The Twins traded this year for veteran starter Jack Odorizzi ($6.3 million this year, arbitation eligible next year, free agent after that) and signed, during spring training, veteran starter Lance Lynn ($12 million, traded last month the the Yankees).
These moves didn't work as well as the Twins expected and hoped. It could have been worse.
The Twins wanted to spend that money on Yu Darvish. He signed instead with the Chicago Cubs -- six years, $126 million.
In year one of that contract, Darvish went 1-3, 4.95 in eight starts, and those numbers won't change. The Cubs announced Tuesday that he has a stress reaction in his elbow and is done for the season.
Odorizzi and Lynn at least were able to take the ball and make their starts.
Showing posts with label Lance Lynn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lance Lynn. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Allow me to introduce myself ...
A bunch of the guys the Twins cast off leading up to the trade deadline have started showing up in box scores. How they made their first impressions:
Brian Dozier homered, doubled and singled Wednesday in his Dodger debut. Three-for-4 with seven total bases is a pretty good way to boot up.
Zach Duke didn't allow a homer in 37.1 innings with the Twins. He made his first appearance with Seattle on Tuesday and gave up a homer to Josh Reddick. A LOOGY throwing a gopher ball to a left-handed hitter ... ouch.
Lance Lynn was almost unrecognizable in his Yankees debut; the Yankees don't allow beards, and Lynn has had one throughout his major league career. New look, good results: 4.1 scoreless innings of relief on Thursday against Baltimore. Sonny Gray had already put the Yankees well behind, and Lynn did allow an inherited runner to score, but the overall impression was strong enough that there is speculation in Yankeeland that Lynn will move into the starting rotation.
Ryan Pressly, like Duke, gave up a homer in his first outing with his new team -- in this case, Houston. I had the glimmer of a notion that the Astros might try him as closer, but the controversial trade for Roberto Osuna, who faces domestic violence charges in Toronto, probably closes that door.
Eduardo Escobar is doing Eduardo Escobar stuff for the Diamondbacks. He doubled (of course) in his debut against the Padres and had two hits in each of his first two games with Arizona. It sounds, by the way, like Jake Lamb, nominally Arizona's regular third baseman, might be done for the season with the injury that helped prompt the Snakes to deal for Escobar.
Brian Dozier homered, doubled and singled Wednesday in his Dodger debut. Three-for-4 with seven total bases is a pretty good way to boot up.
Zach Duke didn't allow a homer in 37.1 innings with the Twins. He made his first appearance with Seattle on Tuesday and gave up a homer to Josh Reddick. A LOOGY throwing a gopher ball to a left-handed hitter ... ouch.
Lance Lynn was almost unrecognizable in his Yankees debut; the Yankees don't allow beards, and Lynn has had one throughout his major league career. New look, good results: 4.1 scoreless innings of relief on Thursday against Baltimore. Sonny Gray had already put the Yankees well behind, and Lynn did allow an inherited runner to score, but the overall impression was strong enough that there is speculation in Yankeeland that Lynn will move into the starting rotation.
Ryan Pressly, like Duke, gave up a homer in his first outing with his new team -- in this case, Houston. I had the glimmer of a notion that the Astros might try him as closer, but the controversial trade for Roberto Osuna, who faces domestic violence charges in Toronto, probably closes that door.
Eduardo Escobar is doing Eduardo Escobar stuff for the Diamondbacks. He doubled (of course) in his debut against the Padres and had two hits in each of his first two games with Arizona. It sounds, by the way, like Jake Lamb, nominally Arizona's regular third baseman, might be done for the season with the injury that helped prompt the Snakes to deal for Escobar.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Two more trades
The Twins on Monday moved out a pair of pitchers on one-year deals, Zach Duke and Lance Lynn.
Neither brought much of a return, which is to be expected of a 35-year-old LOOGY (Duke) and a started with a 5.10 ERA (Lynn).
The trades:
He appears to be high floor, low ceiling, and that doesn't do much for me. I don't see a use for him on the current roster -- unless Logan Morrison is leaving soon -- and in the future Brant Rooker, also a right-right 1B-OF, is a better bet to contribute.
Rijo is the very definition of a lottery ticket. He's a 19-year-old right handed pitcher out of Venezuela who has split his 2018 on three levels and put up decent numbers in limited exposure. He is said to have good control and secondary pitches but limited velocity. He might be something, and we might never hear of him again.
