Jhoulys Chacin marks the first cut from Minnesota Twins Summer Camp

The Minnesota Twins announced their first cut of their second Spring Training: Pitcher Jhoulys Chacin.

The 2020 Minnesota Twins season begins in just five days, so teams across Major League Baseball are cutting down their rosters to get down to the thirty man limit. The Twins hadn’t made any moves going into today, but that changed in the early afternoon today.

Jhoulys Chacin requested his release from the Twins today, giving him a bit of extra time to find a new team before the season begins. The Twins granted it, as Chacin really didn’t figure into the team’s plans for this season.

Chacin signed a minor-league deal with the Twins back in February and was expected to compete for the rotation spot left open by Michael Pineda‘s suspension and Rich Hill‘s injury. Randy Dobnak, Devin Smeltzer, Homer Bailey, and Chacin all were potential replacements for those two back end spots.

With the season being pushed back until July, this gave Rich Hill lots of time to get healthy and be ready for the start of the season. This sets up the rotation as Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, and then some combination of Dobnak, Smeltzer, and Bailey in the fifth starter/long relief role.

There’s still a possibility that Bailey doesn’t make the roster, but that seems unlikely, so I’d expect all of those guys to be on the roster once final cuts are made. Given how healthy the Twins’ rotation has become for the start of the year, there wasn’t a place left for Chacin.

Chacin put together a really good couple of years in 2017 and 2018, but his 2019 saw him go from Opening Day starter to being cut before the playoffs. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Chacin catches on with a team such as the Tigers, Marlins, or Orioles to give them another arm and possible trade chip if Chacin does indeed bounce back.