Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Tuesday, February 7, 2017 Twins claim infielder Ehire Adrianza off waivers. Star Tribune (Neal III) p. 1 Twins claim infielder Ehire Adrianza from Brewers. Pioneer Press (Staff) p. 1 Castro key to leading Twins' pitching turnaround. MLB (Bollinger) p. 1 Twins claim versatile Adrianza from Brewers. MLB (Trezza) p. 2 Latest Twins waiver claim appears to be glove-first guy who could challenge for bench role. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 2 Minnesota Twins: Top prospects report. ESPN (Law) p. 3 Who's your MVP for 2017? We've got one for every team. ESPN (Schoenfield) p. 5 Final offseason grades for all 30 teams. ESPN (Bowden) p. 5 Which players are primed for a decline in 2017? ESPN (Blengino) p. 5 Twins claim infielder Ehire Adrianza off waivers La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | February 7, 2017 The Twins claimed infielder Ehire Adrianza off waivers from Milwaukee and designated relief pitcher Pat Light for assignment on Monday. Adrianza, 27, played in 40 games for San Francisco last season, hitting .254 with two home runs and seven RBI. He has played in 154 major league games, all with the Giants, and has a .220 average with three home runs. Adrianza, a native Venezuelan who plays second base and shortstop, was claimed by the Brewers off waivers from the Giants in January. Light pitched in 15 games for the Twins last season, giving up 14 earned runs in 14 innings after coming over from the Red Sox in an Aug. 1 trade for reliever Fernando Abad. Light was designated for assignment to make room for Adrianza on the 40-man roster. Twins claim infielder Ehire Adrianza from Brewers Staff | Pioneer Press | February 6, 2017 The Minnesota Twins announced Monday that they have claimed infielder Ehire Adrianza off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers. Before being claimed off waivers earlier this month by the Brewers, the 27-year-old appeared in 40 games for the San Francisco Giants last season, hitting .254 (16 for 63) with two doubles, two home runs and seven runs batted in. The Venezuelan native has played 154 career major league games, all with San Francisco, hitting .220 (64 for 291) with 16 doubles, three home runs and 26 RBIs. To make room for Adrianza on the 40-man roster, the Twins have designated right-handed pitcher Pat Light for release or assignment. Light appeared in 15 games for the Twins last season. Castro key to leading Twins' pitching turnaround Rhett Bollinger | MLB | February 7, 2017 MINNEAPOLIS -- When Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine were officially introduced in early October, they both spoke about exploring every avenue to improve the club's pitching staff. Pitching has been a major issue for the Twins in recent years, especially last season when Minnesota pitchers combined to post the second- worst ERA in the Majors en route to a 103-loss season. But instead of signing a free-agent starter to bolster their staff this offseason, the Twins took a different route by inking defensively minded catcher Jason Castro to a three-year, $24.5 million deal. Minnesota is hoping Castro can make a big difference managing the pitching staff with his game-planning and pitch-framing skills. The 29-year- old was part of a successful rebuilding effort in Houston, and the Twins believe he's suited to help develop and advance Minnesota's staff. "The whole idea of signing Jason Castro, a lot of it was measured on the impact of catching on a staff," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "As we've learned more about how to quantify that, it's probably been a little bit of an undervalued position for guys that handle some of those types of things better than others. We thought that was a big piece in trying to at least start off a way of trying to figure out a way to pitch better." One of Castro's greatest strengths is pitch framing, as he ranked as the fifth-best overall in baseball last year with 12.8 runs above average, according to statcorner.com. It's big upgrade from last year's starting catcher, Kurt Suzuki, who rated five runs below average. "The goal at the end of the day is to try to help your pitcher keep as many strikes as possible," Castro said. "And to not do anything to take away from presenting pitches that are in the strike zone to the umpires that would lead them to believe that any given pitch is not a strike." But there's more to helping the pitching staff than pitch framing, as Castro excels