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On the heels of the news that Vance Worley was placed on waivers Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins have announced that it will be Kyle Gibson who will be the proud owner of the rotation's fifth and final slot. This news comes on the heels of months of speculation that Samuel Deduno would have the advantage in the competition, based off of Terry Ryan's own words early in the winter.
Based solely off of spring training performance, there's no doubt that Gibson out-performed Worley. Deduno, however, has had a good spring. What does this say about the Twins and their attitude toward team building? It means they recognize that there's no use holding Gibson back in Triple-A, when at this point the only thing left for him to do is develop at the Major League level.
The front office chose the best player for the job. That's not always something they've done in the past.
What does the move mean for Deduno? I asked Darren Wolfson.
@TwinkieTown Absolutely. Can't see them putting him on waivers. They like his arm too much.
— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) March 21, 2014
It's hard to argue. Deduno was the rotation's best pitcher down the stretch in 2013, he has looked more than capable this spring, and it probably behooves the team to try to keep him on board somewhere. This move almost definitely means that spots for Michael Tonkin or Caleb Thielbar will be that much harder to come by, but my next question is: what's in store for Scott Diamond?