Notes, quotes and comment

Nick Burdi caught
eyes with his
velocity this spring.

Nick Burdi, much-anticipated relief prospect for the Twins who made it deeper into major league camp than anticipated, will open the year on the disabled list with tightness in his forearm.

This may or may not be the precursor to a more significant injury. But I can't help but remember that early in camp he was reported to be working on a split-finger fastball, and I was dubious of that idea in part because of the injury risk.

I don't know if he continued to pursue the pitch; if I recall correctly, Terry Ryan said at the time that it was up to Burdi. Even if he was still working on it, connecting the pitch to this forearm issue is at best imprecise. Pitchers get hurt.

---

While watching the Twins beat the Red Sox in Thursday's Fort Myers finale, I tweeted this:

Understand why Twins kept Arcia, but I prefer Mastroianni more as a bench piece. Does more things will than Arcia.

— Edward Thoma (@bboutsider) March 31, 2016

Other than misspelling "well" as "will", I stand by that thought. Oswaldo Arcia has the advantage in power. Darin Mastroianni does everything else better. I don't know where Arcia's going to get his at-bats, and if he's not getting at-bats, he's no help.

Last year Shane Robinson, who is kinda sorta the same player as Mastroianni, played in 83 games with almost 200 plate appearances for the Twins. Now, that was a team with a 40-year-old right fielder who needed plenty of days off, and this year's roster doesn't have that kind of issue. But it does have an outfielder who has minimal experience in the outer garden (Miguel Sano), and another who was once hit in the head by a fly ball in a major league game (Arcia).

Robinson, incidentally, was released by Cleveland this week, where he was a non-roster invitee, and on Thursday signed with the Angels.

---

In other ex-Twin NRI news:

• Brian Duensing, non-roster invitee with the Kansas City Royals, was released this week.
• Anthony Swarzak, non-roster invitee with the New York Yankees, was reassigned to minor league camp.
• Blaine Boyer, non-roster invitee with the Milwaukee Brewers, made the major league roster.

Figures from bullpens past

The sour news Thursday morning for former Twins closer Joe Nathan -- a second round of Tommy John surgery -- made me realize that as difficult as this year has been for the current Twins bullpen, it's been rougher for a lot of former Twins relievers.

A quick accounting:

Nathan has faced one batter, Torii Hunter in the season opener. He struck Hunter out on a disputed call, then went on the disabled. list. On Wednesday Nathan was to throw 30 pitches on a rehab assignment. He got through 10 and walked off the mound holding his elbow. The diagnosis the next day: tears of his ulnar collateral ligament and flexor pronator. He vows to return, but ... this will be his second ligament replacement, and the track record on repeat TJ surgeries is not good. Plus, face it, he's 40.
LaTroy Hawkins is even older (42), and had said this would be his final season. He opened as the closer for Colorado, but was stripped of the job last week. On Thursday he went on the disabled list.

Jose Mijares was released in spring training by Cincinnati. He was released the previous spring by Boston and hasn't pitched in the majors since 2013. And after he was cut by the Reds, he got hit with a 50-game suspension for a "drug of abuse." Mijares is only 30, he's left-handed, and he has a career ERA of 3.23 and a lifetime BA allowed to left-handers of .223, but he's wearing out his welcome very quickly.

Jesse Crain left the Twins after 2010, signed with the White Sox, had a big year by throwing his slider far more often, made the All-Star team in 2013 -- and got hurt before the game was played. He's since bounced from the White Sox to Tampa Bay to Houston and back to the White Sox, where he's in extended spring training.

Matt Capps was in spring training with the Braves, was released, then re-signed by the Braves. If he's still in their organization, he isn't pitching. He has just 12 professional innings in the past  two years. He's only 31, but it's not looking good.

Jared Burton, let go by the Twins, signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees, who released him during spring training, then re-signed him to another minor-league deal. This avoided paying him a retention bonus (which may have been part of the Braves' maneuvering with Capps as well). Still, we're several weeks into the season and Burton hasn't appeared in a game, majors or minors.

That's a full bullpen of former Twins mainstays who are now injured or just hanging on.

It's not all bleak for the ex-Twins. Anthony Swarzak landed with Cleveland; signed to a minor-legue contract after the Twins cut him loose, he made the major league team without benefit of an opt-out clause. But he's been the exception.

Contemplating Anthony Swarzak

Anthony Swarzak was a second-round draft pick in 2004,
the same draft in which the Twins picked Glen Perkins and
Trevor Plouffe.

The Twins jettisoned Anthony Swarzak back in November rather than offer him arbitration. On Thursday the Cleveland Indians announced that they had signed the right-hander to a minor league contract with the usual invitation to spring training.

When Swarzak went unclaimed in November, it signaled that no other major league team thought him worth his likely arbitration figure. Since he would presumably have taken a major league contract, the Cleveland deal tells us that no organization thought him worth a 40-man roster spot at any figure.

