Ex-Twins watch: Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer

Last summer the Twins disposed of Ricky Nolasco, who over three seasons and 56 starts wth Minnesota had pitched to a 5.44 ERA, His FIP -- Fielding Independent Pitching -- wasn't nearly that bad, but that had been true of Nolasco at his previous teams as well.

The Twins got back Hector Santiago from the Angels in exchange, but to do so they had to

• throw in some cash to even out the salaries involved and
• toss in Alex Meyer, once a top prospect.

Neither requirement was anything close to a deal breaker.

We Twins fans are pretty familiar (and pleased) with Santiago's 2017 season. He got shelled Sunday in Cleveland, but even that debacle leaves the lefty 4-2 with a 3.80 ERA. His career ERA is 3.84, so Santiago this year has been pretty much what he was in Chicago and Anaheim: a six-inning lefty who walks a few more than you'd really like.

Nolasco, meanwhile, got the Opening Day start for the Angels and is now 2-2 with a 4.34 ERA. His strikeout rate is noticably higher so far than is typical for him, and for once he;s outperforming his FIP. He's also given up 13 homers in 45.2 innings, which is ... a lot. Nolasco has long been a confounding pitcher, and this continues.

More noteworthy in my eyes is Meyer, the 6-9 righty who never put it together in Minnesota. Mike Scoscia has him in the rotation, and each of his four starts has been better than the previous:

• April 21: 3.2 innings, 2 runs
• May 4: 4 innings, 6 runs
• May 9: 5.1 innings, 3 runs
• May 14: 6.1 innings, 1 run

In all, 19.1 innings over the four starts and 21 strikeouts. Also 14 walks. He's 2-1 with a 559 ERA (the Angels scored seven runs in two of his outings). He's also had four starts in Triple A at Salt Lake, a difficult pitching environment; he had a 6.16 ERA in the PCL and got called up anyway,

He certainly hasn't cemented himself in the Anaheim rotation, but it appears he's getting a legitimate opportunity to see if he can find a way to use his impressive stuff effectively in the majors.

Deadline doings

It was, at the very least, a notable trade deadline day for the Twins.

On the field, they pummeled Cleveland, with Max Kepler hitting three homers, Jorge Polanco a pair of triples, Joe Mauer getting four hits and scoring four runs and Jose Berrios, after a rocky first inning, getting a quality start. Heck, Eddie Rosario even drew a walk.

And before the team took the field in Cleveland, interim general manager Rob Antony made a pair of trades.

Trade One: Fernando Abad to Boston for minor league pitcher Pat Light.

The stuff I said in Monday's post about Brandon Kintzler essentially applies to Abad, except that

• Abad doesn't have the saves
• Abad is left-handed

They're both 30, were signed to minor league deals, and have better ERAs this year than their underlying stats would suggest. Kintzler remains, but the Twins cashed in Abad for a power-arm prospect in Light, who they drafted out of high school in 2009 but didn't sign.

Light, 25, is said to reach 100 mph at times, but his control is indifferent at best -- 17 walks in 31 innings at Triple A Pawtucket this year, which is better than last year's 26 walks in 33 innings at the same level. He's strictly a relief arm.

The Twins don't have a good track record developing this type of pitcher, not that anybody has a magic touch with them. Light might turn into a late-inning guy, or he might wash out. At least he has two option years left, so there's time.

Trade Two: Ricky Nolasco, Alex Meyer and money to Anaheim for lefty Hector Santiago and minor league pitcher Alan Busenitz.

Give Antony credit: he found a way to unload Nolasco's contract and add a viable major league starter in Santiago.

It did cost the Twins Meyer, but at this point that doesn't look like a terrible loss. Meyer has missed most of the season with arm issues, and even before his shoulder started barking at him, the Twins didn't seem to know if he was still a starting candidate or destined for the bullpen. A power arm with indifferent control -- see Pat Light, above.

The LA Times story on this trade says Meyer, despite his issues, becomes the Angels' top prospect -- which is quite the indictment of that farm system. Meyer's been highly ranked in the past, but I doubt anybody would have had him among the Twins's top 10 prospects any more.

Which is why Busenitz is just a name to be aware of. Yes, he's reached Triple A for the Angels; yes, he too throws hard; yes, the Twins exchanged a minor league pitcher who as burned at least two options for one not yet on the 40-man roster. These are all pluses. The Twins have plenty of these guys around, and we'll see if he emerges.

Santiago is a 28-year-old lefty who made the All-Star team last year (seriously) and has a 3.68 career ERA in 105 major league starts. Last year he led the league in homers allowed (29) and this year he leads in walks allowed (57), neither of which is a positive. He also strikes out eight men per nine innings, a rate that's been pretty consistent over four years in major league rotations, and he's got another year of team control.

