Remember Randy Flores? Probably not

I've been building up a rant about how obvious it has become this offseason that Rob Manfred, the commissioner of baseball, doesn't actually like the game. But

1. I don't really have the energy for it right now and
2. I think I'll turn it into my Monday print column

Instead ... from the Department of Meaningless Details ... I noticed while double-checking a detail about the 2019 St. Louis Cardinals for my next solitaire Strat-O-Matic project that the scouting director of the Redbirds is one Randy Flores.

Twins fans can be forgiven if they've forgotten Flores. The lefty kicked around pro baseball for 15 years, seeing major league time in seven of them -- but he only had one full season with one major league team. He bounced around, a ping-pong ball on baseball's table.

Minnesota was his last major league team. The Twins picked him up to bolster the bullpen for 2010's playoff push. The stat line shows 11 appearances and 11 outs (3.2 innings) for the Twins and an ERA of 4.91.

As I recall, Ron Gardenhire pretty much gave up on him early in Twins tenure. Gardy brought him in to face a lefty, Flores threw the hitter a fastball, gave up an important run, and Gardy said after the game something along the lines of: I brought him in to spin the ball. If I wanted a fastball, I'd have used a right-hander.

That stuck with me because of the use of "spin the ball" to mean "breaking pitch." That was a new one to me at the time.

Anyway: Flores saw time with three Triple A teams in 2011 and that was it for his pitching career. Now he runs the scouting department for a consistently good organization. And I half-seriously wonder how much of a priority he puts on spinning the ball when evaluating a pitcher.

Dissecting the Bill Smith era: Other trades of 2010

Steve Tolleson got to play in Target Field in 2010,
but not as a member of the home team.

When: Dec. 12, 2009
What: Traded right-handed pitcher Boof Bonser to the Boston Red Sox for right-handed pitcher Chris Province.
Value: Bonser pitched two innings for Boston in 2010 before being released. He has worked 25 major league innings since the trade (all in 2010, mostly with Oakland) with an ERA of 6.12. He recently signed a minor-league deal with the San Francisco Giants. Province did not pitch well in 2010 in the Twins system and decided to quit playing last spring.
Twins motivation: Avoid going to arbitration with Bonser.

Bonser's once-promising career has been derailed by injuries. As matters stand, nothing to see here.

When: Feb.1, 2010
What: Waived infielder Steve Tolleson, who was claimed by Oakland
Value: Tolleson played in 25 games for Oakland in 2010. He spent 2011 in the minors, was traded in midseason to the San Diego Padres, was released after the season and signed to a minor league deal by Baltimore.
Twins motivation: Open a 40-man roster spot that was filled three days later by the signing of Orlando Hudson.

Tolleson's major league future, if any, figures to be as a utility infielder, and he probably doesn't have the arm to handle the shortstop part of the job.

When: Aug. 25, 2010
What: Claimed Randy Flores on waivers from Colorado
Value: Got 11 outs in 11 appearances for the Twins with an ERA of 4.91.
Twins motivation: Injuries to Jose Mijares and Ron Mahay left the Twins short of lefty relievers.

The Twins took a flyer on Flores, and he quickly fell out of favor with Ron Gardenhire.

When: Aug. 27, 2010
What: Traded right-hander Loek Van Mil to the Angels for left-handed reliever Brian Fuentes
Value: Fuentes gave up no runs in 9.2 innings with the Twins. Van Mil has not pitched in the majors

Matt Fox in his
sole game with
Minnesota.

Twins motivation: Injuries to Jose Mijares and Ron Mahay left the Twins short of lefty relievers.

Fuentes -- who had been closing in Anaheim -- was obviously over-qualified for the LOOGY role and was always viewed strictly as a short-term rental. The Twins made no serious attempt to retain him as a free agent, and he signed with Oakland. Van Mil, a unique prospect (7-foot-1 from the Netherlands), had a decent year in Double A and still could, if he ever manages to stay healthy, emerge as a major league relief option.

When: Sept. 9, 2010
What: Waived right-hander Matt Fox, who was claimed by Boston.
Value: Fox has pitched 1.2 major league innings since leaving the Twins. He signed a minor-league deal this offseason with Seattle.
Twins motivation: Opened a spot on the 40-man roster for Ben Revere.

Fox was put on the 40 to make one memorable spot start. My guess is that that will remain the high point of his career.

Contemplating Randy Flores

It's a small sample size. It's an excruciatingly small sample size.

And it's so one-sided it still appears to be significant.