Neither brought much of a return, which is to be expected of a 35-year-old LOOGY (Duke) and a started with a 5.10 ERA (Lynn).
The trades:
#MNTwins Roster Moves: Twins acquire Chase De Jong and Ryan Costello in exchange for Zach Duke. pic.twitter.com/llJfdi4s14— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 30, 2018
#MNTwins Roster Moves: Twins acquire Luis Rijo and Tyler Austin in Exchange for Lance Lynn. pic.twitter.com/IqCNwh66Gg— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 30, 2018
Costello is the more interesting of the gets in the Mariners deal. MLBpipeline.com has him as No. 28 in the Mariners system, but Seattle has a notably depleted system. Costello leads the Midwest League (low A) in homers and RBIs, but ...
- he's old for the level and
- in two minor league seasons he's played his way off third base and is apparently a poor defensive first baseman.
He's gonna have to mash to make it to the majors. If I were making the call, he would move up to Fort Myers and a more age-appropriate environment.
De Jong is going on his fourth organization. He got 28 innings in the majors last year, allowing five homers and a 6.25 ERA. He's been in Double-A this year. He's on the 40-man roster, but there's not much here to interest me.
Austin got most of the attention from Dick-n-Torii during the TV broadcast in the Lynn deal, probably because he hit a homer off Lynn earlier this year. He'll turn 27 before the season ends. Right-handed hitter, genuine power, lots of strikeouts. The Yankees gave him 269 major league plate appearances and spun him off; he'll be out of options next year and my guess is they weren't going to keep him on the 40 this winter.
He appears to be high floor, low ceiling, and that doesn't do much for me. I don't see a use for him on the current roster -- unless Logan Morrison is leaving soon -- and in the future Brant Rooker, also a right-right 1B-OF, is a better bet to contribute.
Rijo is the very definition of a lottery ticket. He's a 19-year-old right handed pitcher out of Venezuela who has split his 2018 on three levels and put up decent numbers in limited exposure. He is said to have good control and secondary pitches but limited velocity. He might be something, and we might never hear of him again.
Monday, July 2, 2018
Notes from the weekend
That was a couple of ugly series the Twins played in Chicago, first losing two of three to the lowly Whtie Sox, then getting swept by the Cubs.
The Cubs are a quality team, or at least a quality lineup, and Wrigley Field in hot weather has long been known as a hitter's paradise, but what befell the Twins pitching staff was not acceptable.
The Monday print column this week is a (superficial) once-over on the most likely trade candidates on the Minnesota roster, written on Saturday before Lance Lynn laid his egg on Sunday. When I said in the column that Lynn and Jake Odorizzi would deepen the playoff rotation of most contenders, particularly in the National League, I had the Cubs in mind as one of those teams. (Also the Milwaukee Brewers, who the Twins play next.)
The Cubs have, however, seen a lot of Lynn in the past -- he spent his previous major league seasons toiling for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs division rival -- and he has not fared well in Wrigley. He certainly didn't Sunday. The carnage -- which included Lynn failing to cover first base -- pretty much wrecked the improvement he had made in his ERA over the past month.
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The Twins DFA'd Felix Jorge over the weekend in the process of shuffling their roster (making room on the 40-man roster for Willians Astudillo).
Jorge made two appearances on the major league roster last season, but has been largely sidelined this year (just three innings, all at the bottom rung of the Twins stateside affliations.)
Assuming that at least one of the Twins veteran starters gets moved this month -- and I do so assume -- it seems safe to say that Jorge is not likely to benefit.
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The Twins, beset by heat-related illnesses, finished Saturday's game with an outfield of Logan Morrison is left, Astudillo in center and Robbie Grossman in right.
Aaron Gleeman speculated on Twitter that that might be the worst defensive outfield in major league history. I have no idea how one might attempt to measure that, but it's certainly an alignment that would seem to be an invitation to triples.
I have a memory of attending a 1997 game in the Metrodome in which the Oakland A's started an outfield with Jason Giambi in left, Geronimo Berroa in center and Jose Canseco in right. However, a check of Baseball Reference's gamelogs suggest that never happened. Berroa didn't play any centerfield that year (or, apparently, ever). Giambi was the A's regular leftfielder that season (accommodating Mark McGwire at first base and Canseco, in his second go-around with Oakland, as the DH), and Berroa played a lot of right field before being traded in late June. Any outfield with two of those three in it was bound to be brutal afield.
