Notes, quotes and comment

John Ryan Murphy
has had trouble
stopping pitches.

Between Miguel Sano's butchery in right field and John Ryan Murphy's inability to corral Ervin Santana's pitches, the Twins deserved to lose Tuesday's game, and they did.

Sano's problems were expected. Murphy's, less so. Santana was charged with two wild pitches Tuesday, Ryan O'Rourke one, and Murphy was charged with a passed ball. That's four pitches that got away in one game -- and seven in six games caught for Murphy, a truly awful rate.

I predicted earlier that Murphy would eventually take the starting job away from Kurt Suzuki. So far he has neither hit nor caught well enough to push the veteran.

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Trevor Plouffe was put on the disabled list Tuesday and Jorge Polanco called up. As with Max Kepler, it may not be ideal to have a top prospect sitting on the major league bench, but the Twins don't have an opening on the 40-man roster and aren't going to lop someone to make a temporary move.

As matters stand, Polanco's future with the Twins may be as a utility guy anyway. I don't believe he has the arm for the left side of the infield, and Brian Dozier is rather locked in at second base.

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