PHOENIX — Rocco Baldelli hopes the pitchers on his staff are not thinking about whether their roster spot is safe while they're on the field. But it's human nature to do so.
"They know this is coming. Guys pay attention," Baldelli said of MLB's implementation, beginning on Monday, of a 13-pitcher limit on the active roster, a rule that will subtract a pitcher from the Twins' 26-man roster. "I know these are the things that people think about, but our guys do a pretty good job of not worrying about things like that and letting it affect their performance."
Tyler Thornburg faced 10 hitters on Friday and retired eight of them, though a single to the first batter he faced, Arizona's Jake Hager, allowed a run to score. Tyler Duffey retired all three Diamondbacks he faced in the eighth inning, needing only nine pitches, though he had allowed seven runs in his previous 3 2/3 innings.
Jharel Cotton, Trevor Megill, even Dylan Bundy, who took the mound Saturday after the Twins skipped his start last week — are these guys pitching for their jobs?
Not necessarily, Baldelli said. One outing, good or bad, won't determine someone's fate. Long-term implications factor into roster decisions far more than the last pitch you threw.
"Just execute your pitches, that's about all you can do," Baldelli said. "All our guys are doing a pretty good job for us. They're all going to have an opportunity to pitch going forward."
But one of them will lose that opportunity, at least temporarily, on Monday — not to mention the adjustment that must be made when Josh Winder returns from a shoulder injury, which could be as soon as Tuesday.
Baldelli would prefer that the Twins be allowed to decide how best to structure their own roster. But that's not how this league works, he said.