There are, of course, complications. For example, Swarzak is out of options, so a team that signed him to a major league deal would have difficulty sending him down. That's not an issue on this minor-league contract. A fringe player who has roster flexibility is more valuable than one without.

The Indians twitter account promoed the signing and highlighter Swarzak's strong suit:

Former @Twins RHP Anthony Swarzak invited to Major League camp today. 2nd in MLB in relief innings since 2012 (237.1IP).
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) January 15, 2015

Yes, Swarzak worked a lot of relief innings for the Twins the past three seasons. (I'm surprised there's somebody with more, frankly). They were generally low-leverage innings, and whenever the Twins tried to elevate his role, he was ineffective.

I suspect the Indians expect to have Swarzak in their bullpen this spring. I don't thinl he's going to make much difference.

A "no" from Korea

During the night came word from South Korea that the Kia Tigers had rejected the posting bid for Hyeon-jong Yang.

While it's unclear if the high bid came from the Texas Rangers or the Minnesota Twins, the Korean team deemed it too low, and now the left-handed pitcher can't be posted again until next winter.

I said earlier this week I'd get interested in this one a bit further in the process. That process is dead. Nothing to see here.

I wondered if the decision to outright Anthony Swarzak on Tuesday came to make room for Yang and decided the two were not connected. Even if the Tigers had accepted the bid and it was from the Twins, the Twins would still have to sign the pitcher. There wasn't any immediate need to open the spot. It's more likely that the Twins made an early offer to Swarzak well under his likely arbitration figure, were rejected and decided to drop him.

Goodbye, Swarzak

Anthony Swarzak
has a career ERA
of 4.48.

The Twins on Tuesday outrighted Anthony Swarzak to Triple A. That move took him off the 40-man roster and gave the former second-round draft pick the right to declare free agency, which he is expected to do.

It was time for the Twins to move on. Swarzak has averaged more than 90 innings of work in each of the past four seasons, and he's been unable to establish himself in any sort of truly useful role.

In what Baseball Reference defines as "high leverage" situations over his career, Swarzak has allowed a batting average of .308 and an OPS (On-base Plus Slugging) of .823. In "low leverage" situations, those numbers improve to .262 and .724.

Yes, Swarzak ate up a lot of innings in long relief. But they were innings that didn't matter in terms of winning games, innings that he worked because the starter failed. Good teams -- the kind of team the Twins want to be -- don't need 90-plus innings of mop-up work. And Swarzak never worked his way out of that role. Given a chance to start, given a chance to pitch in game situations, he almost always faltered.

And now, going into his second year of arbitration eligibility, he figured to get a salary around $1.4 million if retained. That's way too rich for a mop-up guy. They can fill that role with somebody cheaper.

The Twins now have 39 players on the 40-man roster. The open slot might be used in the Rule 5 draft in a couple of weeks. Or it might be filled with a free agent signing.

---

The Twins also on Tuesday officially announced the hirings of Neil Allen, pitching coach, and Eddie Guardado, bullpen coach, moves already widely reported. They also announced that Joe Vavra will be retained from the Ron Gardenhire staff; he'll be the bench coach.

This was not anticipated at all. I had expected that the bench coach would be a elderly ex-manager assigned to whisper strategic advice into Paul Molitor's ear. Or, alternatively, a young, analytics-savvy up-and-comer. Vavra doesn't fit either stereotype.

Adding to the bafflement was that Vavra's duties will apparently include catching instruction. Vavra's playing background was as a middle infielder. He certainly hasn't the catching pedigree of Terry Steinbach (who will not be retained). And if Steinbach couldn't smooth out Josmil Pinto's defensive flaws, I doubt Vavra can.

There remains one coaching job to fill, first base coach/outfield instructor.

The annual Anthony Swarzak nonsense

Anthony Swarzak would rather be a starter,
but the numbers are against him.

It has become a late-September tradition:

• The Twins rotation is a mess;
• Anthony Swarzak talks himself up as a rotation option;
• Terry Ryan says Swarzak should prepare himself over the winter to start and will be considered for the rotation in the spring.

And a following tradition in March is that Swarzak doesn't really get a shot at starting.

We're going though this pattern again, kinda-sorta. The Twins rotation has been awful beyond Phil Hughes, so that part is in place.

Swarzak has, apparently, never been shy about wanting to start, and who can blame him? Ricky Nolasco is getting about $11 million a year more than Swarzak, and they have, at the moment, identical career ERAs (4.47). Starting is a lot more lucrative than long relief.

Swarzak has gotten a couple of September starts this year (thanks in large part to Tommy Milone's neck and the decision to shut down Alex Meyer rather than give him as September call up). Neither went all that well. He went 4.1 innings in both starts and gave up a total of nine earned runs.

Even with a successful emergency start in July, Swarzak's starter-reliever splits this year resemble his career splits. His ERA in his three 2014 starts is 6.59; his ERA in relief, 4.10. For his career (31 starts), Swarzak's starter ERA is 5.86, bullpen ERA 3.66.

I heard Ryan talk on the radio before Sunday's game about that day being a potentially big start for Swarzak and his hopes of emerging as a rotation option. So that implies that Ryan's still open to the possibility.

