Santana to DL; Pino Recalled

[JB_Iowa]

• Rhett Bollinger ‏@RhettBollinger 13m
  The #MNTwins placed Danny Santana on the 15-day disabled list and recalled Yohan Pino. So Pino was only optioned to Triple-A for one day.
   
   
  Wasn't worth the traveling time for Yohan.
   
   
  

[ashbury]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_information

 

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

Well, that probably answers the question of who's starting in that open slot - Pino will get his 3rd ML start.

[Danchat]

Oh... well, couldn't they just have DL'd Santana and called up Polanco? I don't think Pino needed to be involved with this.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I'm guessing they thought Santana would be playing sooner.

[TheDean]

I thought I had seen someone joking about Polanco being the backup CF...but looks like he's really the backup CF, unless Parmelee.

 

I guess we just have to hope Fuld doesn't go down, as much fun as a Hammer/Parms/Arcia OF sounds.

 

Maybe give Nunez some time in CF at NB?

[TheLeviathan]

This roster is a mess right now.

[ashbury]

This roster is a mess right now.

 

As an objective statement of the state of things, I guess that's right. I question how many 40-man rosters out there can withstand 3 infielders all on the 15-day DL at the same time. It's too many holes to cover; it's not a long enough time to warrant initiating a trade that another GM will see as being out of desperation.

[kdrupp09]

So does Polanco get to start today?

[Otto von Ballpark]

As an objective statement of the state of things, I guess that's right. I question how many 40-man rosters out there can withstand 3 infielders all on the 15-day DL at the same time. It's too many holes to cover; it's not a long enough time to warrant initiating a trade that another GM will see as being out of desperation.

 

Of those 3 infielders, only one was even in MLB to begin the season. The fact that they all seem critical to our roster now speaks a bit about how well our roster plan has worked out, even without injuries.

[LaBombo]

Well, at least throwing in the towel on Santana now instead of letting him sit on the bench for a few more days before DL'ing him is an improvement over the handling of some previous injuries.

 

That said, while there's unquestionably a whole bunch of randomness to injury situations like this, it would be nice to see the Twins use this incident as motivation to reconsider roster construction and training methods, rather just shrugging their shoulders, scratching their heads, and saying 'We ended up needing a kid from A ball to come up to the majors. Huh. Darn the luck.'

[Kwak]

I suspect that a significant part of "the roster problem" is caused by too many pitchers on the roster. The desire to have "lots of arms" for both starters and relievers is a big constraint. To be sure it is frustrating to place trust in players whose performance doesn't meet expectations, but sometimes a team just has to grin and bear it. It is a 40-man roster, a team can't be 3-deep at every position, there isn't enough spots.

 

We have been prompted that there is "a mandate" to not lose 90+ games this season, but that seems like the tail wagging-the-dog. The real need is developing players and assembling a team that can consistently win 90+ a season.

[Brandon]

On the plus side only one pitcher has been hurt this season.....

 

Also on the CF mess. The Twins did try to sign Raj Davis this offseason. I am pretty sure I remember Len III was about to announce it when the Tigers jumped in and upped their offer a little.

[PseudoSABR]

, it would be nice to see the Twins use this incident as motivation to reconsider roster construction and training methods, rather just shrugging their shoulders, scratching their heads, and saying 'We ended up needing a kid from A ball to come up to the majors. Huh. Darn the luck.'

You really think that's how they handle roster construction and injury prevention? They had three infielders get hurt within two weeks. How many more Florimons should we have at the end of the roster?

[JB_Iowa]

Apparently Pino never really left the team:

 

 

• Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 9m
  Yohan Pino had a 1 p.m. flight booked from DFW to Rochester. Was told he was staying at 8 this morning. #mntwins
   
   
  

[JB_Iowa]

But this is very cool especially for someone who has played so long in the minors:

 

 

• Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 7m
  Best part for @PinoYohan is his wife Yarelis and two young daughters get to make the trip from Venezuela for Monday's start. Missed debut.
   
   
  

[adjacent]

Also they used the 40-men roster to protect players that they did not intend to call up this year (Kepler, Polanco (well, now they were forced too), Vargas). It is not a criticism, they had to do it to protect them. It is part of the reality of why the 40-men is thin in some positions.

[ashbury]

Apparently Pino never really left the team:

 

 

• Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 9m
  Yohan Pino had a 1 p.m. flight booked from DFW to Rochester. Was told he was staying at 8 this morning. #mntwins
  

 

Makes complete sense. As a starting pitcher who had just taken his turn, and with injury questions, there was no rush to get to Rochester except to refill the feeder for the housecat and water the plants.

[jokin]

You really think that's how they handle roster construction and injury prevention? They had three infielders get hurt within two weeks. How many more Florimons should we have at the end of the roster?