No question: You'd rather have Santiago than Nolasco. The Angels made the deal with the hopes that they can find the major league pitcher in Meyer that the Twins could not.

That was quick

Alex Meyer reaches for the return throw from Kurt Suzuki
as George Springer scores on Meyer's third-inning wild pitch.

For the second year in a row, Alex Meyer made two appearances, showed a lack of command of his imposing stuff, and was returned to Triple A.

Coming up, to all appearances on a strictly temporary basis, is J.R. Graham. Graham isn't doing all that well at Rochester -- ERA 10.80 in 8.1 innings -- but Ervin Santana is expected to come off the disabled list Friday. Graham will be an extra bullpen arm in the next two days.

As for Meyer -- if he, Tyler Duffey and Jose Berrios were indeed dueling to stay in the rotation, I'd say it was a pretty easy call. Meyer, in his first major league start, got through two innings unscathed Tuesday but could not get through the third. He threw 64 pitches and only 34 for strikes. He struck out three, yes, but he also walked three, yielded a home run and threw a wild pitch. He returns to Rochester with a 12.27 ERA.

To be sure, in a way this callup was virtually designed for Meyer to fail. He's notably tall for a pitcher and, as is relatively common for a tall pitcher, has problems maintaining his mechanics. He was pitching in rotation in Rochester and was brought to the majors on his start day to serve as bullpen backup after the 16-inning disaster in Washington, then sat for days. He finally relieved on nine days rest, which in a purely what's-best-for-Alex-Meyer sense was about as poor a usage as one could imagine,

He's not going to thrive on sporadic use. That said, the Greg McMichael rule says: If you get outs, they'll find a role for you. That concept works in reverse, too; to get a role, you have to get outs first, Meyer hasn't pitched well enough to give Paul Molitor reason to want to give him regular work.

Meanwhile: Tommy Milone, in his first bullpen outing of the year, also gave up three runs, also yielded a homer, also threw a wild pitch. It was not a particularly effective bid to return to the rotation. So we can expect a rotation of Phil Hughes, Santana, Ricky Nolasco, Duffey and Berrios at least until Kyle Gibson returns, and there doesn't appear to be a timeline for Gibson.

Contemplating Alex Meyer

The Twins returned Friday from Thursday's offday with a reshuffled rotation. Tommy Milone got bounced to the bullpen, and Alex Meyer is to start Tuesday.

Then Meyer pitched in relief Friday and didn't fare well -- one inning, five hits, two runs, a walk and a wild pitch. Inasmuch as he hadn't worked in nine days, that was probably to be expected. The Tuesday start is still his.

The Twins will close out April with two members of the starting rotation that opened the season still standing -- Phil Hughes and Ricky Nolasco. It sounds like Ervin Santana will return late next week (he's to test his back with a bullpen session today), and that Kyle Gibson won't be ready to return when eligible to come off the disabled list..

The odds are that one of the three additions to the rotation -- J.O. Barrios, Tyler Duffey and Meyer -- is likely to get moved back to Rochester if/when Santana returns. That is based on the notion that there are no bullpen changes, and that notion may be misplaced.

The Twins had Meyer starting in Rochester, and he did well in in 17.1 innings -- 19 strikeouts, just two walks, 1.04 ERA -- but that probably only sharpens the debate over whether the big guy is better suited to the bullpen or the rotation. Paul Molitor was in the bullpen camp when Meyer was sent down in March. Where Mollie will be if Meyer shines on Tuesday, who knows?

So it's Duffey today, Nolasco Sunday, Barrios Monday, Meyer Tuesday, Hughes Wednesday, an off day Thursday and ... well, maybe Santana on Friday, and get ready to shuffle. One of the younger guys will be dislodged when Santana returns, another when Gibson does. It would be nice if they pitch well enough to make Molitor squirm when they go back to Rochester, but I'm not counting on it.

The roster shuffle

As expected, the Twins made several moves Monday, but not all the moves they intended.

Pitcher Alex Meyer was recalled to add some depth to the bullpen, which was hard-used in Sunday's 16-inning affair. (And on Monday night, even though Tommy Milone didn't get through the fifth inning, Paul Molitor was unwilling to use Meyer. He instead ran through Trevor May, Fernando Abad, Ryan Pressly and Kevin Jepsen.)

Utility man Danny Santana was brought off the disabled list; he started in center field, hit ninth, went 1-for-3 and had no misadventures in the field.