I just can't see it. Not only is Swarzak's track record evidence that he ought not be a starter, the roster numbers at the moment are against him.

We've been over this before, but it bears repeating:The Twins head into the offseason with Hughes, Nolasco, Kyle Gibson, Tommy Milone and Mike Pelfrey as presumptive starters. Hughes, Nolasco and Pelfrey will be paid a combined $25 million-plus, Milone (despite his lousy record since coming to the Twins) has a solid track record and the Twins still have hopes for Gibson. Plus there's Meyer and Trevor May knocking at the door and Jose Berrios trotting up the sidewalk to join them.

That's eight guys, at least, who are going to get priority over Swarzak as starters. Ryan is likely to try to clear some of the incumbents this winter, but that won't be easy. Even if he moves one or two of the veterans, Meyer and May should be at the head of the line.

A night at Target Field

Jordan Schafer turned the wrong way
on this first-inning double over his head
Monday night. 

Monday night's game provided a strong reminder of one of my favorite precepts about baseball: The easiest way to improve the pitching is to improve the outfield defense.

Anthony Swarzak, making a spot start, wasn't really as bad as his line -- 11 hits in 4.1 innings -- indicates. My scoresheet was dotted with notations of outfield plays unmade and resulting runs .

Jordan Schafer, playing centerfield, got turned around on a ball hit by Victor Martinez in the first inning. If Schafer makes the play the Tigers get nothing; in reality, V-Mart's double scored one run and set up his own on J.D. Martinez' subsequent hit.

The latter Martinez opened the three-run fourth inning with a double that Oswaldo Arcia misjudged in right field. That could, should, have been caught.

I didn't mark any poor plays by left fielder Chris Parmelee, but Dan Gladden suggested on the postgame show that there was a play (or more) that the first-base transplant should have made. Presumably Gladden was talking about Bryan Holaday's RBI double in the fourth and/or Victor Martinez' double in the fifth.

I will give Parmelee credit for a good throw to the plate to cut down V-Mart to end that fifth inning. Martinez isn't fast by any means, but Parmelee had to make an accurate throw to get him on Holaday's fly ball, and he made the play.

Other notes from what I expect will be my final in-person game of 2014:

* Danny Santana started at shortstop, as he did in my previous trip to Target Field 10 days earlier. On Sept. 5 he missed on what I thought was a double play opportunity; on Sept. 15 he had a similar chance (second inning off the bat of Ian Kinsler) and started the twin killing. He also had a well-turned pivot on a flashy DP started by Brian Dozier's diving play and flip with glove hand; that flip was a little behind Santana, but he handled the exchange fluidly.

I've been, and remain, skeptical of Santana's ability to handle shortstop, but those were nicely done plays.

* Swarzak, as implied by the previous paragraph, was helped by his infielders, perhaps as much as he was hurt by his outfielders. Give him credit for this: He threw strikes -- 14 first-pitch strikes to his 23 hitters faced, 47 strikes in 70 pitches, just one walk and that intentional.

* A.J. Achter, on the other hand, got through his 2.1 innings without being charged with a run, but threw almost as many balls (17) as strikes (19). He walked home one of Swarzak's inherited runners, a run set up by the intentional walk to J.D. Martinez.. Achter and Ryan Pressly kept the Tigers off the board in the sixth-through-eighth innings, but it wasn't pretty, at least on Achter's part.

* Miguel Cabrera is a beast. The man's leg is clearly killing him, but he had three hits for seven total bases and three runs scored. The way he stared out at the outfield after his first-inning double off the limestone overhang suggested that he couldn't believe that didn't get out of the park.

Anthony Swarzak, low-leverage ace

Anthony Swarzak pitches in the 10th inning Wednesday.
He surrendered the game-winning homer to Seth Smith
and took his first loss of the year.

(Note: Stats updated)

Anthony Swarzak got the call for the 10th inning of a tied game Wednesday afternoon. He gave up a home run, and the Twins lost.

It fits a multi-year pattern for Swarzak. Bring him into a game that's been decided, and he pitches well. Use him in a winnable game, he fares ill.

That the 2004 second-round draft pick has fared better as a reliever than as a starter over the years is no secret. For his career, Swarzak has a 5.66 ERA in 29 starts, a 3.72 ERA in his 136 relief outings.

But Swarzak's problems in close, winnable relief outings is almost as strong. Baseball Reference splits relief outings into three categories: High Leverage, Medium Leverage and Low Leverage, based on win expectancy. For his career, Swarzak has allowed a slash line of .320/.368/.487 in high leverage situations, .282/.338/.429 in medium leverage situations, and .262/.309/.401 in low leverage situations.

Swarzak's splits for this year: .333/.467/.667 in high leverage, .349/.391./465 medium, .232/.269/.318 low. He has faced 31 batters in high leverage situations and walked six of them; he has faced 160 in low leverage situations and walked eight of them.

