Berardino: Burton won't pitch 3 straight days

[John Bonnes]

Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press points out that yesterday was the 2-year anniversary of Jared Burton's arthroscopic shoulder surgery. Burton has been every bit as good, if not better, than Glen Perkins this year, but the Twins still are going to err on the side of caution with how much he's used.

 

Working three straight days just isn't something the Twins think he should do yet.

 

 

"Probably not going to happen," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said recently. "We didn't do it last year, and we're probably not going to try this year. It's about keeping him healthy for this year."

 

 

I'm all for caution, and one cannot argue with the results from Burton so far. But Burton says it isn't a problem. For a team that relies so much on players to tell them if they're healthy or not, isn't it a little weird that they don't trust a guy who says he's heatlhy and is two years away from his last setback?

 

Minnesota Twins' Jared Burton has been a stabilizing force in the bullpen - TwinCities.com

[Nick Nelson]

Burton has had so many problems with that shoulder I wouldn't screw with it much. The way they're using him has worked out pretty well so far.

 

However, this increases the urgency to keep Fien around. Only other RH you can trust much in the late innings.

[Guest USAFChief]

It's progress. Remember last year they were reluctant to even use him on consecutive days (only 8 times, and only twice with fewer than 3 days off before appearing in back-to-back games), and he never pitched three days in a row.

[Brock Beauchamp]

It's progress. Remember last year they were reluctant to even use him on consecutive days (only 8 times, and only twice with fewer than 3 days off before appearing in back-to-back games), and he never pitched three days in a row.

 

Yep. And given Burton's importance to the pen in the next couple of seasons, I have no issues with them taking a cautious approach.

[Otto von Ballpark]

If this is actually their approach, they should probably swap roles for Burton and Perkins. The Twins have generally been protective of their closers anyway and relied more heavily on their setup men (as it probably has to be, given the modern closer's role, as close games in the 7th/8th are going to be more frequent than save opportunities). Plus, as a right-hander Burton is probably more suited to generic closer matchups than a lefty, and Perkins could be a shutdown lefty setup guy (no offense Duensing) who could be deployed more strategically.

 

I know it will never happen, but such a switch is probably more likely than the Twins ever going beyond the conventional closer's role, and could provide similar benefits given their current resources.