Twins can't stand Pat (or at least his pitching)

Tommy Milone's
major league numbers
for his career:
41-29, 4.04.

A newsroom colleague and I agreed Friday afternoon that among the Twins' problems is a lack of quality nicknames. I promised that if Pat Dean had a good outing that evening I would launch a campaign to dub him "Ditsy Dean" in tribute to Dizzy Dean and Daffy Dean.

Alas, the contemporary Dean didn't make it out of the third inning, allowing eight hits, three walks and seven runs in 2.1 innings. I won't insult the Gashouse Gang aces by implying that Pat Dean is on their level.

Pat Dean, his ERA having ballooned to 5.54, was shipped back to Triple A Rochester after the game, and Tommy Milone -- remember him? -- was summoned. The Twins waived Milone in early May after four starts and one relief outing in which he compiled a 5.79 ERA; I was surprised when he went unclaimed and the Twins got to stash him in Rochester.

He dominated the International League -- 4-0, 1.66 ERA in seven starts, 48 innings with 41 strikeouts -- and so now the finesse lefty gets another shot in the Minnesota rotation, although he is going to be on call for long relief duties the next couple of days.

And so the roster shuffle continues. Milone, of course, fills the 40-man roster slot vacated on Thursday when Oswaldo Arcia was designated for assignment. I'm glad he's back; there was never any serious reason to believe that Dean was a better starter than Milone, assuming that Milone was physically sound. Waiving him on the basis of 23 ineffective innings was something of a panic move. The Twins simply decided they couldn't stand pat, then and now.