So Long, Morillo (Stress Relief Edition)

I’m a bit disappointed, but MLBTR (actually Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker) just reported that Juan Morillo signed with a Japanese team. Since I talked about Morillo being added to the 40-man roster after RHP Armando Gabino was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles, I was hoping to see how he would perform in Spring Training and if he could claim a roster spot for Opening Day.* But with this, it means that there’s no chance of that happening anymore. In “So Long, Gabino,” I said:

“Also, he is out of options, so Morillo will have to pitch well in spring training or he may end up joining another team.”

But when I said “joining another team,” I assumed it would be an MLB team and it would happen sometime during Spring Training or after the season started.

* I’ll refrain from giving analysis of Morillo since I already touched on it in the linked post.

Edit: This should have been obvious but for some reason I didn’t think about it. This also opens up another 40-man roster spot for the Twins. I believe this makes 5 open spots.

Despite this, it makes the bullpen picture much clearer for the Twins.* In addition to Morillo, Boof Bonser was also out of options, so going into the 2010 season, the Twins would have had Morillo, Bonser, Pat Neshek (if he was deemed that he needed to start in the minors) and maybe Anthony Swarzak, Jeff Manship, and whichever relievers were added to the roster to fight over a single spot or two in the bullpen. Here’s how the bullpen would have appeared prior to Morillo’s departure…

* If the Twins had kept Morillo, they potentially would have had 6 players on the 2010 40-man roster with the initials J.M. Don’t believe me? Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jeff Manship, Jose Morales, Jose Mijares, and Juan Morillo.

Guaranteed:

Joe Nathan, Jose Mijares, Matt Guerrier, and Jon Rauch

On The Bubble:

Boof Bonser, Pat Neshek, LOOGY (Ron Mahay?), Juan Morillo, Jesse Crain

Long Shots (for various reasons):

Glen Perkins, Francisco Liriano, Jeff Manship, Anthony Swarzak

…which would have meant 12 pitchers fighting for 6 or 7 spots. Even if you eliminate the Long Shots (I’m sure they’ll either be in the starting rotation, minors, or may not be with the organization anymore in Perkins’ case) that’s still 8 pitchers for those 6-7 spots. Someone had to go, and with Morillo leaving, the bullpen is now easier to sort out.

2nd edit: It sounds like Justin Huber is likely headed to Japan as well. Aaron Gleeman says basically everything that I would want to say.