Ex-Twins watch: Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer

Last summer the Twins disposed of Ricky Nolasco, who over three seasons and 56 starts wth Minnesota had pitched to a 5.44 ERA, His FIP -- Fielding Independent Pitching -- wasn't nearly that bad, but that had been true of Nolasco at his previous teams as well.

The Twins got back Hector Santiago from the Angels in exchange, but to do so they had to

• throw in some cash to even out the salaries involved and
• toss in Alex Meyer, once a top prospect.

Neither requirement was anything close to a deal breaker.

We Twins fans are pretty familiar (and pleased) with Santiago's 2017 season. He got shelled Sunday in Cleveland, but even that debacle leaves the lefty 4-2 with a 3.80 ERA. His career ERA is 3.84, so Santiago this year has been pretty much what he was in Chicago and Anaheim: a six-inning lefty who walks a few more than you'd really like.

Nolasco, meanwhile, got the Opening Day start for the Angels and is now 2-2 with a 4.34 ERA. His strikeout rate is noticably higher so far than is typical for him, and for once he;s outperforming his FIP. He's also given up 13 homers in 45.2 innings, which is ... a lot. Nolasco has long been a confounding pitcher, and this continues.

More noteworthy in my eyes is Meyer, the 6-9 righty who never put it together in Minnesota. Mike Scoscia has him in the rotation, and each of his four starts has been better than the previous:

• April 21: 3.2 innings, 2 runs
• May 4: 4 innings, 6 runs
• May 9: 5.1 innings, 3 runs
• May 14: 6.1 innings, 1 run

In all, 19.1 innings over the four starts and 21 strikeouts. Also 14 walks. He's 2-1 with a 559 ERA (the Angels scored seven runs in two of his outings). He's also had four starts in Triple A at Salt Lake, a difficult pitching environment; he had a 6.16 ERA in the PCL and got called up anyway,

He certainly hasn't cemented himself in the Anaheim rotation, but it appears he's getting a legitimate opportunity to see if he can find a way to use his impressive stuff effectively in the majors.

Let it go, Nolasco

All in all, Thursday wasn't a horrid day for the Twins. They actually gained a half-game on that second wild-card spot despite never really being in the second game of the rain-caused doubleheader.

There were plenty of things to gripe about in Game Two. Mike Pelfrey was awful, the first base ump missed a call and the replay umps let it stand in a lengthy display of incompetence, Phil Hughes was (I'll be charitable) too ill to cover first base, the hitters didn't get anything going until the game was out of hand ...

But Ricky Nolasco pitched. This impresses me. It would have been easy for him to shut down his season after his foot surgery. Instead, he pushed his rehab and got back on the hill. Nolasco has said a few things the past couple of years that gave some the impression that he doesn't care. Getting back this year says otherwise.

He threw two innings of mopup work, allowed two hits, granted an intentional walk and struck out five. Not bad, all things considered, even with the three-run homer.

But ... his, and the Twins', reaction to that homer was tired (to borrow the description from Bryce Harper).

The Twins were down 7-1, and Paul Molitor had Nolasco walk Jason Kipnis intentionally. The next hitter, Jose Ramirez, homered, and flipped his bat rather epically.

Nolasco wasn't happy with Ramirez's bat flip. But didn't see it until he watched it on computer after outing: "He’ll get his. Don’t worry.”

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) October 1, 2015

My tweeted reaction to the Twins' evident displeasure with the bat flip:

Aw, did Ramirez hurt the Twins feelings? Make your pitches and he's got nothing to flip his bat over.

— Edward Thoma (@bboutsider) October 1, 2015

Seriously. The Twins spent eight innings embarrassing themselves with sloppy play and they're worked up over a guy celebrating a homer after they walked the man in front of him? Grow up. No team with Torii Hunter on the roster has any right to gripe about bat flipping.

And if they spend any pitches Thursday throwing at Ramirez in retaliation, they don't deserve a playoff berth.

The good, the bad and the Nolasco

Ricky Nolasco might be the
worst starter in the American
League this season.

