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Well, these moves aren’t exciting or sexy — there are no surprises here, and nothing even really noteworthy, but the first step towards a final opening day roster has happened.
As reported by Betsy Helfand, the Twins will have five less pitchers in major league camp.
The Twins have made their first set of cuts. They’ve optioned Jordan Balazovic, Dakota Chalmers, Jhoan Duran and Bailey Ober. They’ve also reassigned Danny Coulombe and Ian Gibaut.
— Betsy Helfand (@betsyhelfand) March 14, 2021
The first three guys are all going to play a major role in the Twins future, as they are most people’s top-three pitching prospects in the organization. It wasn’t a big surprise that the Twins would want to get a look at these guys, and invite them to camp. Duran, at least, will likely make his MLB debut this season if all things go well, but none of these guys have had any game action in a bit, and all were destined to start the season in the minor leagues.
Coulombe and Gibaut, meanwhile, are both major league vets and were NRIs for the Twins this season. Both were potential bullpen options, but were longshots to begin with. Gibaut, as we wrote when the Twins acquired him, has a sneaky slider that the Twins could unlock. If that is going to happen, it will have to happen from the minor league side at this point though. You may also remember Coulombe being good for a bit with the A’s, as he looks to regain some magic.