Shake it up

Wednesday's game followed an all-too-familiar pattern for the Twins: The starting pitcher (in this case Carl Pavano) gave up multiple runs early, the bullpen did a decent job (one run allowed in five innings), the hitters got some men on base but failed to fully capitalize on the opportunities, and the Twins lost.

Ibid.

P.J. Walters inherits
Francisco Liriano's
slot in the starting
rotation.

What came after the game wasn't the same old, same old. Some significant moves were made — both in terms of roster and roles. Let's sort through the carnage:

Pitching: Francisco Liriano to the bullpen, P.J. Walters brought up to start on Saturday, Matt Maloney designated for assignment.

The attempt to reset Liriano by skipping a start didn't work, and so the next step is taken.

Liriano figures to get low-leverage innings — long relief and mop-up chores. Which is basically what Maloney was doing. Maloney's minor league stats intrigued me from the day the Twins claimed him on waivers from Cincinnati, but he didn't pitch anywhere near well enough to keep his job, much less find an expanded role.

Walters is a right-hander who has gotten 51 major league innings, mostly with St. Louis, and was signed as a minor-league free agent with more of an eye on improving the Rochester staff than the major league staff. He's done pretty well in Rochester (3-1, 2.70), so he got the call. I'm not sure he's any better than Anthony Swarzak.

Darin Mastroianni
got into one game
for the Blue Jays
in 2011, going 0-for-3.

Position players: Danny Valencia optioned to Rochester, Darin Mastroianni called up.

Valencia was 0-for-May. His slugging percentage had fallen below .300. And his defense at third is still nothing to hang his hat on.

Mastroianni is yet another fourth-outfielder type — runs well enough to play center, throws well enough to play right, doesn't have enough thump to be a regular.  He was hitting .365 in Rochester with 10 steals. He's played a little at second base, but I doubt he's proficient at it.

One of the beat writers said on Twitter that Alexi Casilla, Jamey Carroll and Trevor Plouffe would split time at third base. I think it's more likely that Carroll will play second and Casilla will get the bulk of the time at third. In a sense, this replicates the 2006 infield configuration after the Twins axed Juan Castro and Tony Batista: Luis Castillo at second, Nick Punto at third and the rookie Jason Bartlett at short.

Mastroianni may platoon with Erik Komatsu in right field, at least until Justin Morneau returns from the disabled list and forces Ryan Doumit out of regular DH duties.

If Valencia's job wasn't safe, Plouffe's can't be either.

Late Night: Weaver no-hits Twins 9-0

Jered Weaver and Chris Iannetta celebrate after the
last out of Weaver's no-hitter.

Game story here

Box score here

And the season just gets worse for the Twins. They have an off day today, and I expect to see some changes.

Begin with Liam Hendriks. He couldn't make it out of the third inning on Wednesday. That's two straight poor starts for the rookie, and his ERA is an even 9.00.

The starting rotation is the single biggest problem on this team; none of the starters have been effective. Hendriks is the easiest to change out, and also the one with the best future. Let him learn in Triple A.

Potential replacements: Either Anthony Swarzak (moved out of the bullpen) or Scott Diamond (now in Triple A.)

Hendriks can be optioned. Matt Maloney cannot, but his ERA (after getting two outs and a bruise on his calf from a line drive) is 7.36, so there's a real good chance he'll clear waivers. I think the Twins will find out. I hope they can keep him; he may be a Quadruple A pitcher (good in the minors, not good enough to pitch in the majors), but I still believe he can be an asset in the majors. He isn't right now.

Another guy who'd have to be waived is Clete Thomas, who has now struck out 16 times in 28 plate appearances with Minnesota. The Twins are carrying him rather than Ben Revere as an outfield reserve because Revere can't throw and the use they have for an extra outfielder is in right, but Thomas isn't getting it done.

