Twins Roster Moves: Erik Komatsu Claimed Off Waivers, Designate Clete Thomas For Assignment

On Friday afternoon, the Minnesota Twins claimed outfielder Erik Komatsu off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals. In order to make room for Komatsu on the 25-man roster, the Twins were forced to place outfielder Clete Thomas on designated assignment. Per the Twins' official twitter account:

#Twins claim OF Erik Komatsu off waivers from St. Louis. Clete Thomas designated for assignment to make room on 25-man roster.

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) May 4, 2012

Komatsu made his debut this season with the Cardinals playing in 15 games and assembling a .211 batting average and a .286 on-base percentage. St. Louis acquired Komatsu in the 2011 Rule 5 Draft from the Washington Nationals and because of this, was forced to designate him for assignment on May 1 when Allen Craig came off the disabled list.

Now he is the property of the Twins and Minnesota finds themselves in a similar situation with Thomas. They will have ten days to decide what to do with Thomas, whether that means trading, releasing or placing him on waivers. If he isn't traded or released and no team claims him after ten days, Thomas can be outright sent to the minors.

After bouncing around with the Detroit Tigers for a few years, Thomas was claimed off waivers by the Twins on April 14. He hit a two-run homerun in his first game with the club on April 15 against the Texas Rangers.

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