Nick Nelson

Considering that 20 teams just passed on the opportunity to add Benson for free, I doubt many would find him an appealing trade chip. How much was he really going to improve his numbers in two months, especially considering that he's demonstrated no ability whatsoever to hit high-level pitching? Again, for all this talk but his "talent" Benson has hit .199 with a 98/24 K/BB ratio between Triple-A and the majors, and he's about to be 26 and out of options in an organization with a loaded OF pipeline. He wouldn't have been my first choice to jettison but I'm truly baffled by all the fuss this is raising. FWIW, Jim Mandelaro, who covers the Red Wings for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, is fully on board with the decision.

That very well may be true, but it's not necessarily something that goes away, especially within the time frame that the Twins need to make a decision on him. Seriously, take a look at the history of guys who have had microfracture knee surgery, it's not pretty. Grady Sizemore is a high-profile example. You seem fixated on the player he was prior to 2012. There's no evidence that player still exists. Benson has shown no ability to hit above Triple-A, and has only continued to deteriorate in Rochester. He was striking out in one out of every three trips to the dish. Brutal. The Twins had to be at the point where they were considering sending him down to New Britain, again. At that point, knowing he's out of options the next spring, is it really that big a deal to just cut him loose and wish him the best? I get that nobody likes Butera, but at some point we all just need to accept that the people running the team place a value on his presence, and it just is what it is. I am so bored with every single thread of discussion turning into a Butera bash fest. The guy can't even be stashed away in the minors without constantly becoming the focus of blame for every single one of the organization's ills.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. One way or another, Morneau isn't going to bring in anything spectacular at the deadline. If he heats up, maybe you can flip him for a decent prospect; if not, you hold him and reevaluate at the end of the year. If Parmelee continues to show very little the rest of the way, I'd have no problem with extending the qualifying offer to Morneau, presuming he stays healthy.

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* Vance Worley made his first start for Class-AAA Rochester on Monday after being demoted last week. Facing Lehigh Valley, the Triple-A affiliate for his former organization, Worley delivered a five-hit shutout. Before we go making proclamations about the Twins' Opening Day starter's ills being miraculously cured, it bears noting that his peripherals were less than stellar; he threw only 74 of 119 pitches for strikes and issued four walks against four strikeouts. Really, the biggest change was that balls put into play were turning into outs rather than hits, which tends to happen against minor-league competition. Nevertheless, the shutdown effort undoubtedly provided some much-needed confidence for Worley, who has been battling through the most tumultuous stretch of his professional career. Hopefully he can continue to build on this success and work his way back up quickly. * The acquisition of Worley is one of many offseason decisions that haven't worked out especially well for the Twins thus far, but we also should recognize that a few of the team's moves have indeed paid dividends. One such example is the signing of Kevin Correia, who picked up his fifth win on Monday by holding the Brewers to three runs over six innings. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4189[/ATTACH] The Correia contract was widely panned when it was inked in December, and I was as vocal as anyone in my criticism. The right-hander brought over a poor track record from the National League and Terry Ryan's proclamations about Correia being "better than the numbers" were met with great skepticism given this club's past efforts in the free agent pitching arena. We're not quite a third of the way through the season yet, but to Ryan's credit, Correia has up to this point been as advertised (by the Twins, not the numbers). He's striking out fewer hitters than ever before -- unsurprising for a 32-year-old lifelong NL guy coming over to the Junior Circuit -- but still he's been the lone bright spot in an otherwise disastrous rotation, with a 3.96 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. On a staff whose members have frequently struggled to get through even five innings, Correia has completed six or more in seven of his 10 starts. Many of the veteran's past trends have remained constant but the biggest difference for him in a Twins uniform has been markedly improved control. He had previously averaged 3.4 walks per nine innings in his career, but this season he's handed out just 10 free passes in 63 2/3 innings for a 1.4 BB/9 rate. The Rick Anderson effect? Despite my lingering doubts regarding Correia -- and pitchers who allow tons of contact in general -- I have maintained an open mind and must admit that I enjoy watching him pitch. He works quickly on the mound and seems to have a good plan for each hitter. He's not afraid to show some emotion out there. He fails to execute on his pitches occasionally -- Monday's three-homer outing serving as a fine example -- but he bounces back and gets after it. In many ways, his game reminds me of Carl Pavano's. Those are the things that Ryan saw in Correia. Whether these strengths can continue to keep the the hurler afloat in spite of his extreme contact tendencies remains to be seen, but for now I'm happy to give the Twins' brass some props amidst the justifiable venom being doled out toward their handling of the rotation overall. * Another decision I had major doubts about was Minnesota's commitment to Pedro Florimon as starting shortstop this season. Here was a guy with a marginal track record who had been passed on by every organization in baseball less than a year ago, and now the Twins were plugging him in as their starter at a crucial position with no feasible backup plan. Through these first two months of the season, however, it hasn't been hard for me to see why the organization values him. Florimon's game is still raw in many respects, but he's an athletic ballplayer with an outstanding arm and some intriguing offensive abilities. This was all on display in Monday's win, when he went 2-for-4 with a double at the dish and started three double plays in the field. Florimon's hitting line stands at .255/.328/.368, which is hardly spectacular but perfectly adequate for a defensive specialist hitting toward the bottom of the lineup. His ability to make things happen on the bases (6-for-6 on steals) adds another dimension. He'll never be a true asset as a starter, but I've come around on the idea that Florimon could be a legitimately decent stopgap for a few years, which would be big for an organization that lacks short-term or long-term solutions at shortstop. As with Correia, it'd be no surprise if Florimon's flaws and history eventually caught up with him, but for now: kudos Twins.

