Notes, quotes and comment

When I composed Wednesday's off-the-cuff assessment of the Cleveland Indians, I hadn't seen this item on how Terry Francona intends to deploy his defense.

In a nutshell: Michael Bourn in center, Drew Stubbs in right, Nick Swisher at first, Mark Reynolds as the primary DH and Carlos Santana at catcher.

Francona hasn't seen all that much of Santana behind the plate, and it's possible that once he has, he'll rethink that plan. Or perhaps he's not as concerned about defense from his catcher as predecessor Manny Acta was. Acta found plenty of reasons/opportunity to have Lou Marson catch, with Santana at first base or designated hitter. Francona apparently intends to handle Santana differently.

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Elliot Johnson, one of the two shortstops DFA'd by Tampa Bay, went to the Kansas City Royals as the player-to-be-named in the James Shields deal.

That's an unusual PTN. Usually they're minor leaguers. Seldom are they players with appreciable major league service time. Anyway, one of the two out of the way, one to go.

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Rich Harden, the talented but oft-injured pitcher the Twins signed to a minor league deal this winter, was one of the first to take a bullpen session when camp officially opened Wednesday in Fort Meyers, Fla. He later told the writers that he was at about 80 to 85 percent of his arm strength -- which isn't particularly worrisome, as no pitchers should be ramping it up yet -- and that he hasn't felt this good in six years.

Harden didn't pitch at all in 2012 after extensive shoulder surgery. One wishes to be optimistic about him, but his track record is riddled with injury and disappointment, and shoulder damage is notoriously difficult to come back from. On the plus side, the Twins aren't really counting on him, so anything they get is to the good.

It's too soon to tell if he's going to pay off or add to the medical bills, and too soon to know what role he would play if healthy. I've assumed all along that he's a starting candidate, but there is considerable chatter about a bullpen role for him.

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Crowded camp indeed: The Twins have three extra players in camp -- non roster guys who aren't official invitees, but who are there to get ready for their participation in the World Baseball Classic: Left-handed pitcher Andrew Albers (Canada), right-handed pitcher J.O. Berrios (Puerto Rico) and second baseman/outfielder Eddie Rosario (Puerto Rico).

Rosario's time in camp may be interesting. The Twins, of course, are trying to turn him into a second baseman. He played mainly outfield in winter ball, however, and will be an outfielder for Puerto Rico in the WBC. I wonder if the Twins will try to work him at second while he's with the major league staff, or if they'll let him focus on the outfield he'll be playing in the tournament.

More Twins pitching developments

Rich Harden has a career record of 59-38, 3.78, most
it coming with the Oakland Athletics.

Friday had a number of developments on the pitching front for the Twins, but little of the activity seems likely to mean much, Let's look:

Diamond has elbow surgery: The team announced Scott Diamond had a bone chip removed from his left elbow on Tuesday.

The view here is that minor surgery is a procedure that happens to someone else, but this is a rather low-risk operation, and Diamond is expected to be ready for spring training in roughly two months. He won't, however, pitch for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic, which probably disappoints him.

The Twins sign Rich Harden: It's a minor league deal with spring training invite, so the Twins aren't staking a whole lot on him. Which is good, because his history is that he's not going to pitch a whole lot.

Harden has only qualified for the ERA title once (2004) and last pitched effectively in 2009. He didn't pitch at all in 2012. How much, if anything, he has left at age 31 is to be seen.

He goes into the non-roster invitee pile with much of last September's rotation, but my guess is that, unlike the other three I listed Friday, Harden either will make the major-league team or be released. If he can pitch, there's no point in wasting his innings in Rochester.

Francisco Liriano to join Pirates: And so much for the notion that the Twins might bring back the enigmatic southpaw.

While there will always be some residual affection for "Franchise," this is probably for the best. The Twins never found a way to connect his stuff to the strike zone. Neither could Don Cooper, the esteemed ptiching coach for the White Sox.

If he finds himself in Pittsburgh, good for him and good for the Pirates. It seems time to stop imagining that it was going to happen in Minnesota.

Who needs Rich Harden, part II

Tragic number after Tuesday's game: 10. Tigers and Twins both won.

At the end of July there was a great deal of speculation that the Twins were about to make a waiver deal for Rich Harden. The trade did not come to fruition, and — if you care to put credence in the public statements of Jim Hendry, the Cubs general manager — never was seriously considered.

The rotation spot that would have gone to Harden is being filled now by Jeff Manship (above).

Manship has now made four starts and has lived up to the public evaluations of the Twins management — he's not ready to pitch in the majors, but he's the best available option right now. He went five innings in his first start, and hasn't gone that deep since. On Tuesday, he got all of seven outs, giving up five hits and four runs.

