After Thursday's brutal doubleheader, the Twins called up Logan Darnell to bolster their overworked bullpen and put Aaron Hicks on the concussion disabled list.
This gave the Twins 14 pitchers on the 25-man active roster, which is ... way too many.
As it turned out, they only needed one Friday. Ricky Nolasco threw nine innings of three-run ball, which ought to be good enough but was three runs too many to get a tie. At least the bullpen got a day off.
And the Twins cut back to 13 pitchers after the game. Mike Pelfrey was put on the disabled list (pulled groin) and shortstop Danny Santana is expected in the Twin Cities for this afternoon's game.
I'll forgive anybody skeptical of Pelfrey's conveniently timed injury, but it seems likely that something is wrong with him. His velocity is down several miles per hour, and his command -- which, to be sure, has never been particularly strong -- isn't good either. These things tend to point to an injury, sometimes one the pitcher isn't even aware of (or at least willing to admit to having).
As for Santana ... the idea seems to be that he'll be on the bench waiting for the next player to drop. Eduardo Escobar has the shortstop job until he proves he shouldn't have it, which, as I said a few days ago, makes sense.
It is, once again, a misshapen roster, with three shortstops (Escobar, Santana and Pedro Florimon) and three catchers (Kurt Suzuki, Josmil Pinto and Chris Herrmann). Half the Twins active position players play the two positions that historically are weakest at the plate.
The Twins are getting use from the catchers: Suzuki the primary catcher, Pinto the regular DH and Herrmann as the fourth outfielder as well as backup receiver. But there doesn't appear to be reason for both Florimon and Santana at this point.
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