Cole DeVries promoted to the Twins!

[Seth Stohs]

According to the official Twins Twitter feed:

 

#Twins designate RHP Jason Marquis for assignment and will select the contract of RHP Cole DeVries from AAA Rochester for tonight's game.

 

Very exciting for the Eden Prairie native and former Gopher who signed as a free agent after the 2006 season! Good for him!

[Thrylos]

Always good to see someone make it to the bigs. He deserved it. And, heck, if Jamie Moyer can have sucess, Cole DeVries can (and he is tossing 10mph faster than Moyer)

[gunnarthor]

Well, here's hoping he keeps the Diamond/Walters thing going.

[travistwinstalk]

nothing against devries but a mistake Devries will get hammered at MLB level. He is a solid AAA pitcher but he will get hammered at MLB level mark my words.

[Boom Boom]

Despite some lucky numbers, I think Diamond is here to stay. I'm not so convinced about Walters. And now I'm afraid the Twins are reaching to the well too many times.

[Seth Stohs]

He might, but he's 27 and has had success in AAA. The team is rebuilding and they have to make decisions on a lot of players, DeVries is one of them. So is Slama. So is Manship.

 

I don't think I've ever had DeVries in a top 50, so my expectations are definitely not high. I don't expect greatness, but no need to be upset about this decision.

 

Hendriks need to eat some AAA innings and they need to do what is best for him long-term.

[gunnarthor]

So what is Rochester's rotation right now?

[SirLoin]

Since Cole is my adopt-a-prospect, I feel obligated to contribute here. To start, I might as well self-promote..... http://twinsdaily.com/showthread.php?1003-Cole-DeVries

 

I'm assuming that he'll be inserted into the rotation. However, as I've followed him throughout his minor league career, I contend that he projects as a middle relief pitcher in the Matt Guerrier mold. In fact, their minor league stats aren't all that different and I know Guerrier did mix in some starts earlier in his career. Needless to say, at 27, he deserves a shot for the Twins to see what they have in him, and I think down the road he'd be a good fit in the bullpen. He won't dominate by any means, but I think he could be a solid bullpen arm.

[Shane Wahl]

So what is Rochester's rotation right now?

Haha, good lord who knows? Let's see: Hendriks, Manship, French, Thompson . . . .and maybe they will promote Bromberg or Hirshfeld?

[Mr. Ed]

I'd have promoted a bullpen guy and moved someone up to the rotation. At least DeVries is stretched out.

[twinsnorth49]

Hard to imagine it being a very long-term solution but I'll be rooting for the former Gopher!

[righty8383]

nothing against devries but a mistake Devries will get hammered at MLB level. He is a solid AAA pitcher but he will get hammered at MLB level mark my words.

I have that feeling too. He seems to be a pretty smart pitcher with good comand but his stuff just isn't that good. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a good debut with the adrenaline pumping and all that but otherwise I don't think he'll last too long. Best of luck to him though, its always fun to cheer for a local player, now the Twins will have three Minnesota natives on the team as they did when Neshek was around.

[Gernzy]

Personally I was hopeing Slama would get called up. We'll see what DeVries can do. Can't be any worse then what he's replacing.

[MileHighTwinsFan]

Should be interesting. More than anything, we need guys who throw strikes and are not overwhelmed by the big leagues. At 27, they need to see what they have in Mr. DeVries.

[YourHouseIsMyHouse]

Haha, good lord who knows? Let's see: Hendriks, Manship, French, Thompson . . . .and maybe they will promote Bromberg or Hirshfeld?

 

I think they were stretching out Maloney to start a few days back when he pitched 3 innings. Should be: Hendricks, Manship, Maloney, French, and Thompson.

[stringer bell]

Maloney has had a lot of success at Triple A as a starter. By midseason, I expect that he'll be in the Twins starting rotation and I think he'll put up better numbers than at least one of Walters and Diamond.

[Big Daddy H]

Coles numbers look pretty pedestrian for Triple A. I thought Slama deserved the first shot, or Manship since he was a starter and has been up before.

[wavedog]

Glad to see Cole promoted. We have nothing to lose, if he can beat an 8+ ERA he will be an improvement so the bar is set very low.

[striker_86]

Glad to see Cole promoted. We have nothing to lose, if he can beat an 8+ ERA he will be an improvement so the bar is set very low.

