NewsTwins move Buscher to Triple-A roster
Infielder to be eligible to declare Minor League free agency
By Kelly Thesier / MLB.com
11/03/09 1:17 PM EST
MINNEAPOLIS -- To clear room on the 40-man roster, the Twins outrighted infielder Brian Buscher to Triple-A Rochester on Tuesday. Buscher can now become a Minor League free agent 16 days after the World Series ends. The move brings the Twins' 40-man roster total down to 39 players. That number includes the club's five impending Major League free agents, who can begin to file the day after the World Series is over. But pitchers Boof Bonser, Pat Neshek and Kevin Slowey -- all of whom are on the 60-day disabled list -- don't factor into that total and will need to be added back to the roster in the coming weeks. Tuesday's move is the first by Twins general manager Bill Smith to clear space on the roster in anticipation of the Rule 5 Draft, which will take place Dec. 10 at the Winter Meetings. Any open space on the roster would allow the club to make a selection in the Major League portion of the draft. Buscher, 28, played in 61 games for the Twins in 2009 while batting .235 with two home runs and 12 RBIs. The Twins did not originally have Buscher on their 25-man playoff roster, although he was a late addition in place of Matt Tolbert, who strained an oblique muscle in Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Yankees.Kelly Thesier is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
