Transactions: Duffey, Achter, Herrmann, Fryer

[SwainZag]

 

Twins bench thin and thinner.  Who would you pinch-hit for?  And with what?

 

So, load up hurlers in the Pen and see who has ammo left at this point.  What else can they do?

 

How is getting thinner?  On the bench they replaced Fryer with Hermann.....the bench didn;t get stronger, but it surely didn't get weaker.

[Danchat]

Yes! Finally, Achter gets a chance. I hope he proves his doubters wrong. He's pitched well at AAA and he deserves to get a shot to stick.

 

Question: Will Tommy Milone be eligible to pitch in the 5th spot after the bye? Or will we have to get someone (May) to pitch that game?

 

Poor Duffey. They shouldn't have fed him to the lions.

 

Yay, Herrmann switched with Fryer. Zzzzzz....

 

Actually, one random and last tidbit. I read today that Pinto's concussion side-affects have lifted and he's ready to resume baseball activities. Any chance we'll see his bat on the bench? (as a DH, I presume)

[Seth Stohs]

I have to assume that they'll go with four starters until Milone comes back in 8 days. At that point, either Achter goes down or Duensing or Boyer or whoever gets DFAd. Then hopefully they can bring up a bat.

[stringer bell]

The bullpen got too much work in Toronto, makes sense if they can get a reliever up to help immediately. Not really fair to Duffey, but he's on the 40-man and could be back pretty quick.

 

Fryer isn't a major league hitter. His fancy average at Rochester is more of a mirage than the Twins May record. Herrmann isn't much better. Catching remains an organizational black hole. It is a pity that Josmil Pinto has had a wasted season, we know that when he's healthy he can hit a few over the fence and hit with some authority.

 

Achter reminds me of Matt Guerrier (honest, that's a complement). Not great stuff, but a pretty good idea of what he wants and needs to do. In this era, it is hard to see how a right handed pitcher with a 90 mph fastball can succeed, but he's earned a chance.

[darin617]

May in the rotation by April will be the nonsense that we will be stuck with.

[jimbo92107]

 

then why not start Fryer? better catcher, same bat

Not really. Herrmann, when played regularly, has much more pop in his bat than Fryer. Unfortunately, on his last stint he played so rarely that his skills got rusty. Apparently he's got his swing back, so maybe he'll get to catch more often this time around. Suzuki just seems worn out right now.

[Rosterman]

Who's catching at Rochester. Wait, Paulino. Is de san Miguel finally going to take a second at-bat this season, too.

[jimbo92107]

Actually, one aspect of DFA of Fryer in addition to calling up Herrmann is that it opens up a roster spot in Rochester for another catcher, like say...Stuart Turner. From what I've read, Turner would be a major defensive upgrade over what we've been seeing lately.

 

As for his bat...eh. .273 over his last ten games in AA. Since the catcher position has been so gawd awful both offensively and defensively, we beggars cannot be too choosy. All hail Butera 2.0!

[mickeymental]

wasn't nick punto always considered the emergency catcher?. nice arm, good bunter. world series experience. mid-30s, affordable and could probably join the team tomorrow.

[jokin]

 

 Suzuki just seems worn out right now.

 

Sure, he seems worn out right now, but he also seemed that way back in April,  Defensively, it looks like in making a small improvement in his pitch-framing, his pitch-blocking abilities have all but vanished.  As far as his hitting tool goes- it was pretty obvious to everyone, except Twins management, that last season was a career year, and this is the norm going forward.

[jokin]

 

But he's not stretched out and he makes the bullpen better and Duffey was easily the best choice 4 days ago.

 

But I hope you are right and the excuse factory has temporarily broken down.

 

Oh the irony, It Burns... It Burns...

[Boom Boom]

Deck chairs on the Hindenburg.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

If there's a 40-man spot available (is there or did I just miss who was added for Fryer), maybe the Twins are going to try to pick someone up off waivers?

[70charger]

On the optimistic side, good for Achter!

 

On the more realistic side, more needs to be done. The Fryer for Herrmann swap is bascially a wash. We wouldn't even notice something like that if they were both in AAA (where they probably belong). Boyer is still on the roster needlessly. 

 

A couple of other thoughts: the DFA of Fryer opens a spot for a waiver claim. AJ maybe? Herrmann can just be optioned again so no harm no foul. Also, not a great debut for Duffey, but hey, free health care for life, right? Anyway, I think he'll be back, just probably in the pen.

[Mike Sixel]

antony says Duffey is a big part of their future, and they don't want to jerk him around by putting him in the pen.....

 

Gibson

Hughes

Santana

Milone

Nolasco

Berrios

May

Rogers

 

Oh, and other organizations bring up starters all the time and get their feet wet in the bullpen . I mean, it clearly destroys every Cards pitcher ever.....

[70charger]

I hear a lot about the Cardinals and their use of pitchers in the bullpen. Is it safe to assume that that usage is consistent? i.e., if a player starts for half the year then gets pulled up to the major league bullpen, he stays there for the rest of the year?

 

I think it's absolutely "jerking a player around" to have be a starter one day, a bullpen pitcher the next, then a starter again the next week. Add in multiple levels and it gets even worse. And it seems like that kind of jerking around isn't supported by any evidence provided by the Cardinals.

 

Duffey was an injury replacement, and so exigent circumstances put him where we was a couple days ago. But I think the plan was for him to be a starter for all of this year. If he transitions to the bullpen at any level, I think it probably starts next year and stays that way consistently.

