The New York Yankees announced Tuesday afternoon that they had claimed Minnesota Twins left-handed pitcher Brent Headrick off waivers.

The reasons for the Twins attempting to waive Headrick and outright him to Triple-A are unclear, but almost certainly point to an impending move.

Headrick’s waiving opens a spot on the 40-man roster, and teams don’t do that without a corresponding move in the offing.

What that move will be is anyone’s guess, but there was certainly a groundswell of confusion online about why the Twins would waive a left-handed pitcher when they have so few in the organization — especially those who can help the big-league club at present.

There are two left-handed pitchers remaining on the 40-man roster as of this writing: Kody Funderburk and the recently-signed Danny Coulombe.

The best guess here is that Headrick, who is 27 and has only appeared in 15 big league games (28.2 innings) drew the short straw (pun intended, I guess) because the team likely assumed they’d be able to slip him through waivers.

Teams are already near or at the 40-man limit, and there are still free agents to add to rosters yet. As such, the Twins likely viewed this as a good time to try push Headrick through. They just miscalculated.

And even still, it’s not as though Headrick was slated for the big-league roster to start the season. The rotation and bullpen are pretty much full going into the season — obviously subject to change — and while Headrick has two options left, he’s still had his issues in the minors with home runs.

None of this is to dog on Headrick as much as it is to explain why a team would make a move like this. The spots on a 40-man roster are tenuous on the back end, and again this likely signals a move of some type from the Twins (most likely a shortstop or maybe a first baseman, in this writer’s opinion).

Pitchers of Headrick’s ilk are sent through waivers on a nearly daily basis during the season. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Here’s to hoping Headrick pitches well whenever he returns to the major leagues.

As long as it isn’t against the Twins.