Cardinals 5, Twins 3: Super Tuesday

Every time the Twins make their way through the starting rotation this spring, the starters add an inning. And since the Twins have eight players still competing for a starting pitching spot, three days out of every five the starting pitchers are doubling up: pitching one right after another.

So, for instance, on Monday, Phil Hughes pitched three innings followed by Trevor May who pitched 2.1 innings. That only left 3.2 innings to dedicate to relievers. By Saturday, if both Hughes and May are stretched four innings, it could mean one inning left for a reliever. And that will be true for Tyler Duffey and Ricky Nolasco on Sunday, too. Plus, Ervin Santana and JO Berrios are doubling up this Thursday and presumably next Tuesday, too, so the innings available for relievers are becoming scarce.

That's especially true because the Twins have a LOT of left-handed relievers through which to sort. Not counting Glen Perkins, there are eleven left-handed relievers in camp fighting for a single spot. As is, some were having trouble getting into games this week. Yesterday provided a rare opportunity: the Twins had two games – a “split squad game” - and two rosters to fill. Given the innings crunch, some of these guys may not get a better – or indeed another - chance to show what they can do.

Thus, Super Tuesday. The Twins trotted out five left-handed relievers consecutively for an inning apiece in their home 5-3 loss to the Cardinals. Only one, Ryan O’Rourke, didn’t give up a hit. Only two – O’Rourke and Michael Strong, didn’t give up a run. Only one, Logan Darnell struck out any of the batters he faced. We could go into more detail, but we confirmed what we already knew: we're not thrilled with any of these candidates. I especially wonder about Buddy Boshers and Aaron Thompson sticking around camp much longer. Neither has shown much so far this spring and their struggles continued in this game.

That Starting Arms Race

This inning scarcity raises a couple of other topics worth exploring. First, I won’t be surprised if JO Berrios is sent down fairly early in camp. It wouldn’t be a reflection on him. It would just mean the Twins need his innings to sort through their bullpen. Also, I would think that as soon as the Twins feel that the other six candidates for the rotation are healthy (and that appears to be the case), May will be moved back to the bullpen, maybe as early as early next week.

The Road Game

That Twins lost the other split squad game too, 9-3, to the Blue Jays up in Dunedin. The organization’s attitude towards split squad games is interesting. Terry Ryan always goes to the road game. Under Tom Kelly & Ron Gardenhire and now under Paul Molitor, so does the manager. The attitude is that if the players need to go, the GM and the coach should go. This is no small sacrifice, by the way. It’s a five-hour round trip drive to Dunedin where the Blue Jays play.

With that kind of trip, even if you like to go to road games, the easy choice is to watch the home game. But pretty regularly, the more intriguing group of players is the one sent on the road and that was certainly the case yesterday. Tyler Duffey pitched on the road; Ricky Nolasco pitched at home. The regulars that played at home included Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Kurt Suzuki and Eduardo Escobar. On the road, they were Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Byung-Ho Park and John Ryan Murphy.

That’s not unusual because generally, the manager lets the more veteran players stay home, while the younger players sit on the bus. As a result, it’s often the players fighting for playing time or players that have the New Car Smell™ that end up on the road trips.

Watching Nolasco

Ricky Nolasco made his second start of spring training and looked pretty good. More precisely, he looked very good in his first two innings, but struggled in his third inning, He threw strikes early in the count, throwing first pitch strikes to 7 of the 10 batters he faced. He mixed up all four of his pitches throughout the outing. He froze a lot of batters on called strikes, getting ten such calls and making hitters look like they were off balance. He struck out four batters, all on swinging strikes.

His overall control was more of a concern. Of the 43 pitches he threw, 17 were out of the zone, which is 3-5 more than one would see on a good day. In particular, he seemed to get ahead in the count (often with those called strikes) and then try to hit the outside edge of the plate, but miss outside or low. “I made it a little hard on myself, trying to put guys away, maybe trying to do a little too much,” said Nolasco after the game.

Finding A Way

After struggling to get on base for most of spring training, Danny Santana bunted his way onto first base in the third inning. It was his second hit of the spring. “I played a couple days not too good, so I was thinking ‘Do I bunt today?’”, Santana said afterwards in the locker room. He made it look easy - it was towards the third baseman, who fielded it cleanly but was still late by a step. “I’m a bunting guy, you know?”, continued Santana. “I know how to bunt.”

That versatility he showed at the plate has been more pronounced in the field. In this first week, Santana has appeared in six games, and has started the last three days. He has played second base, shortstop, third base, center field and right field. With no more options left, the Twins will need to choose to put him on the Opening Day roster or put him on waivers, where he will almost surely be claimed. Even if he struggles this spring, I don’t think the Twins will risk that.

Look for him to continue to get opportunities and to make the team as a super-utility player this spring who can play everyplace but catcher and pitcher. He also brings speed to the bench. And apparently the ability to bunt when one needs it. He’s a bunting guy.