Something I Missed

I'm about five days late to the party, but I finally realized that last Friday the Twins made a few expected roster moves to clean up the 40-man roster. None of the moves was all that surprising. The day after the season ended, I suggested that there were five players who could be removed from the 40-man roster to open up space for players who needed to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft. Of the five guys I identified, four of them were in fact removed from the roster last week by being outrighted to AAA.

Three of those names -- RHP Julio DePaula, C Ryan Jorgensen, and IF Sergio Santos -- were virtual locks to be removed. Jorgensen was simply added as insurance as a third catcher during September, Santos was an odd waiver claim mid-season who didn't add much to the roster, and DePaula was just not effective in Rochester last year. I expected each of them to be removed.

The fourth player -- RHP Oswaldo Sosa -- was a bit more surprising, although I identified him as a possible cut. He surprises me more not because he was all that effective (he wasn't), but because he had two options year left. Sosa would have been entering his third option year in 2009, but would have had a fourth available in 2010 due to his lack of service time (like Philip Humber had this year). Sosa was once a fairly highly regarded prospect, so with two more years available to turn him around I figured the Twins would keep him on the roster. By my count, Sosa is now Rule 5 eligible, so removing him from the 40-man opens him up to be taken. Of course, as badly as he pitched in 2008 that's a pretty unlikely scenario, so the Twins may have just figured they'd slide him through this year and re-add him next year if he recovers his form.

The Twins also activated Pat Neshek from the 60-Day DL, meaning he once again counts against the 40-man roster. This had to be done, because players can't be on the disabled list through the off-season. If Neshek were unable to pitch when the season started next year, the Twins could place him back on the list in the spring.

These moves leave the team with 34 players on the 40-Man Roster. They will probably leave a few spots open for free agent acquisitions, but I'd expected 3-4 players to be added to the list by November 15 to protect those players from December's Rule 5 Draft. In the next few days, I'll post my thoughts on who should be protected.

Recent Transaction Thoughts

In what may be an impending sign of the apocalypse, the Twins were forced to purchase the contract of veteran Howie Clark from Rochester yesterday after Matt Tolbert went on the 15-day DL with a torn left thumb ligament. As La Velle Neal put it in his Strib column, "the pickings [in Rochester] were slim" since Alexi Casilla was already up and Matt Macri is on the minor league DL.

I don't completely disagree with La Velle -- the pickings are indeed slim in the Rochester infield -- but I think that, for the reasons I've mentioned previously, the Twins didn't necessarily need a middle infielder. Brian Buscher could have been called up if the Twins had decided to go in that direction. I don't think that Clark gives them all that much more flexibility than Busher would have. Tolbert, of course, is flexible enough to play 2B, 3B, or SS as needed. Clark is pretty much a 2B/3B guy, while Buscher is known more as a 1B/3B. With Alexi Casilla on the roster and able to play 2B or SS as needed, however, I wouldn't be all that worried about having yet another 2B on the team.

Clark is a perfectly serviceable minor league backup, I suppose -- he's a career .262 big league hitter -- so I probably shouldn't complain so much. Buscher, after all, isn't a major prospect who is somehow being harmed by spending time in the minors. I'm just not all that excited about the possibility of a Mike Lamb/Adam Everett/Howie Clark infield. That said, I hope he performs well while he's with the team, and until Tolbert knows the extent of his injury, who knows how long that will be?

Finally, La Velle also noted that the Twins recently claimed Sergio Santos off waivers from the Blue Jays. My first reaction is "why," and my second reaction is "holy crap, the roster is back to 40 guys!". As to the "why," Santos is a career .249 hitter in the minor leagues, and I'm not so sure he's ever going to improve on that. He also doesn't appear to have any real speed -- he's been getting about 2 steals in 400+ AB's the last few years -- so he's not an asset there. His fielding percentages don't appear to be all that outstanding, but I'm sure many of you are aware of how difficult it is to actually measure fielding, so I'll leave that one alone. This just seems like a perplexing waiver claim, on par with the claim of Chris Basak from the Yankees last year. While Basak is still in the organization, he's playing poorly in Rochester and is unlikely ever to really contribute. It seems the Twins higher-ups are of the opinion that the team is lacking infield depth, and is grabbing players like Santos to try to remedy that. It should also be noted (for those of you who care) that this is Santos' third option year. He was originally added to the D'Backs 40-man roster in November 2005, and was then traded to the Blue Jays in December of that year. He has subsequently been optioned in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

As to the roster, it's been a bit surprising that the Twins have gone for weeks with just 38 guys on the 40-man roster. That is no longer the case, with Clark and Santos being added. As has been pointed out elsewhere, however, that doesn't mean the Twins don't have some flexibility if needed -- Pat Neshek can be placed on the 60-Day DL whenever (and if ever) the team needs to open up another roster spot.

