Report From The Fort: Squeeze Play

Squeezing The Rotation

That squeeze has started and yesterday we saw its first victim when Ryan Vogelsong was granted his release following a conversation with the Twins. There simply is no longer room for the 8th or 9th rotation candidate to throw 75 pitches. “We felt that right now we had a few people in front of him in terms of that rotation situation,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor. Of course, he’s right.

Games are grouped in sets of five, since the starting pitchers are on a five-day rotation. One game goes to each Phil Hughes and Kyle Gibson. With Ervin Santana returning this week, that leaves only two games available in this set, and Tyler Duffey, Adalberto Mejia and Justin Haley have youth, performance and a Rule 5 decision on their side.

Having three Twins pitchers in the WBC has been a blessing and a curse for pitchers competing for a rotation spot. On the one hand, it probably gave Haley, Vogelsong, Duffey and Mejia a few starts they might not have had the past couple of weeks. Puerto Rico’s semifinal win bought a little more time, as it delays Jose Berrios and Hector Santiago rejoining the team.

But on the other hand, when the WBC guys return, the Twins are going to want to give them innings versus major league competition. That’s important because to free up some innings, some teams will opt to have an established starter throw a game against a AAA team rather than a spring training game.

That doesn’t seem like the best option for the worst rotation in MLB last year. Plus, the Twins will have three guys coming back from the WBC and Phil Hughes trying to come back from surgery and Kyle Gibson trying to work a new delivery. Don’t you want these guys pitching versus major league hitters? But I expect we’ll see the Twins try to give a couple more chances to Duffey, Mejia, Haley and Berrios.

Squeezing The Bullpen

There is a crunch in the bullpen, too, as starters eat more innings. And that crunch is exacerbated by a starting pitching competition as we saw on Monday. Duffey and Mejia both threw about 70 pitches back-to-back, leaving zero innings for the scheduled relievers, JT Chargois and Buddy Boshers.

Watching how the Twins manage their limited relief innings gives some indications on the bullpen competition. Like the starters, some of the more established relievers throw in minor league games. Also, the innings early in the game, when major league competition is still playing for the opposition, are more valuable. In the last few days:

• Right-handers Brandon Kintzler and Matt Belisle pitched in AAA games yesterday. They’re safely in.
  
• Left-hander Taylor Rogers pitched in a AAA game last week and was the first reliever in the game yesterday. He’s safe.
  
• Left-hander Craig Breslow was added to the 40-man roster today when Trevor May was added to the 60-day DL, pitched in AAA today and was the first guy off the bench on Saturday to face major leaguers. He’s in.
  
• Left-hander Boshers was scheduled to be used in Monday’s game but didn’t get in. Then he was scheduled for yesterday’s game but didn’t pitch until the ninth. And then he got beat up pretty bad, albeit while facing a string of right-handed hitters. For now, he looks “out”, especially because the bullpen looks like it already has two left-handers.
  
• Right-hander Ryan Pressly is presumed “in” given his performance this spring. He will likely be scheduled to pitch tomorrow, so we’ll see how he’s used.
  
• Right-hander Chargois was also scheduled to be in Monday’s game, came into the eighth inning, got into a little trouble, set himself up to work out of it, got drilled by a Howie Kendrick hit ball, and struggled after staying in the game after that. I think he’s the leading candidate for one of the last two spots, but I’ll list him as “on the bubble”. It’s possible that Haley, Duffey or Berrios end up pushing him out of the bullpen.
  
• Right-handers Michael Tonkin and Alex Wimmers were the only serious bullpen candidates to be sentenced to the three-hour road trip across the state for today’s game. I also see that Wimmers got in the game before Tonkin. We’ll list them both as “fringe”.
  

So five of the seven spots are likely taken: Kintzler will close, with Belisle and Pressly as right-handers and Rogers and Breslow as left-handers. That leaves two spots, with Chargois as still the leading candidate, Tonkin and Wimmers as other candidates, and any of the losing starting pitchers as possible swing men.

Decisions will be made as to the final spots over the next week, but while you’re waiting, look for the smaller decisions. Pay attention to whom the club is giving their limited innings. Those choices will naturally lead to the bigger decisions.