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Over a week ago, the Twins surprisingly filled up their entire 40-man roster when they added 8 players to protect them from being taken in the Rule 5 Draft. Over the last couple days, however, they have quietly lost a couple players, giving them 3 open spots on what used to be a full 40-man roster. Those players are Deolis Guerra, Lester Oliveros, and Tommy Field, who were all taken off the 40-man in a different manner. More information on each player can be found below.
Deolis Guerra
How he was removed: Outrighted to Triple-A Rochester
Guerra was the last remaining player from the Johan Santana trade with the New York Mets. The righthanded pitcher showed some promise after moving to the 'pen while in Double-A in 2011, but that promise disappeared last season when he pitched to a 4.87 ERA in 57.1 IP at Rochester, although a near-4 FIP suggests he pitched better than that ERA. He gets a good number of strikeouts and his walks & home runs allowed weren't that bad, but he just had the right mix of everything that led to his below-average ERA. Guerra turns 24 in mid-April, so he might still have a chance of being added back to the 40-man roster again, which means that we can't necessarily say that we are completely finished with the aftermath of the Santana trade.
Lester Oliveros
How he was removed: Was not tendered a contract for 2013
Oliveros was acquired in 2011 for Delmon Young from the Tigers, and he has shown quite a bit of promise in the minor leagues, although it hasn't quite transferred to the majors yet. Another righthanded reliever, Oliveros had a combined 2.42 ERA with a 9.5 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 48.1 IP split between New Britain and Rochester last year, and he briefly earned a call-up to the bigs in June. However, Oliveros only made one appearance before being sent back to the minors, and then shortly after he started having arm problems, culminating in Tommy John surgery in August. Since he will need virtually the entire year to recover, there was no sense in having him use up a roster spot for the whole season.
Tommy Field
How he was removed: Claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Angels
Tommy Field, we hardly knew you. Field had been claimed off waivers by the Twins back on November 2nd from the Colorado Rockies, the same day the Twins also claimed fellow Rockie Josh Roenicke, and he lasted just under a month in the organization. Field is a middle infielder that has primarily played shortstop in the major leagues, receiving 54 plate appearances over the past 2 years with Colorado, hitting .260/.315/.260. Field was strikeout-prone and didn't walk very much in his limited time, and I felt that he was claimed as organizational depth more than anything else, as we're all familiar with the Twins' lack of quality middle infielders. I don't consider the loss of Field to be a big deal, so we can all sleep easy tonight.