I've never been sold on his "potential" considering his total lack of strike zone judgment, and with his epic struggles above Double-A -- along with the microfracture knee surgery which few players successfully come back from -- there's less reason than ever to think he'll be an MLB asset. If it was going to happen, it would need to be in an organization that wasn't already loaded with quality outfield prospects.

Benson had no path to starting in the major leagues, has been terrible, and is out of options next year. If anything I'm happy for him getting a change of scenery and a better opportunity. Again: two-thirds of all MLB teams passed on the chance to pick him up.

Benson homered again today. Even in Double-A, that's a sort of crazy start considering how he'd been performing for Rochester.

Borbon was claimed before the Twins had a chance at him. He's a 29-year-old in Triple-A. You really want a Willingham/Clete/Parmelee OF?

Come on. This sentence only reinforces the validity of their approach. The Twins have other viable options to plug in at the corner OF spots. Clete Thomas??

I understand that Gibson has had a pattern of alternating good/bad starts (until yesterday). Could someone explain to me why it matters so much? He can work on becoming more consistent in the majors just as well as he can in the minors. As it is, his bad outings have been no worse than the duds the Twins are consistently getting, and his good outings have been truly spectacular. Makes no sense to waste those in the minors for a guy on an innings limit when you have the worst rotation in ball.

Incorrect. Outright waivers are not segregated by league.

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I hadn't realized how bad Dozier's numbers have gotten. Holy cow.

While I'm more than familiar with the concepts behind BABIP, I have a hard time attributing the Twins' high mark entirely to bad luck. They have too many pitchers that consistently put the ball out over the plate. MLB hitters should be expected to bat well above .300 when putting those kinds of offerings in play. Big reason I'm glad to see Deduno (and to a lesser extent Walters) added into the mix. As much as the Twins complain about pitchers "nibbling," having some guys who work more around the fringe of the strike zone will be a welcome change of pace.

Walters has a great curve and has had some nice moments but he doesn't have a major-league fastball. Excruciatingly tough to succeed with that going against you. I'm sure the appeal for the Twins is that he's pitched into the seventh six times in his past seven starts. Really does look like we're going to have to wait for the Super 2 deadline to pass to see Gibson. Oh well.

I noticed a quote from Anderson that was recently published stating he "knew Liriano would be a good pitcher now that he was going to the NL," or something to that effect. In other words, Anderson knew that Liriano would realize his potential once he joined another team. Isn't that pretty much a direct admission of personal failure? I know it's a bit easier to get good results in the Senior Circuit (someone tell TR) but that's a little hard to stomach. I'll say this much: if Anderson can't work with guys like Liriano (erratic with big stuff and tricky mechanics) then he's clearly not the one who should be handling this next wave, with Meyer/May/etc.

I dunno, Diamond and Worley were both pretty decent last year, though it's unclear how much their offseason surgeries are affecting their current results. No one should be surprised by Pelfrey's ineffectiveness. As for Hendriks/Hernandez, your last sentence applies. Personally I don't really hold Anderson accountable for the struggles of the staff but he doesn't have much ground to stand on at this point. Outside of maybe one or two success stories, he hasn't shown the ability to straighten anyone out over the last three seasons. Really starting to seem like his methods are outdated.

Of the 14 hits he allowed in those three Triple-A starts, 12 were singles. Deduno will allow base runners but by and large they only get to first base. Pointing out his high pitch counts is a valid point, but that's just a part of his game, and not one that differentiates him much from the current group. It took Hernandez like 100 pitches to get through four innings in his last start. Pelfrey is pretty much good for 20 pitches/inning. The difference is that Deduno might actually be effective while using all those pitches. As for Gibson, he's had his issues with efficiency as well, and in his case it's more of a problem because the Twins will be far less willing to let him run up high pitch counts than a guy like Deduno. No disagreement there, but for whatever reason -- whether it's consistency, service time or whatever -- the Twins aren't ready to give Gibson a shot. If it's not going to be him, Deduno is the best choice.

Career opponents' batting average / slugging: Worley - .280 / .424 Deduno - .248 / .399 Correia - .273 / .430 Pelfrey - .287 / .419 League average in 2013 - .255 / .413 Deduno may not be a pure strikeout pitcher but he's legitimately tough to hit, and that's been true everywhere -- minors/majors/whatever. He might pitch to contact when he's not issuing walks but he doesn't pitch to hard contact. In contrast to the current suspects, that intrigues me. I also suspect he'll be above his career K-rate this year if he keeps throwing the way he has been.

Part of me wonders if they meant that they were limiting him to 130 innings in the majors. If that's the case, they could call him up in the near future and hit that mark, putting his season total around 180-190. That seems not unreasonable considering how far out he is from the surgery. Seth makes a good point in stating that Liriano threw 199 innings his first year back from TJ. I've always felt that a 130-inning total cap was absurdly conservative, so this would be a logical explanation to me. It's worth noting that in the GM Handbook interview, Terry Ryan said of Gibson, "We aren't going to be looking for 170 or 180 innings, no. He's not going to be ready for that type of load." Moments later, he said "I don't think you'll ever see him throw more than 100 pitches." Gibson threw 116 pitches in his first shutout earlier this month. So... we'll see.

That is some pretty hilarious work by the auto word filter in that link there. Supposed to be Tewks-hitting. Anyway, yes, Colabello has been called up. Not sure what the corresponding move is, but Plouffe to the 7-day DL is a good guess.