(video credit: Mike Berardino, St. Paul Pioneer Press)
The Minnesota Twins announced on Wednesday that Trevor May underwent successful Tommy John surgery earlier that morning.
May himself broke the news of the procedure on Twitter on Tuesday evening, as the second opinion apparently revealed that surgery was going to be the best option.
May will miss the entire 2017 season and was placed on the 60-day disabled list on Wednesday as a result. The 60-day DL opens up a spot on the 40-man roster, though that exemption has to be used in conjunction with adding someone else to the roster.
LISTEN: T-May joined Midwest Swing last October to chat with Brandon and Tom.
In this case, that spot was taken by left-handed reliever Craig Breslow, who was signed to a minor-league deal in the offseason and as a result is now guaranteed to have a spot in the Opening Day bullpen.
It’ll be an interesting experiment for Breslow, whose attempts to revive his career with specific mechanics changes have been widely reported on near and far this offseason. Breslow, who pitched with the Twins for parts of the 2008 and 2009 seasons, was an effective reliever as recently as 2015 with the Red Sox, but has not been necessarily an asset in a big-league bullpen since a tremendous 2013 season in Boston (1.81 ERA/3.60 FIP in 59.2 IP, 1.12 WHIP).
Breslow has allowed just one earned run in six innings this spring with the Twins (1.50 ERA) and has held opposing batters to just a .143 batting average. His command has been spotty, however, as he’s walked seven batters with five strikeouts over that time frame for an unsightly 1.67 WHIP. Breslow’s emergence on the roster will most likely push Buddy Boshers down to Triple-A Rochester to start the season, as Ryan O’Rourke is expected to start the season on the 10-day DL with elbow issues.
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