Gold Gloves, Tonk Out and RIP Doc

Both Byron Buxton and Brian Dozier were named winners of the Gold Glove Award on Tuesday.

Buxton, no question. Dozier, not so much. At risk of spoiling what I might comment on when my Handbook series gets to the Fielding Bible Awards section, Dozier wasn't in the top 10 of second basemen in that more-metric oriented approach. As the BIS-arranged voting has it, Ian Kinsler was by far the best fielding second baseman in the American League.

The Gold Gloves have a well-earned reputation for being swayed by a player's hitting, and Dozier has hit more than 100 homers over the past three seasons. Above-average defense and 30-plus homers a season makes him a very good player. But he's not really the best gloveman at his position, as Buxton is.

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The Twins sold Michael Tonkin to the Nippon Ham Fighters of Japanese baseball.

This clears another slot off the 40-man roster -- down now to 33 -- and gives Tonkin a better payday than he was going to get if he remained in the States. He'll get more than $2 million from the Fighters, who are expected to use him as their closer. (The team is owned by Nippon Ham; the name is not intended to imply that they are fighting hams.)

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Roy Halladay never pitched for the Twins, but he was for a decade one of the best pitchers in the game, and his death in a self-piloted plane crash Tuesday was the biggest news in baseball.

"Doc" Halladay was widely seen during his playing days as a likely Hall of Famer, but he didn't have the usual career path. His decline was brief and sudden, and his career totals (205 wins, 2,749 innings) are resultingly small for Cooperstown.

But his peak was longer than that of Johan Santana, his main rival for the title of Best Pitcher of the 2000s, and there are consensus enshrinees who essentially match Halladay's career totals -- Ed Walsh, Sandy Koufax, Rube Waddell, Dazzy Vance. And a few more dubious honorees.

He becomes eligible for the voting next winter -- I doubt the Hall will waive the five-year rule for him as it did for Roberto Clemente -- and his surprising death may perversely increase his chances of first ballot selection.

I think Halladay will eventually get in, and that's fine. I'm not sure he's a more deserving enshrinee than Mike Mussina or even Curt Schilling, but he should get in, sooner or later. Unfortunately, he won't get to be there to enjoy the honor.

Notes, quotes and comment

The #Twins still are undecided but now leaning towards passing on HS pitcher Hunter Greene and taking Louisville 1B Brendan McKay w 1st pick

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 15, 2017

No link, no indication of source. Noteworthy, however, for the identification of McKay not as a pitcher but as a first baseman.

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A few Twins roster moves of late that I hadn't noted:

Michael Tonkin passed through waivers Saturday, indicating that (unlike Danny Santana) nobody thought him worth a roster spot, and has been reassigned to Triple A Rochester. So he remains in the organization.

Normally retaining a player is better than losing him, but I fear that Tonkin's availability might result in him getting another opportunity over one of the younger relief prospects.

Engelb Vielma and Nick Gordon had been splitting time at shortstop and second base with each other at  Double A Chattanooga. Indeed, as of this morning the Lookouts team page at Baseball Reference had each with 19 games at short and 14 at second, an even split.

But Vielma has been moved up to Triple A after slashing ,286/.362/.328 for Jake Mauer's team. Gordon (.317.,380/.472) remains in Chatanooga. This presumably opens the door for each to revert to his usual shortstop position, probably more so for Gordon than Vielma.

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In all of American League history dating back to 1901, more games have now been played with the Designated Hitter Rule than without it.

— Bill James Online (@billjamesonline) May 15, 2017

The AL inflicted the DH rule on itself in 1973 (as my verb choice implies, I'm not a fan), so there are still fewer seasons with it than without, but the seasons are longer now than for most of the time pre-DH and there are more AL teams than pre-DH, so there are more games per year.

Up or Out: Michael Tonkin and the missed opportunity

The Twins swapped out another piece of the pitching staff over the weekend, dumping Michael Tonkin (designated for assignment) and restoring Justin Haley from the disabled list.

Michael Tonkin
gave up four
homers in 11
innings this year.

As noted in the Monday print column, Tonkin had more than a year in the major league bullpen, a period of extreme disruption in that bullpen, and never managed to seize a role greater than mop-up/long relief. Remember: The Twins came north last year with Glen Perkins, Kevin Jepsen, Trevor May and Casey Fien as the four late inning arms. None made it through the full season with the Twins, and two two (Perkins and May) are on the 60-day DL and the other two are not on 40-man rosters.

