At the fringes of the roster

The Twins opened Monday with a full 40-man roster.

They ended it with just 37 players.

Jim Hoey walked 13
and struck out 14
in 24.2 innings.

Gone, in chronological order:

Jim Hoey, right-handed reliever, claimed by Toronto on waivers;
Pedro Florimon, shortstop, outrighted to Rochester;
Jose Mijares, left-handed reliever, non-tendered.

Taking them one at a time:

Hoey, acquired from Baltimore last winter around this time in the J.J. Hardy trade, throws with great velocity but with little command and less movement. The result is too many walks, too many hits, not enough strikeouts and way too many runs. The Jays will now try to find a pitcher in that. Good luck to them.

Florimon was picked up from the Orioles a week ago when they tried to outright him to Triple A. The Twins were able to get him through waivers. My take on all this: He ranks in the Twins system below the four middle infielders who remain on the 40 (Jamey Carroll, Alexi Casilla, Luke Hughes and Tsuyoshi Nishioka), and probably below Brian Dozier (who isn't on the 40 because the Twins didn't need to protect him from the Rule V draft).

Jose Mijares walked 30
and struck out 30
in 49 innings.

Mijares was cut loose on the deadline to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players. The portly LOOGY has had declining stats every season, and it's a pretty safe assumption that the Twins didn't want to give him the kind of raise the arbitration process would dictate -- especially since he didn't figure to be more than the third lefty in the 2012 bullpen. He and his agent now get to see what the free agent market says about him.