[Mike Sixel]

That's not what Antony said. He said he's a starter long term for this team.

 

It's not just the Cards.......it is baseball.

 

Also, if that is true about Duffey, what does it say about how they are using May?

[HitInAPinch]

The whole thing with Duffy was a shame.  I get the "reasons" but don't like kicking a kid when he's down.  Development-wise, there's nothing gained.

 

I'm not buying the "not stretched out" commentary on May.  I'm with mike wants wins on this one:  Teams have brought up MiLB starting pitchers and placed them in reliever rolls for a long time.  Give them a tasted of MLB hitters in short spurts to get them acclimated.  Cards seem to have been the most successful at this.

[70charger]

 

That's not what Antony said. He said he's a starter long term for this team.

 

It's not just the Cards.......it is baseball.

 

Also, if that is true about Duffey, what does it say about how they are using May?

 

That's fine. Maybe they're planning to stick with him as a starter for the foreseeable future. I don't see how that changes things. The idea that he'd eventually have to move to the pen was mine. I don't listen to Twins' press conferences. (If you do, I'd suggest a hobby.)

 

Also, their use of May has been "consistent" in the way that I used the word in the previous post. They decided to move him to the bullpen and they've kept him there. They haven't moved him back and forth from rotation to pen, and they haven't moved him up and down levels.

 

I don't agree with May going to the pen in the first place, but if you're going to cite the Cardinals putting young starters in the bullpen as, at the very least, non-problematic, I don't see how you'd consider May's situation much different.

[Mike Sixel]

Fair. And no, I never listen to sports press conferences. It was a tweet posted in the game thread. Heck, I hardly watch/listen to sports at all anymore. so many more fun things to DO.

 

My point on May is that if THEY think it is jerking a long term starter around to put him in the bullpen.....are they trying to tell us they are moving May to the bullpen? Because, ugh.

[puckstopper1]

 

If there's a 40-man spot available (is there or did I just miss who was added for Fryer), maybe the Twins are going to try to pick someone up off waivers?

 

Yup - the Twins are going to resign Anthony Swarzak and give his a spot start since that worked out so well the past few seasons. :-)

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

 

Yup - the Twins are going to resign Anthony Swarzak and give his a spot start since that worked out so well the past few seasons. :-)

For that matter, Nick Blackburn is well rested... although sinker ballers need to be tired to pitch well, or something.

 

Speaking positively for a moment, hopefully that 40th spot is put to good use.

 

[70charger]

 

Fair. And no, I never listen to sports press conferences. It was a tweet posted in the game thread. Heck, I hardly watch/listen to sports at all anymore. so many more fun things to DO.

 

My point on May is that if THEY think it is jerking a long term starter around to put him in the bullpen.....are they trying to tell us they are moving May to the bullpen? Because, ugh.

 

I also don't use Twitter. It reeks of 19 year old attention whores posting song lyrics and naive political slogans.

 

And I don't think we really disagree on that much here - and I'm certainly not trying to pick a fight - but how do we know that they think it's jerking him around to put him in the pen at all vs. put him in the pen short term? I don't know the answer, and I hope it doesn't tell us anything about May's permanence in the bullpen.

 

I agree with your last sentence, for sure. May needs to be in the rotation. There's too much potential there.

[Mike Sixel]

Ya, I only follow KLAW and Mearls on Twitter, not my thing mostly.......

 

and ya, we probably agree here

[Kwak]

 

For that matter, Nick Blackburn is well rested... although sinker ballers need to be tired to pitch well, or something.

 

Speaking positively for a moment, hopefully that 40th spot is put to good use.

Ask Bernier--that's his spot.

[Thrylos]

 

Nine relievers. Nine. And two or three of them are awful. Wow. Just. Wow.

 

2?  I count more

[Thrylos]

 

antony says Duffey is a big part of their future, and they don't want to jerk him around by putting him in the pen.....

 

Then, either May is not, or Antony is full of it...

[stringer bell]

I'd like to see what May can do as the 8th inning guy. However, there hasn't been much need for that since he transitioned to the 'pen. I don't think May will ever go back to Triple A. He'll either be a front end of the bullpen guy or starter.

[SwainZag]

 

I also don't use Twitter. It reeks of 19 year old attention whores posting song lyrics and naive political slogans.

 

You choose what you want to see on Twitter, but I digress.  It's a great place for information, especially in the sports world.

[LaBombo]

 

That's not what Antony said. He said he's a starter long term for this team.

 

It's not just the Cards.......it is baseball.

 

Also, if that is true about Duffey, what does it say about how they are using May?

 

It's less concerning to me what it says about how they're using May than what it says about the fact that a PR flack continues to occupy the assistant GM position of the Minnesota Twins, a job which he is profoundly unqualified for.

 

It's the Twins rotation, though, and over the past few years the career security of the position 'Minnesota Twins starter' has rivaled that of 'Wife of Henry VIII'.

 

Eventually the Twins will lose faith in their bizarre belief that Pelfrey's tendency to give up scorching line drives right at defenders is not only a repeatable skill but a desirable one.    Or they'll suddenly notice Milone's increasing resemblence to Bad Allen Anderson.    Or they'll reconsider their stance on Duffey when he sets the MLB record for most home runs allowed in a game.    Or Erv Santana will test positive for PGH (platypus growth hormone).

 

Whatever the particulars, somehow the Twins will probably be forced to use their best starting pitcher as a starting pitcher if their plan is to not do so.  It is, after all, the Twins we're talking about here, right?