It seemed pretty obvious Sunday from Ron Gardenhire's postgame comments that Ricky Nolasco is coming out of the starting rotation.

This can't be much of a surprise to anybody. Nolasco's ERA, after surrendering six runs in two innings Sunday, is now an ugly 5.90, and he leads the league in hits allowed and runs allowed.

The Twins have made a heavy investment in him -- four years, $49 million -- and it is not paying off.

The manager couched a bullpen assignment in terms of something that will be discussed, and that how most of the beat writers were putting it in their tweets. But I agree with LaVelle Neal, who has covered the Twins since before Gardy became manager (and, I dare say, longer than all the rest of them put together:

Sometimes when Gardenhire makes statements like that, the decision has already been made.
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) July 6, 2014

So why not just say he's pulling Nolasco? Probably because there are discussions to be had -- not about if to do it, but how. Gardenhire would want to talk to Nolasco about it before telling reporters. He'd likely want to talk with Terry Ryan, and certainly with pitching coach Rick Anderson, about rotation alternatives. Shift Deduno to the rotation? OK, how does that affect the bullpen, especially after a pair of two-inning starts this weekend? Do the Twins need another arm?

Gardenhire denied Sunday that there are any physical issues with Nolasco, but I'm not completely buying that. Dan Gladden was talking on the radio about Nolasco's fastball velocity being down. Ron Darling and Cal Ripken, calling the game on TBS, speculated that Nolasco is injured based on the paucity of breaking balls.

Remember, as I wrote last winter after the Twins signed Nolasco, he doesn't throw his fastball nearly as often as most major league starters. If he's now relying heavily on the fastball -- and the fastball is of lower velocity than usual -- it does suggest that something is wrong physically.

---

OK, on to the good news.

*Byron Buxton played Sunday for the Fort Myers Miracle, going 0-for-2 and making, according to the Miracle's radio announcer's Twitter feed, a spectacular catch. He was only in the game for three innings, which was the plan.

* Kurt Suzuki and Glen Perkins were named to the American League All-Star team. Former Twin Carlos Gomez will start for the National League, and ex-Twin reliever and Minnesota native Pat Neshek, having a huge year with St. Louis, was named to the pitching staff.

* Justin Morneau is one of the "Final Five" up for a online fan vote between now and Thursday. Details at mlb.com. I normally don't care too much about such things, but I would love to hear the Target Field reaction to Morneau coming to the plate in the All-Star Game.

* J.O. Berrios, who has dominated the high A Florida State League, has been promoted to Double A New Britain. Berrios is to pitch for the World Team in the Futures Game at Target Field on July 11.

---

File this under the "bad": Neal also tweeted this Sunday:

And the Twins might have to pull Trevor May from the Futures Game because his right calf strain is not healing as hoped.
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) July 6, 2014

Sigh.

Waiting for a pitcher

The Twins, it was repeatedly reported and tweeted out of the general managers meetings last week, are serious about landing starting pitching. Market-setting serious.

The Twins were said to be in pursuit of Bronson Arroyo, a soft-tossing righty who works 200 inning every year and will turn 37 in February. They were said to have offered Ricky Nolasco, a younger (turns 31 in December) and harder thrower, a four-year deal (one report said the Twins were willing to go five years, which is a dangerously rare length for a pitcher).

They've even been connected to Matt Garza, who began his career with the Twins, although I'll believe that when I see it.

Nothing concrete has happened yet, and I rather expect nothing concrete will happen until there's a resolution on the Japanese posting system.

The agreement under which MLB clubs bid for the exclusive negotiating rights with Japanese veterans has expired, and the word last week was that the Japanese leagues were "unable" to respond to the proposal made by MLB. It's quite possible that there will be no posting this winter — which would keep Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka from coming to the states.

Tanaka is the big get of the market — if he's in the market. Somebody figures to spend about $100 million to land him between posting fee and his contract. If he's not available, that $100 million will likely be redirected toward other free agent pitchers.