TODAY: Thornburg has cleared waivers and been outrighted off Minnesota’s 40-man roster. It isn’t yet known if he’ll accept the assignment to Triple-A or opt for free agency.
JULY 1: The Twins announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Juan Minaya from Triple-A St. Paul and designated righty Tyler Thornburg for assignment to clear spot on the active and 40-man rosters.
Thornburg, 33, turned in four scoreless outings to start his Twins tenure, combining for eight innings in that time. He walked three hitters and recorded just four strikeouts during that span, however, and he was the latest Twins reliever to fail to put away the Guardians over the past couple weeks. Tasked with protecting a two-run lead while the Twins dealt with a depleted bullpen, Thornburg served up four runs (three earned) on two hits, a hit batter and three walks yesterday. Thornburg allowed the game to be tied in the eighth before yielding a walk-off home run to Andres Gimenez in the ninth — an incredible fifth blown lead for the Twins against the Guardians in eight games over the past two weeks.
The veteran Thornburg has totaled 19 innings between the Twins and Braves this season, pitching to a sound-looking 3.32 ERA that doesn’t mesh with far more concerning secondary numbers. Thornburg has walked a hefty 12.6% of his opponents, hit another and notched just a 16.2% strikeout rate. He’s also allowed just one home run despite a huge 50.8% fly-ball rate, and the resulting 3.2% homer-to-flyball ratio clocks in way shy of his career 10% mark. ERA alternatives like FIP (4.24) and SIERA (5.26) are far more bearish on his work thus far.
The Twins will have a week to trade Thornburg, pass him through outright waivers or release him. With six-plus years of MLB service, he can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency in the event that he goes unclaimed.
Minaya, 31, will return for what will now be his fourth big league stint with the Twins in the past two seasons. He’s repeatedly ridden the DFA carousel in Minnesota, being selected to the roster, designated for assignment and accepting outright assignments on several occasions. Minaya posted a 2.48 ERA in 40 innings with the Twins in 2021, logging above-average strikeout and ground-ball rates along the way. He also walked 12% of his opponents, though, and he’s been torched both in the big leagues (six runs in 6 1/3 innings) and in Triple-A (5.91 ERA in 21 1/3 frames) so far in 2022.
The Twins are in obvious need of help to upgrade what has been an awful bullpen throughout the season, and that figures to be a key focus as the Aug. 2 trade deadline draws nearer. Rookie Jhoan Duran has been one of baseball’s best relievers, and converted starter Griffin Jax has emphatically secured a spot as well. The rest of the group has underwhelmed, to say the least, and the recent string of missed opportunities has kept the Twins from putting the Central largely out of reach. They currently hold a one-game lead over Cleveland.
Braves legend!
Decent player and guy! Remember him with Brewers well! Not much of a rope from the Twinkies! I predict they will be sorry for this move!
I am surprised ANY team signs Thornburg! He was good with the Brewers in 2015 and 2016, but horrible in the last 6 seasons.
He was good up until he went through Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery and was never the same after. I guess it goes to show surgery (even if necessary) comes with risks.
Great to see Jax working out. Dude’s a great story.
Pagan still has a job smh
The way he has performed this year, the only way he should been seen at a MLB game is if he bought a ticket.
If the Jays took a flyer on Sergio Romo, surely they’re interested in Thornburg.
I wish they’d designate Falvey, Levine, and Baldelli for assignment.
So glad he’s not in Boston anymore. It’s too bad they traded for him in the first place anyways.
That Boston deal for Thornburg was one of Boston’s worst trades in the past 15 years. They received no value out of him whatsoever and gave up some decent players in the deal including Mauricio Dubon and Travis Shaw who went on to have 2 great seasons with the Brewers. It wasn’t that Boston traded away future all-star players; it was more that they received zero value from a player who they really hyped up as a major asset for their pitching staff and the missing piece in their bullpen. He was bad from the get go and then the TOS surgery did him in for good.
Tyler Thornburg, Carson Smith, Joel Hanrahan, Andrew Bailey,…… The Red Sox have not done well trading for existing MLB relievers. They have been more successful signing free agent relievers and developing their own.
Bloom has done well acquiring minor league pitchers (which is much different in terms of cost in quantity and quality of players traded). Winckowski, Seabold, and several lower minor leaguers have been very good pickups by Bloom.
Yet they keep Pagan and Duffey, who suck so hard they can be heard in Hawaii. Pagan lost us the game today in the 8th, along with Baldelli pulling Duran instead of letting him pitch the 10th. SMH