John Shipley, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. –
The Twins and Jason Marquis officially parted ways Monday, May 28, when the veteran right-hander cleared release waivers. Though the Twins are on the hook for his $3 million salary, he is now free to sign with any club at any price.
“Wherever he wants to sign, he’s free to do that,” general manager Terry Ryan said.
Marquis was 2-4 with an 8.47 earned-run average in seven starts with Minnesota. Asked if there were a chance the Twins could bring Marquis back and let him work out his issues at Class AAA Rochester, Ryan said no.
“I think we’re going to move on,” the GM said. “I suspect that probably would be a mutual feeling. He doesn’t need to be pitching at Triple-A; he’s beyond that. He may end up signing with another club who might put him at Triple-A and get him stretched out and acclimated. I don’t think that’s what we should do.”
Marquis is one of six players from the Twins’ active roster that have been designated for assignment this season; besides Marquis, two others — infielder Luke Hughes and outfielder Erik Komatsu — are no longer with the organization. Infielder Sean Burroughs, left-hander Matt Maloney and outfielder Clete Thomas are playing for the Red Wings.
“You only designate guys because you have to have a quick turnaround,” Ryan said. “A lot of time you’ll see clubs that end up sending people out but they run them through waivers first, outrights. Sometimes you don’t have time to do that; that’s why you designate a guy.”
On Sunday
the Twins designated Komatsu for release so they could add a 13th pitcher to the active roster, right-hander Jeff Manship.
“That’s not the norm, there’s no doubt. I wouldn’t want to do that in a normal situation,” Ryan said. “Yesterday, for instance: We needed a pitcher and we needed him quick. We could have done a few different things and we decided to do the Komatsu thing, and the only way I could do it would be to designate him.”
The Twins also released right-hander Joel Zumaya from the roster after he blew out his elbow in training camp.