Demoted were the two best center fielders on the roster, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler. The outfielding chores will presumably be split up among Miguel Sano, Santana, Oswaldo Arcia and Eddie Rosario, with Santana and Rosario being the center field options.

This is probably the best offensive group of four outfielders the Twins can concoct out of their 40-man roster, and pretty close to the weakest defensively (Adam Brett Walker is on the 40). Any outfield with Sano and Arcia in the corners does the pitching staff no favors. Buxton has been overmatched in a majority of his at-bats, and Kepler has barely played since spring training, so there is a good argument for their demotions; I still prefer having one of them in center on a regular basis.

But at least David Murphy partially spared the Twins from themselves. The day after the Twins lost catcher John Hicks on waivers -- a move Terry Ryan said Monday was made to clear a roster spot for Murphy -- the veteran decided he would rather go home to his family, and the Twins released him Monday.

I wouldn't trade a 26-year-old optionable catcher for Murphy, but the Twins handed Hicks over to the Tigers in order to activate him. Now they have neither Hicks nor Murphy.

At least the roster isn't cluttered with a 34-year-old fading corner outfielder. If the Twins aren't going to give at-bats to Buxton and Kepler, they should at least give them to Arcia and Rosario; they might amount to something.

More moves should be expected soon. The Twins have 14 pitchers active and just 11 position players. Monday's bench was Rosario and John Ryan Murphy. That's not a sustainable situation.

But ... they can't send down Tyler Duffey (bruised right shoulder) until he's cleared to pitch, and they don't want to put him on the DL. They don't want to put Ervin Santana on the DL either. And apparently they don't want to waive Michael Tonkin (out of options), even though he has a much better chance to clear waivers than Hicks did, and they are loathe to punish Ryan O'Rourke for his impressive outing Sunday by kicking him to Rochester. They have individual reasons not to make a move with any of those four, and an overall reason why they must with at least one of them.

The second round of cuts

Alex Meyer's spring
ERA was 5.79 in
four outings.

The Twins moved nine more players out of major league camp Friday.

Reassigned: catchers Mitch Garver and Stuart Turner; outfielder Joe Benson; righties Jose Berrios and Nick Burdi; and lefty Aaron Thompson.

Optioned: infielder Jorge Polanco, first baseman Kennys Vargas and righty Alex Meyer.

A few recognizable names there, including (depending on who's doing the rankings) at least three Top 10 prospects, but nobody who was particularly likely to make the opening day roster barring injury.

A reader who emails me far more often than I reply has complained to me that for all the talk of the hard throwing kids in the system, the Twins continue to value command over velocity in the bullpen. The demotions of Burdi and Meyer will probably reinforce that complaint. (His argument is overly selective; he doesn't count Trevor May as a hard-throwing reliever because he's only in the 'pen because of the glut of starters. But he is a hard thrower as a reliever, and the Twins do value that.)

I am curious about the chatter today about whether Meyer will start or relieve in Rochester. Paul Molitor sees Meyer as a reliever, but there are apparently voices in the organization that want him starting again. And that might be part of that Terry Ryan quote from Thursday about more starters than slots in Rochester.

My notion on this: Meyer may need to start for a while in order to get enough innings and repetitions get iron out his wonky mechanics. He has the stuff, but he has issues throwing quality strikes. He may need to start to get a chance to be effective in relief.

Here comes E. Santana, 80 games late

Alex Meyer had
two major league
outings and didn't
fare well (ERA
16.88).

Friday's loss, so illustrative of the flaws in the 2015 Twins, dropped their record to 42-38. That adds up to 80, so Ervin Santana's steroid suspension is now fully served.

The Twins shipped Alex Meyer back to Triple A to make room for Santana on the 25-man roster. They outrighted minor league veteran Doug Bernier to make room for Santana on the 40-man roster. (Bernier could have refused the designation and become a free agent, but probably figured that the demand for 35-year-old utility infielders with 83 major league at-bats would be light.)

How the Twins will make room for Santana in the rotation remains unknown. The demotion of Meyer suggests that the Twins will not demote one of the current starters (in order of rotation, Phil Hughes, Trevor May, Kyle Gibson, Tommy Milone and Mike Pelfrey). Which would make the options:

• Six-man rotation
• A trade
• Shifting one of the five to the bullpen

There appears little appetite among the decision makers for the six-man rotation, and I agree, in large part because at least two of the five rely on their two-seam fastballs (aka sinker) and, theoretically at least, such pitchers tend to do poorly on long rest.

A trade may well be the ultimate answer, especially if Ricky Nolasco's ankle ever shows sign of improvement, but I'll be surprised if that happens promptly.

