Twins release Shoemaker from Saints; he'd been critical of Twins coaching staff

CINCINNATI — The Twins organization released pitcher Matt Shoemaker on Tuesday. The veteran right hander had been pitching for Class AAA St. Paul after clearing waivers and being demoted to the minor leagues last month. He was not on the team's 40-man roster.

Shoemaker, 34, signed a one-year contract for $2 million before the season, but had an 8.06 ERA in 16 games in the majors before he was designated for assignment.

He gave up only four runs in 20 innings over three starts with the Saints.

But "with the people we want to take a look at over the next couple of months, it was going to be hard for Shoe to make his way back to the major league level," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "Out of respect for him, we just wanted to give him an opportunity to go pitch somewhere where he may be able to get back to the big leagues a little bit easier."

After pitching seven shutout innings last week against Indianapolis, Shoemaker, who signed a one-year, $2 million contract last winter, said his turnaround was due to "pitching the opposite of how the Twins wanted me to pitch," an implied criticism of how Baldelli and his staff handled him. But the manager said those comments had no effect on the team's decision to release him.

"Those are comments that probably didn't need to be made, but those were not the driving force in the decision and what happened with Shoe," Baldelli said. "This was something that we had discussed and was already in play before those comments were made."