Report From The Fort: Pitching Focus

A Surprise Demotion

The big news of the day was that right-handed reliever JT Chargois, who most people expected to make the 25-man roster prior to camp, was optioned to the minors. Mike Berardino has Twins’ manager Paul Molitor’s quotes on the move from before tonight’s game. I hate this move to the point where it is disheartening.

I’ll make some acknowledgments first. First, the Opening Day roster is not all that important. Second, Chargois didn’t have a great camp. Third, it’s clear they still believe in him and expect him back soon. Fourth, I’m sure that some of the aspects of his game can be worked on in the minors, and he might even have more of a chance to work on them there than he would in a low-leverage role in the majors. I also have only seen him pitch once since I arrived (and it didn’t go well). Finally, I’ll acknowledge that the bullpen is an all-hands-on-deck situation; there isn’t enough talent to hide non-contributors for very long.

But to change course on the reliever with the highest upside because of a middling spring training performance is either short-sighted or a flawed philosophy. The hamstrung bullpen is exactly why a team should place a player with Chargois’ upside in a low-leverage role.

Sooner or later (with this group, sooner) there is going to be an injury or a rough spot for Brandon Kintzler or Ryan Pressly or Matt Belisle. And when that happens, the team is going to want someone ready to plug into those high-leverage roles. That player isn’t going to be Alex Wimmer or Justin Haley, at least not long-term.

(I suppose it’s possible it could be Michael Tonkin, but we’ve been saying that for several years and right now it’s very possible he is outside looking in for a spot. Tonight he gave up a home run on his second pitch, which might not be a big deal if that wasn’t his biggest issue last year as a Twins reliever. He gave up 13 home runs in 71 innings, about 50% more than the average major league pitcher. It’s hard to trust a homer-prone reliever in the late innings of a game.)

I think the team’s motivations are correct. They are rewarding pitchers who do well with a roster spot. They are evaluating based on results. They are responding to those players who look more “ready” based on that criterion. But I also think that plugging low upside players into low leverage roles is a sound strategy in the short-term and suicidal in the long-term. We’ve been down this path for two years under Molitor, and we know that sometime in June it all starts falling apart.

Return of Santana

The Twins tied the Orioles 5-5 as Ervin Santana returned to the mound and gave up one run over four innings. This morning we studied his pitching style and a lot of our analysis held water. Santana does primarily rely on his fastball. His secondary pitch was his slider, and he relied on it versus right-handers (because it breaks away from them). And he used his changeup versus left-handers (because it move slightly away from them), most noticeably to strike out left-handed hitting Hyun Soo Kim looking to end a 10-pitch at-bat and the third inning.

Tonight, however, in the third or fourth innings, Santana relied more on his offspeed slider and changeup than he usually did. He said it was mostly situational, but that he was also trying to get a better feel for his changeup. “It was working pretty good today,” he said after the game.

One of the mysteries yesterday was that Pitch F/X listed about 1% of his pitches as a “cutter,” which he doesn’t throw. I don’t know if this is just because he fastball has a little more movement than most, or if his changeup is a little faster than most. Tonight he had a few changeups that were 87 or 88 mph, so perhaps that was what was being tracked.

Finally, after watching him, I’m of the opinion that he has been successful because his fastball and his slider are both just very good pitches. What contact was made tonight was made on his fastball, but batters mostly have a very defensive reaction to both of those pitches. If he can rely on that changeup (he even used it a couple times versus right-handers tonight, despite it moving towards them), he could have another very good season.

A Twist In The Fifth Starter Competition

The fifth starter competition will take an unanticipated twist tomorrow. A few days ago I wrote about how innings are becoming scarce for players like Tyler Duffey and Adalberto Mejia who are trying to win the fifth spot in the rotation. Tomorrow was their turn in the rotation, but Hector Santiago is back and starting vs the Orioles tomorrow night. So at 10 AM, Duffey and Mejia will be facing the Red Sox AAA and AA teams along with their battery mates John Ryan Murphy and Chris Giminez.

Perkins And Twins Meet

Finally, we also got some news on Glen Perkins. He met with the Twins and they talked about developing a plan for him that doesn’t include throwing in any games this spring. Exactly what that plan is - whether it means putting him on the 60-day DL or whether he will continue working through his injury in Minnesota or Fort Myers - is not yet determined. But when asked if the Twins and Perkins see eye-to-eye on things, CBO Derek Falvey said “That was the best part of the meeting the other day. We went into it asking how he felt. He said he feels good; he’s progressing. So we feel on the same page, with respect to the plan. I’m not concerned about that at all.”