Which would leave the bullpen shift option, Regular readers can probably guess that I regard Pelfrey as the logical choice to move. It's not going to be Hughes or Gibson; Milone, as a soft-tossing lefty, is a poor fit for a relief role; May, despite the worst actual ERA of the five, has the best FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) of the group.

Pelfrey had been slated for the bullpen at the end of spring training (despite his objections), until the Santana suspension was announced. His ERA in June was 5.35. with peripheral numbers that were just as ugly. And there remain observers, such as the Pioneer Press' Mike Berardino, who believe Pelfrey's stuff will play better in the bullpen. (Berardino has repeatedly compared Pelfrey to Wade Davis, the Royal's wipe-out eighth-inning arm.)

Pelfrey starts today. We'll see if there are more starts in his future. I hope not, at least with the Twins.

One of those days

Nothing much went right for the Twins on Friday.

Problem One: Byron Buxton went on the disabled list with a sprained thumb. The Twins put the timeline for his return at four to six weeks. Then he'll probably have a rehab stint in the minors. We're looking at mid-August for his return, is my guess.

With Aaron Hicks also on the disabled list, the Twins started Shane Robinson in center Friday against a right-handed pitcher, which is sub-optimal.

Danny Santana was recalled and warned by Paul Molitor that he might be pressed into center field duties, a la last season. Which gives me that "here we go again" feeling. But even if they slide Eddie Rosario into center (my preferred solution), that just means somebody else has to play left -- and if not Robinson, it's going to be an infielder.

So the outfield defense -- to my way of thinking the key improvement to this team -- is suddenly looking shakier.

Problem Two: Ricky Nolasco tested his troublesome ankle and his new orthotics with a bullpen session. That didn't go well.

Not that there's room for Nolasco in the rotation at the moment anyway, but the Twins would rather have their $49 million pitcher functioning.

Problem Three: Trevor May got one out Friday night against the lowly Brewers. One stinking out.

His ERA rose from 4.03 to 4.62.

One bad start is one bad start, and I still regard May as a better bet than at least two other members of the rotation. But two other facts remain: One, May has roster flexibility; Two, Ervin Santana has to be added to the 25-man roster after seven more games. This bad outing makes it all too easy for the Twins to take the easy route to open a slot for E. Santana.

Problem Four: Alex Meyer got lit up in his major league debut, allowing four runs in 1.2 innings. That's hardly pushing him up the bullpen totem pole.

OK, here's a silver lining: Brian Duensing had three shutout innings and Aaron Thompson one.

Signs of effectiveness from those lefties are welcome. But they don't make up for the bad news.

Alex Meyer, relief pitcher

Alex Meyer in his four-pitch outing in the Futures Game
last July at Target Field.

There I go again, assuming that the Twins will -- finally -- get back to the 12-man pitching staff they say they prefer.

I predicted Thursday morning that Danny Santana was about to return to the big club. Instead, the spot opened by the demotion of Michael Tonkin will be filled by Alex Meyer.

Which is quite alright with me. Meyer as a starter hasn't forced the Twins to bring him up even when he was going good, and this spring he was the opposite of good. The Twins moved him to the bullpen about a month ago with a bloated 7.08 ERA. Nine relief outings later, he's pared that ERA down almost two runs (5.11).

Terry Ryan insisted when the bullpen move was made that this was temporary, that the Twins still see Meyer as a starter. I opined at the time that it might be time to abandon that notion. Meyer is 25 and it's time for the Twins to start getting something out of the Denard Span trade.

Granted, the Twins didn't trade Span for a set-up guy, but right now they have at least eight starters who should rate ahead of Meyer -- the five currently in the rotation, Ervin Santana, Ricky Nolasco and Jose Berrios.

We shouldn't expect Meyer to be thrown immediately into high leverage situations, but if he maintains the command of his fastball-slider arsenal that he's displayed as a reliever in Triple A, that will come soon enough.

The Kansas City Royals the last few years have demonstrated that if the power arms in the bullpen are powerful enough, the LOOGY role -- Left-handed One Out GuY -- is basically irrelevant. Given the ineffectiveness of Brian Duensing and Aaron Thompson in recent weeks, it would benefit the Twins to get to the same point.

Contemplating Alex Meyer

Alex Meyer is a
long way from cracking
the Twins rotation.

I noted in Friday's post that the promotion of Tyler Duffey to Rochester meant somebody in the Red Wings rotation had to make way for him. That somebody was Alex Meyer, who has been struggling all year.