 

OK, I'll take a stab at it:

 

-1?

[jokin]

Well, at least throwing in the towel on Santana now instead of letting him sit on the bench for a few more days before DL'ing him is an improvement over the handling of some previous injuries.

 

That said, while there's unquestionably a whole bunch of randomness to injury situations like this, it would be nice to see the Twins use this incident as motivation to reconsider roster construction and training methods, rather just shrugging their shoulders, scratching their heads, and saying 'We ended up needing a kid from A ball to come up to the majors. Huh. Darn the luck.'

 

Hate to say "I told you so" but in this case...it was pretty obvious when the injury was described...it was not going to end up being "day to day"- but as you said, at least they didn't drag this out as they have in the past. Heck, even Timmy Laudner knew the injury was a more serious one than the first reports would lead to believe.

 

This move still makes it likely that the Twins stay with 13 pitchers when Plouffe and Nunez presumably come back on Monday, obviously still a position player short on the 40-man, and still leaves them short a viable leadoff bat and a starting-level CF on the 25-man.

[ScottyB]

I thought I had seen someone joking about Polanco being the backup CF...but looks like he's really the backup CF, unless Parmelee.

 

I guess we just have to hope Fuld doesn't go down, as much fun as a Hammer/Parms/Arcia OF sounds.

 

Maybe give Nunez some time in CF at NB?

 

I was the one who mentioned Polanco's one game and one catch in CF, but a little research has found another gem. I found another CF'er at a higher level on the Twins. Pedro Florimon also played a game at AA in CF and caught 2 balls in one game!!! I guess he can play another position besides SS. There's your backup.

[DaveW]

These next two weeks are going to be make or break for the twins, they need to survive and play .500 ball IMHO while they start getting some guys healthyx

[Thrylos]

As an objective statement of the state of things, I guess that's right. I question how many 40-man rosters out there can withstand 3 infielders all on the 15-day DL at the same time. It's too many holes to cover; it's not a long enough time to warrant initiating a trade that another GM will see as being out of desperation.

 

The problem with the Twins' roster right now is not 3 IFs in the DL. Not counting first base (that can get covered by Mauer and Parmelee) there are 4 infielders who can play SS on the roster.

 

The problem is that there is a single outfielder who can play centerfield, and Gardy & Terry call up a thirteenth pitcher, cutting their nose to spite their face. And starting the season with only one centerfielder at the high levels and Bartlett as the back up (remember that?) is the root cause of the problem here. Not all the SSs they got on the roster. That's the symptom.

[jokin]

The problem with the Twins' roster right now is not 3 IFs in the DL. Not counting first base (that can get covered by Mauer and Parmelee) there are 4 infielders who can play SS on the roster.

 

The problem is that there is a single outfielder who can play centerfield, and Gardy & Terry call up a thirteenth pitcher, cutting their nose to spite their face. And starting the season with only one centerfielder at the high levels and Bartlett as the back up (remember that?) is the root cause of the problem here. Not all the SSs they got on the roster. That's the symptom.

 

Grady Sizemore was available to be claimed and/or signed on a non-roster minor league deal- he's right there in Lehigh Valley as we speak.

[Thrylos]

Grady Sizemore was available to be claimed and/or signed on a non-roster minor league deal- he's right there in Lehigh Valley as we speak.

 

Indeed. Along with Jason Marquis, Matt Tolbert and Clete Thomas.

[TheLeviathan]

As an objective statement of the state of things, I guess that's right. I question how many 40-man rosters out there can withstand 3 infielders all on the 15-day DL at the same time. It's too many holes to cover; it's not a long enough time to warrant initiating a trade that another GM will see as being out of desperation.

 

 

There's bad luck, no doubt. But this was a glaring problem before the season - offensive depth was a black hole after the starters. When you compound that existing problem with bizarre 25 man roster decisions out of ST.....that does matter too. I can't completely excuse them when many of these problems were self-inflicted. (Bad luck has just made a bad problem even worse)

[Richie the Rally Goat]

As an objective statement of the state of things, I guess that's right. I question how many 40-man rosters out there can withstand 3 infielders all on the 15-day DL at the same time. It's too many holes to cover; it's not a long enough time to warrant initiating a trade that another GM will see as being out of desperation.

De Ja Vu!

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I also feel the Twins made their own bed on this. Nunez said he was ready to go. Anthony said Nunez was available off the bench. Then the Twins called up Pino for a spot start; fine. But instead of sending out a pitcher in exchange for Pino, they put the healthy Nunez on the DL.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

De Ja Vu!

What? No confetti? Where's the balloons and streamers and marching band?

[Trevor0333]

How do you get a bone bruise that bad mid sprint without banging it.