Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Twins Notes

First things first, I wrote my weekly StarTribune.com TwinsCentric blog last night. It is titled “Who’s to blame?” In it, I discuss who I think the blame for the Twins disappointing season should go to, but I have a feeling that many will disagree. What do you think?

Following last night’s debacle against Cleveland, the Twins announced that they finally made the decision to put Clay Condrey on the 60 Day Disabled List. They also demoted Alex Burnett to AAA Rochester which means, that it is now officially Slama Time. Yes, the Twins called up 26 year old reliever Anthony Slama. As I mentioned during last night’s SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast, Slama and the rest of that Rochester bullpen have been beaten up and way overused thanks to horrible starting pitching. Here is a look at how much the Red Wings bullpen has been used this year:

· Jose Lugo (0-4, 6.17 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 39 G, 65.2 IP)

· Tim Lahey (5-1, 5.00 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 35 G, 63.0 IP)

· Kyle Waldrop (4-3, 2.09 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 41 G, 60.1 IP)

· Rob Delaney (7-5, 5.49 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 43 G, 57.1 IP)

· Anthony Slama (0-1, 1.71 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 43 G, 52.2 IP)

· Brad Hennessey (1-2, 7.89 ERA, 2.03 WHIP, 11 G, 21.2 IP)

· Pat Neshek (2-0, 4.64 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 16 G, 21.1 IP)

To put that into some perspective, here are the same numbers for Twins relievers:

· Brian Duensing (3-1, 1.67 ERA, 39 G, 43.0 IP)

· Alex Burnett (1-2, 4.39 ERA, 35 G, 41.0 IP)

· Matt Guerrier (1-5, 2.88 ERA, 43 G, 40.2 IP)

· Jesse Crain (1-0, 3.65 ERA, 38 G, 37.0 IP)

· Jon Rauch (0-1, 3.31 ERA, 34 G, 35.1 IP)

· Ron Mahay (0-1, 3.49 ERA, 31 G, 28.1 IP)

· Jose Mijares (1-0, 2.75 ERA, 26 G, 19.2 IP)

So, if you think tha the Twins bullpen has been overused, what do you think about the Red Wings bullpens. I am shocked that more of their arms have not fallen off. When I see some of those high ERAs, I don’t worry about it because they have got to be dead tired.

But it is a good day when Anthony Slama finally gets that much-deserved big league promotion. He has had another good, dominant season and hopefully can show scouts around the league that his delivery can get big league hitters out. Slama had not given up an earned run in over a month when he left to pitch in the Futures Game in Anaheim. He gave up three hits in an inning in that game, but no runs. He was the winning pitcher in the AAA All-Star Game. Since coming back to the Red Wings, he has given up one run in all three of his outings. Right-handed batters hit just .103 against him while left-handed batters hit .250 against him. Can he help the Twins bullpen? Certainly. But be patient with him as well since he has thrown so many innings. This is a good move because Gardy and Rick Anderson will take care of him better than he has been in Rochester… I hope!

Here are some quick notes on what happened in the Twins minor league system on Monday:

· There were several transactions:

1. Bobby Lanigan moved up to New Britain and started in place of David Bromberg who was promoted to Rochester to start last night.

2. BJ Hermsen and Michael Tonkin were both sent to Elizabethton, which is probably where they should have been through this season. It will be fun to see what they are capable of doing at a level that they should be playing at.

· Rochester lost 6-2 to Buffalo. Bromberg had a Quality Start in his AAA debut. He gave up three runs on five hits in six innings. He walked just one and struck out seven. Rob Delaney pitched a scoreless inning. Pat Neshek gave up two unearned runs 0.2 innings. Anthony Slama then gave up a run on four hits in the last 1.1 innings. The Red Wings had just four hits. Matt Macri hit his fifth home run.

· New Britain lost to Harrisburg by a score of 6-3. Lanigan went six innings and gave up just one run on seven hits and two walks. Loek Van Mil went just 0.2 innings and gave up five earned runs on two hits and three walks. Billy Bullock got the final four outs. Jair Fernandez went 3-4 with his third home run. Alexi Casilla went 2-4. Joe Benson hit his 13^th doubles and drove in two runs.

· The Ft. Myers Miracle lost 1-0 to Lakeland. They managed just three hits in the game. Nate Hanson hit his eighth double. Michael Harrington went 1-3 in his return from suspension. Matt Williams started in place of Lanigan and threw five no-hit innings. He walked two and struck out four. Shooter Hunt walked four and allowed one run in 0.1 innings. Dakota Watts came in and got out of the sixth and pitched two more scoreless innings. Michael Allen pitched a scoreless inning despite allowing two hits.

· Down in Beloit, the Snappers beat Lansing 3-1. Eight hitters had one hit each. The lone starter without a hit was Josmil Pinto. Danny Rams hit his third triple, and Lance Ray hit his first home run. Tom Stuifbergen started and went three innings. He gave up one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out three. Clinton Dempster threw three shutout innings. Jhon Garcia threw two shutout frames. Andrei Lobanov recorded his first save with the Snappers with a scoreless ninth.

· Adrian Salcedo led the E-Twins to a 6-0 win over Bristol. Salcedo went eight shutout innings. He gave up four hits, walked one and struck out 11. He improved to 3-2 with a 2.41 ERA. Jose Gonzalez pitched a scoreless inning. Daniel Santana went 2-5. Danny Ortiz hit his eighth double.

· Down in the Gulf Coast League, the Twins lost to the Orioles 5-1. Eddie Rosario went 2-4 with his seventh double and 11 stolen base. Candido Pimental hit his sixth double. David Deminsky gave up three runs on nine hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out eight. Luis Nunez gave up two runs on four hits in two innings.

· Finally, Jordan Tuwiner, a follower of the Baltimore Orioles minor league system, was at a couple of GCL Twins/GCL Orioles games last week. He wrote scouting reports and shows videos of Miguel Sano, Candido Pimentel, Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler. Check them out.

Kevin Slowey will take the mound tonight against Justin Masterson and Cleveland. Hopefully things can turn around!

Daily Summary:

1. Star Tribune TwinsCentric Blog – Who’s to Blame?

2. Last night’s emotional SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast

3. Anthony Slama, like other Rochester relief pitchers, has been overused, but he is now heading to Minnesota to join the Twins bullpen. Alex Burnett optioned to Rochester and Clay Condrey put on the 60 Day Disabled List.

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