When Plan B comes before Plan A

The Minnesota Twins have lined up their Plan B options for the starting rotation.

Plan A? That's another matter.

The Twins ended the 2012 season with a starting rotation of Scott Diamond, Sam Deduno, P.J. Walters, Liam Hendriks and Esmerling Vasquez. Cole De Vries would have been part of that group but for a broken rib.

Sam Deduno chose
to stay with the Twins.

Diamond is a certainty for the 2013 rotation. He's part of Plan A; none of the other five are.

Deduno, Walters and Vasquez were all cut loose in the weeks since the season ended -- and all three have agreed to return on minor-league deals. (De Vries and Hendriks remain on the 40-man roster.)

The return of the outrighted trio is noteworthy. Usually a pitcher who can't keep his spot on the 40-man roster goes off in search of another employer.

That these three opted to remain, and that the Twins are letting them remain in the system, tells us a few things:

• They believe they got, and will get, a fair shake from the Twins;
• They believe there's better opportunity with Minnesota than elsewhere;
• The Twins don't see better alternatives pushing their way up to the higher levels of the the farm system.

I do not believe the Twins are re-signing them with intent to have been in the major league rotation. They are Plan B guys, fall-back options, rotation filler for Triple A who can step in for the big club if and when.

But for them to be Plan B, somebody else has to be Plan A. And that is the key to the Twins offseason, finding the pitchers who make De Vries, Hendriks, Walters, Vasquez and Deduno the Rochester rotation next spring.

A new wave of pitcher tryouts

Esmerling Vasquez
had a strong season
in Triple A.

It's September now, which means that major league teams can activate anybody on their 40-man roster.

For the Twins, it represents a chance to test still more starting rotation candidates.

One such candidate, Esmerling Vasquez, is apparently to get the start Sunday in place of the suspended Scott Diamond.

Vasquez had a stealth season in Rochester — 100 innings, 2.78 ERA, 93 strikeouts and 38 walks. The Twins picked him up at the tail end of the 2011 season when Arizona waived him, then outrighted him just before spring training to make space on the 40-man roster for Darin Mastroianni.

Vasquez spent much of three seasons working out of the Diamondbacks bullpen without notable success. He hadn't been used as a starter since 2008. But he got drafted into the rotation late in the Red Wings season this year, and thrived.

Also in the plans for the final month: P.J. Walters, who had a few strong early-summer starts with the Twins before his shoulder started barking. He'll get some starts as well.

One pitcher who might lose pitching opportunities for these tryouts is Diamond, who has worked 172 innings (majors and minors) this season. He had 162 innings in 2011; I doubt the Twins will want him going 190 or so. That might be two or three more starts.

The goal, as I've said before, is to identify, develop and protect the pieces of a good future rotation. In Diamond's case, the first two parts have been done this year; holding down his September innings figures to be the third part.

For everybody else in the mix — Vasquez and Walters, Cole DeVries and Liam Hendriks, Sam Deduno and Brian Duensing— it's still identify and develop. The Twins know a healthy Diamond is in their 2013 rotation, but he's the only one of whom that can be said.

Pitcher gone? Not quite

Last week, when the Twins designated Esmerling Vasquez for assignment, I titled the post about the move "One pitcher gone."

Turns out that was premature. Vasquez slipped through waivers unclaimed. The Twins have assigned him to their Triple A roster and issued another spring training invitation. That makes, I believe, 66 players to be in major league camp, and 33 of them pitchers. It's a lot to sort through.

But to get back to the subject of waivers: I should have realized that Vasquez was relatively likely to go unclaimed. Follow the logic:

Vasquez was waived in the final week of the regular season by Arizona. Waiver priority go by league; since Arizona, the waiving team, is in the National League, every NL team had priority over any American League team. (The Twins, with the worst record in the AL, had the top priority in the AL.) Vasquez went unclaimed by the entire National League -- at a point in the baseball calendar when all claiming him required was making room on the 40-man roster.

There being little reason at this point for NL teams to have concluded that passing on him in September was a mistake, the most likely claimants would be AL teams. But with spring training just ahead, teams are more focused on their eventual 25-man rosters than on filling out their 40s -- and with Vasquez apparently out of options, a team would probably have to see him winning a 25-man spot to put in a claim.

So the Twins retain Vasquez. And now they have no problems sending him to the minors this spring.

Which is the likely outcome of all this maneuvering. It is, again, tinkering on the edges of the roster (in this case, off the edge of the roster). Vasquez has good stuff and subpar command of it; he needs to establish that he knows what to do with his stuff. Until then, he doesn't matter much to a major league team.

One pitcher gone

The Twins on Thursday picked up outfielder Darin Mastroianni on waivers from Toronto. To make room for him on the 40-man roster they designated pitcher Esmerling Vasquez for assignment.

Mastroianni, who is 26 and appears to have at least one option left, isn't real likely to make the 25-man roster, barring injuries to the center fielders ahead of him (Denard Span and Ben Revere). Like them, he's a speedy guy without much power; he's shown excellent stolen base rates in the minors and, as he's reached the upper levels of the Toronto system, has drawn walks. He figures to give Rochester a legitimate center fielder, which will make it easier for Gene Glynn to focus Joe Benson on mastering an outfield corner.

Vasquez winds up never having thrown a pitch for the Twins; they picked him up on the next-to-last day of the season in 2011 and cut him less than two weeks before pitchers and catchers report. He is arguably better than Jeff Gray, who remains on the 40-man roster, but if I was right in my attempt to figure out how many options the pitchers have, Gray offers a bit more roster flexibility. It's possible Vasquez will clear waivers and remain in the Twins system.