The Cubs are a quality team, or at least a quality lineup, and Wrigley Field in hot weather has long been known as a hitter's paradise, but what befell the Twins pitching staff was not acceptable.
The Monday print column this week is a (superficial) once-over on the most likely trade candidates on the Minnesota roster, written on Saturday before Lance Lynn laid his egg on Sunday. When I said in the column that Lynn and Jake Odorizzi would deepen the playoff rotation of most contenders, particularly in the National League, I had the Cubs in mind as one of those teams. (Also the Milwaukee Brewers, who the Twins play next.)
The Cubs have, however, seen a lot of Lynn in the past -- he spent his previous major league seasons toiling for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cubs division rival -- and he has not fared well in Wrigley. He certainly didn't Sunday. The carnage -- which included Lynn failing to cover first base -- pretty much wrecked the improvement he had made in his ERA over the past month.
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The Twins DFA'd Felix Jorge over the weekend in the process of shuffling their roster (making room on the 40-man roster for Willians Astudillo).
Jorge made two appearances on the major league roster last season, but has been largely sidelined this year (just three innings, all at the bottom rung of the Twins stateside affliations.)
Assuming that at least one of the Twins veteran starters gets moved this month -- and I do so assume -- it seems safe to say that Jorge is not likely to benefit.
---
The Twins, beset by heat-related illnesses, finished Saturday's game with an outfield of Logan Morrison is left, Astudillo in center and Robbie Grossman in right.
Aaron Gleeman speculated on Twitter that that might be the worst defensive outfield in major league history. I have no idea how one might attempt to measure that, but it's certainly an alignment that would seem to be an invitation to triples.
I have a memory of attending a 1997 game in the Metrodome in which the Oakland A's started an outfield with Jason Giambi in left, Geronimo Berroa in center and Jose Canseco in right. However, a check of Baseball Reference's gamelogs suggest that never happened. Berroa didn't play any centerfield that year (or, apparently, ever). Giambi was the A's regular leftfielder that season (accommodating Mark McGwire at first base and Canseco, in his second go-around with Oakland, as the DH), and Berroa played a lot of right field before being traded in late June. Any outfield with two of those three in it was bound to be brutal afield.
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Better results than process
Lance Lynn, facing one of the best teams in baseball, allowed just one (unearned) run Wednesday night.
Lance Lynn threw 97 pitches, just over half for strikes, and walked five men while striking out two. He lasted just five innings.
Good results, bad process. Which do you trust more?
Lynn's ERA is now a season best 4.64, which ain't good but is 3.73 better than his ERA at the end of April. But even as he lowered his ERA through his nine starts in May and June, he walked 23 men in 50 innings.
He's made it work, in large part because he's surrendered just two home runs in that stretch. But it isn't pretty. He gives me Mike Pelfrey flashbacks at times -- a big right-hander with one usable pitch of which he has imperfect command.
Lynn does miss more bats than Pelfrey did, however. He didn't pile up a lot of strikeouts Wednesday against Boston, but in those most recent 50 innings he has 47 strikeouts. Pelfrey would have needed about 90 innings to get to 47.
Bottom line: Lynn isn't really pitching that well.
Lance Lynn threw 97 pitches, just over half for strikes, and walked five men while striking out two. He lasted just five innings.
Good results, bad process. Which do you trust more?
Lynn's ERA is now a season best 4.64, which ain't good but is 3.73 better than his ERA at the end of April. But even as he lowered his ERA through his nine starts in May and June, he walked 23 men in 50 innings.
He's made it work, in large part because he's surrendered just two home runs in that stretch. But it isn't pretty. He gives me Mike Pelfrey flashbacks at times -- a big right-hander with one usable pitch of which he has imperfect command.
Lynn does miss more bats than Pelfrey did, however. He didn't pile up a lot of strikeouts Wednesday against Boston, but in those most recent 50 innings he has 47 strikeouts. Pelfrey would have needed about 90 innings to get to 47.
Bottom line: Lynn isn't really pitching that well.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Lance Lynn's long leash
No question: Lance Lynn has had an ugly season so far. The veteran right-hander, whose career worst ERA entering the season was 3.97, has a jumbo-jet sized ERA of 7.47 after eight starts, with 29 walks in 37.1 innings.
The Twins have played 39 games; almost a quarter of the regular season schedule is behind them. How long can they keep rolling Lynn out there?