And yet, the Twins are 3-1 in Manship's starts.

That's a credit not to Manship, whose ERA as a starter is now 6.89, but to the lineup and the bullpen. Harden, by the way, has pitched all of 12 innings this month. At last word, he may start again in the final week, or he may not. He is not, and should not be expected to be, an innings eater. Which is relevant because the only damage Manship can be argued to have done to the Twins divisional chances is straining the bullpen.

If the Twins fail to win this divisional title — and the odds are against them — the decision not to deal for Rich Harden is not to blame.

Addendum: Manship is scheduled to start Sunday in Kansas City. His likely mound opponent: Zach Grienke, who is only the best pitcher in the league. It figures to be a tough matchup for any of the starters.

Who needs Rich Harden?

Had the Twins traded for Rich Harden, as was much imagined/desired/dreamed of during the weekend, he would have started Tuesday's game against the White Sox, not Jeff Manship.

Had Harden pitched Tuesday against the White Sox as he did on Monday against the Houston Astros — five innings, five runs allowed — the Twins probably lose that game.

Manship only went five innings too, but he had an excuse; he's been pitching garbage relief since he got called up from Triple A Rochester almost three weeks ago. He didn't get the "W," but the Twins did, and he darn well ought to get another start. Five innings of one-run ball was everything the Twins could have hoped for.

And four runs better than Harden did the night before for the Cubbies.

This is not to say that Manship is better than Harden. It is to say that sample size matters, and when you're only dealing with five or six starts — or one start — there's no guarantee that reputation and established ability will win out.

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Jose Morales — No. 58 in the celebration photo above — is the second Jose Morales to be a reserve catcher/pinch hitter for the Twins.

The first one was a favorite of Gene Mauch, both in Montreal and then in Minnesota, and was a catcher in name only. What he really was was a specialist, a right-handed bat who could come off the bench cold and hit line drives. He appeared in 733 games in 12 seasons, 1973-84; 486 of them were as a pinch hitter and 265 others were as a DH.

As a pinch hitter, Jose Morales 1.0 hit .276; his 123 career pinch hits is eighth all-time.

Now we have Jose Morales 2.0. This one's a switch hitter, and a more reliable defensive catcher than 1.0 (which isn't saying a whole lot). He has been shuttled between Minnesota and Rochester, and has now four pinch hits in 10 tries.

None of them bigger than Tuesday night's game winner. Kid can hit.

No Penny, no Harden, no nothing

After all that speculation, the Twins didn't make a deal for Rich Harden and didn't put in a claim on Brad Penny, who became a free agent and is almost certainly headed to the easier National League.

This leaves the Twins with a rotation of Scott Baker (good), Carl Pavano (less good), Nick Blackburn (mediocre), Brian Duensing (effective beyond reason so far) and a grab bag of minor leaguers, bullpen arms and perhaps injury returnees. Last week the grab bag meant Armando Gabino; on Tuesday, it means Jeff Manship. Next week, who knows?

And you know what? I'm not broken hearted over this. Penny has a 5.61 ERA with the Red Sox for a reason, and it follows a 6.28 ERA last year for the Dodgers. He may not be any real improvement over Gabino or Manship.

Harden's a much better pitcher, but the question with him isn't if he'll get hurt, it's when. He's had seven DL stints since 2005. A pitcher acquired now figures to make six regular season starts, max; Harden, even assuming he makes all six starts, would hardly have meant six guaranteed wins, any more than the grab bag approach means six guaranteed losses. (The Twins did, after all, win Gabino's one start.)

We don't know exactly what the Cubs wanted for Harden, but it was always assumed to be a steep asking price, and thus always seemed a long shot to happen. The Twins at this moment — after the Tigers' Monday loss, before the start of the Twins-White Sox game — are four games out. That's a big margin to overcome on the basis of one rotation slot's six starts. Had the Twins won a couple more of those eminently winnable games since the All-Star break, giving up key prospects for Harden trade have been justifiable.

If the Twins are going to make up those four games on the Tigers, they're going to need somebody to step up the way Baker and Duensing have. Tonight is Blackburn's next chance to start being that somebody.

Bunto Punto, part II

Having ripped Nick Punto earlier this month for failing to get bunts down, it is only fair to take note of the beautiful squeeze bunt he laid down Sunday. (The photo above is of Brendan Harris scoring on Punto's bunt.)

That was the time and place to utilize the sac bunt.

Not in the third inning, when you're down a run, playing a team with the sluggers the Rangers have. Not when the top of the order's up with a man in scoring position.

Dick 'n' Bert were vocally unhappy that Denard Span didn't bunt Punto from second to third. I was unhappy that Gardy was ordering the bunt to start with. Build an inning. Don't throw away Span's at-bat (batting average .308) and leave the job to Alexi Casilla (batting average .197).