Brandon Kintzler, Ryan Pressley, Tayor Rogers -- they all took advantage of the opportunity created by the upheaval. Tonkin did not.

The "up or out" system, used in a variety of endeavors, is effectively at practice here. The role Tonkin held for seven months or so is essentially an entry-level position. Nobody is expected to make a career at mopup work. A young pitcher gets called up and tested in it; he succeeds or fails; he moves into a more prominent role or departs.

Haley is a Rule 5 selection, and the mopup/long-man role is basically designed for Rule 5 pitchers. Tonkin missed his opportunity. Now it belongs to Haley, and it will be up or out for him as well. His ninth inning struggles Sunday (three hits and a walk in a third of an inning) didn't matter in the context of the game, which was already lost; they do matter in terms of building his resume to move into a more significant role.

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.

Notes, quotes and comment

Well, it didn't take long to find out who the new long man in the Twins bullpen is. Tyler Duffey didn't get out of the third inning in Fenway (the Red Sox can do that to a pitcher), and Michael Tonkin was the first man out. He got as many outs as Duffey did (seven) and yielded five fewer runs.

Trevor May got two innings in, and didn't fare all that well (three hits, four runs). I keep talking about switching him back to the rotation, but right now I suspect there's still something physically wrong with him.

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I highly recommend this piece from David Ortiz about his early days with the Twins today on the Players Tribune site. I almost hate to link to it because I'm sure I'm going to steal some of these stories for the Sunday Funnies this offseason, and why spoil the jokes now?

Well, because Ortiz has a serious point to make early on about Latin players and the cultural-language gap.

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Advance warning for those of you who visit this site daily expecting to see something new. Not happening Saturday. If the Twins make a trade Friday (or Saturday) I'll comment on it here Monday. I already have the Monday print column written (on the firing of Terry Ryan) and a Pic of the Week lined up to post Sunday morning, but I'm traveling this weekend and have decided to forgo packing the laptop.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?

Thoughts from the weekend

A happier image for the Twins than in yesterday's post:
Oswaldo Arcia and interviewer Marney Gellner get doused
by Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario after Arcia's game-winner.

A few comments after the Twins swept the Angels during the weekend:

* The late-inning bullpen work was part of the problem in the nine-game losing streak that opened the Twins season. But on Sunday Kevin Jepsen and Trevor May had strong one-inning outings, and Casey Fien/Ryan O'Rourke combined for a hitless inning.

Perhaps the revelation was Michael Tonkin, who overpowered Mike Trout and Albert Pujols (and others) in his two-innings stint. Tonkin essentially made the roster out of camp because he was out of options. Sunday was just his third outing, and he looked, for once, like a pitcher who could dominate the International League (which he did last season).

I'm not forecasting an immediate role promotion for Tonkin. But what I've long called the Greg McMichael Rule always applies: Get outs and theyll find a role for you.

*Oswaldo Arcia hit the go-ahead homer on Saturday and got the game-winner on Sunday -- and went opposite field on both. I suspect he hasn't had two hits to left field in the same month previously. (And he had another left-field hit on Sunday.)

Terry Ryan on Arcia from the gamer by the  Pioneer Press' Mike Berardino:

“I guess I have to keep reminding myself that lad is still 24,” Ryan said. “It seems like he’s 34, he’s been around so long. Maybe I have to make sure everybody else remembers it as well.”

Well, yeah.  I was ready to discard Arcia during the offseason. And, to be blunt, it takes more than a good weekend to discard the label I'd put on him from three seasons' exposure. Maybe he's figured it out. And maybe he'll revert to the pull-happy defensive butcher he's been in the past.

The Twins have plenty of outfielders to pick from. Arcia this weekend put himself back in the running for playing time.

* Trevor Plouffe left the game with what was deemed a strained intercostal muscle. Supposedly he's day-to-day, but these things have a tendency to linger.

Whether Plouffe is out two games or two weeks, do not expect Miguel Sano to start at third. The big guy hasn't taken grounders there since winter ball. He's an outfielder now. I'm not saying he's a good outfielder now, but he wasn't a good third baseman either, and the Twins are not going to yo-yo him back and forth.