My guess is Lynn will continue to start until Ervin Santana is deemed ready to pitch. And Santana, who was originally expected to be back by now, hasn't officially started a rehab assignment yet after his finger surgery.
There are other in-house options -- Zack Littell, Aaron Slegers, Aldaberto Mejia and Stephen Gonsalves are all waiting their turn in Triple A Rochester -- but the combination of Lynn's track record, the $12 million invested in him and the notion that Santana's return is imminent (even though it isn't) probably means the Twins will wait to pull Lynn from the rotation.
If you look hard enough at Logan Morrison, the Twins other late free-agent signing, you can see some reason for patience. (LoMo's splits over the last 28 days: .280/.372/.524.) It's much harder to find reason to believe in Lynn's results.
The Twins in Terry Ryan's tenure frequently pulled the plug on failing veterans around this point of the season. I haven't a good read yet on the patience of the Falvine regime, and Ryan's plug-pulling was never with a pitcher who carried the expectations Lynn does. Lynn is certainly becoming a genuine test of their patience.
The Twins have played 39 games; almost a quarter of the regular season schedule is behind them. How long can they keep rolling Lynn out there?
My guess is Lynn will continue to start until Ervin Santana is deemed ready to pitch. And Santana, who was originally expected to be back by now, hasn't officially started a rehab assignment yet after his finger surgery.
There are other in-house options -- Zack Littell, Aaron Slegers, Aldaberto Mejia and Stephen Gonsalves are all waiting their turn in Triple A Rochester -- but the combination of Lynn's track record, the $12 million invested in him and the notion that Santana's return is imminent (even though it isn't) probably means the Twins will wait to pull Lynn from the rotation.
If you look hard enough at Logan Morrison, the Twins other late free-agent signing, you can see some reason for patience. (LoMo's splits over the last 28 days: .280/.372/.524.) It's much harder to find reason to believe in Lynn's results.
The Twins in Terry Ryan's tenure frequently pulled the plug on failing veterans around this point of the season. I haven't a good read yet on the patience of the Falvine regime, and Ryan's plug-pulling was never with a pitcher who carried the expectations Lynn does. Lynn is certainly becoming a genuine test of their patience.
Saturday, May 12, 2018
Making your own luck
Mike Scioscia is in his 19th season as manager of the Angels. He's won 1,593 major league games and a World Series. He has, we can safely assume, a pretty solid notion of how to win games.
The "book" says you don't put the winning run on base. Scioscia violated that principle in the ninth inning, intentionally walking pinch-hitter Max Kepler to get at the weaker-hitting bottom of the Twins lineup. But Mitch Garver (pinch-hitting for Ehire Adrianaza) singled in the tying run, with Kepler taking third, and RBI machine Bobby Wilson got his second sac fly of the week.
Scioscia said after the game he preferred the matchups behind Kepler, and that's understandable. But intentionally walking the winning run is playing with matches and gasoline. On Friday, he got burned.
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Wilson now has 10 career sacrifice flies (in 860 plate appearances). Question: Is that a lot?
Well, Miguel Sano has seven sac flies in 1,403 PA. Eddie Rosario, 14 in in 1,557 PA. I took a look at about a dozen Twins, past and present, and the only other one I encountered who averaged at least one sac fly per 100 trips to the plate was Gene Larkin (27 SF in 2,670 PA).
Larkin came to mind because his most famous plate appearance -- his game-winning single in Game Seven of the 1991 World Series -- was essentially a sac fly against a drawn-in outfield.
Hitting a fly ball on command isn't easy, and Wilson's apparent prowess is probably just a fluke.
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The Fernando Rodney Experience was a lot of hard-hit balls for outs Friday.
To be blunt about it: Lance Lynn hasn't thrown enough strikes this year to deserve the breaks he compalins of not getting. He's walked 25 hitters in 34.1 innings. For a guy who throws almost nothing but fastballs, that's absurd.
The "book" says you don't put the winning run on base. Scioscia violated that principle in the ninth inning, intentionally walking pinch-hitter Max Kepler to get at the weaker-hitting bottom of the Twins lineup. But Mitch Garver (pinch-hitting for Ehire Adrianaza) singled in the tying run, with Kepler taking third, and RBI machine Bobby Wilson got his second sac fly of the week.
Scioscia said after the game he preferred the matchups behind Kepler, and that's understandable. But intentionally walking the winning run is playing with matches and gasoline. On Friday, he got burned.
