More roster moves and a new coach

One day of the Handbook and back to news. The Twins front office, after taking the weekend off, got back to the roster shuffle on Monday, clearing three more spots on the 40-man roster and filling out their coaching staff.

• Pitcher Nik Turley was claimed on waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Catcher Chris Gimenez and pitcher Ryan O'Rourke were outrighted.

None of these cuts were particularly surprising.

O'Rourke was still listed on the Twins website as of Monday afternoon as being on the 60-day disabled list, but outrighted is outrighted. He's coming off Tommy John surgery, and I think he'll likely stay with the Twins organization.

Gimenez has been through this drill repeatedly.; I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in training camp with the Twins, but personally I'd prefer to see Mitch Garver get the backup catching job.

Turley had a nice season in Rochester, but showed nothing useful in the majors.

Counting the three pitchers remaining on the 60-day DL, the Twins now have 34 players listed on the 40.

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We're excited to welcome our new bench coach, Derek Shelton!

2018 marks Shelton's 14th season as a coach at the major league level. pic.twitter.com/LFhgpz821g

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) November 6, 2017

Shelton was the "quality control coach" for Toronto last year after 11 seasons as hitting coach with Tampa Bay and Cleveland. He's also managed in the minors in the Yankees system. Another guy who's been around a number of sabermetically-oriented organizations.

From this Rhett Bollinger piece on Shelton's hiring, an explaination of what a qaulity control coach is:

"The job description was fairly fluid," Shelton said. "Day to day, there was analytical stuff and advance scouting reports. I helped with hitting because that's my background, but I integrated into defense more than I had at the Major League level. And there was relationships with the Minor League coordinators about developmental roles. The job itself was ever-changing, and I looked at it as growth for me, especially because the bench-coach role was something I was looking to transition into."

Wonder how long it will take me to refer to him in the blog (or the column) as Blake.

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Sad news: Former Twins coach Rick Stelmaszek, one of the true characters in the game, has lost his battle with cancer. He was 69.

— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) November 6, 2017

Rest in peace, Stelly. He lasted a long time on the Twins staff -- 32 years under five different managers -- but he was pretty obviously in rough shape last summer.