Notes, quotes and comment (Game Two edition)

A taut pitchers duel Wednesday turned into home run derby late, and the winning team may well feel a bit worse about itself afterwards than it did before the game.

The bullpen was certainly not a weakness for the Houston Astros during their 101-win regular season, but A.J. Hinch certainly cannot feel confident in his relief staff right now. Closer Ken Giles and All-Star setup man Chris Devenski had difficulty closing out the Dodgers in Game Two, and those struggles have precedent. Devenski has pitched so far this postseason to a 8.44 ERA, Giles to an 8.22 ERA.

Hinch found a way around those struggles at the end of the ALCS -- using Lance McCullers, starter, for four innings of relief work in Game 7. It's likely that the rotation shift the Astros announced before Game Two -- McCullers will start Game Three on Friday, with Charlie Morton pushed back to Saturday -- was designed to make it possible to bring McCullers back in a Game Seven or even Game Six in relief.

But for that to matter the Astros need to get that far. And Hinch has only one Justin Verlander in his rotation. He needs his bullpen to do a better job.

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Each team has a starting pitcher who will presumably spend his 50s and 60s (and probably part of his 40s) going to Cooperstown one weekend each summer to sit on the veranda of the Otesaga Hotel swapping stories with other legends of the game.

It's a plauable assertion that the starts of Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers and Justin Verlander for the Astros are must-win games for their respective teams. Lose one of their starts, and the series gets much more difficult.

In that sense, each team got the minimum they needed out of the first two games.

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The Astros have two former Twins on their active roster for the Series: Francisco Liriano, the sole lefty in their bullpen, and catcher Juan Centeno.

Liriano came in a deadline deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was a struggling starter with Toronto (6-5, 5.88 in 18 starts) and he's been a struggling reliever for the Astros (4.40 in 14.1 innings spread over 20 appearances). Most striking to me in his stat line with the Astros: 10 walks to 11 strikeouts.

Centeno got just 57 major league plate appearances this season (and more than 250 in Triple A). His primary purpose, presumably, is as a security blanket that will allow Hinch to deploy Evan Gattis as the designated hitter in the three Houston games.

Castro vs. Centeno

Here's a curiosity:

The Astros have signed catcher Juan Centeno to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league spring training.

— Jake Kaplan (@jakemkaplan) December 20, 2016

The Twins, of course, signed Jason Castro, who had been Houston's No. 1 catcher, in large part because of his defensive skills -- pitch framing in particular. And now Centeno, whose pitch framing is suspect at best, has landed with the Astros.

It's not an even exchange, of course. Castro isn't replacing Centeno on the Twins roster so much as he's replacing Kurt Suzuki (who, by the way, remains a free agent). Centeno isn't replacing Castro in the Astro's plans, either; he may be more likely to be what he was when the Twins signed him last winter -- a catcher for the high minors who would be available if something goes wrong with the big club.

Still, it's at least slightly ironic, this "exchange" of left-hand-hitting catchers with different strengths.

Turnover among the catchers

Mitch Garver caught
in the Arizona Fall
League for the second
straight season.

The Twins spent most of 2016 with Kurt Suzuki and Juan Centeno as their catchers.

Neither remains on the 40-man roster. Suzuki is a free agent after the expiration of his contract, and Centeno was outrighted Friday. Each was a better hitter than receiver last year, and the new regime appears to have defense as a priority behind the plate.

The Twins have two catchers on their 40 now: John Ryan Murphy and Mitch Garver. I wouldn't care to wager that either will be the main receiver in 2017, but it's possible.

I saw Garver in 2014 with Cedar Rapids. He was in his first full season of professional ball, hitting well and reportedly rather rough behind the plate. He's still got some bat, even though his raw numbers the past two years aren't quite as impressive as in the Midwest League, and the reports on his catching are improving. (Mike Berandino of the Pioneer Press had this piece recently about Garver's work on his defensive skills.)

Garver was the Twins ninth-round pick in 2013, a draft in which the Twins took catchers in the third (Stuart Turner), sixth (Brian Navaretto) and ninth rounds. Neither Turner nor Navaretto have hit, and neither was added to the 40, so Garver has clearly passed them on the depth chart.

But it seems pretty clear, both from what the new regime has said and from what their organizations have done in the past (particularly in Cleveland) that the priority behind the plate is going to be defense. Murphy had a miserable season hitting last year, both at the majors and at Triple A, but his defensive metrics score well. Garver may well be a better hitter, but that probably doesn't give him an advantage over JRM.

