August 28, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pinch hitter Jeff Clement (19) singles against the St. Louis Cardinals during the seventh inning at PNC Park. The Pittsburgh Pirates won 9-0. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

But for every Joel Zumaya who comes and goes without getting back to The Show with the Twins, there’s a Jared Burton who breaks camp with the big league club and reinvents himself as a quality contributor. Actually, it’s probably more like one Burton for every five Zumayas.

The Twins have invited 26 non-roster players to spring training at this point, but that number could change in the next week or so if Terry Ryan picks up some scraps between now and the start of camp. Seven of those players signed on as minor league free agents from other organizations and will be spending their first spring in a Twins uniform.

In theory, at least, these guys will have a chance to compete for a spot on the big-league club. The Twins, however, tend to prefer to promote players from within the organization. These guys will, with a couple of possible exceptions, be facing an upward battle in Fort Meyers over the coming weeks.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve taken a look at Brandon Boggs, Tim Wood, Bryan Augenstein and Rafael Perez. Today, we’ll take a closer look at Jeff Clement.

The Seattle Mariners drafted him third overall in 2005…and then the knee surgeries started coming. In 2006, 2008 and 2010, Clement had his knees cut open. He continued to hit well in the minors, though, even as he moved to first base and began to DH more and more frequently. He began last season in competition for the Pirates’ starting first base job, got hurt and missed the beginning of the season but made it back to the Majors before the end of the year.

Clement has hit very well in the minors, but outside of a September call up at age 23, that performance hasn’t translated to success in his brief time in the Majors. However, he has great power and decent patience, exactly what you would like to see from a bench bat. Clement will turn 29 this year, so he’s no spring chicken, but if he’s put the injury bug behind him, the Twins might have a low-cost slugger they can keep on the bench, plug in at first base and DH on occasion, and not worry about giving him playing time every day. 

Did you know?

Clement was not only a prodigious home run hitter in high school, he was also an award-winning artist.

Chances of making the Twins out of spring training:

At this point, Clement is an emergency catcher, if that, so his value is limited to his bat. If Ron Gardenhire opts to forgo a third catcher, it’s conceivable that Clement could make the team as a bench bat if he tears it up this spring. What’s more likely is that Clement starts the season in Rochester, continues to hit AAA pitching well, and makes an appearance at some point in the season if injuries or ineptitude strike the Twins.

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April 2, 2011; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians relief pitcher Rafael Perez (53) during the eighth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. The White Sox beat the Indians 8-3. Mandatory Credit: Jason Miller-USA TODAY Sports

But for every Joel Zumaya who comes and goes without getting back to The Show with the Twins, there’s a Jared Burton who breaks camp with the big league club and reinvents himself as a quality contributor. Actually, it’s probably more like one Burton for every five Zumayas.

The Twins have invited 26 non-roster players to spring training at this point, but that number could change in the next week or so if Terry Ryan picks up some scraps between now and the start of camp. Seven of those players signed on as minor league free agents from other organizations, and will be spending their first spring in a Twins uniform.

In theory, at least, these guys will have a chance to compete for a spot on the big-league club. The Twins, however, tend to prefer to promote players from within the organization. These guys will, with a couple of possible exceptions, be facing an uphill battle in Fort Meyers over the coming weeks.

So far, we’ve looked at Brandon Boggs, Tim Wood and Bryan Augenstein. Today, we’ll take a look at recently-signed Rafael Perez.

Perez, who was signed to a minor-league contract last week with an invitation to spring training and reported to camp Saturday, is a former dominant lefty setup man for Cleveland, averaging over a strikeout per inning in his first two-plus season with the Indians. In 2009, however, his numbers fell off the table and he had shoulder surgery in September of this year to hopefully right a lingering problem that caused his K/9 rate to plummet over the past two years to basically half of what it was at his peak. And that peak was no joke: analyst Peter Gammons reportedly referred to Perez as, “arguably the best left-handed reliever on the planet” in 2007, Perez’s first full season in the majors. The Indians non-tendered Perez this year two months after his September surgery.

Apparently, the Twins want to give Perez a shot at starting this spring. He was primarily a starter in the minors, and the majority of his experience as a reliever came with Cleveland once he was called up to The Show. The question then, is does this mean that the Twins are more concerned than they’re letting on that one or more of their projected starters won’t be ready for Opening Day, or is this simply a case of taking a flier on a guy who has had success in the past and trying him in a new role post-surgery to see if he can rejuvenate his career?

Perez has dominated the Twins over the course of his career, with a 1.38 ERA. However, as Aaron Gleeman astutely points out, Perez’s out pitch at the height of his career was his slider, but he’s used it with increasing frequency over the past few years to the point that batters expect to see it more often than not. The hope is that September’s surgery will allow Perez to return to the pitch mix that kept batters off balance and the base paths.

Did you know?

An LAPD officer also named Rafael Perez was caught stealing over $800,000 worth of cocaine from a police evidence locker in 1998. Besides being a former cop, he’s also a reputed member of the Bloods and a prime suspect in the murder of The Notorious BIG, and was on Death Row CEO Suge Knight’s payroll as a bodyguard at the time of his convicted and alleged crimes. If you’d like to read more about cocaine, Tim Raines and baseball, check out this past Sunday’s Twins Porn.

Chances of making the Twins out of spring training:

There are so many unknowns with Perez at this point, that the best I can give him is an Incomplete. How will his recovery from surgery progress? To what degree did his shoulder issues contribute to his dramatic drop in effectiveness? Will the Twins ultimately decide to use him as a starter or reliever? He’s a young 30, having signed out of the Dominican Republic at age 20, so does he have more life left in his arm than your average 30-year-old pitcher?

He could be a barometer of the health of the Twins ideal starting rotation, and the important thing to watch at this point in the spring with Perez may not be how he progresses post-surgery, but rather how the Twins decide to develop him moving towards April 1st: as a potential third lefty out of the bullpen, or as a stop-gap starter to cover for one of the penciled-in members of the rotation who might not be ready to go Opening Day.

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