Bill Springman has been the Twins minor league hitting coordinator for nine seasons, and their Class AAA hitting coach for five seasons before that. But the Twins decided to sever their ties to the long-time instructor and will not offer Springman a contract for 2015, minor league director Brad Steil confirmed Friday.

Former Twins star Torii Hunter has frequently credited Springman for turning his career around while they were at Class AAA Salt Lake City in 2000. An Oklahoma native, Springman never rose above Class AA during his playing career, but he spent parts of three seasons as a teammate of the current Twins major league hitting coach Tom Brunansky.

Meanwhile, Class AAA Rochester manager Gene Glynn, who will join the Twins for the final two weeks of the season, told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle that he has yet to learn about his status for next season. Glynn, who led the Red Wings to a 77-67 record this year, told the newspaper via text, "I'm not sure what's up. I would love to come back if there's no major league spot. Rochester is such a good place with so many good baseball people."

Red Wings hitting coach Tim Doherty is part of Ron Gardenhire's coaching staff for the first two weeks of September.

Why not 26?

Kurt Suzuki and Eric Fryer have formed the Twins' catching corps since mid-June, but neither one started Friday. Yet the Twins still had two catchers in their lineup.

That's the kind of flexibility expanded September rosters bring. But in this era of 13-man pitching staffs and three-man benches, Ron Gardenhire wouldn't mind adding some of that flexibility year-round.

"When you have as many pitchers as we do normally, you're very limited to what you can do off the bench," the Twins manager said. "There are some guys who don't hit lefties, maybe, that you're forced to leave in there. You have no choice."

Gardenhire said he would endorse a proposal that gets discussed occasionally: Expanding pre-September rosters by one player to 26.

"Even a four-man bench makes a huge difference," Gardenhire said. "And a three-man catching rotation makes a huge difference, too. Say, Suzuki — in a 20-5 game, I can't take him out normally, because I've only got one other catcher."

Now he has Josmil Pinto, who was behind the plate Friday, and Chris Herrmann, who was in left field, in addition to his two regular catchers.

Hanging around

Yohan Pino ran the stairs at Target Field on Friday, received treatment on his sore right elbow, then wore an ice pack on it for an hour. "It's just a normal day," the 30-year-old righthander said. "I'm working on getting ready for next year."

Pino was in the clubhouse before Friday's game, but he's technically on the disabled list at Rochester, so he's not allowed to suit up or sit in the dugout during Twins games.

Pino said he will plan on playing catch next week, then pitch for the Aragua Tigers in Venezuela this winter.

Etc.

• Eduardo Nunez's habit of losing his helmet while running the bases is becoming so absurd, Gardenhire said, "there's been a lot of stuff said in our dugout about him. I think people are betting on where his helmet's going to fall. I really think they're gambling on it now." Teammates have jokingly applied tape to his helmet to help him keep it on his head, Gardenhire said.

Staff writer La Velle E. Neal III contributed to this report.