Here's an issue, however: if Plouffe stays on the active roster but can't play, there Twins now have no backup infielder. Presumably Eduardo Nunez will play third, but the four-man bench will be Plouffe, the backup catcher and two outfielders. Sano and Eddie Rosario have infield experience. If something happens, somebody will have to play second or third.

Tonk. In. For now

Like Danny Santana and Oswaldo Arcia, Michael Tonkin is out of options. Also akin to Santana and Arcia, Tonkin made the opening day roster.

Michael Tonkin will be stretched out to be a long reliever

— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) March 30, 2016

I'm not sure this is a particularly good fit for Tonkin's specific skill set, but

• there are no short relief jobs available
• there is no obvious long man among the seven bullpenners and
• he's low man on the totem pole, so he gets the scut work until he proves he deserves a more pivotal role.

My guess, to be blunt, is that he'll be waived before the end of April. Or DL'd if it turns out he can't physically handle going through the entire order.

Tonkin has been up-and-down with the Twins for three years, with five separate callups in 2015 alone. My theory on why the Twins have been so reluctant to give Tonkin a real opportunity in the majors: He's as awkward as I've seen in pitchers fielding practice in spring training.

That sounds minor, but managers and pitching coaches will (and should) always be wary of the guys who beat themselves. Tonkin is a tall (6-7) guy who, in my scattered viewing of PFP over years, tends to muff bunts and throw balls into the dirt when throwing to bases. Managers know they're going to lose some games, but they particularly hate to lose them because a pitcher threw a ball down the right field line with two on in the eighth inning. Paul Molitor (and Ron Gardenhire before him) watches the PFPs pretty intently; if Tonkin messes up two plays a day, that's going to stick with them.

Oh what a relief it is

Trevor May's batting
average allowed as
a starter in 2015 was
.290, as a reliever .250.

Some notable things are happening in regards to the Twins opening bullpen these days.

First: Trevor May was told Wednesday by Paul Molitor that he's going to open 2016 in the bullpen.

This is hardly a surprise. As I saw it months ago, May ranks behind seven other starters -- Ervin Santana, Phil Hughes, Kyle Gibson, Tyler Duffey and Tommy Milone, the five who comprised the rotation down the stretch last year, plus the well-paid Ricky Nolasco and prize prospect Jose Berrios.

Terry Ryan insisted Wednesday that the Twins still view May as a future starter; it's just that he fits better on this staff as a reliever. And maybe May will be a starter, but I'm pretty sure of this: He won't get that chance if the Twins keep throwing eight-figure salaries at veteran starters.

Second: Michael Tonkin had a rough outing Wednesday night. Given the ninth inning against the Red Sox with a seven-run lead, the lanky righty struggled to get out of the inning. There was a misplay behind him, and a dribbler for an infield hit, and he did strike out two men, but there was also a drive over the right fielder's head and a hit batter and a lot of pitches. 

Tonkin is out of options. He's making it easy for the Twins to decide to expose him to waivers. 

Third: Tonight's exhibition game (at Sarasota against the Orioles) is going to be a bullpen game. 

at BAL: Rogers, Pressly, Abad, Graham, Meyer, Darnell, O'Rourke. #MNTwins

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) March 17, 2016

That's a collection of arms on the bubble, including four lefties (Rogers, Abad, Darnell, O'Rourke). Hughes and May will stay in Fort Myers and pitch in a minor league game on a side field. Which makes sense. They are getting ready for the season. The guys going to Sarasota tonight are pitching for jobs.

No Berrios, at least for now

The first wave of September callups were notified Monday in Rochester after the Red Wings' game, and they are guys we've seen before. Kenny Vargas. Danny Santana. Michael Tonkin, A.J. Achter. Eric Fryer.

Not included was Jose Berrios, who started Monday for the Wings. This spurred some consternation on my Twitter feed Monday night, but I can't see any reason to be riled up about it.

Realistically, they aren't calling up a 21-year-old who is already well above his previous high in innings to displace a (healthy) veteran in the rotation in a playoff push. It doesn't make sense in developing Berrios, and the risk outweighs the rewards. (Tyler Duffey is not a veteran, but the Twins obviously think he's ahead of Berrios.) Nor is there a immediate need for Berrios in the bullpen. The late inning guys are doing well, and there's little immediate payoff in long relief.

And even if the Twins do have a role for Berrios, hes not going to pitch for at least four days anyway.