Chris Parmelee probably isn't going down just yet, if only because of the uncertainty about Justin Morneau, but Parmelee's average is down to .220 and he hasn't had a hit since his beaning. He hasn't had an extra base hit since April 19.

Most of these are minor moves. One starting pitcher, a position player who's been in the lineup about half the time, a bench guy and a long reliever. Changing them out isn't going to turn the Twins season around.

But something's got to give.

The 2012 bullpen and future rotations

Scott Baker has a
career high of
200 innings (2009).

John Bonnes made a good point Sunday: The Twins are approaching a massive turnover in their starting rotation.

Francisco Liriano, Jason Marquis and Carl Pavano are all eligible for free agency after the season. Scott Baker has a team option for 2013 at $9.25 million; I don't think that's a cinch to be picked up. Only Nick Blackburn, who I regard as the least of the bunch, is under team control after 2012.

Bonnes couples this potential for a huge rotation change with the organization's relative lack of nearly-major-league ready starters as a reason for their aggressive acquisition of low-price upper minor league arms. Certainly the Twins have this offseason picked up -- through waivers, Rule V and minor league free agency -- a lot of unestablished pitchers.

Some of them are strictly bullpen candidates. But a couple of them seem more likely to be effective starters than effective relievers. The problem, as I see it, is that Matt Maloney is out of options, and Terry Doyle is a Rule V guy; the Twins would have to risk losing either to farm out either. The same is true of Anthony Swarzak, who also appears to be better suited to the rotation than to relief work.

The Twins certainly will have one of those three on the roster as a long reliever/swingman; barring injury, that figures to be Swarzak, who handled that role quite well in 2011. They could, perhaps, fit two of them in their bullpen, although Ron Gardenhire prefers using his relievers in frequent short bursts as opposed to multi-inning stints. Three long men is simply excessive. That ain't happening.

Matt Maloney is a
left-handed pitcher
with outstanding
walk/strikeout ratios
in more than 500
innings in Triple A.

It's worth noting in this context that Maloney was picked up on waivers from a National League team last fall, meaning that everybody in the NL passed on him rather than use a spot on their 40-man roster. Now a waiver claim on him would require finding a spot on the 25-man roster, which is a bit tighter, so perhaps the Twins could get him through waivers and outright him to Rochester.

The Twins are likely to start trimming some of the pitchers in camp this week. The most likely candidates to be sent down to road to minor league camp are the ones on the 40-man roster who are more future than present (Liam Hendriks, Tyler Robertson). They would be sent out sooner rather than later in no small part because if they get hurt while in major-league camp they would have to go on the major league disabled list, and that's more expensive in a variety of ways. That same risk doesn't apply to the non-roster invitees.

But while Maloney and Doyle are on the 40, I don't expect any moves regarding them until closer to the regular season.

Watching a Twins win

Tuesday's Twins game was, like Monday night's, telecast back home in Minnesota, and I watched most of it.

A few observations:

There is nothing quite like watching Grapefruit League games to realize limitations of the spring stats, even beyond the small sample sizes. There was a strong breeze blowing in Tuesday at the Port Charlotte, Fla., park, and that made it play a lot bigger.

For all the talk early in camp about how Ben Revere had improved his arm by throwing a football, it's pretty obvious that he remains a well-below average thrower.

The Twins had some more sloppy play, but unlike Monday the mistakes by and large didn't factor in the scoring. (One of Tampa Bay's two runs scored because of an error by Darin Mastroianni in left field.) The first few days of exhibitions have been marked by fielding miscues and baserunning blunders. Imagine how slipshod things would be without the three extra days of drills.

I've written before about liking Matt Maloney's minor-league stats, and he looked good Tuesday afternoon. He's out of options, and I don't know how he would fit on the staff, since there are five starters with multi-million contracts ahead of him and other long relief candidates (notably Anthony Swarzak and Terry Doyle) who are also use or lose.