Meyer has a 7.09 ERA after eight starts. That ugly ERA isn't merely the highest of his minor league career, it's more than twice his previous worst ERA. His walk rate, always something of an issue, has ballooned to 5.5 walks per nine innings.

The big righty -- he's 6-foot-9, which is probably part of his issues with command and control -- is moving to the bullpen. Assistant general manager Rob Antony, traveling with the team while GM Terry Ryan watches the Fort Myers Miracle, told the writers Friday that this is intended to be a temporary move, but also conceded that it may not be temporary.

At this point, I'm inclined to think the bullpen is Meyer's ultimate destination. He's 25, he's not been able to get past 130 innings without encountering some sort of arm issue. and he's shown little aptitude for a change-up. As a starter, he needs a change to get through the lineup three times. As a bullpen guy, seeing nobody more than once a game, he can be a two-pitch pitcher: fast ball and slider. That's what Glen Perkins is. A simplified arsenal may be what Meyer needs.

The Twins traded Denard Span for Meyer because they were looking for a power starter. It doesn't appear to be happening for him. There's a better chance for a decent return on that investment as a relief pitcher.

From bad to worse

Ricky Nolasco throws a first-inning pitch Wednesday.
Photos like this remind me that the mystery isn't that
pitchers get hurt, it's that they don't get hurt more often.

I recently ran across this proposed addition to the Beatitudes: Blessed are they with low expectations, for they shall not be disappointed.

This has been a week to test the expectations of Twins fans (and players, and decision makers). The basis for the Twins' expectations this year -- and they seemed to have expectations, even if they were exclusive to the organization -- started this way:

• Ervin Santana deepens the starting rotation;
• Ricky Nolasco, Tommy Milone and Mike Pelfrey all had injury issues last season and should be better this year.

Well. A week ago today news broke that Santana had flunked a steroids test, and he's serving an 80-day suspension. Nolasco opened Wednesday's game throwing 14 straight fastballs and ended his all-too brief outing throwing almost nothing but junk. By Thursday he was on his way to Minneapolis to have his elbow examined.

Also on Thursday, Alex Meyer pitched the opener for the Twins Triple A affiliate, the Rochester (NY) Red Wings. He walked six in five innings, a pretty good indication that he still hasn't worked out his mechanics.

Keep your expectations low, fellow Twins fans.

The demotion of Alex Meyer

Alex Meyer listens to Triple A pitching coach
Marty Mason earlier in spring training.
Meyer's going to be hearing more from
Mason this season.

In reality, the odds of Alex Meyer making the Twins rotation out of training camp became very slim the moment Ervin Santana was signed. There were just too many big salaries lined up in front of Meyer, and the Twins never moved any of the veterans out of his way.

The Twins optioned him out Friday. It was inevitable. Trevor May will follow soon. Meanwhile Mike Pelfrey remains. Ugh.

To be sure, Meyer's outing Thursday illustrated why the Twins are reluctant to create an opportunity for him. He walked four and had catcher Josmil Pinto hopping around to corral pitches.

Still, Meyer is 25 now, and it's probably about time to see something out of him. I understand the rationale behind not considering him for the bullpen; if he's relieving, he'll not be using/developing a change-up.

But that's only an important consideration if he's destined to be a starter. The Twins are showing no urgency on that, not merely because they optioned him out on Friday but because they have stockpiled so many veteran starters to block him (and May, and Jose Berrios ...).

It's going to take some injuries to get the inexperienced pitchers a chance. I don't root for injuries. But this situation is testing that rule.

Mid season prospect rankings

Jose Berrios or J.O. Berrios: By either name,
his stock has risen this season.

I'm a few days late to this party, but Baseball America this week released its midseason Top 50 prospects list. (Keith Law of ESPN is to publish his list after the All-Star break, and I suppose there will be others.)

Even though Byron Buxton had played just five games this year at the time the list was drawn up, he remains the top guy on the list. Even though Miguel Sano hadn't played at all, he's still in the top 10.

And this should not be any surprise whatsoever. Baseball America doesn't include the guys on major league rosters for the midseason list; that takes out the likes of Xander Bogearts, Gregory Polanco and Oscar Traveras. They also skip the 2014 draft picks. Carlos Correa has a broken leg, so if you want to downgrade Buxton and Sano for injury, you have to downgrade Correa also. Basically, the prospects who could arguably be ranked ahead of Buxton are either already in the majors or themselves injured.

BA listed five Twins prospects, Buxton (No. 1), Sano (9), Jose (or J.O.) Berrios (27), Kohl Stewart (30) and Alex Meyer (32).