Two other Rochester players whose absence is notable but not surprising: Oswaldo Arcia and Alex Meyer. Neither earned it.

As for the guys who did get the callup, none (my opinions) should be major pieces in the stretch run. Santana put up good numbers for Rochester as a hitter, but he was also charged with a pair of errors Monday. The Twins were pretty consistent in Santana's previous stints with the big club this year -- if he was here, he was the No. 1 shortstop. I hope they stick with Eduardo Escobar now, but I won't guarantee it.

Vargas and Fryer will make it easier to pinch hit for a catcher. Vargas to pinch hit, Fryer for catching depth. Tonkin and Achter will eat meaningless innings.

The Twins do have a move yet to make, because Fryer is not on the 40-man roster and the roster is full. So somebody has to come off. I wouldn't be surprised if they move J.R. Graham to the 60-day DL and end his season

12 pitchers and Santanas in waiting

Michael Tonkin
is back on the
Rochester shuttle.

The Twins demoted relief pitcher Michael Tonkin after Wednesday's game and will bring up an additional hitter before resuming play Friday in Milwaukee. Six games in National League parks, which means six games without the DH, which means more pinch-hitters are likely to be needed.

This is the first time in a month or so that the Twins have pared the pitching staff down to 12 arms. Beleaguered lefties Brian Duensing (8.22 ERA for the season) and Aaron Thompson (5.40) remain, although to what purpose is uncertain, Duensing hasn't been used in a win since June 4. Thompson's June ERA is 15.42, and six of the last eight men to face him have gotten hits or walks.

It may be that the hitter the Twins bring up today will go back down when Ervin Santana comes off his suspension nine games from now, but that would mean not only returning to a 13-man staff (plausible) but moving one of the current starters to the bullpen (less so).

But that's a problem to solve next week. Today the Twins have to settle on a bat to bring up, and it will presumably be somebody already on the 40-man roster. While they have an open slot on the 40, that's earmarked for Santana.

Position players on the 40 but not now on the 25-man roster:

Oswaldo Arcia, Doug Bernier, Aaron Hicks (DL), Max Kepler, Josmil Pinto, Jorge Polanco, Miguel Sano, Danny Santana.

Pinto would be a reasonable pinch-hitter choice, but as far as I know he's still sidelined by his concussion issues. Arcia, after 22 games in Rochester, is hitting .192/.233/.295; he's not coming up. Kepler and Sano, both in Double A, have strong call-up cases, but I don't think the Twins are bringing either up for a reserve role. Hicks is to start a rehab assignment in Triple A Friday and still has a few days he has to spend on the DL anyway.

My guess: Santana. He played a game in the outfield the other day for Rochester, which might mean something in this context. He's hitting .308/.343/.492. If Paul Molitor sticks him back at shortstop, Eduardo Nunez either plays outfield or becomes a pinch hit option. The same set of possibilities exist for Polanco or Bernier, but Santana is probably higher on the totem pole than either of them.

Goodbye, Stauffer (and other notes)

Tim Stauffer was designated for assignment after Wednesday's game, with Michael Tonkin recalled to take his place.

This is essentially what I expected the Twins to do last month when Casey Fien came off the disabled list. Instead, they shipped Tonkin back to Triple A and kept the veteran around without any real purpose. Stauffer pitched five times since coming off the disabled list May 21, and last appeared on June 6. Paul Molitor really didn't want to use him in a winnable game, and I can't blame the manager for that.

The odd thing, really, is that the argument for having Stauffer on the roster is better right now than it has been at anytime since spring training began. He hit camp with diminished velocity, and now he's almost back to his accustomed speed.

Not that the argument for Stauffer was ever that good. His 3.87 career ERA before coming to the Twins was greatly enhanced by the San Diego park (career ERA in Petco Park: 3.07) and the lack of the DH in the National League. He never should have been signed to a guaranteed contract.

Recalling Tonkin keeps the Twins at 13 pitchers. One has to wonder if the Twins will ever get back to 12 pitchers and if so, which one gets the ax? Neither Aaron Thompson nor Brian Duensing would seem to have that firm a grip on their jobs, but they are left-handed, and I suspect Molitor would rather have two LOOGYs than one.

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Josmil Pinto went on the concussion disabled list for Triple A Rochester. The catcher/DH (or maybe it's the other way around) suffered a concussion in spring training, and even though he passed the protocol and was cleared to play, there's been a suspicion that he was still feeling the effects. It's unclear is there's a specific incident that led to this sidelining, or if this is the spring training injury remanifesting itself.