Twins Players Dropping Like Flies: UPDATED

For the last few days, Nick Punto has been nursing a hamstring issue and has been unable to play. Now, we find out from Joe Christensen at the Strib that Punto is headed to the DL since the injury isn't getting any better. With Brendan Harris also nursing a leg injury, the Twins will be rather short-handed again tonight.

I know that many Twins fans completely gave up on Punto after last year's debacle. As has almost certainly been apparent to those of you who read this blog on a semi-regular occasion, I am not amongst that group. While I long ago conceded that he shouldn't be starting every day, I think his versatility and strength defensively is an asset to the team, as is his speed and (as unquantifiable as this is) his energy and heart. In my mind, he belongs on the roster to fill exactly the role that he has filled this season, and I'm disappointed to see him get hurt.

The Twins have not yet announced who will be called up from Rochester to replace Punto on the roster, but it seems pretty likely that it will be Brian Buscher, who of course was just with the team during Adam Everett's stint on the DL. If the Twins didn't have Matt Tolbert on the roster, they might have to consider calling up a player who could more naturally play at shortstop. Tolbert obviates that need, however, and Buscher seems like the logical choice because of relative big league experience and his success in AAA so far this season. As much as some fans might like to see Alexi Casilla at the big league level again, he's having a terrible year at the plate, and it seems to make a lot more sense to keep him playing every day in AAA. We should find out during or after the game what move the Twins have actually made. If it's in any way surprising, I'll comment further.

UPDATE: Joe C. is reporting that Alexi Casilla was scratched from his scheduled start for the Red Wings tonight, making him the likely callup. I confess to being a bit underwhelmed by this decision -- as I mentioned earlier, Casilla has not played well for the Red Wings. On the other hand, Casilla is more like Nick Punto than Brian Buscher is, and Buscher hasn't been playing so well that he had to be called up in this kind of situation. Best case scenario, I suppose, is that Casilla gets some playing time and plays well enough to get his confidence up and to regain his status as a top prospect in the organization. It felt throughout the spring like he kept taking steps backward, and for the most part that seems to have continued in Rochester. Maybe this will be a chance to turn things around.

Neshek to the DL

If you're watching the game, you just heard the news about Pat Neshek -- and unfortunately it isn't good. Neshek apparently has a torn muscle (Ok, the TV guys lie -- I guess it's a partially torn UCL) in his arm and will miss at least a couple of months (make that an absolute minimum of 3 months and probably the rest of the season). This is kind of what I think most of us feared yesterday when we saw the injury, because when a pitcher winces and grabs his arm the way Neshek did the news usually isn't good.

While I haven't yet heard any plans about what the Twins will do to replace Neshek, I'll reiterate what I said last night -- for the immediate future, I would guess that Neshek will go on the DL after the game and Glen Perkins will be activated to make tomorrow's start. That would leave Bobby Korecky on the roster, and I would presume he'll stay there until (at a minimum) Scott Baker is activated.

At that point, if Perkins has pitched adequately in the couple of starts he's going to receive, my guess is that he'll replace Korecky in the bullpen. Of course, if the Twins decide that Perkins is more important as a starter they may return him to AAA so that he gets regular work. That would probably leave Korecky in the 'pen, although other AAA pitchers like Julio DePaula, Ricky Barrett, and Carmen Cali could potentially be considered I suppose.

The other question is how the Twins will structure the bullpen. Obviously, Joe Nathan is still the closer -- but who is his setup man? The most likely answer would seem to be Matt Guerrier, who has pitched reasonably well this year. That means Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain will usually be left to handle the 7th with a lead on the line -- although I think Gardy will be very flexible (as he should be) and use whoever makes sense in the circumstances at hand.

As I said yesterday, while I'm disappointed that Neshek is hurt, I don't think that this dooms the Twins. They've been winning despite the fact that most of the bullpen has been underperforming (Joe Nathan being the obvious exception), and I don't think that's going to change. Hopefully Guerrier, Crain, and Rincon can step up and handle the pressure of pitching in more intense situations. So long as the Twins offense performs, I think the team will be fine.

