The Twins have the day off today but Terry Ryan and his front office staff have been busy. Minnesota Twins announced after yesterday’s game that Chris Colabello has been optioned to AAA Rochester. In two stints with the Twins this year, Colabello appeared in just six games, hitting .133 (2-for-15).
This morning the Twins announced that reliever Tyler Robertson currently in Rochester has been designated for assignment to free up a spot on the 40-man roster to make room for outfielder Clete Thomas who has been recalled from Rochester and will join the team in Kansas City. The 28-year old left-handed hitting outfielder appeared in 12 games for the Twins last year hitting .143 with 16 strikeouts in 28 at-bats after being claimed off waivers from Detroit in April. In 36 games in Rochester this season, Thomas is hitting .296 with 9 home runs but history tells us that once he returns to the big leagues that things will change. I am not sure what the Twins see in Thomas but he can play some decent outfield and will make a good late inning outfield replacement until Wilkin Ramirez returns from the DL.
Robertson wore out his welcome in Minnesota earlier this year when he walked 14 batters and allowed 4 home runs in 25 innings. Robertson is only 25 and a lefty so I am sure there are teams out there that will be happy to take Robertson off the Twins hands and maybe the Twins can even get a PTBNL, who knows, stranger things have happened. I think it is interesting that in the last week or so the Twins have cut ties with two 25 year-old players like Robertson and Joe Benson that were considered promising players a short time ago. I am not sure if the Twins and Terry Ryan feel that they have much more promising players in the pipeline or if they are sending some sort of message to the entire organization, time will tell.