Either way, this is not good for Pinto.

The roster shuffle

Tommy Milone starts
today, but we don't
yet know who leaves
the active roster
to make room for him.

Between Monday's rainout, Wednesday's resultant doubleheader and the mystery of Ricky Nolasco's ankle, the Twins are in another period of roster instability.

There was another noteworthy roster move unrelated to the rainout or Nolasco's uncertainity, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Michael Tonkin -- who in my opinion ought to be on the roster anyway -- got a one-day reprieve from last week's demotion to serve as the 26th man for Wednesday's twin bill. He appeared in the day game, gave up a homer, and now returns to Rochester. As I understand the rainout roster expansion rule, the emergency callup cannot remain.

Tommy Milone -- he of the one earned run allowed in five Triple A starts -- is to be added to the roster and start today. Kyle Gibson gets his start pushed back to Friday. Nolasco is tentatively scheduled to start Saturday, but that depends on how his troublesome ankle responds to a scheduled bullpen session today. If he is deemed able to go Saturday, somebody else has to go to make room for Milone on the roster. If Nolasco goes on the DL, the question of how Milone fits on the 25-man roster is answered, but Saturday becomes a "bullpen game." Which has been known to be the case with Nolasco starts anyway.

Nolasco is said to be resistant to another stint on the disabled list, and I don't blame him. But I don't like the other choices for fitting Milone on the active roster or in the rotation. Shelving Nolasco is the simplest solution. The other routes are more complicated.

Then there's the Oswaldo Arcia move announced between games Wednesday. The slugger was officially activated off the disabled list and optioned to Triple A Rochester, where he's been on a rehab assignment and struggling at the plate.

The Twins didn't have to make that move Wednesday -- there's still time on Arcia's rehab clock -- so it raised some eyebrows. But it fit my view that the Twins are now serious about outfield defense, and that part of that emphasis involves not having a set DH. Arcia remains a poor fielder, and, as with Kennys Vargas, there's only part-time at-bats available at DH. With all the pitchers on the roster, the bench guys have to have some defensive role.

In that view, Arcia simply doesn't fit. There's another factor to this timing, however, one that doesn't involve fidelity to the notion of outfield defense. Arcia's option clock is now started, He can be recalled in 10 days, If the Twins actually want to bring him back soon but deemed him unlikely to be ready when his rehab eligibility expired, optioning him now quickens when he can return to the big club.

Notes, quotes and comment

Tim Stauffer has
a job but not a role
in an eight-man bullpen.

Good: Casey Fien was activated from the disabled list Friday. A healthy Fien is an asset to the Twins relief corps.

Bad: Michael Tonkin, dubbed "the Strand Man" by the Pioneer Press's Mike Berardino, was sent back to Rochester. Tonkin has a rather odd set of stats: just seven innings in 11 appearances, and a 5.14 ERA while stranding 10 of 13 runners. Basically, Paul Molitor was using Tonkin for one or two outs with men on base. Tonkin entered five games in save situations and departed having held the lead all five times. In short, he had a useful role.

Worse: Tim Stauffer remains on the roster, to what purpose none can tell. He came off the disabled list a week ago after several ineffective rehab appearances and went unused until getting a one-out mopup appearance Friday. Which is understandable, since the Twins were winning games, and Stauffer has done nothing -- in spring training, in the regular season, on rehab -- to make anybody believe that he can help.

Keeping Stauffer over Tonkin suggests Terry Ryan and Co. are more concerned with getting something for the $2.2 million the veteran will be paid this year than with giving Molitor a useful relief pitcher. It's a regrettable decision.

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Baseball America issued Mock Draft 4.0 on Friday. Unlike the previous three attempts, this one does not project the Twins taking Dez Cameron with the No. 6 overall pick. That's because they now project the Houston Astros to take the son of former Gold Glove center fielder Mike Cameron with the fifth overall pick.

The current projection is another prep outfielder, Kyle Tucker of Tampa.

There have been reports elsewhere that Cameron's asking price has discouraged the Twins, but BA says Cameron remains the team's "chosen target."

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I am an unabashed admirer of Mark Buehrle, pitcher of baseballs. Friday he gave up four runs in the first inning and the Twins hit everything hard. Then he faced the minimum in the next eight innings.

