last year, with Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit getting the bulk of the catching time, catcher was perhaps the one position at which the Twins got better-than-league offensive production. Mauer's a first baseman now, and Doumit's an Atlanta Brave (and, apparently, not a catcher any more either), and it doesn't matter if it's Suzuki-Herrmann or Suzuki-Fryer -- the Twins catchers will be decisively below average on offense if Pinto's in the minors.

That might be acceptable if the Twins were't giving away so many outs at so many other positions. The Twins were near the bottom of the league in runs scored last year. They will probably need Pinto in the lineup to change that.

Eric Fryer's roster spot

Eric Fryer: Do the
Twins really have a
major-league role
in mind for him?

The Twins, as noted in Monday's post, list four catchers on their 40-man roster: Ryan Doumit, Eric Fryer, Chris Herrmann and Josmil Pinto.

Doumit is an established hitter with a contract. Herrmann is a lefty bat who can play a competent corner outfield. Pinto is raw behind the dish but a promising hitter. And Fryer is ... well, he's probably a good comp for Drew Butera: a good defensive catcher, no real reason to believe he can hit in the majors. (Yeah, Fryer's major league slash line is .302/.400/.395; that's just 50 plate appearances. His Triple A batting average, over three seasons, is .208.)

Fryer is 28, and this is his fourth organization (Milwaukee, Yankees, Pittsburgh, Minnesota). Presumably he's out of options. Organizational depth guys like him lose a lot of value if they can't be organizational depth — if they can't be assigned to the minors. Fryer's on the 40, so to ship him back to Rochester will require passing him through waivers.

Which is why I have spent the offseason so far expecting the Twins to outright Fryer to Rochester. If he opts for free agency instead, so be it. This is probably as good an opportunity for a player of his ilk as he'd find anyway.

Instead, the Twins have kept him on the 40. (For that matter, the Dodgers have hung on to Butera as well, and I know he's out of options.)

Why? Here's a theory.

As matters stand — and the roster certainly is up for change — at least two and quite probably three of those four will be on the Opening Day roster. Doumit has seen a good deal of his Twins action as the designated hitter, and catching is such a specialized job, and so subject to injury, that managers are often loathe to skip having a reserve catcher on the bench.

Let's say that:

• The Twins decide that Pinto will benefit from time in Triple A to polish his defensive skills; and
• The Twins don't sign a free agent catcher.

In that case, there's a role for Fryer. Of the four catchers, he's probably the strongest defensively; with Pinto out of the mix, he's the one true right-handed hitter of the remaining trio (which isn't to say he's a better righty hitter than the switch-hitting Doumit). Doumit catches about 50 games a year, and Herrmann and Fryer split the rest.

I suspect that if the Twins do sign someone like A.J. Pierzynski, it will be Fryer who gets lopped from the roster. But if they need to make room for a starting pitcher, it'll be somebody else who loses their spot.

Two puzzling call-ups

Shairon Martis is 26
now, but he pitched
in the majors for
Washington at ages
21 and 22.

The Rochester Red Wings were eliminated Sunday in the International League playoffs, which (a) concluded the season for the Twins minor league teams and (b) freed up the Twins to make the rest of their September call-ups.

Seven players got the call for the season's final three weeks or so: Pitchers Scott Diamond, Cole De Vries, Michael Tonkin and Shairon Martis; infielders Eduardo Escobar and Chris Parmelee; and catcher Eric Fryer.

Most of these were pretty obvious. Diamond, demoted for his ineffectiveness, went 4-0, 2.41 for Rochester and won his playoff start. De Vries, his season wrecked by a spring training injury, got it going late. Escobar, who had no previous history of hitting well, went .307/.380/.500 for the Red Wings; it wasn't a lot of at-bats (188 plate appearances), but that's a mighty attractive slash line for a middle infielder. Tonkin has a very real chance to be a bullpen factor next season.

And some are a bit surprising. Parmelee, for example: a .231/.318/.370 line for a first baseman-right fielder doesn't scream for his recall. I wonder how much playing time he's going to get; I wonder if this isn't his last chance to impress somebody.

Martis had a 4.26 ERA in 80 innings, mostly in middle relief; I doubt there's much there.

Eric Fryer gives
the Twins four
active catchers
going on five.

And Fryer ... he hit an unimpressive .215/.339/.365. The Twins already had three active catchers in Ryan Doumit, Chris Herrmann and Josmil Pinto — and Joe Mauer supposedly making progress in his recovery from his concussion. When Mauer returns, this gives the Twins five catchers. Even granting that several of those five can do other things than catch, that's a lot. I understand that Gene Glynn, the Rochester manager, really likes Fryer, but on the surface, there's simply no way Fryer rates with the other four.

My guess is that the Twins know they won't give either Martis or Fryer spots on their 40-man roster this winter, but they really want to retain the two as minor league free agents. (The Twins created the 40-man berths for them by putting Wilkin Ramirez and Sam Deduno on the 60-day disabled list; the other five were already on the 40.) This September call-up is, in effect, a bonus for them for being good organization guys in Triple A. A few more weeks of service time, some major league pay, a gesture of appreciation.

Notes, quotes and comment

Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla.

The Twins late last week signed a pair of minor-league free agents, RHP Tim Wood and C Eric Fryer, both of whom spent the 2012 season the Pittsburgh organization.

Wood's signing carries some potential significance. He had a very strong 2012 for Indianapolis, the Pirates' Triple A affiliate, and the emergence of Jared Burton and Casey Fien last season has many Twins bloggers anticipating another such success with a minor-league free agent.

Which is certainly possible. It's worth remembering, however, that Wood turns 30 later this week, that he's been unimpressive in previous major league trials and that his excellent 2012 in Triple A didn't get him a call-up with the Pirates.

He'll compete for a job. He may even win one. But if he were really a prime prospect, he wouldn't have been available.

Fryer figures to be Triple A fodder; Rene Rivera's Twitter outburst in September when the Twins bypassed him for Chris Herrmann made it quite likely that he wouldn't remain in the organization in 2013. Fryer figures to rank below Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit, Drew Butera, Herrmann and maybe Danny Lehmann on the catching depth chart.

---

Last Tuesday, Lee County (Fla.) approved a $42 million expansion of the Twins complex in Fort Myers, which involves not only the Twins spring training home but two minor league affiliates, the low-Rookie level GCL Twins and the high-A Fort Myers Miracle.

Among the highlights:

• Hammond Stadium's outfield dimensions are to mimic those of Target Field;
• The stadium will get improved concourses and concession areas;
• A 55-bed dormitory will be constructed (the Twins will pay the tab), which will include classrooms and commissary.

The first two will be more obvious to spring training visitors, but it's the latter that I would expect to have the bigger impact on the operation. It figures to give the Twins greater control over the nutrition and education of the young players on the complex-level GCL (Gulf Coast League) Twins, many of whom are Latin Americans getting their first taste of the United States.

---

Josh Willingham won a Silver Slugger award. It's a more elegant trophy than comes with the Gold Glove Award.

It's a nice honor for the Willinghammer, who did have a fine season, but I'm not sure that he was really one of the three best-hitting outfielders in the American League. On the other hand, I'm not sure offhand who to say deserved it more than he did.