There are two alternative interpretations available. One is that this pattern is a fluke -- a multi-year fluke. It's possible. Even his career splits involve less than 230 batters in high leverage situations.

The other is that there is a legitimate difference in his abilities in tight situations. Perhaps the moment gets to him, the adrenaline rush is too much, and he grips the ball too tightly or something of that nature.

Swarazk's success in long relief and mop-up chores has prompted Ron Gardenhire to test him occasionally in set-up situations, and those have frequently gone awry. (For his career, Swarzak has seven holds, no saves and four blown saves, which means he's been brought into 11 "save situations" and coughed up the lead in four of them.)

Wednesday wasn't a save situation, but it was an important situation -- tied in extra innings is high leverage indeed. And, once again, Swarzak didn't get it done.

Notes, quotes and comments

Joe Mauer now has 21 hits this season, 15 of them with
two strikes on him.

Joe Mauer. What more to say? Consecutive four-for-five days for the Twins catcher, and a batting average on the young season of .386.

What a hitter.

---

Outfielders everywhere, and scarcely a center fielder in sight: Darin Mastroianni went from the starting lineup to the bench to the disabled list Tuesday. Oswaldo Arcia went from Monday's starting lineup back to Triple A back to the Twins.

Mastroianni played all nine innings Monday, so his disabled list stint will last at least two weeks. It's pretty rare that the Twins don't get to postdate a DL stint, so it must have been pretty obvious Tuesday that Mastroianni couldn't/shouldn't play. (This does follow two weeks-plus of very limited availablity, so it hardly indicates a more aggressive roster-management response to injuries.)

Now comes an interesting challenge for Ron Gardenhire. Mastroianni has a specific role on this team — speed, defense, right-handed reserve outfielder. Arcia has a different tool set. So does Wilkin Ramirez, the other bench outfielder.

There's little to be gained from parking Arcia on the bench, and there's no obvious spot in the lineup for him. 

Center field? Well, maybe, but I'd still be wary.

The Cuddyer Principle holds that you can put a (right-handed) major league player anywhere in the infield or outfield and it won't necessarily be immediately obvious that he doesn't belong there. We saw a bit of that Tuesday, when Eduardo Escobar was pressed into service as a left fielder and immediately made a nice play handling a ball off the wall in foul territory, holding the batter to a single.

So yeah, Gardy might try playing Arcia there a bit, but it's hardly optimal.

Meanwhile, Aaron Hicks seems to be having better at-bats, with three walks the past two days. Dick Bremer grumped that Hicks needs a three-for-four day, but at least the rookie isn't getting himself out.

---

Tangled in the outfield issues is the leadoff spot. Hicks had held that slot all season until Monday, when Mastroianni hit leadoff. After he was scratched Tuesday, Brian Dozier was moved to leadoff, and he promptly went two-for-four with a walk.

Dozier entered the game with worse numbers this young season than last — Tuesday raised his slash line to .189/.279/.243 — so he's hardly made a case that he belongs at the top of the order. Still, somebody has to hit leadoff, and one can hardly blame Gardenhire for looking for alternatives to Hicks for the job.

Meanwhile, Pedro Florimon sports an unlikely .484 on-base percentage. Nobody's THAT good, of course, and especially not Florimon. It's only 23 official at-bats. I'm not calling for him to move up to the leadoff slot.

Interesting, though, that people are taking Hicks' bad numbers so seriously and shrugging off Florimon's good ones. One significant difference, of course, is that Hicks has looked so overmatched from the moment the club came north. It hasn't been bad luck for him.

---

Another good long-relief job Tuesday from Anthony Swarzak, who probably came a Trevor Plouffe error short of a four-inning save. Certainly we've never seen Gardenhire give so many long outings to his relievers as he has in the first 13 games or so.

Starting to wonder when Bert Blyleven will start obsessing about Mike Pelfrey's dawdling pace the way he used to about Scott Baker's. Baker was a speed demon compared to Pelfrey.

Trimming the non-roster guys and other notes

Shairon Martis, who
is still playing in the
World Baseball Classic
for the Netherlands,
was one of seven
players reassigned
Sunday to minor
league camp.

The Twins bounced seven non-roster invitees from major league camp Sunday.

Only two of the seven — pitcher Deolis Guerra and first baseman Chris Colabello — ever had even dark horse status for making the 25-man roster, so Sunday's moves simply thinned the crowd from the clubhouse. The contenders for major league duty in April were essentially unaffected.

Guerra's chances of making the roster, unlikely to begin with, vanished when he was found to have a blood clot in his pitching shoulder. For a while he was in intensive care, a sign of how serious such a clot is. On Friday he had a rib removed to free up space for the artery involved, and he should be ready to pitch again sometime this summer.

As I said when the diagnosis was announced: It's a serious, even life-threatening, condition, if unchecked, and now that it's been caught, it's not career-threatening. That seems an odd juxtaposition, but it's nevertheless true.

Colabello's reassignment does narrow the field a bit for the bench hitter job. The primary candidates for that job — assuming it exists when the Opening Day roster is set — now in camp would appear to be first baseman/catcher Jeff Clement and outfielders Brandon Boggs and Wilkin Ramirez, all non-roster guys.