It's the order of the three right-handed pitchers that intrigues me. The wintertime lists typically had Meyer ahead of Stewart with Berrios trailing not only those two but, in some cases, Eddie Rosario and/or Josmil Pinto.

Berrios was outstanding in high A ball; now the 2012 supplemental round pick gets to test his skill against Double A hitters. Stewart is holding his own, or a bit better, in low A. Meyer has been up and down at Triple A, and I infer that he's slipped behind Berrios and Stewart on the continuing question of the quality of his command.

Ranking Meyer 32nd is hardly dissing him. He was raked No. 45 by BA over the winter, after all. I'm more inclined to view the reordered ranking of the three pitchers as a good sign regarding Berrios than as a red flag on Meyer.

(This might be a good place to note that the Star Tribune's LaVelle Neal tweeted Tuesday that Meyer appears unlikely to get any major league time this year. The Twins are being careful about his innings after he missed a couple months last year.)

Considering Alex Meyer

Alex Meyer throws a bullpen session in spring training.

On Wednesday, in my discussion of why the Twins bypassed a handful of real prospects in picking a rotation replacement for Sam Deduno, I mentioned the probable innings limitations on Alex Meyer as a reason the Twins top pitching prospect wasn't a likely callup.

Then there's this: Wednesday night Meyer threw 78 pitches in three innings.

In contrast, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers threw 107 pitches that same night in his 15-strikeout no-hitter.

Kershaw, of course, is a high standard to meet. But the Twins aren't going to call up Meyer to throw 26 pitches an inning.

They can get that from Deduno.

The future of the rotation

Phil Hughes collects himself Sunday before his first start
in Yankee Stadium as a member of a visiting team.

The Twins starters fared pretty well over the weekend in Yankee Stadium. Working it backwards:

• Sunday: Phil Hughes went eight innings, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks. 
• Saturday: Kevin Correia, my least favored of the starters, went six innings and allowed just one run. 
• Friday: Ricky Nolasco also had six innings of one-run ball.

Nolasco did walk four with just three strikeouts and allowed seven hits, 11 baserunners in 18 outs; Correia had nine hits and one walk, 10 baserunners. So the one-run outcomes seem a bit deceptive. They didn't pitch THAT well.

Still, three quality starts in the tater haven that is the newest rendition of Yankee Stadium isn't bad at all.

Meanwhile, a few noteworthy developments regarding Twins starters past and future in the minors:

Mike Pelfrey interrupted his rehab assignment to have his arm checked out, and what is described as minor nerve irritation was found. He is to have a second exam done by the noted Dr. James Andrews. So he's not close to returning, which is probably for the better. I'm in no hurry to see him pitch again.

Prospect Trevor May, pitching for Triple A Rochester, blew away Gwinnett (Atlanta) with seven shutout innings in his most recent start. He's now 5-3 with a 2.62 ERA and a batting average allowed under .200 for the Red Wings. He's also sporting his lowest walk rate since A ball.

May isn't the only Red Wings starter impressing. Kris Johnson, who came up to start the second game of a doubleheader, has a 1.83 ERA. Logan Darnell, who also had a brief call-up, has a 2.54 ERA with more strikeouts than innings. And Alex Meyer, generally regarded as the best pitching prospect in the organization, has a 3.31 ERA while fanning 10.8 hitters per nine innings. (He's also got a high walk rate).

May, Darnell and Johnson are on the 40-man roster, while Yohan Pino is not. Poor Pino, who has picked up a handful of starts, only has a 1.73 ERA.

The Red Wings have a team ERA of 3.14, and I can only imagine how low it would be without old friend Scott Diamond's 7.51. I don't see Diamond returning to Minneapolis anytime soon. A lot of guys ahead of him.

Here's the thing: One can make a case for bringing up any of the May-Meyer-Darnell-Johnson quartet for the Twins rotation. (I'm arbitrarily leaving Pino out on the basis that the other four are younger and better prospects for the future). But for whom?

Certainly not for Hughes, who has been superb. The Twins have too much invested in Nolasco to change course on him after two months. Kyle Gibson has been up and down, but the Twins really do need to give him a clean shot.

That leaves Correia and Sam Deduno. Correia is in the final year of the two-year contract he signed before 2013, and I think he's a possible piece of trade bait in July. Or even sooner if some teams with postseason ambitions start getting squeezed by injuries. (Or if the Twins can find somebody with a spare center fielder.)

Deduno ... well, his injury history suggests he's not likely to finish the year in the rotation. I'd say keep him in the rotation until he gets hurt.

The Twins will have rotation openings this summer. But they need not be in a hurry to create them.