Kenny Rogers, another lefty who won far more games than one would imagine possible with so little velocity, pitched one year for the Twins, 2003, going 13-8 in 195 innings. Time and again I heard him say in postgame interviews: I'm not afraid to go out there with nothing. Buehrle could say the same thing.

Buehrle got career win 205 Friday. (Rogers retired with 219.) They didn't all come against the Twins, but it sure feels like it.

The same OLD story on the roster

Michael Tonkin
was pretty quickly
eliminated from the
bullpen discussion.

I commented the other day, in connection with the removal of Lester Oliveros and Stephen Pryor from the Twins 40-man roster, that the clock is ticking for them.

It is, as well, for Ryan Pressly and Michael Tonkin, two other relievers who didn't make the 25-man roster while the 30-something likes of Tim Stauffer and Blaine Boyer did.

One of my core thoughts about this season is that the Twins need to stop looking for reasons not to use the kids and start looking for reasons to use them.

Tonkin is 25, his major league ERA (admittedly in just 30-plus innings) is 3.26 with a walk/strikeout ratio of 9/26, and his Triple A numbers last year were strong. Pressly is 26, with a major league ERA of 3.60 in 105 innings, and he too had a good year in Triple A.

But it's back to the bushes for them while the old guys with no upside have jobs. I don't get it. I really don't.

Aaron Gleeman has pointed out that there are only four players on the likely 25-man roster age 25 or younger: Kennys Vargas, Danny Santana, J.R. Graham and Oswaldo Arcia. Keep this in mind as you hear Bert Blyleven tell you what a young team this is: It isn't young. It certainly isn't as young as it ought to be, considering the miserable record of the past four seasons and the highly touted state of the farm system.

It's quite possible that neither Pressly nor Tonkin is destined to be a standout reliever. I'm not as high on either of them as I am on the Nick Burdi-J.T. Chargois-Jake Reed-Zach Jones quartet of fireballers. None of those four got major league camp invites; none has cracked Double A yet, two are coming off injuries, two only turned pro last June. They're not high enough on the Twins totem pole.

In my more cynical moments, I assume that Pressly and Tonkin are being kept around to be a reason not to try one of the younger guys, just as Stauffer and Boyer are reasons not to use Pressly and Tonkin.

Any totem pole that puts Tim Stauffer above Michael Tonkin, much less Nick Burdi, needs to be torn down.

The September call-ups

Doug Bernier, who
spent half the 2013
season with the Twins,
was named MVP of
the 2014 Red Wings.

The Twins on Monday morning announced eight callups for the expanded September roster, names familiar and otherwise: A.J. Achter, Doug Bernier, Logan Darnell, Chris Herrmann, Aaron Hicks, Lester Oliveros, Josmil Pinto and Michael Tonkin. They were all with Triple A Rochester, which was eliminated Sunday from playoff contention, and will join the Twins today.

As surmised here earlier, three of them -- Achter, Bernier and Oliveros -- had to be added to the 40-man roster. Of the eight -- nine if you want to count Aaron Thompson, called up during the weekend -- only Achter has never appeared in the majors before.

This collection is heavy with minor league veterans and light on true prospects.The Twins did not call up anybody who is to be first-time eligible for the Rule 5 draft and thus likely to be added to the 40 early in the offseason. That would include Eddie Rosario, who didn't play well enough this year to be rewarded with a month of major league pay and perks but is too good a prospect to expose, and Alex Meyer, who went on the minor league disabled list during the weekend.

Lester Oliveros
will audition this
month for a bullpen
role next year.

The most interesting of the nine, as I look to 2015, are Hicks, Oliveros and Tonkin.

Hicks needs to have a strong September, as I see it. He's twice won jobs in spring training only to flop in the regular season, and I can't see a good reason for the Twins to let him do that a third time.

Oliveros and Tonkin are a pair of hard-throwing righties, either of whom might be a successor to Jared Burton (whose contract is expiring) in a set-up role next year. Oliveros, as you might recall, came to the Twins in the Delmon Young trade in 2011; he's had some injury issues and has returned from Tommy John surgery. (Achter might be put in this group, but his stuff is a notch behind the others.)

Chris Herrmann hit
.304 for Rochester
but just .143 with
the Twins.