And it would hardly be a surprise if a veteran backstop were added this winter.

Plouffe, there he goes

Trevor Plouffe had
a series of injuries
that limited him to
less than 350 plate
appearances in 2016.

Friday was the deadline for teams to add Rule 5-eligible prospects to the 40 man roster.

In a related development, it was also the day the Twins released veteran third baseman Trevor Plouffe.

They also outrighted catcher Juan Centeno and lost slugging prospect Adam Brett Walker on waivers to the Milwaukee Brewers.

These moves opened three more slots on the 40-man roster, The Twins filled six of the seven vacancies with prospects: catcher Mitch Garver; outfielders Daniel Palka and Zack Granite; shortstop Engelb Vielma; and right-handed starters Fernando Romero and Felix Jorge.

Plouffe's departure is the biggest news, if only because manager Paul Molitor -- and Ron Gardenhire before him -- made the one-time first round draft pick a fixture in the middle of the lineup. He was always an ill fit in a key lineup role, with low on-base percentages and mediocre slugging percentages. He had made himself into a above-average defensive third baseman, but his varied injuries last year slowed his reaction to batted balls.

Presumably the new brain trust found little interest in Plouffe as trade bait, and the roster spot was deemed more valuable than the veteran. Certainly, with Miguel Sano's outfield venture deemed a failure last season, there wasn't an obvious role for Plouffe on the 2017 Twins. Sano's going to be the third baseman in Minnesota now.

Plouffe, who turned 30 in June, will land somewhere. I certainly don't wish him ill, but it was clearly time for him to move on.

Catching up on the roster shuffle

I took a rather skeptical view in the Monday print column of the effectiveness of the Twins roster shuffle. To catch up on what's happened:

• LHP Tommy Milone, waived, went unclaimed and was assigned to Rochester. 
• RHP Casey Fien, waived, was claimed by the Los Angeles Dodgers and remains in the majors.
• C John Ryan Murphy was optioned to Rochester.
• SS Eduardo Escobar went on the disabled list.
• LHP Ryan O'Rourke was designated for assignment and remains in limbo.
• RHP J.R. Graham was designated for assignment and remains in limbo.
• RHP Ervin Santana was activated from the disabled list.
• OF Darin Mastroianni was added to the 40-man roster and to the 25-man roster.
• C Juan Centeno was added to the 40-man roster and to the 25-man roster.
• LHP Pat Dean was called up.
• RHP Brandon Kintzler was added to the 40-man roster and to the 25-man roster.

That adds up to six of the 25 roster spots, or 24 percent of the roster turned over between the end of Wednesday's game and the beginning of Saturday's. But it only involves one lineup regular (the freshly injured Escobar) and one rotation slot (Santana).

I am, obviously surprised that Milone passed through waivers and Fien did not. I was pretty certain that somebody would think Milone can help their rotation. As I said in the linked column, I'm not pleased with the selection of Kintzler over a higher-profile bullpen arm. (In Thursday's post I mentioned Nick Burdi as a possibility, but he went on the disabled list at Chattanooga with what is being described as a bone bruise on his upper arm.) And while I probably shouldn't make another prediction after getting Milone and Fien wrong, I expect both Graham and O'Rourke to clear waivers and remain in the organization.

And as for the catcher swap-out,  I can only note sourly that the third White Sox run on Sunday was set up when Tyler Duffey struck out a White Sox hitter with a curve in the dirt and it got away from Centeno. That makes 21 wild pitches for the team already. Tim Laudner, on the FSN postgame, made the same point about wild pitches that I have -- they're often partly the catcher's fault, and he clearly was not impressed with Centeno's inability to corral that pitch.

Roster revamp, part 1 (and HBPs)

The only action Brian Dozier (hamstring) saw Friday
was during the bench-clearing late in the game after Chicago's
Jose Abreu (79) was hit by a pitch.

Friday's roster shuffle wasn't exactly what I was anticipating. Tommy Milone and Casey Fien may have been waived, but the waiver period had not expired as of Friday (that will be this afternoon), so they were still on the roster.

Not on the roster because they were "designated for assignment," a move that does immediately take them off the 40-  and 25-man rosters, were J.R. Graham and Ryan O'Rourke, a pair of marginal relievers. Catcher John Ryan Murphy, as expected, was optioned out.