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Wilson now has 10 career sacrifice flies (in 860 plate appearances). Question: Is that a lot?
Well, Miguel Sano has seven sac flies in 1,403 PA. Eddie Rosario, 14 in in 1,557 PA. I took a look at about a dozen Twins, past and present, and the only other one I encountered who averaged at least one sac fly per 100 trips to the plate was Gene Larkin (27 SF in 2,670 PA).
Larkin came to mind because his most famous plate appearance -- his game-winning single in Game Seven of the 1991 World Series -- was essentially a sac fly against a drawn-in outfield.
Hitting a fly ball on command isn't easy, and Wilson's apparent prowess is probably just a fluke.
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The Fernando Rodney Experience was a lot of hard-hit balls for outs Friday.
Mike Trout's 118 mph liner to short to end the game was the third-hardest hit ball in the Majors this year and the hardest ever hit by an Angels player since Statcast was introduced in 2015.— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 12, 2018
Since #Statcast's intro in 2015, there have been 18 balls hit in the air with exit velocities of 118+ mph.— David Adler (@_dadler) May 12, 2018
Mike Trout's game-ending lineout against the Twins tonight is the first one that has been an out. #Angels
Them's the breaks.
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Another tweet:
Lynn: "In all honesty, I threw the ball well besides the home run. There were a couple flare hits, a couple bad breaks, but that’s kind of been the way things have been going early on for me." #mntwins— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) May 12, 2018
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
More roster moves (and another loss)
The Twins on Monday brought up John Curtiss to replace Tyler Duffey, who was demoted after Sunday's loss.
This is a level higher than most of the roster-shuffling transactions. While Duffey hasn't had a key bullpen role this year, he did last year -- and Curtiss has the velocity and talent to eventually emerge with a major late inning role. First he has to establish himself, though.
But there was another move of sorts Monday of immediate significance. The Twins are moving Phil Hughes to the bullpen and bringing up power-armed prospect Fernando Romero for Wednesday's start.
No roster move has been made yet; Romero is still, officially, a Rochester Red Wing. Something will be done today to make room for him.
Hughes' spot had been, in my mind, ticketed for Ervin Santana when he returns from his rehab work (finger surgery). I don't know that they have a specific timeline yet for him, however, and at this point they might well target Lance Lynn for replacement, assuming that Romero thrives in the major league rotation (which is not a given).
Lynn's ERA now stands at 8.37, which screams for replacement. He's walked 23 in 23.2 innings, including five on Monday. It has been an ugly, ugly April for the late-spring signing.
The Twins are sticking with him for now. But with their ambitions swirling around the drain a month into the season, the decision makers are being given reason to act sooner rather than later.
This is a level higher than most of the roster-shuffling transactions. While Duffey hasn't had a key bullpen role this year, he did last year -- and Curtiss has the velocity and talent to eventually emerge with a major late inning role. First he has to establish himself, though.
But there was another move of sorts Monday of immediate significance. The Twins are moving Phil Hughes to the bullpen and bringing up power-armed prospect Fernando Romero for Wednesday's start.
No roster move has been made yet; Romero is still, officially, a Rochester Red Wing. Something will be done today to make room for him.
Hughes' spot had been, in my mind, ticketed for Ervin Santana when he returns from his rehab work (finger surgery). I don't know that they have a specific timeline yet for him, however, and at this point they might well target Lance Lynn for replacement, assuming that Romero thrives in the major league rotation (which is not a given).
Lynn's ERA now stands at 8.37, which screams for replacement. He's walked 23 in 23.2 innings, including five on Monday. It has been an ugly, ugly April for the late-spring signing.
The Twins are sticking with him for now. But with their ambitions swirling around the drain a month into the season, the decision makers are being given reason to act sooner rather than later.
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Spring training trip: Final day
Lance Lynn had his introductory press conference in the morning. In the afternoon, he threw three hitless innings inhis first exhibition start. He was clearly laboring in that third and final inning.
As advertised, Lynn threw mostly fast balls, and the stadium gun had him at 93 and 94 mph repeatedly.
That was the good news on the pitching front in the exhibition The bad news: Fernando Rodney, Trevor Hildenberger and Taylor Rogers -- three key relievers -- all gave up runs, with Hildenberger and Rogers each surrendering homers.
For what it's worth:
As advertised, Lynn threw mostly fast balls, and the stadium gun had him at 93 and 94 mph repeatedly.