Either way, this is definitely tinkering at the edges of the roster, with a greater impact on the Triple A team than on the major league squad.

Dissecting the Bill Smith Era: Other trades of 2011

Jose Morales hit .297
in his three partial
seasons with the Twins.

When: Dec. 16, 2010
What: The Twins sent catcher Jose Morales to Colorado for left-handed pitcher Paul Bargas
Value: Bargas not only hasn't reached the majors, he didn't pitch at all in 2011 because of a brain tumor. Morales opened the season as the Rockies' No. 2 catcher but had only 71 plate appearances (-0.1 WAR, 1 win share). He was nontendered this offseason and signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Twins motivation: Open a spot on the 40-man roster

The Twins traded Morales because they needed roster space to re-sign Jim Thome and Carl Pavano, because he was out of options and would have to clear waivers to be sent to the minors, and because they had decided they prefered Drew Butera's defensive chops to Morales' batting average.

Bargas reported to camp with an obvious health problem and was quickly found to have a brain tumor. Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune earlier this month wrote about Bargas, who expects to be in camp this spring. (As a sign of how much I like the piece, I link to it despite the Strib's paywall). I don't know enough about Bargas' talent to be optimistic about his future as a pitcher, but I sure will root for him. (Update: Fixed the link.)

When: Jan. 26, 2011
What: Claimed left-handed pitcher Dusty Hughes off waivers from the Kansas City Royals
Value: Hughes was awful with the Twins (9.95 ERA in 12.2 innings; -0.4 WAR, 0 win shares)
Twins motivation: What I call Craig Monroe Syndrome: He had gotten Twins lefties out while with K.C., and the Twins took this as an indication of his talent.

I still remember seeing one particularly wicked breaking ball Hughes threw in a spring training game to freeze Carl Crawford; that single pitch had me briefly convinced he was a shrewd pickup (and a silly discard by the Royals). He didn't throw enough such pitches, however.

He was outrighted in May. He has signed a minor league contract with Atlanta.

Rob Delaney wasn't
even deemed worthy
of a draft pick as an
amateur player

When: Jan. 28, 2011
What: Lost right-handed pitcher Rob Delaney on waivers to Tampa Bay
Value: Delaney made four appearances for the Rays with an ERA of 10.80; no win shares and -0.2 WAR
Twins motivation: Created a spot on the 40-man roster for Hughes.

Delaney, like Anthony Slama, put up good numbers in the minors for the Twins, but the Twins were unwilling to give him a real chance in the majors. The Rays designated Delaney for assignment in September to open a spot for phenom Matt Moore; it's unclear to me if Delaney is still in their system or if he's a free agent he signed this month with Miami.

When: March 20, 2011
What: Lost right-handed pitcher Pat Neshek on waivers to San Diego
Value: Neshek worked 24.2 innings for the Padres with an ERA of 4.01; more tellingly, he walked 22 (and struck out 20) in those 24.2 innings. He had 1 win share and 0.0 WAR.
Twins motivation: They wanted to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

It was significant that the Twins dumped Neshek even though he still had an option left; that indicates that the organization either had concluded that he was unlikely to regain his pre-injury effectiveness and/or didn't want him around.

He was up and down with the Padres, and he is currently a free agent.

When: Aug. 25, 2011
What: Lost designated hitter Jim Thome on waivers to Cleveland
Value: He had 13 win shares total for the season, 0.5 WAR with the Indians.
Twins motivation: Cleared his salary off the books for the last six weeks or so of the season, gave him a chance to be at least in the fringes of a pennant race and an opportunity to make amends with the fans of his first major league team.

Jim Thome pretended
to play third base for
one pitch against the
Twins in a September
game.

Big name, exceedingly minor deal. It was originally announced as a player-to-be-named trade, but once it was obvious that the Indians weren't making the postseason they changed it to straight cash and not much of it.

Thome has signed with Philadelphia for 2012, and the Phillies are making noises about playing him at first base on occasion. Good luck with that.

When: Sept. 27, 2011
What: Claimed right-handed pitcher Esmerling Vasquez off waivers from Arizona
Value: The Twins did not add him to the active roster for the final week of the season.
Twins motivation: He's a power arm bullpen possibility.

The Diamondbacks needed to clear space on their 40-man roster, and lopped Vasquez, who has pitched in 141 major league games for the D'backs (137 innings, 80 walks, 120 strikeouts). Good arm, uncertain control. The Twins are collecting a bunch of this kind of arm and hoping one of them can figure it out.

When: Oct. 31, 2011
What: Claimed right-handed pitcher Jeff Gray off waivers from Seattle.
Value: Has not pitched for the Twins
Twins motivation: Another bullpen option.

I'm including this transaction and the following one with the 2011 season because they came just before Bill Smith was removed from the general manager's job, and they ought to be included.

Gray is a knock-around reliever who has been in the majors with Oakland, the Cubs, the White Sox and Seattle. I'm not particularly enthused about him, and would expect that Vasquez and Lester Oliveros (and others) are ahead of him on the totem pole, but Gray is on the 40-man roster, so he's got a chance to make the team this spring.

When: Oct. 31, 2011
What: Claimed left-handed pitcher Matt Maloney off waivers from Cincinnati
Value: Has not pitched for the Twins
Motivation: Provides some depth for the starting rotation.

Maloney hasn't established himself as a major leaguer, and his stuff isn't all that impressive, but he's put up good numbers in Triple A. Maybe he's what's derisively known as a Quadruple A pitcher, but I suspect he'd be an improvement over Nick Blackburn if given a shot. Of course, Blackburn has two more years and some $10 million left on his contract, so he's got dibs on the rotation berth.