Twins sign three players to minor league deals, including an intriguing prospect

It's been a busy week of roster shuffling for the Minnesota Twins. Tuesday was the deadline to add Rule 5 Draft eligible players to the 40-man roster in order to protect them, something the Twins sort of took advatnage of.

There was really only one no-brainer addition that Minnesota needed to make, as Marco Raya was protected and might be taking some steps toward joining the team at some point this year. He's the No. 5 overall prospect in the farm system and the top pitching prospect who has not yet made his debut.

Travis Adams, who is with Raya at Triple-A St. Paul, was also added to the 40-man roster and protected.

Those weren't the only moves the Twins made. In order to make space for potential additions, Minnesota dropped a handful of players from the 40-man roster. Three of those guys were brought back on Wednesday, signing minor league deals to remain with the Twins and potentially earn their way back into the mix.

Twins re-sign three players to after dropping them from 40-man roster

The most notable player the Twins re-signed was Yunior Severino. He was dropped from the 40-man roster earlier in the month which stands out above the others because he was added this time last year to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

Severino isn't eligble to be selected this year since only players who haven't been added to the 40-man roster are available to other teams. Since the Twins protected him last year there's no risk in losing him, something that was made abundantly clear when he wasn't picked up by anyone after he was outrighted.

Minnesota also brought back pitchers Daniel Duarte and Scott Blewett on minor league deals. Duarte was signed last spring as bullpen depth but soon suffered a season-ending injury. Blewett was a late addition to the MLB roster and pitched 20 innings with a 1.77 ERA down the stretch of the season.

All three moves are pretty minor -- literally -- but are potential depth additions that could crop up at some point this upcoming season. Blewett was already in that position last year and Duarte would have likely factored into things had he not gotten injured.

None of the signings should be seen as moves that prevent the team from making more meaningful ones, though. Whether the Pohlads see it that way is yet to be seen.

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