Dissecting the Bill Smith Era: Other trades of 2011

Jose Morales hit .297
in his three partial
seasons with the Twins.

When: Dec. 16, 2010
What: The Twins sent catcher Jose Morales to Colorado for left-handed pitcher Paul Bargas
Value: Bargas not only hasn't reached the majors, he didn't pitch at all in 2011 because of a brain tumor. Morales opened the season as the Rockies' No. 2 catcher but had only 71 plate appearances (-0.1 WAR, 1 win share). He was nontendered this offseason and signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Twins motivation: Open a spot on the 40-man roster

The Twins traded Morales because they needed roster space to re-sign Jim Thome and Carl Pavano, because he was out of options and would have to clear waivers to be sent to the minors, and because they had decided they prefered Drew Butera's defensive chops to Morales' batting average.

Bargas reported to camp with an obvious health problem and was quickly found to have a brain tumor. Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune earlier this month wrote about Bargas, who expects to be in camp this spring. (As a sign of how much I like the piece, I link to it despite the Strib's paywall). I don't know enough about Bargas' talent to be optimistic about his future as a pitcher, but I sure will root for him. (Update: Fixed the link.)

When: Jan. 26, 2011
What: Claimed left-handed pitcher Dusty Hughes off waivers from the Kansas City Royals
Value: Hughes was awful with the Twins (9.95 ERA in 12.2 innings; -0.4 WAR, 0 win shares)
Twins motivation: What I call Craig Monroe Syndrome: He had gotten Twins lefties out while with K.C., and the Twins took this as an indication of his talent.

I still remember seeing one particularly wicked breaking ball Hughes threw in a spring training game to freeze Carl Crawford; that single pitch had me briefly convinced he was a shrewd pickup (and a silly discard by the Royals). He didn't throw enough such pitches, however.

He was outrighted in May. He has signed a minor league contract with Atlanta.

Rob Delaney wasn't
even deemed worthy
of a draft pick as an
amateur player

When: Jan. 28, 2011
What: Lost right-handed pitcher Rob Delaney on waivers to Tampa Bay
Value: Delaney made four appearances for the Rays with an ERA of 10.80; no win shares and -0.2 WAR
Twins motivation: Created a spot on the 40-man roster for Hughes.

Delaney, like Anthony Slama, put up good numbers in the minors for the Twins, but the Twins were unwilling to give him a real chance in the majors. The Rays designated Delaney for assignment in September to open a spot for phenom Matt Moore; it's unclear to me if Delaney is still in their system or if he's a free agent he signed this month with Miami.

When: March 20, 2011
What: Lost right-handed pitcher Pat Neshek on waivers to San Diego
Value: Neshek worked 24.2 innings for the Padres with an ERA of 4.01; more tellingly, he walked 22 (and struck out 20) in those 24.2 innings. He had 1 win share and 0.0 WAR.
Twins motivation: They wanted to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

It was significant that the Twins dumped Neshek even though he still had an option left; that indicates that the organization either had concluded that he was unlikely to regain his pre-injury effectiveness and/or didn't want him around.

He was up and down with the Padres, and he is currently a free agent.

When: Aug. 25, 2011
What: Lost designated hitter Jim Thome on waivers to Cleveland
Value: He had 13 win shares total for the season, 0.5 WAR with the Indians.
Twins motivation: Cleared his salary off the books for the last six weeks or so of the season, gave him a chance to be at least in the fringes of a pennant race and an opportunity to make amends with the fans of his first major league team.

Jim Thome pretended
to play third base for
one pitch against the
Twins in a September
game.

Big name, exceedingly minor deal. It was originally announced as a player-to-be-named trade, but once it was obvious that the Indians weren't making the postseason they changed it to straight cash and not much of it.

Thome has signed with Philadelphia for 2012, and the Phillies are making noises about playing him at first base on occasion. Good luck with that.

