Plouffe,
Revere Promoted
Following
last night’s game, the Twins surprised no one by calling up Trevor Plouffe. They put Jim Thome on
the Disabled List with the oblique injury.
They
also mentioned that Jason Repko would be put on the
Disabled List with his quad injury. They didn’t announce a corresponding move,
but via Twitter, Red Wings catcher Rene Rivera commented, “Congrats to my roommate @BenRevere9 he going to the big leagues
good luck my friend.”
I
learned that Ray Chang was being promoted from New Britain up to Rochester as
well.
Following
a game on April 26th in which he went 0-3, Revere was hitting .194.
He went 9-11 over next three games, and in the six games since that 0-3, he is
14-25 (.560), and he is now hitting .293 (I won’t mention the .330 OBP and .315
SLG, or the .645 OPS). It will be interesting to see what happens in the Twins
outfield. I assume that if Revere is up, he will play. Could Rene Tosoni move to the bench? And if Delmon
Young is back on Friday, who will be sent back to Rochester? I assume Tosoni which would make Revere the fourth outfielder until
Jim Thome comes back. Or, does this tell us that
Young may not be back as soon as we had hoped?
As for
Plouffe, we have been clamoring for him to be called
up for some time now. He had a bad spring training,
with a bunch of errors. He was sent back to minor league camp early. He has
played good defense for the Red Wings. He started the season on fire,
particularly with extra base hits. On the season, he is hitting .282/.344/.590
(.934 OPS) with four doubles, a triple and six home runs. However, in his last
nine games, he is 7-34 (.206). He went 4-5 with a double and a home run on
Sunday. Take that one game out, and he has 3 hits in his last 29 at bats.
However, getting Plouffe to the big leagues should
help the Twins.
Alexi Casilla was already moved over to 2B last night. Plouffe has played 2B eight of the 21 games he has played
at Rochester. Michael Cuddyer, Luke Hughes and Matt
Tolbert can all play 2B. So, right now, the Twins have three options at SS,
five options at 2B, and several options at 3B .With Revere and Tosoni still both in the big leagues, there is now enough
outfield depth.
Ray
Chang was promoted from New Britain to Rochester. The infielder was hitting
.270/.320/.404 with nine doubles, a home run and 22 RBI so far this season. It
is again inexplicable to me why it wasn’t Steve Singleton promoted, but it is
possible that an infielder could be sent down when Young comes off the Disabled
List. That’s all I can think of. I have to assume that an outfielder will be
promoted from New Britain to Rochester, although that isn’t absolutely necessary
as the Red Wings still have Jeff Bailey, Brandon Roberts, Dustin Martin and
Brian Dinkelman who can play in the outfield.
What
affect do you think that Plouffe will have on the
Twins? I know he struggled in the big leagues last year when he was promoted to
the Twins four times. He struckout
quite a bit. He also hit two home runs. Hitting in the bottom of the
order, he could be alright with the bat, but the bigger concern is what he can
do with the glove. I will say this. It would be hard to believe that he could
be worse than Casilla was. What affect will playing
2B have on Casilla, and what do you think the playing
time will be at SS, 2B and in the OF? I assume that when he plays, Revere will
bat second which should strengthen that spot in the lineup. He can bunt and
run, which should be exciting. As always, if you have any
questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.
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