in getting his pitchers prepared and working with them throughout their start. He should also help the Twins improve at controlling the running game, as he threw out 24 percent of attempting basestealers last year, compared to Suzuki's 19 percent. "Jason provides a lot more value than [pitch framing]," Falvey said. "There's the game planning and game calling. We thought Jason was one of the best at that. We're excited about seeing that play out and seeing Jason's role in helping develop our pitching." And that's not to mention Castro's leadership skills, for which Falvey lauded him, as the Twins have been looking to improve their clubhouse chemistry this season as well. Castro developed into a leader during his six years in Houston and already bonded with several of his new teammates at TwinsFest. "His impact on both sides of the game, his fit for our culture, made for a perfect marriage," Falvey said. "A lot has been made about his defense, but we really look into the background of these guys. It's important for the culture of our team. He checked every box and then some." Twins claim versatile Adrianza from Brewers Joe Trezza | MLB | February 6, 2017 The Twins made strides toward improving their depth Monday, claiming versatile infielder Ehire Adrianza off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers. Right-handed pitcher Pat Light was designated for assignment in a corresponding move. The Twins are Adrianza's second team this offseason: the Brewers previously selected him off waivers from the Giants. Adrianza has appeared in 154 Major League games since 2013, all with the Giants. Adrianza, 27, hit .254/.299/.381 with two home runs in 40 games for the Giants in 2016, appearing mostly as a pinch-hitter but also filling in at shortstop, second base and third. He's appeared mostly at second and short throughout his career, but he has the ability to play all four infield positions. He'll likely battle Eduardo Escobar and Danny Santana in Spring Training for a bench role. Light, a first-round pick in 2012, posted a 9.00 ERA in 15 games as a rookie last season. He was traded by the Red Sox to the Twins on Aug.1 for Fernando Abad. Latest Twins waiver claim appears to be glove-first guy who could challenge for bench role Derek Wetmore | ESPN 1500 | February 6, 2017 The Twins on Monday claimed infielder Ehire Adrianza off waivers from the Brewers, and found a 40-man roster spot for him by taking Pat Light off the roster. Based on his stats page, he appears to be a glove-first infielder and based on the current Twins’ roster construction, he could push for a role on Minnesota’s bench. 2 Light, a right-handed reliever, is the second Twins player to be DFA’d in the past week. The Twins on Friday DFA’d Byung Ho Park in order to make room for reliever Matt Belisle. Light only pitched in 15 games for the Twins last year — he’s the hard-throwing reliever that came from the Red Sox organization in the Fernando Abad trade. Adrianza, 27, isn’t the type of player that will rile up a fan base. In parts of four seasons with the San Francisco Giants, he’s hit .220/.292/.313 in 331 plate appearances. That’s very bad. Last year he played shortstop, third base and second base for the Giants. If you’re looking for encouraging signs on his stats page, you’ll have to go to 2015. In Triple-A that year, Adrianza batted .316/.384/.415. Don’t get too excited about that batting line, though. That year in the Majors he hit just .186/.303/.265 in 134 plate appearances. Positional flexibility is valuable for bench players as modern bullpens command more and more roster spots. And Manager Paul Molitor seems to favor having bench players who can play multiple positions. Let’s say the Twins will have four bench players to start the year. One will be a catcher, and the other three could go any number of ways, but a typical breakdown would have an outfielder, an infielder, and maybe a guy who can do a little bit of everything. Eduardo Escobar currently looks like a good bet to be the infielder. Then Eddie Rosario or Robbie Grossman makes sense as a fourth outfielder, depending on which one earns a starting role. Then the catcher spot could go to Mitch Garver, Chris Gimenez or John Ryan Murphy. If the Twins aren’t going to use a power bat (like Byung Ho Park) as their fourth and final bench spot, perhaps it will go to someone like Adrianza. Worth noting: the Twins already have a guy on their roster who can’t hit much but he can play multiple positions. His name is Danny Santana.