Darnell and Thompson are showcasing themselves as potential replacements for Brian Duensing and Caleb Thielbar as lefty specialists.

Pinto and Herrmann ... I think their purpose is to lighten the load on Kurt Suzuki, who has taken a beating behind the plate in recent days. Theoretically either could push out Eric Fryer as the backup catcher in 2015, but Fryer is the superior receiver, and a reliable backstop seems to be Ron Gardenhire's preference in that role. (Assuming, of course, that Gardy is back next year.)

Herrmann would have a better chance at a backup job with a manager inclined to use the backup catcher in platoon situations -- meaning, to look to give Suzuki his days off against right-handed pitchers and fit the left-handed Herrmann in then. Gardenhire is not such a manager.

Two puzzling call-ups

Shairon Martis is 26
now, but he pitched
in the majors for
Washington at ages
21 and 22.

The Rochester Red Wings were eliminated Sunday in the International League playoffs, which (a) concluded the season for the Twins minor league teams and (b) freed up the Twins to make the rest of their September call-ups.

Seven players got the call for the season's final three weeks or so: Pitchers Scott Diamond, Cole De Vries, Michael Tonkin and Shairon Martis; infielders Eduardo Escobar and Chris Parmelee; and catcher Eric Fryer.

Most of these were pretty obvious. Diamond, demoted for his ineffectiveness, went 4-0, 2.41 for Rochester and won his playoff start. De Vries, his season wrecked by a spring training injury, got it going late. Escobar, who had no previous history of hitting well, went .307/.380/.500 for the Red Wings; it wasn't a lot of at-bats (188 plate appearances), but that's a mighty attractive slash line for a middle infielder. Tonkin has a very real chance to be a bullpen factor next season.

And some are a bit surprising. Parmelee, for example: a .231/.318/.370 line for a first baseman-right fielder doesn't scream for his recall. I wonder how much playing time he's going to get; I wonder if this isn't his last chance to impress somebody.

Martis had a 4.26 ERA in 80 innings, mostly in middle relief; I doubt there's much there.

Eric Fryer gives
the Twins four
active catchers
going on five.

And Fryer ... he hit an unimpressive .215/.339/.365. The Twins already had three active catchers in Ryan Doumit, Chris Herrmann and Josmil Pinto — and Joe Mauer supposedly making progress in his recovery from his concussion. When Mauer returns, this gives the Twins five catchers. Even granting that several of those five can do other things than catch, that's a lot. I understand that Gene Glynn, the Rochester manager, really likes Fryer, but on the surface, there's simply no way Fryer rates with the other four.

My guess is that the Twins know they won't give either Martis or Fryer spots on their 40-man roster this winter, but they really want to retain the two as minor league free agents. (The Twins created the 40-man berths for them by putting Wilkin Ramirez and Sam Deduno on the 60-day disabled list; the other five were already on the 40.) This September call-up is, in effect, a bonus for them for being good organization guys in Triple A. A few more weeks of service time, some major league pay, a gesture of appreciation.

Minor (league) stuff

Byron Buxton, the consensus top prospect in the minors.

The games resume today! The games resume today!

But before that:

Prospect rankings: A couple of notable prospect watchers delivered their revised mid-season top prospects lists Thursday.

Keith Law of ESPN put Bryon Buxton No.1 and Miguel Sano No. 4. Law also ranked new first-round pick Kohl Stewart No. 30, Alex Meyer 38 and Eddie Rosario 41. Law's midseason list goes to 50, so the Twins represent 10 percent of it.

Law, unlike Baseball America (whose midseason list I discussed here), included new draftees in this ranking. Stewart has barely pitched in pro ball (three games and eight innings in the GCL), so ranking him ahead of Meyer seems a bit aggressive, but we know he's talented.

John Sickels' list goes to 75, and, like Baseball America, doesn't include the 2013 draft class. He puts Buxton No. 1 and Sano No. 3 (mirroring BA's ranking to that extent at least). He has Meyer at 51 and Rosario at 56.

Tonkin back in minors: A week ago I speculated on ways the Twins could make room for relief prospect Michael Tonkin. They didn't bother; when Caleb Thielbar came off the bereavement list, Tonkin was returned to Rochester.

He'll be back. I understand the reluctance to (potentially) prematurely drop one of the current pitchers; I'm also quite certain that Tonkin is going to be a significant bullpen arm in the near future, and I suspect he'd be an immediate improvement over Josh Roenicke.

