Twins lose Jake Cave, Jermaine Palacios, Caleb Hamilton on waiver claims

Jake Cave, the Twins' most-used backup outfielder over the past five seasons, and Jermaine Palacios, who debuted this season as a reserve infielder, will not return to the team in 2022 after being claimed off waivers on Tuesday. Also lost was backup catcher Caleb Hamilton.

Cave was claimed by Baltimore, Palacios by Detroit and Hamilton by Boston, the first step in the Twins' postseason roster trimming, which must reduce the 53 players on their roster at season's end to 40 by the end of the month.

Pitchers Devin Smeltzer and Jhon Romero cleared waivers and were assigned to Class AAA St. Paul.

Cave, 29, came to Minnesota in a spring training trade with the Yankees for infielder Luis Gil in 2018, and immediately became the team's primary backup outfielder, appearing in at least one-third of the Twins' games in each of his five seasons in the organization, frequently filling in for center fielder Byron Buxton. A popular teammate in the clubhouse, the left-handed batter hit 13 home runs as a rookie in 2018 and ranked among the league-leaders in average home run distance, and eight more in 2019. His .351 on-base percentage in 72 games was among the five best on the team.

But Cave's offensive production declined over the past two seasons. Cave batted just .189 over 76 games in 2021, and spent this year's first four months with St. Paul. Called up in August when the Twins' outfielding corps suffered several season-ending injuries, Cave played all but six games over the season's final two months, including every game from Aug. 26 on.

Similarly, the 26-year-old Palacios spent all but a week with the Saints until September, then played in one-third of the Twins' final 30 games. But Palacios batted only .143 in the majors, including an 0-for-34 streak that ranks as the third-longest hitless stretch by a position player in Twins' history; he was 0-for-33 to start September before hitting two home runs in the final week of the season.

Palacios, who can play three infield positions but is primarily a shortstop, was signed by the Twins as a 17-year-old in 2013, traded to the Rays for Jake Odorizzi in 2018, then re-signed with Minnesota in 2021.

Hamilton made his major league debut this season at age 27 and had one hit in 18 at-bats, a home run. He split the minor league season between Class AA Wichita and St. Paul, hitting a combined .181.

The Twins' roster will be further reduced when Aaron Sanchez, Gary Sanchez, Michael Fulmer, Billy Hamilton and Sandy Leon formally become free agents, but further cuts will be necessary.