Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Twins dump Breslow, keep Ayala

The Twins this afternoon (Wednesday) lost Craig Breslow on waivers to the Oakland Athletics.

This opened up roster space for Anthony Swarzak, who will take Glen Perkins' place in the rotation.

I've been a Breslow backer for a while -- it has been argued here that the Twins lost out on the division title last season because Ron Gardenhire was reluctant to entrust key innings to Breslow. I have to admit that he hasn't pitched particularly well this season, but Luis Ayala hasn't pitched well since 2007, and he's still cluttering the roster.

Swarzak, at least in theory, isn't going to be up for long; Perkins is supposedly expected to return as soon as his 15 days on the DL are up. But if Swarzak fares well, and Ayala doesn't give Gardy some reason to use him in late innings, who knows? This bullpen is clearly in need of a makeover. I wouldn't have started with Breslow, but it had to start somewhere.

One added point: I hope this doesn't lead to Gardenhire trying to use Jose Mijares both as a LOOGY and the top 8th inning choice. That's the kind of useage pattern that got Pat Neshek hurt.

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