The Twins have outrighted Darin Mastroianni off their 40-man roster, the club announced. The outfielder was just activated off the disabled list, as he has been recovering from a left oblique strain since late May.
As Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune notes, Mastroianni now has 72 hours to accept an assignment to the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate. He could elect free agency since he has been outrighted before (in September 2014 by the Blue Jays) but as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports, Mastroianni is believed to be staying in the Twins organization.
Mastroianni signed a minor league deal with Minnesota last winter and appeared in seven games with the big club before hitting the DL. Over his career, Mastroianni has a .206/.271/.280 slash line over 317 PA and 25 steals in 29 attempts. All of his big league experience has come with the Twins and Blue Jays (in two separate stint with each team) and he has also played in the Phillies’ and Nationals’ farm systems.
The Great Mastroianni Experiment, by GM Terry Ryan in the terrible early weeks of Twins’ 2016, had zero positive effect on the team. Unsurprising.