As the Twins close in on the end of spring camp, it seems a few more of the veterans brought in on minor league deals won’t find their way onto the team.
First reported by Dan Hayes of The Athletic, left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin and former Twin infielder Gio Urshela were released from their contracts after learning they would not make the team. This follows on the release of Liam Hendricks this morning.
March 20th is the final day for some minor league invites to make the team as per the Collective Bargaining Agreement for players with six years of service time. The Twins can either add the player to the 40 man or release into free agency. Though they have 48 hours to decide, it seems that Jeremy Zoll and the rest of the front office have other ideas and are ready to move on them.
Though the bullpen options for the Twins still seem murky, releasing Chafin makes sense for a team with three other left-handed options in Taylor Rogers, Anthony Banda, and Kody Funderburk. Chafin struggled to reach even the high 80s on his fastball while in camp. While the top-line stats looked okay, Chafin’s spring appearances included a 35% hard hit rate, which one would only expect to rise through the season. Veteran presence is always welcomed, but there seemed little reason to have a third, much less a fourth, lefty in the pen.
Urshela’s appearance in camp may have made sense a year or two ago, but his lack of defensive prowess as he enters his age 34 season left little space in the infield. While the Twins likely did not need to look at any offensive numbers, Urshela managed five hits in 26 plate appearances and only one for more than a single.
With Royce Lewis’s improved role at third base, a defensive back up seemed less necessary than the other options who could also play shortstop—which still includes Ryan Kreidler and Orlanda Arcia, both of whom remain in camp as of publication time. We’ll always remember the walk up song.