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I was also disappointed by ESPN and KEYC, neither of which aired highlights of the most memorable play of the game — Mike Redmond's triple. Yeah, it didn't matter — he neither scored nor drove in a run — but man, it was funny.

And lord only knows what Marlon Byrd was trying to accomplish with that slide while pursuing the ball.

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From Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune: "It's not a done deal that (Rich) Harden is going to the Twins, although it seems certain he's not coming back to the Cubs." He believes the Twins should and will get Harden.

Reshaping the pitching staff

It's a rather un-Twinslike flurry of activity.

First it was Jon Rauch, acquired from Arizona Friday.

Then it was Ron Mahay, whose signing is to be announced today. Armando Gabino has already been returned to Triple A Rochester to make room for the veteran lefty reliever.

And in the next day or so, the Twins will find out if they landed Brad Penny or Rich Harden.

Harden (above) is the biggest name and the biggest risk. I'm surprised he cleared waivers in the National League, but the most recent informed speculation has the Twins winning the claim on him.

If so — waiver claims are supposed to be confidential, and there's generally a lot more smoke than visible flame — now comes a day or two of high-stakes poker. Harden figures to be a Type-A free agent, meaning that the Cubs would argue that they can hang on to him and get two high draft picks should he sign elsewhere this winter.

But that assumes that (a) they're willing to offer arbitration to the brittle but talented right-handed starter and (b) that Cubs don't suffer the same fate that befell the Toronto Blue Jays last winter. They lost Type-A free agent A.J. Burnett to the Yankees and only got a third-round pick in compensation, because the Yankees' first-rounder went to Anaheim for Mark Teixiera and their second-rounder to Milwaukee for CC Sabathia.

So there are risks involved for the Cubs in holding on to Harden, although in his case arbitration is probably less risky than a multi-year deal, and the odds of such a triple-strike signing of Type A's recurring are rather slim.

For their part, the Twins are unlikely to be willing to surrender somebody like Ben Revere for a five-week rental, and his lengthy injury history argues against a multi-year deal.

My guess is that nothing will happen on this front. One Internet piece of speculation says the Twins have already dropped their interest in Harden because Friday's Scott Kazmir deal set the prospect price too high. Which may be true, or may be imaginary. It may be imaginary now and be true by the time Monday's deadline arrives.

Meanwhile, Brian Duensing is making the need for another starter a bit less acute. That's three starts, totalling 17 innings, with a 2.65 ERA. Of course, there's really no reason to believe he's actually that good.

Collecting B(r)ad Penny

I don't know which is the more daunting:

* The prospect of facing the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs with a rotation of Scott Baker, Carl Pavano, Nick Blackburn and Brian Duensing; or

* The projected starters for Minnesota in next week's series against the Chicago White Sox: TBA on Monday, Blackburn on Tuesday, Duensing on Wednesday.

As the postseason roster deadline draws steadily nearer — a player has to be on the 40-man roster before Sept. 1 to be eligible — the Twins are said to be scrambling for pitching help.

And the machinations are fascinating. Brad Penny — shown above — no longer fits on the Red Sox roster, and is on release waivers. The Twins appear to be in prime position to claim him, and the 5.61 ERA doesn't accurately reflect how well he's pitched. His walk to strikeout ratio is fine, the strikeout rate is good enough. He's no star, but he can help.

ESPN's report is focused on National League teams, with Buster Olney suggesting that there will be little interest in assuming the remainder of Penny's contract. It would probably cost the Twins about $200,000 per start to claim Penny, but the general consensus is that Penny's more interested in returning to the easier National league, so if the Twins want him, they'll have to pay.

Still, there's a notion that Penny assured the Red Sox he won't sign with an AL contender, and despite Joe Christensen's suggestion (the first link) that Penny won't want to walk away from his current deal, there's no guarantee he'll accept an AL waiver claim.

Another rumor concerns the Twins and Rich Harden of the Chicago Cubs. A Harden deal will be tougher to pull off for two reasons:

1) National League teams have priority on him in trade waivers, and Harden is said to have been claimed by at least one NL club. In which case, the Twins can't get him, period.

2) Harden is a Type A free agent-to-be, meaning that the Cubs might be unwilling to move him for less than the equivalent of the draft picks they could get if he signs elsewhere this winter. (It's also possible the Cubs just want to shed the remainder of his salary; they are, after all, in bankruptcy court, even if that's largely a formality to clear the decks for the pending franchise sale.)

My guesses: If Harden goes anywhere, it will be to the Colorado Rockies. And the Twins will ante up for Penny. But by the time we know on the last, the White Sox series will be under way.