Another lesson in the fragility of pitchers: Glen Perkins goes on the the disabled list after Monday's lousy start.
This is a double blow. It doesn't just create a gap in the starting rotation, it buys Luis Ayala a little more time on the roster.
Sean Henn was recalled to take Perkins' spot, but he's hardly likely to step into the rotation; he pitched strictly in relief for the Rochester Red Wings. R.A. Dickey might get the starts Perkins misses, or (let us hope) in three or four days a real starter might be added to the roster and Ayala ousted.
At any rate, even adding Henn doesn't really fix the issue of too many untrustworthy relievers. Gardenhire is hardly likely to shove Henn immediately into key situations. At best, he's going to try to find low-leverage situations for Henn. There's still going to be too much weight put on Jose Mijares and Matt Guerrier.
I can remember a time when the bullpen was the Twins' key to success. Remember when J.C. Romero was dancing the lefties with that slicing breaking ball? Remember when no one could hit Rincon and Crain still had upside?
ReplyDeleteNow it seems the bedrock bullpen is falling apart.
I say Gardenhire should take a page out of the 1895 Cleveland Spiders playbook and go with the 3-man rotation. Liriano can be our Cy Young, Slowey can be George Cuppy and that will leave "Sweet Spot" Scott Baker and Blackburn to be the third starter and the set-up man.
Seems almost too easy ...