I'm not sure any of them are better fits for the pinch-hitting/backup DH role than Colabello, which leads me to suspect that the front office is going to be eying the waiver wire hard for a hitter these next two weeks.

---

Scott Diamond is to make his first game appearance of the spring today in a minor league game, and he is apparently on track for a mid-April return to the rotation — which, by implication, means he figures to open the year on the disabled list.

Ditto Anthony Swarzak, whose marginal candidacy for a rotation job cracked with his ribs a few weeks ago. Ron Gardenhire was quoted over the weekend as saying his long man had to be stretched out to five innings, and there isn't time for Swarzak to do that before the April 1 opener.

Five innings? That's a typical start for Sam Deduno or Kevin Correia. I doubt Gardy's ever used a reliever for five innings.

DLing Diamond and Swarzak does figure to postpone a couple of roster decisions. Swarzak is among a handful of use-or-lose guys in the bullpen field (along with Tim Wood, Ryan Pressly and Josh Roenicke) who would have to clear waivers to be kept in the minors.

Anthony Swarzak's injury

Anthony Swarzak's
batting average allowed
with the Twins behind:
.260. With the Twins
ahead: .329.

When the Twins announced Wednesday that Anthony Swarzak had cracked two ribs during "non-baseball activity" around the time of Twinsfest, I had a pretty good idea of what had happened. If he'd gotten hurt during a workout, or even snow shoveling, they'd have been more open about it. "Non-baseball activity" is code for "immature behavior."

And sure enough, it didn't take long for Terry Ryan to say that Swarzak had gotten hurt wrestling with teammates at a post-Twinsfest party.

Swarzak's not the first player to get hurt that way, and he won't be the last. It's the kind of thing that happens when the room contains more testosterone than brains.

The word Wednesday had Swarzak out for a month, which suggests that he'll be ready to resume throwing a week or so after exhibition games begin. That leaves time, certainly, for him to get ready for a bullpen gig, but probably takes him out of the running for a rotation slot.

I always viewed that idea as a long shot anyway. Swarzak has been much more effective the past two seasons in relief than as a starter -- and, moreover, more effective in long relief/mopup innings than in his opportunities to pitch late in close games. The Twins have needed starters, they've given him chances, and he hasn't done anything with them. The Twins have needed middle relievers/setup men, they've given him chances, and he hasn't done anything with those either.

Swarzak is an incumbent, but an incumbent for low-leverage innings on the worst staff in the league. He shouldn't be secure in his position. Getting hurt in this manner probably counts against him.

Eye on 2013: Anthony Swarzak

Anthony Swarzak was a second-round draft pick
|in the same year that the Twins drafted Trevor Plouffe,
Glen Perkins and Kyle Waldrop, all of whom went ahead of him.

The Twins needed somebody to make a fill-in start Tuesday in Sam Deduno's stead. I had expected Brian Duensing to get the ball, but he was used for a fairly extensive relief outing during the weekend, and Anthony Swarzak got the start.

Swarzak went five innings, giving up four runs. Which is pretty much in line with his career splits: 5.74 ERA in 27 career starts entering Tuesday's game, 4.03 ERA in 55 relief appearances.

The Twins still take Duesning seriously as a starting candidate, despite mounting evidence that he's a far more effective reliever. Even with Tuesday's spot start, I don't think they take Swarzak seriously as a starting candidate.

Nor should they. Duensing has two advantages over Swarzak. First, Duensing's left-handed. Second, he had some success in the rotation in 2009 and 2010.

I have often over the past few years invoked the memory of Matt Guerrier when discussing a certain type of bullpen candidate -- men with a starter's repertoire whose talent level was just a tad short of being a major league starter. Guerrier spent two seasons, 2005 and 2006, filling the long-man role in a well-stacked Minnesota bullpen, and stepped into higher leverage roles in 2007 as Jesse Crain got hurt and Juan Rincon lost his effectiveness.

One difference between Guerrier and Swarzak is that Swarzak has been used much more as a swingman -- 11 starts last season, five this year. My sense of it is that Swarzak would be well served if he were locked into the long relief job for a year or so. But that might well require a more stable starting rotation.

Swarzak, Pavano, Perdomo

Luis Perdomo will
be the 41st player
used by the Twins
this season.

The Twins front office used Thursday's offday not to make a significant trade, but to do a little roster shuffling.

Anthony Swarzak went on the disabled list with what is described as a mild rotator cuff strain. Luis Perdomo was brought up from Rochester to fill the bullpen spot. And Carl Pavano was moved to the 60day disabled list to make room on the 40-man roster for Perdomo.

Start with Pavano. He went on the 15-day DL in early June, and he hasn't yet gone on a rehab assignment, so the 60-day designation means nothing in terms of his return. It does mean that if and when he's ready to pitch in the majors, somebody else is leaving the 40-man roster.