When: Sept. 27, 2011
What: Claimed right-handed pitcher Esmerling Vasquez off waivers from Arizona
Value: The Twins did not add him to the active roster for the final week of the season.
Twins motivation: He's a power arm bullpen possibility.

The Diamondbacks needed to clear space on their 40-man roster, and lopped Vasquez, who has pitched in 141 major league games for the D'backs (137 innings, 80 walks, 120 strikeouts). Good arm, uncertain control. The Twins are collecting a bunch of this kind of arm and hoping one of them can figure it out.

When: Oct. 31, 2011
What: Claimed right-handed pitcher Jeff Gray off waivers from Seattle.
Value: Has not pitched for the Twins
Twins motivation: Another bullpen option.

I'm including this transaction and the following one with the 2011 season because they came just before Bill Smith was removed from the general manager's job, and they ought to be included.

Gray is a knock-around reliever who has been in the majors with Oakland, the Cubs, the White Sox and Seattle. I'm not particularly enthused about him, and would expect that Vasquez and Lester Oliveros (and others) are ahead of him on the totem pole, but Gray is on the 40-man roster, so he's got a chance to make the team this spring.

When: Oct. 31, 2011
What: Claimed left-handed pitcher Matt Maloney off waivers from Cincinnati
Value: Has not pitched for the Twins
Motivation: Provides some depth for the starting rotation.

Maloney hasn't established himself as a major leaguer, and his stuff isn't all that impressive, but he's put up good numbers in Triple A. Maybe he's what's derisively known as a Quadruple A pitcher, but I suspect he'd be an improvement over Nick Blackburn if given a shot. Of course, Blackburn has two more years and some $10 million left on his contract, so he's got dibs on the rotation berth.

Notes, quotes and comments

Tony La Russa, flanked by Cardinals
owner Bill DeWitt Jr. (foreground) and
general manager John Mozelak,
walked away from the St. Louis
managerial job Monday.

Just about everyone was surprised Monday when Tony LaRussa announced his retirement. In retrospect, I'm not sure why.

Look at the photo to the left. TLR looks like an old and weary man. He's 67, he's been sick all season, he's been managing for 33 years, he just won a third World Series ...

Had LaRussa quit after last season — when Bobby Cox and Lou Piniella and Joe Torre walked away — I wouldn't have been surprised. So why should it be a shocker that he's decided he's done  now? Because he's 35 wins away from passing John McGraw on the all-times wins list?

He and Tom Kelly were mutual admirers, and I suspect he will, like  TK, have no trouble resisting efforts to coax him back into the dugout.

But then, I expected him back with the Cardinals in 2012.

---

The Cardinals have been one of the premier teams in the National League over the decades. The Senior Circuit has no Yankee monolith, but the Cards have an imposing record of titles since Branch Rickey invented the farm system in the 1920s and turned around their on-field fortunes.

There's been no shortage of Hall-of-Fame managers in the Cardinal uni over the decades — even leaving out player-managers Rogers Hornsby and Frankie Frisch (each of whom skippered the Redbirds to a World Series title), there are Billy Southworth, Bill McKechnie, Red Schoendienst (who made Cooperstown at least as much as a player as as manager), Whitey Herzog, Torre (who isn't in yet but will be) — and of course, LaRussa.

LaRussa worked 16 years in St. Louis, winning 1,408 games — almost 400 more than the next best, Schoendienst.

The greatest Cardinal manager? Absolutely LaRussa.

---

The Twins on Monday claimed a pair of marginal pitchers, Matt Maloney and Jeff Gray, off waivers. Both men have bounced between the majors and Triple A for three or four years, and neither is particularly promising; if they were, they wouldn't have been on waivers.

I will regard both as roster filler destined for Rochester until given reason to believe otherwise. That reason is probably more likely to come from Maloney than Gray, if only because Maloney is left-handed and has been a starter in the minors (with impressive walk/strikeout ratios but unimpressive K rates), while Gray is a righty reliever.