Making room for Michael Tonkin

Michael Tonkin:
Four batters, four outs.

Michael Tonkin, who tore through the Twins farm system the past year-and-a-half, made his major league debut in fine fashion Thursday. He came in after Josh Roenicke laid an egg in the seventh inning to strike out Evan Longoria, then followed that with a perfect eighth inning.

Tonkin is up right now because fellow rookie Caleb Thielbar is back in Minnesota for his grandmother's funeral. But when Tonkin was brought up, he was told he may stick. Thursday's outing certainly gives the Twins no reason to ship him back to Rochester.

But if they keep Tonkin in the majors, somebody else has to go. The bullpen has been probably the strongest part of a weak team, but it's getting bedraggled from overwork. There's no real shortage of slumping relievers, but there is a shortage of relievers easily sent to the minors.

Roenicke is an example. His ERA has risen from 2.81 after his appearance on June 19 to 3.76 now — nine appearances, 6.1 innings, six runs. For the season, Roenicke has struck out 25 — and walked 21, a lousy ratio. But Roenicke is out of options; as with P.J. Walters, he would have to clear waivers and removed from the 40-man roster to be sent to the minors.

Ryan Pressly's ERA over the past 28 days is 6.39. But as a Rule 5 guy, he has roster restrictions — and at age 24, he has more of a future than the 30-year-old Roenicke. I'd hate to see the Twins give up on Pressly.

Brian Duensing, who lost the job as lefty set-up man to Thielbar, has seen his ERA soar to 4.86. I'm not sure of his option status, but even if the Twins are at liberty to send him down, I don't know how eager they are to pay his $1.3 million salary to pitch at Rochester.

The other guys in the bullpen — Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Anthony Swarzak, Casey Fien, Theilbar  — are not serious candidates to lose their jobs.

My conclusion: If Tonkin stays (and he probably should), the guy he should replace is Roenicke.

Filling out the 40

The Twins entered Tuesday with 32 players on their 40-man roster. They closed Tuesday -- the deadline for moving minor leaguers to the major-league roster -- with all 40 slots filled.

This surprised me. I expected them to leave slots open to fill via trade or free agent signings; I didn't see eight guys who needed to be protected.

Filling the roster now doesn't rule out future moves. It just means that if the Twins sign a free agent to a major league deal, they'll have to take somebody off the roster. It does hint that the Twins are unlikely to delve into the Rule V draft next month.

The promotions: Kyle Gibson and Aaron Hicks were givens. Michael Tonkin, right-handed relief pitcher, had a big year in A ball — 97 strikeouts in 69.1 innings — and followed it up with a good run in the Arizona Fall League; as a reliever, he was a likely Rule V target if left off the roster. The others, as I see them, weren't:

• Daniel Santana, an infielder of whom I wrote last week, struck me as a marginal roster choice even if he is in fact the best shortstop prospect in the system; I can't see anybody taking him in Rule V and keeping him in the majors all season.
• B.J. Hermsen is a RH starter who doesn't walk or strike out many. Spent most of last year at Double A. The Twins certainly need starters, but the low strikeout rate suggests he isn't an answer.
• Tim Wood, RH reliever, is a curious story. He had a big year in Triple A for Pittsburgh, who decided they had no use for him anyway; the Twins signed him to a minor-league deal earlier this month, and now have put him on the 40. Perhaps there was enough competition for him as a free agent that the Twins feared he'd be snatched up in Rule V. (This happened to them in 2008 with R.A. Dickey.)
• Caleb Thielbar is a LH reliever. A Minnesota native who went to South Dakota State, he opened last season in High A and ended in Triple A, putting up good to decent numbers at each level. Numbers fell off when he hit Triple A. He turns 26 in January. Being left-handed certainly helps his stock.
• Josmil Pinto, a catcher, was named to Baseball America's High A postseason all-star team. His strong 2012 followed an unimpressive 2011. Maybe somebody would have taken him in Rule V and carried him as a backup catcher all year, but I doubt it. Turns 24 in March.

The bulleted five are probably marginal prospects. Maybe Santana and/or Pinto can develop into major league regulars, but they aren't going to do so in 2013. I would have thought the flexibility of one or more open roster spots would be worth the risk of exposing some of them to Rule V predation. Obviously, the Twins didn't see it that way.