I say if and when. I fully expect Pavano to return, if only because his contract is up and he'd be better off in his search for a new contract if he demonstrates down the stretch that his shoulder is sound. It wasn't at any point this season. It could be the difference between a guaranteed contract and a minor-league deal.

Swarzak's injury came as the Twins were testing him out in higher-leverage situations. His season has had one significant plus -- his strikeout rate is up from 4.9 K/9 to 6.0 -- and one significant minus -- he's allowed 11 homers in 69 innings this year, as opposed to 9 homers in 102 innings in 2011. His ERA is slightly higher, his WHIP almost identical.

His best work has come as a long reliever. The thinning of the bullpen over the past month -- Matt Capps on the DL, Brian Duensing in and out of the rotation -- prompted Ron Gardenhire to try Swarzak in a set-up role. It hasn't gone swimmingly; for what it's worth, opposing hitters are hitting .247 against Swarzak when one team or the other is up by more than four runs, .298 when the game is closer. 

Perdomo is a 28-year-old right-hander who was signed as a minor league free agent during the winter and was an early cut in spring training. He opened in Double A, pushed his way to Rochester with 43 strikeouts in 39.1 innings, then racked up a 0.92 ERA in 19.2 innings in Triple A (18 Ks and just two walks).

Despite the impressive BB/K ratio in Rochester, his history suggests that command is a problem. He has 61 major league innings on his resume (San Diego), in which he's walked 5.3 men per nine innings and fanned 8.3. 

Perdomo will be the 24th Twin to pitch this season, counting Drew Butera. 

Notes, quotes and comment

The Twins on Friday tweeted this photo of  Tom Kelly,
Jim Leyland and Tony LaRussa standing around
the batting cage talking golf. The three managers
account for six World Series titles among them. (The
fourth, No. 22, is Tigers coach Gene Lamont, himself a
former manager for eight years.)

Lots of baseball heavyweights at Target Field on Friday, and I'm not just talking about the rotund Prince Fielder.

Scott Boras, uberagent, was seen in Terry Ryan's suite with the Twins general manager; the assumption is that they were discussing the No. 2 pick in the draft. The new rules about bonuses installed by the labor deal have sharply decreased the importance of "advisors," but Boras is doubtless still a figure to be reckoned with.

Tony LaRussa put in an appearance. He's delivering World Series rings to players from last year's Cardinals team who aren't still with the Redbirds, and one such is P.J. Walters. Walters got into four games for St. Louis last year, and was long gone before the postseason, but his four innings (all in June) is enough to get a ring.

Walters isn't about to turn it down, of course, but I doubt he views it with as much pride as, let us say, Nick Punto does his. Punto was part of the team all year and played a lot (and well) during the postseason.

---

I mentioned the draft earlier. Baseball America's Jim Callis on Friday issued his second mock draft. He continues to have the Houston Astros taking Stanford RHP Mark Appel 1/1, with the Twins tabbing high school outfielder Bryon Buxton.

From Callis' subscription-only text:

As much as Minnesota needs pitching, it isn't expected to pass up the opportunity to take Buxton, who has the best all-around package of tools in the draft. If the Astros take Buxton, the Twins might take (San Francisco RHP Kyle) Zimmer over Appel or go with (Florida catcher Mike) Zunino and move Joe Mauer to another position.
Projected Pick: Byron Buxton.

The draft begins a week from Monday.

---

Anthony Swarzak, Friday's starter, worked despite flu-like symptoms, so his difficult outing might be forgiven. Francisco Liriano, on the other hand ... just not good.

It was being pointed out on Twitter that Swarzak's ERA as a starter this year is 8.34, as a reliever 3.06. We're only talking 18 innings or so in either catagory, but that's the kind of split that can get a guy pigeonholed.

Especially since he came into the game with a career ERA as a starter of 5.50 and as a reliever of 3.70.

I don't know of a specific reason he'd be better out of the bullpen, but the pattern is evident.

After Baker: Hendriks or Swarzak?

Jason Marquis was slated to pitch the third game
of the season. Then Liam Hendriks was. And when
game time arrived, it was Anthony Swarzak who got the ball.

A very minor silver lining to Scott Baker being out for the season: We won't have to listen this year to Bert Blyleven complaining that Baker doesn't pitch "down in the zone."

Would that we could. 

A healthy Baker -- not that he's had a healthy season since 2009 -- figured to be the best starter in the Minnesota rotation. He and Francisco Liriano were the only members of the projected rotation with an established strikeout rate above average, and Liriano is maddeningly inconsistent.

The assumption here in the wake of Baker's loss was that Liam Hendriks is in line for the rotation berth. He was, after all the man designated to fill in for Baker when the Twins thought it would be a relatively short-term opening.

Jason Marquis paid
for a steak and lobster
post-game spread
for his short-term
teammates in
New Britain this week.

But multiple reports Thursday had it as a competition between Hendriks and Anthony Swarzak, who stepped in for Hendriks in Baltimore when the Aussie went down with food poisoning.

