Uh-Oh: Anthony DeSclafani Has a Date with Dr. Meister, Leaving Season in Doubt

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

2 hours ago, twins_89 said:

DeSclafani going down is unfortunate, but it's hard to consider it a surprise. Trading for a pitcher with known arm issues has not been a strategy that has worked well for the Twins.

Actually it has when you are trading minimal assets for that player.  The rogers for Paddack and emilio pagan trade worked for the Twins.  The trade with Seattle works for the twins, even removing Disco.  The Mahle trade was a bad trade even before the injury.  When you are treating the players as negative assets you will win, just by counting cards.  Effectively we paid 4 million on Disco for better prospects in exchange for Polanco.  Yes if healthy he could have been a 2 to 3 quality pitcher.  However there were ample signs along the way his rehab was not going well.  

[jimbo92107]

"Battling through elbow soreness." I believe that's another way of saying, "I'm going to throw some really hard sliders, to make damn sure I need TJ surgery."

[USAFChief]

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Except he was a throw in and insurance, imo ... To even out the money in the trade. Did people really think this guy would come in and be healthy and good? I didn't. 

This is such a bad take.

Obtaining a starter was clearly the goal in trading Polanco. 

Just because they got a bad one doesn't change that. DeSclafani was the target of that trade, without him there's no deal. The rest was filler.

[big dog]

39 minutes ago, howeda7 said:

I'm not Dallas Kuchel's biggest fan but "old LH with a beard" is a bit of a slight.

Actually, I’m an old LH with a beard. Falvey, I’m waiting for the call!

[big dog]

1 hour ago, AceWrigley said:

Can we just please stop acquiring "major league" pitching?????? What ever guidelines the Twins are using in choosing who to acquire . . . STOP IT! We have to stop decimating our roster for arms that just won't give us value, Pablo Lopez the one exception. Are we surprised here? I'm not.

The one exception? Every other starter we’ve traded for has failed to give us value? That seems a little extreme. Not as much as saying that trading Polanco decimated our roster, but still. Joe Ryan and Sonny Gray? 

[mikelink45]

Desclafani, Peneda, Mahle, Paddock.  We specialize in signing DL starters.  Canterino is one of our perpetual injuries and I am sorry about that.  Theilbar and Duran are the big losses. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, USAFChief said:

This is such a bad take.

Obtaining a starter was clearly the goal in trading Polanco. 

Just because they got a bad one doesn't change that. DeSclafani was the target of that trade, without him there's no deal. The rest was filler.

I guess we'll just disagree here. Completely. 

[AceWrigley]

1 hour ago, big dog said:

The one exception? Every other starter we’ve traded for has failed to give us value? That seems a little extreme. Not as much as saying that trading Polanco decimated our roster, but still. Joe Ryan and Sonny Gray? 

Extreme? Of course it's extreme, I'm ranting 🙂. I am amazed at how many pitchers the Twins have acquired, once you remove the duct tape and bailing wire, their arm falls off before they can put in some innings.

Chase Petty, the main asset ( 2021 1st round pick) we traded to obtain Sonny Gray, has a minor league record of 1-8. Ouch.

[Tbrooker11]

Definitely sucks for DeSclafani, however I think it gives the Twins a chance to let Louie Varland loose and see what they have. Louie has been awesome this Spring. 

DeSclafani has been in the majors for 9 years, has only stayed mostly healthy for 3 of those, and has only had an ERA under 4.00 3 times as well. Nothing consistent about him, and I doubt any of us are shocked that he has more injury problems at this point in his career. Definitely a talented guy, whose body is 100% getting in the way of his career. 

Hope we get some good news, but maybe Louie being the 5th starter is the best news possible. 

[DJL44]

5 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

Everyone better hope (there is that word again... hope) that multiple guys in AAA are ready and show some MLB success or this season is going to go downhill unbelievably quickly. 

Calm down. The Twins are the only team actually trying to win in their division. They also have lots of trade capital to acquire rental players if needed.

[Pat]

Why on earth do they keep obtaining these pitchers who are just an injury waiting to happen after a previous injury? Senseless.

[gil4]

6 hours ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

I don't think it will happen at all, but Blake Snell IS a Twin. His Twin brother is an assistant coach at Shoreline Community College north of Seattle. 

Just wanted to throw that out there :)

Unfortunately, that didn't sway him.  He just agreed to a deal with the Giants. That's one option off the table, unless he has an old ankle injury that makes the Giants think twice...

[Karbo]

4 hours ago, Rod Carews Birthday said:

Potentially losing DeSclafani for the season to injury is actually quite a bit less scary than losing Mahle was last spring.  At the time Ober was mostly unproven and Mahle was thought of as a top end arm.  Varland is also unproven but promising, and I don't really think anyone was counting on DeSclafani for a lot this summer.  This moves Varland up the food chain and SWR, Headrick, and Festa potentially into the mix waiting in the wings in St. Paul.  I'd rather have DeSclafani healthy than not, as he is a potentially OK arm, but I don't think this is the end of the world at all.  On the other hand. . . if Duran is hurt for an extended length of time, I'm very worried.  They have other "potential closers", but again it moves everyone up the food chain, and we definitely don't know if they are all ready for prime time. 

Ober looked great last spring and as I remember there were a lot of folks wanting him to be on the opening day roster, and put Maeda in the pen. Not so different with Varland this spring. At least SWR and Headrick have another year of experience with a taste of the majors.

[DocBauer]

Guess I'm going to repeat myself here.

I keep wondering about the Polanco deal if it had happened AFTER the smaller but not insignificant 2024 TV deal with Bally. Might the Twins have signed SOMEONE like Wacha on a 1yr deal and still moved Polanco for value? Maybe still to Seattle but a different deal?

