Ex-Twins watch: Bullpen guys

When the Nationals decided that Brandon Kintzler was a snitch and had to be eradicated from their "dysfunctional" clubhouse (see my overly-long Tuesday post) , they traded the right-hander to a better situation. He's now with the Chicago Cubs.

Where, in his first six games, he has pitched four innings and walked five hitters.  OK, one was intentional and four innings is a small sample size, but still ... that's not good. It's also not the Brandon Kintzler we saw with the Twins. I think he's going to be fine.

The Cubs made room for Kintzler on their roster by demoting another former Twin, Randy Rosario. The young lefty has an ERA of 3.00, but he too has had trouble with the free pass, with 19 walks in 33 innings. One might want to rap the Cubs for demoting that ERA, but all those walks are a problem. He's also allowed five homes in those 33 innings, so the ERA is pretty much a mirage.

The Cubs picked up Rosario on a waiver claim during the winter, the Twins having decided that they didn't have room on their 40-man roster for him. Similarly, the Twins lost J.T. Chagrois on waivers to the Dodgers early in spring training.

Chagrois was been up and down with the Dodgers -- 37 K's in 30.1 innings and an ERA of 3.56. The Dodgers bullpen is a mess right now; closer Kenley Jansen is out after another bout of irregular heartbeat (this seems to come when he pitches in Colorado), and nothing is working out there for Dave Roberts.

The Dodgers lost Tuesday's game on a ninth-inning homer. It was their fourth straight game in which the bullpen gave up the winning run in the final inning, fifth straight game in which the bullpen took the loss. Chagrois has been part of that problem.

Notes, quotes and comment

Players across major league baseball wore the cap of
Stoneman Douglas High School for spring training openers
on Friday. This is Byron Buxton of the Twins.

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The Twins lost J.T. Chargois on waivers to the Los Angeles Dodgers. So the hard-throwing but oft-injured reliever almost made it through waivers. And good luck to him.

He has a high ceiling. But he's also essentially missed three of the past five seasons, so there is obvious risk to him.

One thing is certain: The Twins have exposed a number of hard-throwing relief prospects to waivers and Rule 5 since last season, and a number of them have been snatched up: Randy Rosario, Nick Burdi, now Chargois. That didn't used to happen.

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The Twins on Friday signed Erick Aybar, once an All-Star caliber shortstop, to a minor league deal. Aybar's bounced around the past couple seasons -- Atlanta, Detroit, San Diego -- and hasn't hit at a league average level since 2014.

The Twins have Jorge Polanco at short with Eduardo Escobar and Ehire Adrianaza behind him, so I don't really see the purpose of adding Aybar, even with Miguel Sano's uncertain status. Even if Sano is out, there is no way Aybar should play third ahead of Escobar.

Aybar's 34 now, which startles me. I remember seeing him play in Cedar Rapids for the Kernels (back when CR was an Angels affiliate) and being impressed. That game involved Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks (who had just been drafted 1-1 by the Brewers) and Tony Gwynn Jr. for Beloit (then a Brewers affilate), plus Aybar and Alberto Callaspo in the middle infield for Cedar Rapids. A pretty stout assemblage of talent for low A ball.

That was 2003. Seems fresher in my memory than that.

Opening a roster spot for ....?

An interesting development Thursday in Twinsdom:

#mntwins have placed RHP J.T. Chargois on waivers, per person with direct knowledge,  in apparent attempt to outright him and clear a 40-man spot. Chargois, 27, made 2 ROC outings in 2017 due to stress reaction on outside of his throwing elbow.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) February 22, 2018

Chargois has had a series of physical problems since turning pro, and even when he was drafted there were concerns that his delivery made him particularly injury prone. I wouldn't be surprised if his early bullpens in Fort Myers left the Twins unimpressed. When sound, he throws upper 90s, perhaps even in triple digits. If he's down to, say, 93, that's not a good sign. 

But generally teams don't look to open a roster spot until they need a roster spot. Putting Chargois on waivers suggests that there's a signing in the works. 

A bad sign for the bullpen.

J.T. Chargois had
a 8.64 ERA in 8.2
innings this spring.

 

The Twins optioned out J.T. Chargois Friday, deleting from the roster -- at least for the beginning of the season -- the bullpen arm with the most upside.