Swarzak is to start today against Texas; Hendriks is scheduled to face the Rangers on Sunday. Jason Marquis is expected to return from his minor-league sojourn next week to reclaim one rotation spot, leaving one spot for the other two.

Had the rotation been sound coming out of spring training, Hendriks would certainly have been optioned out to Rochester. It may be that he — and in the long run, the Twins — would benefit if he were still in the minors. Hendriks has a higher ceiling than Swarzak, but I'm not sure that he would be immediately superior.

When Marquis is brought up, somebody has to lose his spot on the 25-man roster. If Swarzak wins the rotation spot, it's a pretty easy call — Hendriks goes down to Triple A, where he was expected to be anyway. If Hendriks is in the rotation, Swarzak goes to the bullpen, and displaces probably either Alex Burnett or Jeff Gray.

Burnett has an option left; Gray does not. That might be all the front office needs to know on this decision.

What will happen when Kyle Waldrop is ready ... well, that's a bridge to cross when they get there.

Seven years in the making

Kyle Waldrop is
likely to make his
major-league debut
in today's doubleheader.

Take this as a fresh lesson in how long it takes to judge a baseball amateur draft:

It wasn't that long ago that it appeared the Twins had utterly wasted their 2004 windfall of high-round draft picks. Today, it is possible that the 2012 team will have a regular middle infielder and about half of its bullpen as a result of that draft. Or maybe not.

The Twins had three first round selections that year. Trevor Plouffe — who, Sunday's brain fart notwithstanding, has been quite good in this third 2011 callup — was the first man the Twins selected that year, 20th overall. Glen Perkins came two picks later (22nd). Kyle Waldrop, who is being added to the major league roster today, was the 25th pick. (One of those picks came from the Cubs, who surrendered it for signing LaTroy Hawkins; another came from the Mariners, who had signed Eddie Guardado.)

Then their two "sandwich round" picks, again compensation for losing the Hawk and Everyday Eddie: Matt Fox and Jay Rainville. Fox pitched in one memorable game for the Twins and pitched this year in the Red Sox chain. Rainville is out of baseball.

The Twins picked up Anthony Swarzak in the second round.

It certainly could have had a more productive draft; Dustin Pedroia, for example, was drafted in the second round a few picks after Swarzak. It also could have been a lot worse; only 14 of the 30 players taken in the second round have even appeared in the majors to this point.

That draft hasn't helped the Twins a lot. I doubt they drafted Perkins, Waldrop, Fox, Rainville and Swarzak with the idea that they would wind up with a handful of middle relievers, but that appears their destiny.  They certainly drafted Plouffe with the idea that he'd become the starting shortstop, but he hasn't grabbed the job yet.

Perkins could inherit the closer's role. Perhaps Swarzak will emerge with a rotation berth. Maybe Plouffe will seize the shortstop's job after all. Waldrop has a chance to claim a bullpen spot.

Seven years out, and the Twins still have hope from that draft. Hope, but not a lot of accomplishment.

Late night: Twins 11, Angels 4

Michael Cuddyer hits his fifth career grand slam.

Game story here.

Box score here.

This game pivoted on a curious decision by Anaheim manager Mike Scoscia.

Fifth inning, score tied at four. Joel Pineiro had gotten Matt Tolbert out, but then gave up singles to Denard Span and Ben Revere, then walked Joe Mauer in a fairly obvious pitch-around. That brought up Michael Cuddyer.

Pineiro threw ball one well inside -- and Scoscia pulled him for left-hander Hisanori Takahashi.

A curious decision because Cuddyer mashes lefties and really doesn't do that much against righties. It's true for his career as a whole and even more emphatically so this season. And Cuddyer lived up to his platoon splits by hammering the first pitch from Takahashi for the grand slam.

It was the first of two homers for Cuddyer on the night (he hit his second off a right-hander). Delmon Young doubled his season output for homers with round trippers in consecutive at-bats. Jason Kubel also homered (off Takahashi, a rare dinger off a lefty for Kubel). Yes, the Twins hit five home runs in one game. This is roughly 7 percent of their season total.

Give credit, also, to Anthony Swarzak, who threw five innings of shutout ball in relief of Scott Baker. Swarzak gave up one hit and one walk. Just one strikeout, but he threw strikes and kept the game moving, which Baker couldn't accomplish.

Anthony Swarzak vs. Kevin Slowey vs. Glen Perkins

Kevin Slowey is
0-1. 3.26 in six
outings, all starts,
on his rehab
assignment.

There are, I'm  sure, sound medical reasons for the unhurried pace of Kevin Slowey's rehab from his abdominal strain.

But beyond the physiological is this: There is no current place for Slowey in the major league rotation, and there is apparent agreement between the pitcher and the organization that he does not fit in the bullpen.

So when his 20-day rehab assignment to Triple-A Rochester expires, the expectation is that Slowey will be optioned to the Red Wings, perhaps as preliminary to a trading-deadline deal. Or perhaps not; pretty much everybody expected the Twins to dump Glen Perkins during his 2009-10 exile, and no deal was ever done.