That was the good news on the pitching front in the exhibition The bad news: Fernando Rodney, Trevor Hildenberger and Taylor Rogers -- three key relievers -- all gave up runs, with Hildenberger and Rogers each surrendering homers.
For what it's worth:
Molitor said he's "not overly concerned" about rocky springs for Hildy and Rogers.— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) March 13, 2018
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Miguel Sano played third and made two plays that required him to move with no problem. I'm inclined to regard the concern about his mobility following his stress reaction surgery as overblown.
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We're headed home this morning. The locals grumbled the entire time we were here about how cold it was. It was still pretty warn for March to a Minnesotan.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Spring training trip: A day off
The wife and I take one day of our biannual spring training trip to go to Sanibel, and Monday was the day for that.
Really, the Twins highlight for the day for me came in the evening, when my wife was checking out at the Publix on Six Mile Cypress and Tony Oliva strolled by.
While I was off on my island jaunt, the Twins were making the Lance Lynn signing official. On Sunday, with the deal not yet official, the Twins released Anibal Sanchez, which created room on the 40-man roster for Lynn.
Lynn will start today as the Twins try to ramp him up for the opening rotation.
Paul Molitor hasn't named his opening day starter, much less the rotation, but he has said that it's more important to have Jose Berrios lined up to pitch in the Puerto Rico series than in the opener. My guess, therefore, is that the rotation will go Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson, Berrios and Lynn. As I understand it, Berrios in game three sets him up not only to pitch in Puerto Rico but in the home opener. And pushing Lynn back to the fourth game will give him the opportunity to work in one more tune-up start in Florida.
Meanwhile, Phil Hughes had a pretty solid outing Monday night. He's probably Plan B for the rotation if -- let's make that when -- somebody gets hurt; in the meantime, he will be in the bullpen. Sanchez is already released. The third member of what I called the Tier One candidates for the rotation, Aldaberto Mejia, will likely be sent to Triple A.
And that will probably have a domino effect on the prospect crew that made up Tiers Two and Three (Aaron Slegers, Stephen Gonsalves, Fernando Romero, Felix Jorge, Zack Littell, Dietrich Enns). At least one of those six was going to be in Double A; now it's likely two of them will.
One point Derek Falvey made about the Lynn signing is that adding him doesn't really block the prospects. Both Lynn and Ervin Santana will be free agents after 2018; Odorizzi, Gibson and Hughes after 2019. The Twins will be quite happy if the prospects get to spend this season marinating in Triple A, and wait to step into the rotation plans in 2019.
Really, the Twins highlight for the day for me came in the evening, when my wife was checking out at the Publix on Six Mile Cypress and Tony Oliva strolled by.
While I was off on my island jaunt, the Twins were making the Lance Lynn signing official. On Sunday, with the deal not yet official, the Twins released Anibal Sanchez, which created room on the 40-man roster for Lynn.
Lynn will start today as the Twins try to ramp him up for the opening rotation.
Paul Molitor hasn't named his opening day starter, much less the rotation, but he has said that it's more important to have Jose Berrios lined up to pitch in the Puerto Rico series than in the opener. My guess, therefore, is that the rotation will go Jake Odorizzi, Kyle Gibson, Berrios and Lynn. As I understand it, Berrios in game three sets him up not only to pitch in Puerto Rico but in the home opener. And pushing Lynn back to the fourth game will give him the opportunity to work in one more tune-up start in Florida.
Meanwhile, Phil Hughes had a pretty solid outing Monday night. He's probably Plan B for the rotation if -- let's make that when -- somebody gets hurt; in the meantime, he will be in the bullpen. Sanchez is already released. The third member of what I called the Tier One candidates for the rotation, Aldaberto Mejia, will likely be sent to Triple A.
And that will probably have a domino effect on the prospect crew that made up Tiers Two and Three (Aaron Slegers, Stephen Gonsalves, Fernando Romero, Felix Jorge, Zack Littell, Dietrich Enns). At least one of those six was going to be in Double A; now it's likely two of them will.
One point Derek Falvey made about the Lynn signing is that adding him doesn't really block the prospects. Both Lynn and Ervin Santana will be free agents after 2018; Odorizzi, Gibson and Hughes after 2019. The Twins will be quite happy if the prospects get to spend this season marinating in Triple A, and wait to step into the rotation plans in 2019.
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