I never liked bringing in DeScalfini, even though I held out hope. I still believe that Varland might have been the better option all along, but the DEPTH idea is now gone. We're now trusting that SWR and a more experienced Headrick, and the "maybe not QUITE ready Festa is our depth. It's why I've advocated for weeks now the Twins should grab an available arm on a milb deal. Someone to have a split contract who can ramp up at St Paul and hopefully be ready in a few weeks to be at least DECENT if called on. 

Odorizzi is gone. Guys like Cueto and Keller are still out there. Maybe Lorenzen or Clevinger are still cheap options to take a flier on at this point.

I might be wrong, but I've had a feeling in the back of my head that despite payroll concerns, that MAYBE ownership was holding a little bit back in case the Twins needed to add someone on a 1yr deal? NOT adding Montgomery, but just having enough for a mid season addition or an early addition if injury hit for a smallish deal. If so, it might be time to do so for additional depth options vs just trusting the prospects.

If the pen is as deep as expected and hoped for, the pen can probably absorb the loss of Duran and Thielbar for a few weeks. Thielbar seems to be the most likely to come back early from what I've heard, can throw OK, but can't cover his position. Duran needs to have his oblique 100% because you don't want a repeat. Can the pen cover 4-6 weeks?

Let's hope so. Because Duran's loss is greater than Thielbar or Desclafani.

Still looking for an update on Canterino. I thought Winder was the only pitcher with a scaplia injury.

[David HK]

Paddack, Mahle, and now DeCaf.

Ffs, Falvine...

Every box score I see with Encarnacion-Strand and Steer, (and soon Chase Petty) I gnash my molars to stubs. 

[Brandon]

Dobnak is one step closer to making it back to the show.  I feel like he could be a Bundy type of results pitcher a 5 inning 4.5-5 ERA 5th starter if we need one.  So we will be fine as that should be the lowest our 5th starter floor goes.  

[Fatbat]

Are we technically better off with Varland getting 30 starts if he can consistently pitch into the 6th inning? If spot starters only have to cover 20 games, we really have nothing to worry about. Stop the handwringing. At least until we lose one of the top 4 guys. 

[wabene]

7 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

Are we technically better off with Varland getting 30 starts if he can consistently pitch into the 6th inning? If spot starters only have to cover 20 games, we really have nothing to worry about. Stop the handwringing. At least until we lose one of the top 4 guys. 

For my money Varland was always going to be the better immediate rotation option. That isn't the point however, the depth is now compromised. 

[TwinsDr2021]

14 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

Can we just please stop acquiring "major league" pitching?????? What ever guidelines the Twins are using in choosing who to acquire . . . STOP IT! We have to stop decimating our roster for arms that just won't give us value, Pablo Lopez the one exception. Are we surprised here? I'm not.

Lopez and Gray, Odorizzi, Maeda, Ryan

[Bodie]

13 hours ago, howeda7 said:

I'm not Dallas Kuchel's biggest fan but "old LH with a beard" is a bit of a slight.

And here I am thinking it was extraordinarily generous...

 

Still rather have ol' DK than diSca.  The one has been a serviceable starter. 

The other? Never in his career, and now out.  I'd direct y'all to my reaction upon completion of the diSca trade (best case scenario being an injury to keep a bad arm from being a black hole on the pitching staff), but that would be a bit too much "I told you so".

Hope for TJ surgery just to keep a 5+ ERA off the active roster for the season because they refuse to cut bait of obvious fork-ups!  (see Joey Gallo for an example of Twins keeping an obvious detriment for no other reason than the salary obligation)

[Fatbat]

42 minutes ago, wabene said:

For my money Varland was always going to be the better immediate rotation option. That isn't the point however, the depth is now compromised. 

I disagree. Our current depth can eat 100+ innings of 4.2era SP.  DeSclafani was never going to be the difference between 95 or 90 wins.  He was never more than a road block to Varland.  We got him covered easily. It’s only an issue if our top 4 guys cant cover 110 starts and Varland cant cover 25-30 starts. 

[saviking]

17 hours ago, howeda7 said:

I'm glad this happened now instead of after he got smashed 4-5 times. Go sign Clevinger and be done with it.

Signed yet another player ready for the glue factory 

[stringer bell]

The risk in acquiring DeSclafani has come to pass. If this guy was going to come back healthy, the Giants wouldn't have paid money to trade him and neither would the Mariners. Health has always been a huge question mark and here we are. He had an elbow issue and it was dealt with non-surgically. From the player's perspective, this makes a lot of sense, since this is the last year of a multi-year contract. The Giants paid $4 to pass the risk to the Mariners and the Ms paid $4M more to pass it to the Twins. At $4M, DeSclafani might have been a gamble worth taking, but again the Twins look like they are going bust on that gamble. 

I'll argue all day that DeSclafani would have been well worth it for a half season of pitching in an alternate reality where his elbow stayed in one piece. He didn't make it to the finish line, as a matter of fact it appears he won't make it to the starting line.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

12 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Calm down. The Twins are the only team actually trying to win in their division. They also have lots of trade capital to acquire rental players if needed.

I respectfully disagree.  This team is not "trying" to win, though they may win the division by default.

Trading viable players for prospects.  Reducing payroll and publicly stating they are not spending more (which means they will not use their trade capital to take on more salary).  Relying on huge questions marks with SP.  This is not a team "trying" to win.

[Twinsgypsy]

On 3/18/2024 at 3:17 PM, Twinsgypsy said:

If the FO were to go after a starter I believe that Ryu might be a good option because he shown that he's recovered from surgery and is also a Southpaw . However, I believe that Varland has earned the right to be the Fifth Starter in the Rotation with how he has pitched in Spring training, but as has been stated that he would be a good additional late innings option in the Bullpen.

 

unfortunately he sign a contract to play back in South Korea.