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Per Phil Miller of the Star Tribune, the Minnesota Twins have outrighted three players. All three have cleared waivers, leaving the club with three spots open on the 40-man roster. Logan Darnell and Ryan Pressly are still on the 60-day disabled list however, and Pressly at least seems likely to be retained.
First Twins moves of offseason: C Eric Fryer, OF Shane Robinson, LHP Aaron Thompson have been outrighted off 40-man roster.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) October 21, 2015
Fyrer, who turned 30 in August, has been outrighted by the Twins in the past. A good catch-and-throw man by reputation, has been a decent pitch framer in parts of three years in Minnesota. As is customary for third-string catchers, it's Fryer's bat that's kept him from keeping a consistent Major League gig. He's hit just .236/.323/.355 in 49 games between 2013 and 2015. It wouldn't surprise me to see him accept an assignment to Rochester, although it's just as likely he looks for opportunities in another organization.
Robinson, who turns 31 a week from Friday, was Minnesota's backup plan for center field in 2015. Sugar Shane hit .250/.299/.322 in 83 games, playing 305 innings in left, 117 in center, and 36 in right. He accumulated just 0.2 fWAR, but for a fourth outfielder that's what you expect. Estimates put Robinson's salary through arbitration at just $800,000 for 2016. Being outrighted doesn't exactly put him in good stead in terms of being tendered a contract, though, so we'll see how this ends up playing out.
Finally, Thompson made 41 appearances for the Twins in 2015. In his age-28 season, the left-hander started off well - giving Minnesota 21.1 innings of 2.11 ERA baseball and holding opponents to a .512 OPS. But from there to being demoted, it was 11 innings of 10.64 ERA baseball and a .934 OPS by opposing hitters. It was like a switch was flipped. The 22nd overall pick in the 2005 draft by the Marlins in 2005, it seems likely that he'll continue his path with another organization.
The biggest surprise, although it's all relative and not entirely unexpected, is Robinson. We'll continue to track the Twins' roster purge over the next few weeks.