The Twins announced Monday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever John Curtiss for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to Blake Parker, whose one-year contract is now official.
A sixth-round pick by the Twins back in 2014, Curtiss was considered one of the organization’s more promising relief prospects for much of the past few seasons but hasn’t found big league success to date — albeit it in a tiny sample of work. Through 15 MLB frames, Curtiss has a 7.20 ERA but a more promising 17-to-6 K/BB ratio. He averaged better than 95 mph on his heater with the Twins during a nine-game MLB debut, but that average dropped off to 93.9 mph in eight games this past season. Curtis has also posted an alarmingly low 18.6 percent ground-ball rate in the big leagues, though he’s previously posted considerably higher marks in the minors.
It’s quite possible that Curtiss will draw some interest from other organizations — either in trade or via the waiver wire. He has a pair of minor league options remaining and has been quite good in Triple-A to this point in his career, sporting a 2.49 ERA with 10.6 K/9 against 4.6 BB/9 in 79 2/3 innings. Curtiss’ walk rate is a bit problematic and has risen steadily in the upper minors, but as a reasonably hard-throwing reliever with strong strikeout numbers and multiple option years remaining, it’s easy to see another team taking a look.
Curtiss is another one of those recent players who I don’t think the Twins ever gave a fair chance. Good luck to him.
8 of 30 draft picks from the sixth Round of the 2014 draft have debuted in MLB. This (obviously) doesn’t include Dylan Cease, who will, if he remains healthy.
Teams are getting MLB looks at more of their selections than before, for whatever reasons.
Someone definitely giving him a chance based on his last few minor league seasons.
4A player will bounce around now. RP’s need to throw high heat or ground balls and doesn’t do either.
Curtiss throws 97-98mph peak. His average fastball is above 95. Maybe do a quick check on things before you comment.
95 mph in 2017….93 in 2018….not my kind of flame thrower
Favley seems to have a serious case of envy. The grass is always greener someplace else. He’s easily distracted by shiny things from other teams’ waiver wires and cares little for existing fringe talent.
In most cases, once Falvey gets the waiver claim in and gives a few appearances to the newcomer he quickly loses interest in the acquired player just to move on to the next shiny waiver claim.
I don’t think Falvey has any clue what he’s doing. Like a dog distracted by a squirrel. I don’t think Curtiss is anything particularly special, but at least give him a chance to earn a spot in the bullpen before you go out and load up by dumpster diving elsewhere.
Obviously, he has seen all he needs to see of Curtiss. Not sure why you think Falvey is clueless….he’s running the team just like any other mid market CBO would run it. The Terry Ryan days are over. Falvey and company will get at least 5 years to prove they know what they are doing.
The TR days are over? Then why is Falvey making the same kinds of signings and same talent level moves as TR did? It’s just higher turnover.
Ryan never would have offered Yu Darvish 100 million. Ryan never would have paid Nelson Cruz 14 million. Ryan would have given 32 yr old Dozier a 6 year 90 million contract…you know, loyalty….
Falvey and company will need all five of those years to figure out what they are doing. Blake Parker is a shot in the dark for 3x the money. Also dropped Oliver Drake on waivers after he finally had some sort of breakthrough late last season.
I would have liked to see Curtis’s have a chance at extended 25-man roster time, rather than worrying about whether the shuttle back to Rochester had his name on it. His MiLB numbers speak for themselves….there’s legitimate talent in John Curtiss and some team is going to feel pretty lucky after claiming him in the next few days.
Are you lamenting the DFA of Oliver Drake? Are you serious?
Not exactly, Drake just happens to be the most recent example. The point is that marginal talent already exists on the roster, and it gets pushed out for similarly marginal talent without having much of a chance to prove it belongs.
Who else on the 40-man roster would you DFA instead? The roster is full, and if the Twins make any more additions before the season (which I hope they do), someone else on the roster will have to go then too. Sometimes it’s really just a business decision.
It’s not about Curtiss so much as it is about mediocre signings forcing mediocre talent off the roster.
Who would you sign? Who would you DFA? They could have dumped Duffey or De Jong….neither is much better than Curtiss….and both will be gone by March 27th.
Pretty obvious they simply needed a roster spot for Parker and Curtiss is a pretty marginal prospect. If he didn’t have two options left he would likely go unclaimed. He might not be claimed anyway. From what I saw the past two seasons Curtiss is nothing to get excited about. Just hope Parker is better.
His name sounds like a soap opera character. Both do, actually. “We just found out Blake Parker is not the boy’s father. His real father is John Curtiss!!!”
Sign Cody Allen (DFA Duffey) and all is forgiven.
I was just reading an article about John CURTICE, the round one pick of the BoSox in ‘97.
Curtiss is a perfect change of scenery guy. A few tweaks from a different org and he could be a good 7th inning guy.
When they make a movie about John Curtiss, he should be portrayed by Keanu Reeves.
Curtiss is a country western singer who sang the national anthem before a AAA Rochester game last fall.
Also, it appears he’s lost a lot off his fastball and he doesn’t seem to have the stuff to compensate for it. The cut .was warranted, best of luck to him, and I hope it’s mechanics and not an injury.
“Promising prospect” who “hasn’t found big league success to date” is the Twins’ mantra.