Later Friday Michael Tonkin, who may be the beneficiary of Chargois' rough spring, fed his gopher again. Dick-n-Bert, broadcasting the game from Fort Myers, preferred to dwell on Tonkin's K-rate last season, and certainly there's nothing wrong with 80 strikeouts in 71 innings. There is with 13 homers in that same span.

I opined in an earlier post that if the Twins demote Chargois to avoid putting Tonkin on waivers, they were making a mistake. That opinion still stands.

But it may well be that Alex Wimmers -- removed at the start of the offseason from the 40-man roster and thus a non-roster invitee -- is ahead of Tonkin. He pitched before Tonkin did Friday. I may be even less enthused about Wimmers than I am Tonkin.

The Twins seem, again, headed in the direction of a bullpen of mediocre stuff. Bullpens are always a work in progress, and I can't claim that Chargois has pitched well this spring, but this is a bad sign.

Contemplating J.T. Chargois

J.T. Chargois was
a college teammate
of Tyler Duffey.

Another short start, another night of bullpen abuse, another roster move to shore up a depleted pitching staff.

Kyle Gibson made it through just five innings Friday. Pat Dean, recalled after the Thursday doubleheader disaster, threw three innings of relief. Dean's outing followed a scoreless inning from J.T. Chargois.

The handling of Chargois the past two days is ... interesting is too bland a description. Infuriating might be a bit strong, but closer to the truth. Potentially counterproductive, that's my critique.

Chargois threw 25 pitches in the first game Thursday, providing 2.2 innings of scoreless relief. He came back for another scoreless inning, just nine pitches, the next day.

To be sure, Paul Molitor was -- and still is -- dealing with a crisis. He got a total of 10 innings from three starters in two days, and somebody had to soak up the innings. Andrew Albers threw six innings in one game Thursday and got DFA'd Friday in return.

Chargois, a prime short relief prospect who has been used gingerly this season -- he didn't pitch at all in 2013-14 -- is not ideal for multi-inning appearances or for back-to-back outings. His managers in both Double A and Triple A avoided doing either, and concern about the possibility of overusing him was supposedly part of why his first big league callup lasted just one appearance. (So was the fact that he got crushed in that outing, giving up five runs in two-thirds of an inning.)

Again, somebody had to pitch, and Chargois was on the roster. But if he gets hurt in these mop-up roles, that would be expensive collateral damage.

Notes, quotes and comment

Scratch the notion of a September return for Phil Hughes. The veteran right-hander will have thoracic outlet syndrome surgery next week.

From the Pioneer Press' Mike Berardino:

Former Twins pitchers Deolis Guerra and Hector Carrasco also underwent the procedure, which involves the partial removal of a rib to relieve nerve and circulation issues in the throwing shoulder area.

The hope -- expectation? -- is that this will solve Hughes' shoulder fatigue issues. He was already out with a leg fracture, but now he won't be back until spring training 2017.

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Also from Berardino: Max Kepler got a fairly high-level rebuke last weekend from Reggie Jackson, who watched the rookie take aim at the right field seats during batting practice in Yankee Stadium and told him: "I'm 70 years old and I can do that. Let me see you go the other way."

I'll bet Kepler hears that from Tom Brunansky and Rudy Hernandez a lot. Hearing it from a 500-homer Hall of Famer apparently had some influence on the German.

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Only one Twins prospect named to the Futures Game rosters Tuesday, J.T. Chargois. I'm mildly surprised at one; there are a handful of others I would have thought worthy, such as Tyler Jay or Stephen Gonsalves.

Nobody gets more than two on the initial rosters, and there are a few teams that only get one. It's possible that the Twins declined to send one of the lower level prospects across the country to San Diego.

Notes from the weekend

Max Kepler is greeted at home plate Sunday afternoon as
he brings home his game-winning home run.

Pretty sweet moment Sunday for Max Kepler, the Berlin Basher, who hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th for a rare Twins win in which they never trailed. It was the first career homer for Kepler,.

Kepler has been playing right field on a regular basis this month with Miguel Sano sidelined, and one would be hard pressed to claim that he's taken the job and run with it. His 1-for-5 Sunday leaves him 8-for-36 in June, a .222 average, and he's struck out 12 times. He's also had four hits in his three most recent starts.