A one-day pitching callup

Kris Johnson was acquired
from the Pirates for Duke
Welker, who was himself
acquired from the Pirates
in the Justin Morneau trade.

Another day, another rain out.

The bizarre decision by the schedule makers to send a southern California team for a one-shot series Minnesota in the month most likely to be disrupted by weather is apparently magnified by the fact that the Twins and Dodgers share just three mutual days off the rest of the way.

So there should be no doubt that the two teams really, really want to get these games in today and Thursday.

The Twins intend to call up Kris Johnson, left-handed pitcher, to start one of the Thursday games. Johnson would be the first lefty to start for the Twins this year.

Since I posted this piece almost a week ago about potential rotation replacements, two notable things have happened to the Triple A starters:

• Trevor May lost the strike zone in him most recent start and
• Alex Meyer appears to have found a VIP -- Very Important Pitch. Specifically, a change up.

Meyer apparently learned a different changeup grip from colleagues Yohan Pino and Deolis Guerra. He had been unable to master the circle change, a pitch beloved in the Twins organization; Pino and Guerra suggested that he try their three-fingered grip. The result: 22 strikeouts in his two most recent starts, a total of 12.1 innings, the last coming with assistant general manager Rob Antony in attendance.

Two starts are two starts, and normally nothing to get revved up about, but if Meyer really has a quality change now to go with his imposing fastball and slider, he's coming up soon. He's not on the 40-man roster yet (Johnson is, as are May and Logan Darnell), and the Twins will want to be sure he's got it before they lop somebody, but it will happen.

Andrew Albers and pitching depth

Andrew Albers had a sensational first two
starts with the Twins last year.

Terry Ryan acknowledged during Thursday night's Diamond Awards that Andrew Albers, who was the Twins' minor league pitcher of the year, won't be in the organization much longer. The lefty has a deal to pitch in South Korea, and the Twins will accommodate him.

As I said the other day, it's a good deal for Albers, who will get more money for one year in Korea than he has in his entire pro career so far. While Ryan doesn't sound enthused about losing the 28-year-old, Albers obviously isn't prominent in Minnesota's pitching plans. They're not losing that much.

Still, pitching is always in shorter supply than we think in January. There aren't a lot of achy elbows and sore shoulders right now. A month from now, when spring training bullpen sessions are under way, there will be.

Half of Baseball America's Top 10 Prospects for the Twins are pitchers: Alex Meyer, Kohl Stewart, J.O. Berrios, Lewis Thorpe, Trevor May. It's easy to look at such a list and say, That will someday be the Twins' rotation, and maybe it will. But the odds are against it.

One can pick that list apart too. Meyer missed a good chuck of 2013. Stewart is just 18 and a Type One diabetic who barely pitched in rookie ball. Berrios is a short righty without a lot of projection who has yet to pitch above High A ball. Thorpe is even younger than Stewart. May repeated the Eastern League last year and led the league in walks allowed.

These are the most promising hurlers in what may be the most loaded minor league system in the game, but none is a sure thing. "There's no such thing as a pitching prospect" is more cynical than I care to accept, but there's truth behind it.

Which is why, even though Albers doesn't offer much upside, and even though the Twins appear to have plenty of alternatives both for the major league and Triple A rotations, there is reason for them to be reluctant to let him go.

Arizona dreaming

Byron Buxton at the Futures Game.  The 19-year-old will
play in the Arizona Fall League this year.

Any news involving Byron Buxton gets my attention, and so the announcement Tuesday that he will be among the seven Twins farmhands playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League caught my attention.

The MLB.com piece on the league rosters leads with Buxton, the consensus top prospect in the game. It also deems the AFL to be at a level between Double A and Triple A.

If so, that means Buxton, currently ripping it up in high A ball, is again being challenged -- which figures. He should be on the fast track.

But if he's being challenged with this assignment, what about Max Kepler, who missed the first half of the season with injury and has been somewhat less than dominant in low A? He too is going to the AFL. He's a good prospect, and he has some time to make up, but this is much faster company than he's used to.

It's interesting, too, that Kepler is listed on the roster as an infielder. In his case, that means first base. It hardly precludes some outfield time, but it makes me suspect (especially since the Desert Dogs manager will be Jeff Smith, the manager of the Twins Double-A affiliate) that the Twins want Kepler to focus on first base. (It may also be that there remains some concern about his elbow.)

Trevor May has
averaged more than
a strikeout an inning
this year in Double A.

Also on the roster: Eddie Rosario. Latin players aren't often assigned to the AFL; they more often play winter ball in their homeland (as will be the case with Miguel Sano in the Dominican). Rosario starred last winter in the Puerto Rican winter league. But he was also playing mostly outfield, and the Twins have had him playing second base. It may be that this assignment is rooted in the master plan of Rosario at the keystone.