Ervin Santana was activated from the disabled list -- he starts today -- and the Twins selected the contracts of outfielder Darin Mastroianni and catcher Juan Centeno,

So three out and three in on Friday, and presumably three out and three in today, as shortstop Eduardo Escobar got hurt in Friday's game and is apparently headed to the disabled list. Jorge Polanco was pulled from the Rochester game and presumably will take Escobar's roster spot. He might even play a bit this time up.

I'm not sure who will replace Milone and Fien on the roster when their waiver period closes, although J.T. Chargois is a pretty good guess for one slot. Considering the suddenly dilapidated state of the Angels rotation in particular, I can't imagine Milone clearing waivers (two of the Angels starters went on the DL Friday with elbow miseries; one will have Tommy John and the other might). Fien is another matter. I suspect the Twins will retain him in Rochester. (For that matter, I wouldn't be surprised if O'Rourke got claimed by another team; I don't Graham will be leaving the organization.) We'll see soon how all this shakes out.

But other than Chargois and the return of their opening day starter, this (likely) shuffle of six roster slots probably doesn't help the now 8-21 team much. Losing the starting shortstop certainly won't improve things.

You compare the records of Murphy and Centeno, and there's no reason to think Centeno is going to be an upgrade. Even with Murphy's 3-for-40 2016 added in, he's a .242 hitter in 302 career at-bats and turns 25 next week. Centeno is 26 and a .164 hitter in 66 career at-bats. It's an understandable move in the short-term, but Murphy is still the better bet to be an impact catcher.

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Speaking of impacts, the Twins and White Sox engaged in a bit of hit-me, hit-you foolishness Friday. The White Sox plunked Byung Ho Park, and Trevor May responded by putting his fastball in Jose Abreu's ribs. That cleared the dugouts, but the only ejection was of the Chicago manager. Then the Sox hit Kurt Suzuki, who simply went to first base without the Abreu histrionics.

I don't know that the Sox were throwing at Park, although it's possible that somebody took offense to the big guy's swings. But certainly May was retaliating, and just as certainly Sukuki got hit in retaliation for that. Foolishness, as I said, but ... the Twins were getting blown out again, they were headed for 8-21, there were two dead men walking in the bullpen. This is a frustrated and embarrassed team right now, and frustrated and embarrassed people will do foolish things. The Sox don't have that excuse for their foolishness.

Parsing the catchers, part one

Juan Centeno has never
hit more than one homer
in a minor league
season, but he already
has one this spring.

As is typical in spring training, the Twins have eight catchers in camp. It's a markedly different crew this year, however. Kurt Suzuki's still around, of course, but the other three backstops who spent time on the 40-man roster in 2015 -- Chris Herrmann, Eric Fryer and Josmil Pinto -- are all gone, as are Dan Rohlfing and Tyler Graves, two other non-roster invitee catchers for 2015 camp.

I have mentally split this year's catching crew into four two-man parts:

• The presumptive major leaguers, Suzuki and John Ryan Murphy. 
• The cup-of-coffee imports, John Hicks and Juan Centeno.
• A pair of catch-and-throw high minors guys, Stuart Turner and Carlos Paulino.
• Two guys hoping to get out of A ball, Mitch Garver and Alex Swim.

John Hicks was
2-for-32 with the
Mariners last season
and hit .245 for
Triple A Tacoma.

Hicks, who the Twins picked up on waivers early in the offseason from Seattle,  is on the 40-man roster. He got 34 at-bats with the Mariners last year, and that's the extent of his major league time. Centeno, who was with Milwaukee last year and the Mets before that, has had 66 plate appearances spread out over three years; he's a non-roster invitee. They're both 26. Centeno hits left, Hicks right.

Presumably they are competing with each other to be the first option should something before Suzuki and Murphy. They've both hit some in the minors. Centeno has a .298 batting average (with little power) in more than 600 Triple A at-bats, and Hicks has a .280 career batting average in the minors with some power, although most of that has come in the lower levels. (I saw Centeno homer last Saturday during my Fort Myer visit against a Baltimore reliever.)

Hicks' roster status probably gives him a leg up on Centeno, but the Twins would probably be just as happy if neither ever saw Target Field. That would mean Suzuki and Murphy remained healthy and productive enough to stay on the roster and in the lineup.