I was surprised to hear that this morning the Twins released Dennys Reyes. I had considered him a lock for the left-handed specialist job in the Twins' bullpen. With Gabe White retiring after his first appearance of the spring, Darrell May being released last week, and now Reyes being dropped this morning that leaves the Twins with one left-handed option in the bullpen, Fransisco Liriano.

I had been in favor of putting Liriano in the bullpen, but my presumption was that he'd fill the long-relief role. The release of Reyes brings that into question. Having a guy available to tackle tough left-handed batters late in a game is very valuable, although it seems like a bad fit for a guy that's destined to be a a future #1 or #2 starter. It's not that I don't think Liriano would be an effective pitcher in the specialist role, it's more that I think it could be detrimental to his development.

The Twins clearly made the decision that they think will result in the best possible team. It's unfortunate that we didn't have better options than White, May and Reyes. What happens now if one of the starters goes down? Liriano was the 6th starter, but now sliding him into the rotation would mean we have a bullpen with no lefties.

Is it possible that the Twins might start to miss J.C. Romero?

Clarification (30 Mar 2006): The Twins did not release Reyes, but instead reassigned him to minor league camp. However, it's unlikely that he'll accept the assignment, which means he's basically gone.