Randy Flores has faced eight left-handed batters since the Twins picked him up on waivers. He has gotten one of them out.

One. There have been six hits — two of them in the bottom of the 12th inning on Saturday — and one walk.

Flores is on the roster specifically to get left-handed hitters. They're getting him — so much so that if he retired the next 13 lefties he sees, they'll still be hitting .300 against him.

It's been said that the job of a relief pitcher is to dominate small sample sizes. Flores isn't doing that.

Saturday might have been the final straw. Jose Mijares has been reactivated from the disabled list. Brian Fuentes is apparently ready to pitch again after about two weeks of back miseries. Glen Perkins was impressive in an inning of mop-up work on Tuesday against Kansas City.

The Twins picked up Flores when Mijares and Ron Mahay went down and they were out of left-handed relievers. Now they have three better options. I don't expect to see Flores face an important batter again.

Late night: Twins 6, Mariners 3 (LOOGYs on my mind)

Game story here.

Box score here.

On a day when the Twins picked up a left-handed reliever with a distinguished resume (Brian Fuentes) , they also debuted another veteran Lefty One-Out GuY (LOOGY).

And Randy Flores wasn't impressive, although it wasn't all his fault, and there was some good mixed in.

The box score shows Flores faced five batters, allowing two hits and a walk while getting one out.

It went this way: Flores relieved Scott Baker in the seventh with two on and two out. He broke Ichiro Suzuki's (left-handed hitter) bat; the dribbler went for an infield single, loading the bases. I can't blame Flores for that hit. Then he got Chone Figgins (switch-hitter) to ground to shortstop. The inherited runners were stranded.

That's good. But then he opened the eighth. Russell Braynan (left-handed hitter) singled. Jose Lopez (right-handed) hit a grounder that Michael Cuddyer kicked away; two one, no out. Casey Kochman walked, loading the bases. Flores out, Matt Guerrier in, to get a foul out and a double play (photo above).

Give Flores credit for getting out of the seventh-inning jam. Note that the error worsened his eight-inning predicament, and that Ichiro's single was a scratch hit.

But: He failed to retire any of the three lefties he faced. He threw a first-pitch strike to just one of the five batters. He threw 23 pitches, just 12 for strikes. He couldn't finish off the strikeout-prone Branyan when he was ahead 0-2.

One game, but it illustrates his flaws.

---

Fuentes is to join the Twins today (Saturday). Glen Perkins has been optioned back to Rochester, to be recalled after the Red Wings finish their miserable season and the major league rosters expand.

Fuentes is overqualified for the LOOGY role, but he figures to be devastating in it. Lefties are hitting .132/.209/.158 against him. He's been stung by the long ball by right-handers this year, and he really wasn't as effective in his (almost) two seasons in Anaheim as he was in Colorado.

One could make a argument for him as the closer over Matt Capps. But the plan is for Fuentes and Jesse Crain to set up Capps — pushing Guerrier and Jon Rauch into sixth and seventh inning duties.

This is now a very deep bullpen — especially if Jose Mijares returns, which would turn Flores into a third (or even fourth) lefty.

Contemplating Randy Flores

This might be the best selling point for Randy Flores, the newest member of the Twins bullpen:

He was a LOOGY for a World Series winning team. A team managed, no less, by Tony LaRussa, who pioneered the current managerial obsession with LOOGYs.

Flores racked up an ERA of 5.62 that year (2006) for the Cardinals. But he is likely more remembered there for his work in the postseason: Six scoreless innings in seven appearances, including the win in Game 7 of the NLCS.

Shades of Dan Schatzeder of the 1987 Twins — 6.39 ERA during the regular season for the Twins, winning pitcher in Game 6 of the World Series.

Flores isn't a great pitcher. He's not even particularly good against left-handed hitters. (See that photo above? That's Garrett Jones, once a member of the Twins and a left-handed hitter, running out a home run earlier this month against Flores.)

Flores, as viewed from the stats, may not be worth adding. The Rockies dumped him for a reason. The argument for him, as voiced by manager Ron Gardenhire, is traditional scouting (and perhaps a bit of wishful thinking):

He knows how to pitch. I've watched video of him today already; he can locate. He can pitch inside on lefties, and he can spin it. He knows what he's doing.

Ron Mahay is done for the season (the Twins put him on the 60-day DL to make room for Flores on the 40-man roster). The prognosis for Jose Mijares is uncertain. Glen Perkins isn't a proven option against lefties. There's no southpaw in the minor league system capable/deserving of the chance.

So Flores it is.