Perkins has obviously found a home in the bullpen. His fastball velocity is markedly higher than as a starter, and his somewhat limited repertoire plays better in brief outings.

Slowey's record as a major league starter is superior to Perkins. Perkins has 44 major league starts on his resume with an 18-12 record and 5.09 ERA; Slowey, in 82 starts, is 39-21, 4.42. But like Perkins, Slowey has a limited selection of pitches, has had difficulty going deep into games and has never made it through a full season in the rotation.

It wasn't outrageous for the Twins to decide that Slowey was the odd man out for their rotation this spring, but their spring training decision to make him a key component of their bullpen plans backfired. Perkins, whose very career appeared to be on the line this spring, earned his current role by getting outs in relief. For him, set-up work is a step up from where he was; for Slowey, it probably looked like a demotion.

In four major league starts this year,
Anthony Swarzak is 2-1, 2.84.

Then there's Anthony Swarzak, like Perkins a product of the 2004 draft, like Slowey a second-round draft pick. Swarzak's career also appeared to be going nowhere after last season, when he went 5-12, 6.21 for Rochester.

He went to winter ball, got sick, lost a lot of weight, decided to keep it off — which is a tough way to go about it. He pitched well in training camp but was demoted early, pitched well in Rochester (his strikeout rate jumped, his walk rate plummeted), got called up for a spot start late in April, didn't fare well, got another call up in mid May and has stuck.

He's had three more spot starts and the Twins have won all three. He hasn't been marvelous in his long relief role (he's had seven relief appearances and allowed runs in five of them; another way of looking at it is that his ERA has been lower after four of the seven outings, higher after three).

Swarzak has the bullpen role that Slowey ideally would have started with —  long relief, spot starter.  In a real sense, he benefited from lower expectations.

I'm still not completely sold on Swarzak. It's only 40 innings, but his strikeout rate (4.3 K/9) isn't good, and his BB/K ratio is roughly where it was in his first go-round in the majors in 2009. He has the job for now, but I'm not sure how secure his grip is. I remain convinced that Slowey is the better pitcher.

Contemplating Anthony Swarzak

Anthony Swarzak hurdles the foul line on his way to
the dugout after his seventh no-hit inning on May 28.

Anthony Swarzak has made two strong starts in place of Francisco Liriano, but with Liriano expected back for Tuesday's start, Swarzak is headed back to the bullpen.

Which is the right move. Yes, he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning a week ago today, and yes, his ERA is under 3.50. And so what? It's just 21 innings — 21 innings in which he has struck out just six men.

That's hardly enough to dislodge one of the incumbent starters. It shouldn't be enough to rank him ahead of Kevin Slowey either, although Slowey's status with the organization isn't very high.

I heard Ron Coomer on the radio the other day talking about how Swarzak has better "tilt" and "angle" on his pitches than in the past. Until Swarzak starts missing bats, I'm going to regard such talk as mere buzzwords, and I'm going to remain skeptical of him as a major league pitcher. (He was pitching better at Triple A this season than he has before in the high minors, with the best control and strikeout rates he's had since he was in A ball, so there may be some true improvement in him.)

Regardless of whether Swarzak is the team's sixth starter or seventh starter, shifting him back to the bullpen does give them a legitimate long man. And the Greg McMichael Rule — if you get outs, they'll find a role for you — always applies, never more so than with this troubled bullpen.

Bullpen candidate profile: Anthony Swarzak

Anthony Swarzak had a 3.28 ERA
in Triple A in 2009, but almost
doubled that last year.

Pitcher: Anthony Swarzak
Throws: Right
Age: 25
Roster status: 40-man roster, one option left (at most)
Chance of making team: Not going to happen

To be blunt about it, Anthony Swarzak isn't competing for a bullpen job this spring so much as he's competing to remain a "prospect." If/when the Twins need a spot on their 40-man roster, he's a prime candidate to get the ax.

Swarzak got 12 starts for the Twins in 2009. He went 3-7 with an ERA of 6.25, and none of his markers showed much promise. He got drilled, basically, because he deserved to get drilled. He walked people (20 walks in 59 innings), he gave up home runs (12), he didn't miss bats -- there was little there to hang any optimism on, and after a string of August starts in which he allowed 6,7, 5 and 6 runs, he was gone.

Last year in Triple A he was 5-12 with a 6.21 ERA. Nobody pitched well for the Red Wings in 2010, and the quality of the defense was part of it, but again, the leading indicator stats aren't good. A 5.1 K/9 rate in the minors translates to a lot of line drives there  -- and even more in the majors.

He's still on the 40 because he was a high pick (second round in 2004), the Twins are a patient organization and he hasn't run out of options. He pitched winter ball in Venezuela and lost 25 pounds (at least some of it to illness), so he knows that his current path is getting him nowhere. He's young enough still to make something of this.

Still: The Greg McMichael Rule holds that if you get outs, they'll find a job for you. Swarzak needs to establish that he can get outs in Triple A before the Twins are going to find a job for him in the majors.