Cut Predictions

Supposedly, the Twins will be making the first round of Spring cuts on Sunday. Last year, eight players were cut in the first round, and I'm going to guess that the Twins will stick right around that number this time around. Here are the candidates that I think are distinct possibilities to find themselves out of big league camp sometime tomorrow:

Armando Gabino - RHP
Why: He was supposedly a non-roster invitee to camp, but according to the stats I'm looking at, he hasn't even made it into a game. Also, while Gabino has some solid minor league numbers, he was never a viable candidate to make the Twins big league roster -- he was always nothing more than filler. Seems they didn't even need him for that. If he really was invited to camp, he should be gone by tomorrow.

Oswaldo Sosa - RHP
Sosa made it into one game this spring, giving up a run on 2 hits in 1 inning of work. As with Gabino, however, Sosa was never going to make the team -- he's never even pitched above AA to this point. Look for him in the future, but he'll be a quick cut this year.

Mariano Gomez - LHP
Gomez was brought in to compete for the 12th spot on the pitching staff, but he just hasn't been very good in his 4 innings of work (4 runs, 5 hits, 1 walk and 2 K's). While that's a very strong sample size to make any decisions, the fact is he's competing against a lot of pitchers who are in better positions to make the team. The Twins might keep him around for another cut because there's no particular rush, I think they'd be better off cutting him now and opening up innings for other pitchers.

Deolis Guerra - RHP
He hasn't giving up a run in his 2 innings of work, so why cut him? Simply because he has absolutely no chance of making the team, and he might as well start working through minor league camp. It was nice to see him put up the goose-egg ERA, though.

Allan de san Miguel - C
De san Miguel is in camp exclusively to give the team enough catchers to deal with all those pitchers who are in camp. There's no reason to keep him around now that some of them are shipping out. Minor league camp calls.

Jeff Christy - C
As with de san Miguel, there doesn't seem to be any reason to keep Christy around now that the first round of cuts have started. Even after cutting de san Miguel and Christy, the Twins will still have five catchers in camp (Mauer, Redmond, Jose Morales, Drew Butera, and Eli Whiteside), which should be plenty. Incidentally, both de San Miguel and Christy have picked up one AB this spring -- but Christy is the only one of the two to have a hit in that AB (not that that's going to keep him in camp).

Felix Molina - 2B
Molina, who returned to the team after becoming a minor league free agent this off-season, just hasn't done anything in camp. He didn't have a shot of making the big league roster anyway, because he was behind Nick Punto, Brendan Harris, Matt Tolbert, Matt Macri, Brian Buscher . . . ok, you get the idea. Going 0-for-7 with 3 K's clearly didn't help Molina make an impression, either.

Darnell McDonald - OF
McDonald was removed from the 40-man roster when Livan Hernandez was signed and added. He's also hurt and hasn't played in a spring game. Is there any reason to keep him officially in camp? Didn't think so.