Exactly, just dont lose the game in the 2nd inning like Marquis. All we need is 5-6 innings and 4-5 runs out of him to give us a chance.

[DaveW]

We might have the worst major league rotation baseball has seen in a very long time.

 

Good for DeVries though, I hope he has some success, there is nothing wrong with guys like Diamond, Walters and DeVries getting a shot, the problem is that when those three make up 60% of your current starting rotation!

[StormJH1]

We might have the worst major league rotation baseball has seen in a very long time.

 

Good for DeVries though, I hope he has some success, there is nothing wrong with guys like Diamond, Walters and DeVries getting a shot, the problem is that when those three make up 60% of your current starting rotation!

We are still better suited playing 3 Triple-A pitchers with the hope that one of them is a "Diamond" in the rough....as opposed to trotting out washed up veterans who have no future with this team, and no real ability to help us win games this year. Pavano is basically playing for his trade value at this point, assuming he can even stay healthy.

[Mike Sixel]

Congratulations to Cole DeVries.

[Riverbrian]

We might have the worst major league rotation baseball has seen in a very long time.

 

Good for DeVries though, I hope he has some success, there is nothing wrong with guys like Diamond, Walters and DeVries getting a shot, the problem is that when those three make up 60% of your current starting rotation!

Bingo... The state of pitching is the scariest thing about being a Twins Fan at this moment in time. Keep throwing these guys and let's see who sticks. Don't blow this draft and move every tradable piece for more pitching. Keep your expectations low while your hope is on high.

[ashbury]

Maloney has had a lot of success at Triple A as a starter. By midseason, I expect that he'll be in the Twins starting rotation and I think he'll put up better numbers than at least one of Walters and Diamond.

I had been meaning to put a short blog entry on this topic as well. I think the Twins tried to stretch him out while he was still in the parent club, but he did so poorly that he didn't actually get the requisite innings before having to be pulled. I'm in favor of letting Cuellar try to work some magic with him in the rotation.

[J-Dog Dungan]

Yeah!!!! First EP kid to the Majors! Go EP! Go DeVries!

[Top Gun]

Cole DeVries is the right choice. It's time to see what you got, get the job done.

[Thrylos]

Coles numbers look pretty pedestrian for Triple A. I thought Slama deserved the first shot, or Manship since he was a starter and has been up before.

Cole's numbers are (and were when they got promoted) better than both Diamond's and Walter's. He deserved to be up there before any of them:

 

DeVries: 1.157 WHIP, 7.1 K/9 and 5.29 K/BB

Diamond: 1.212 WHIP, 6.8 K/9 and 3.71 K/BB

Walters: 1.170 WHIP, 6.8 K/9 and 4.17 K/BB

[DaveW]

We are still better suited playing 3 Triple-A pitchers with the hope that one of them is a "Diamond" in the rough....as opposed to trotting out washed up veterans who have no future with this team, and no real ability to help us win games this year. Pavano is basically playing for his trade value at this point, assuming he can even stay healthy.

I agree with you on that, but the more concerning thing is our utter lack of SP depth of anywhere in the minors. Diamond is the only one out of that group that can be considered a "legit" option to be a starter in the league, and even he up until this season looked more or less a longshot. This season has hopefully showed the Twins that they need to start taking a more aggressive approach to starting pitching in future drafts/signings/trades. The day of drafting nothing but soft tossing strike throwers needs to end. The infatuation with "finding the next Radke" needs to change, there is nothing wrong with having some guys like Blackburn, Pavano, Diamond, Walters, Hendricks, etc in your system, there is something wrong when that is all your system has.

 

Taking a chance on a guy like Shooter Hunt was a nice start even though he didn't pan out, ideally the Twins decide to take some hard throwers in the draft, I'm not so much worried about #2 as I am about the next 5-8 picks they have.

[DaveW]

He deserved to be up there before any of them:

 

No he didn't. DeVries spent all of 2010 and 2011 in the pen and has significantly less upside then a guy like Diamond.

 

A case could be made against PJ Walters, but both a pretty meh and non prospects at the end of the day.

[ashbury]

Exactly, just dont lose the game in the 2nd inning like Marquis. All we need is 5-6 innings and 4-5 runs out of him to give us a chance.

5 innings 4 runs or 6 innings 5 runs makes an ERA above 7.0, so we need better than that to make a real difference over what Marquis gave.