It may be some time before Sano is deemed ready to return from his hamstring injury, and presumably Kepler will remain a lineup fixture until then. What will happen when Sano is back, I haven't the slightest. I think the highest-ceiling outfield the Twins can assemble would be Kepler in left, Byron Buxton in center and Sano in right, but that leaves no place for Robbie Grossman, and he is playing, overall, better than any of that trio.

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J.T. Chargois came up, made one awful appearance, and got shipped back to Rochester. The Twins claimed Neil Ramirez off waivers from Milwaukee to take his place on the 25-man roster.

In theory, I dislike this move. Chargois is more talented, and he's not that much younger. Milwaukee is the second club to dump Ramirez this season, and that should be a red flag.

But theory has to give way to reality, and reality is that

• the Twins are reluctant to use Chargois two days in a row and
• they have trouble getting five or six innings from their starters.

If the bullpen has to pick up four or five innings every game, they can't afford to carry an arm that's only available for one inning every two or three games.

To make room for Ramirez on the 40, the Twins moved Phil Hughes to the 60-day disabled list. Hughes suffered a "compression fracture" when he was hit by a line drive in the leg the other day. Michael Tonkin also got drilled by a comebacker; it's been a bad week in that regard.

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Wrapping up the draft: The Twins made 42 picks over the three days. On Day One they selected four high-school hitters; after that they went heavy on collegians. Thirty-one of their 42 picks are college guys, including 24 of the 30 Saturday selections.

By the numbers: 17 pitchers, 10 outfielders, eight infielders. seven catchers. We knew the Twins regarded their catching depth as suspect, and they certainly went for backstops early (second round), often and late (40th round).

One of the Twins' first day selections was compensation for failing to sign 2015 second-rounder Kyle Cody of the University of Kentucky. Cody fell to the sixth round this year (Texas Rangers), and the big righty will have a substantially smaller signing bonus as a result.

The Twins may well have wound up with the better prospect in Akil Baddoo, a high school outfielder. Still, punting a high pick like that isn't a good strategy.

Notes, quotes and comment (draft day 2)

The Twins opened the second day of the draft by taking Griffin Jax, a right-handed pitcher from the Air Force Academy, with the 93rd overall pick (third round).

Deron Johnson is here: "We loaded up on bats yesterday. Jax is very interesting kid. Really good makeup. Reminds me of Radke. Up to 95."

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) June 10, 2016

Deron Johnson is the Twins scouting director, which means he's the guy making the call in the rapid-fire rounds of the draft's second and third days. 

Obviously the Twins like Jax, who apparently draws the Brad Radke comp mentioned above by having a good change up. I have no basis to judge the talent, but I don't particularly care for pursing somebody from a service academy.

My thinking is related to a hoary Branch Rickey rule. He refused to sign a player who was in medical or divinity school on the basis that the world needs physicians and ministers more than it needs ballplayers. My take on the service academies is: The nation has a deal with these students. We the people provide a no-charge, high-level college education, and we get well-trained military officers. I object to the notion that they can/should be encouraged/allowed to walk away from that bargain three years in, with a heavy public investment in that bargain.

Berandino reports that Jax "will petition for a deferment of his five-year active military commitment, and the Twins are hopeful that he will be able to convert that to the reserves at least."

Maybe so. That doesn't make it right.

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I predicted in Friday's post that Trevor May would go on the disabled list. He did. So, too, did Phil Hughes, who took a wicked liner off his leg. 

Kyle Gibson was reactivated off the disabled list; he's to start today's game against the Red Sox. And J.T. Chargois was called up.

I've mentioned Chargois a few times this year as somebody I thought should be here. The reports on his callup gave a good reason for the Twins to have gone slow: He has only once pitched on consecutive days this year. That's by design as his continues to return from Tommy John surgery.

Still, I'm glad to see him in the majors. He is a absolute power arm. It's time to start seeing some of them in Minnesota.

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ESPN's Keith Law, in a chat Friday about the first day of the draft, said he hasn't seen Twins second-round pick Ben Rortvedt himself, but that the word he has from scouts is that he won't stick behind the plate.

The Twins suggested otherwise on Thursday, and time will tell. He'll catch until he convinces the Twins he shouldn't catch.