Best wishes to Pat as he recuperates.

Baker to the DL

As was widely expected, Scott Baker is being sent to the Disabled List tomorrow. More interesting, although still not exactly surprising, is the news that he will be replaced on the roster by lefty Glen Perkins, who will start Saturday's game against Boston. Perkins was the logical choice over Brian Duensing and Kevin Mulvey because (1) he's left-handed (as is Duensing), (2) he's the only one of the three on the 40-man roster, and (3) he's been pitching quite well of late.

The biggest winner from this move (other than Perkins, of course), is Bobby Korecky. The righty was on pace to being sent down to make room for Kevin Slowey, who is scheduled to start on Thursday. Instead, Korecky can now hang around until after Friday's game when he will almost certainly be sent down to make room for Perkins (barring something quite strange and unexpected happening). Every day in the big leagues is a good day, right?

Everett to the DL - UPDATED

UPDATE: Buscher it is. Apparently the team decided to make the announcement earlier than they first intended. No surprise at all -- the original post follows:

Joe Christensen is reporting that the Twins are sending Shortstop Adam Everett to the DL with tendinitis in his shoulder. I'm sure upon hearing the news there was much tearing of garments and gnashing of teeth throughout Twins Nation -- or not. There's not a player on the team who has been less beneficial to the organization so far this season than Everett (well, maybe Mike Lamb who is hitting a woeful .143), although I'll give Everett the benefit of the doubt and assume that part of his poor play has been the result of this mysterious injury. Everett last played on April 14, so I would guess that his trip to the DL will be made retroactive to that date, making him eligible to return on April 29.

So who gets called up? I don't think it's a surprise that the smart money is on Brian Buscher. The Twins will make it official one way or another after today's game. Why Buscher? Well, first off, he's unquestionably the most deserving based on what he's done for Rochester through the first 2+ weeks of the AAA season, having posted a .345 average in 58 AB's while hitting four homeruns and keeping his strikeouts down (11). Add to that the fact that Mike Lamb has been horrible, and that Buscher would provide left-handed power off the bench on days he doesn't start, and he seems like a natural fit. Of course, he's also on the 40-man roster, so there wouldn't be any issues there.

The alternatives just don't seem nearly as attractive: Matt Macri is on the 40-man roster and can play around the infield, but he's hitting .275 with just 1 homerun and so doesn't look as strong as Buscher. Veteran options like Howie Clark, Garrett Jones, Randy Ruiz, and Chris Basak are available to fill a variety of bench roles for the team, but none of them are on the 40-man roster (the Twins do have two empty slots available, so adding them to the roster wouldn't hurt anything immediately), but none of them is playing nearly as well as Buscher right now.

The Twins could also decide to call up a pitcher to give them insurance if Brian Bass is going to miss a few more days. If they wanted a long guy they could call up a starter like Kevin Mulvey (he's pitched great, but isn't on the roster), or they could go with a reliever like Julio DePaula or even Bobby Korecky, both of whom are already on the roster. More than likely, the callup would just be for a couple of days before Bass was ready to come back, and then the Twins would probably call up Buscher (or one of the other position players mentioned above). This is possible, but I would say pretty unlikely.

For all of those reasons, I expect to hear that Brian Buscher has been recalled to the big leagues when today's game is done -- and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him in the starting lineup tomorrow.

Cuddyer to the DL

That was quick. Michael Cuddyer was placed on the DL after tonight's game with the Royals following the dislocation of his right index finger. Considering how weak the Twins offense has been this year, losing a player like Cuddyer from the middle of the lineup undoubtedly hurts.

Perhaps the most interesting element of this is who the Twins called up to replace Cuddyer on the roster. Despite my prediction earlier tonight that the Twins would want to keep Denard Span and Jason Pridie in AAA to start every day, the Twins decided to call Span up to the bigs for the first time in his career. While it's unfortunate that it took an injury to Cuddyer for Span to get a break in the bigs, this should please the fans who thought Span, and not Carlos Gomez, should have broken camp with the team. I don't know how much he'll play, but he'll undoubtedly make his big league debut and get at least a few starts in right. I expect Jason Kubel and Craig Monroe also to be used in the outfield fairly regularly.

The other interesting ramification of Cuddyer going on the DL is that the Twins now don't have a backup at first base. My guess is that Mike Lamb will serve in that capacity if needed, since the Twins could use Brendan Harris, Nick Punto, and Matt Tolbert at 3B as needed.