Then there's the pitchers. The AFL teams are formed out of five different organizations, and typically each team sends one starting pitcher. The Twins are sending two starters: Alex Meyer, who missed much of the summer with a shoulder strain, and Trevor May. Meyer has innings to make up, so sending him is no surprise; May, on the other hand, is on his way to a 150-inning season. They are two of the organization's more prominent pitching prospects, and they're at an advanced level. The Twins would dearly love to see one of them emerge for next year's rotation.

Buxton, Meyer, Rosario, May and Kepler were all generally rated among the organization's top 10 prospects coming into 2013.

The Twins are also sending a pair of relievers, Zach Jones and A.J. Achter, each of whom have had strong seasons. (Achter has split the 2013 season between Double A and Triple A; Jones has been in high A.) As relievers, neither is ever likely to be prominent on prospect lists, but they are legit major-league possibilities.

Minor (league) stuff

Byron Buxton, the consensus top prospect in the minors.

The games resume today! The games resume today!

But before that:

Prospect rankings: A couple of notable prospect watchers delivered their revised mid-season top prospects lists Thursday.

Keith Law of ESPN put Bryon Buxton No.1 and Miguel Sano No. 4. Law also ranked new first-round pick Kohl Stewart No. 30, Alex Meyer 38 and Eddie Rosario 41. Law's midseason list goes to 50, so the Twins represent 10 percent of it.

Law, unlike Baseball America (whose midseason list I discussed here), included new draftees in this ranking. Stewart has barely pitched in pro ball (three games and eight innings in the GCL), so ranking him ahead of Meyer seems a bit aggressive, but we know he's talented.

John Sickels' list goes to 75, and, like Baseball America, doesn't include the 2013 draft class. He puts Buxton No. 1 and Sano No. 3 (mirroring BA's ranking to that extent at least). He has Meyer at 51 and Rosario at 56.

Tonkin back in minors: A week ago I speculated on ways the Twins could make room for relief prospect Michael Tonkin. They didn't bother; when Caleb Thielbar came off the bereavement list, Tonkin was returned to Rochester.

He'll be back. I understand the reluctance to (potentially) prematurely drop one of the current pitchers; I'm also quite certain that Tonkin is going to be a significant bullpen arm in the near future, and I suspect he'd be an immediate improvement over Josh Roenicke.

Minors stuff

Alex Meyer made
Baseball America's
midseason Top 50
prospects list.

Baseball America on Monday released its midseason re-ranking of its top 50 prospects. This July's list has Byron Buxton at No. 1 and Miguel Sano at No. 3. A third Twins prospect, Alex Meyer, is No. 32.

In its Top 100 list of February, BA had Sano at No. 9, Buxton 10 and Meyer at 59. Three others in its Top 100 — Oswaldo Arcia (41), Kyle Gibson (68) and Aaron Hicks (72) have graduated to the majors, and Arcia and Hicks have both had enough playing time in the bigs that they will never be on a BA prospects list again.

Buxton and Sano have clearly moved up some because others ranked ahead of them have graduated to the majors — and also because they've established that they have greater skills than they had coming into 2013. There is no longer any serious doubt that Sano is going to play third base in the major leagues (whether he'll spend his career at the hot corner is another matter), and Buxton has demonstrated a more mature hitting approach than scouts anticipated.

Meyer's rise on the chart comes as a greater surprise. His stats in Double A are certainly not horrible, but they aren't dominating, and he's been out of action for about a month now. (He's supposed to return to pitching in games in August.) I don't think he's really hurt his prospect status, but I don't see how he should be 27 spots higher. He was likely to make the Top 50 simply by attrition, however, so my argument is more a matter of placement.

I would have thought Eddie Rosario — who, granted, didn't make the preseason Top 100 and thus had a ways to rise to make the midseason 50 — would have been a more likely Top 50 candidate. As with Sano, Rosario has largely answered the questions about his ability to handle second base defensively. And he has continued to hit.

P.J. Walters opted
not to declare
free agency.

----

P.J. Walters, designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and opted to remain in the Twins organization.

It's the second time in less than a year that every other team passed on the opportunity to add Walters to their major league roster, and the second time that he decided that if he's going to be Triple A fodder, it may as well be in the Twins organization.

Which may be the right decision for him. But if/when the Twins dip back into their farm system for a starter, Walters isn't likely to be the man they pull up. Vance Worley and Andrew Albers, to name two, are probably ahead of him right now.