The Twins did take another potential backstop in the ninth round Friday, Mitchell Kranson of California Berkeley. Apparently he played mostly third base for Cal (and hit third), but the Twins intend to put him behind the dish. That parallels the career path of Terry Steinbach, who played third base for the Gophers and converted to catcher after signing with the A's. 

May it work that well with Kranson.

Buddy Boshers and the failed bullpen

Buddy Boshers had
an ERA of 1.42 with
Rochester when he
was called up.

The Twins went back to an eight-man bullpen Wednesday, adding indy-ball refugee Buddy Boshers. To make room on the 25-man roster, Darin Mastroianni went on the 15-day disabled list; to make room on the 40-man roster, Glen Perkins went on the 60-day disabled list.

Boshers is a 28-year-old lefty who got 15.1 major league innings back in 2013 with the Angels and walked eight in those innings. He spent seven seasons in the Angels system and pitched last year in the Atlantic League. He was a non-roster invitee in training camp, one of the pack of guys I categorize as: If  he pitches in Target Field, something went wrong.

Something went wrong is an understatement this Twins season, of course. That Boshers and Brandon Kintzler are in the bullpen is a symptom; that Perkins is out until nobody-knows-when is part of the cause.

The Twins were counting on a late-inning trio (or foursome) of Perkins, Kevin Jepsen, Trevor May and maybe Casey Fien. Perkins was ineffective before being sidelined, and May and Jepsen have essentially matching ERAs of 5.56 and 5.59 respectively. Fien has been waived twice, first by the Twins and then by the Dodgers.

Minnesota's most effective bullpen arms have been Fernando Abad and Michael Tonkin, neither of whom were expected to carry much of the burden coming into the season. Neither has managed to creep into game situation use, although there really haven't been many late leads or ties to protect.

Boshers got the call over J.T. Chargois presumably because (a) he reportedly has a June 15 opt-out in his contract and (b) he's left-handed. There's speculation that Abad and his 0.51 ERA might be spun off relatively soon, which would make more sense than signing him to a mult-year deal.

But Chargois has a chance to be a genuinely useful piece. That cannot be honestly said of most of the current bullpen.

Setting the stage for Rule 5

Friday was the deadline for teams to protect their current minor leaguers from the Rule 5 draft by putting them on the 40-man major league roster. The Twins elevated seven prospects -- and lost two players with some major league time, catcher Josmil Pinto and right-hander A.J. Achter, on waivers, Pinto to the Padres and Achter to the Phillies.

I'll probably write something in more detail about the Pinto move next week. Achter is a marginal reliever who had another good season in Triple A last year -- he has a 2.69 ERA in 99 Triple A appearances -- who might be able to wander into a decent major league season if given a chance, but lacks the dominant pitch to force a career. Good luck to both of them.

The seven additions include several pitchers who emphatically have that dominant pitch. I see four categories in the seven:

Hard-throwing right-handed relievers: J.T. Chargois and Yorman Landa.

Left-handed Triple A starters: Pat Dean and Taylor Rogers.

Left-handers with Tommy John surgery: Mason Melotakis and Randy Rosario.

Outfielder: Adam Brett Walker.

Landa and Rosario spent 2015 at low A Cedar Rapids, and I saw both pitch during my handful of Kernels games last August, Rosario as a starter and Landa as a reliever. I didn't write about Landa, but he did show some serious velocity; I wrote instead about Luke Bard, who wasn't put on the 40 and is eligible for Rule 5. Anyway -- while Landa and Rosario will be in major league camp, I don't think the Twins will elevate either to the majors this year.

Dean and Rogers are slightly surprising protects to me. I don't see either as a particularly likely candidate to ever be starters for the Twins. There are certainly a lot of rotation guys ahead of them.

Walker's protection illustrates the importance of the power tool. ABW has serious power -- and, like Oswaldo Arcia, little else to recommend him. I'm not particularly enthused about Walker's chances.

Melotakis missed 2015 with Tommy John surgery while Chargois returned from two years on the shelf. These two guys each have pitched in Double A and have realistic chances to be part of the reconstructed 2016 bullpen, although I doubt the Twins would graduate Melotakis in particular to the majors out of spring training.

The Twins now have 38 player on their 40-man roster. One of the open slots is slated for Byung Ho Park; the other may well go to a Rule 5 selection.