Not surprising really that the White Sox released the news before the Twins did so, but regardless, Francisco Liriano is now a Chicago White Sox (Sock?).
In return, the Sox sent two young players who have primarily been minor leaguers, though both have already spent some time in the Big Leagues with the BitchSox.
Lefty pitcher Pedro Hernandez recently made his MLB debut with a four-inning start. He gave up 8 runs (3 homers). I guess his 18.00 ERA is bound to improve, right? The 23 year old Venezuelan has been a starting pitcher pretty much his entire minor league career. He’s got a 3.42 career MiLB ERA and a 1.240 WHIP in his six minor league seasons. In rookie leagues, he was striking out about a hitter per inning, but that rate has dropped as he’s progressed through the levels. Thus far in 2012, with time in AA and AAA, he’s sporting a 5.7 K/9 rate and walking 2.2 hitters per 9 innings. Hernandez is just 5′ 10″, but he weighs in at an even 200 pounds.
The other player coming to the Twins is also a 5′ 10″ 23 year old Venezuelan. However, infielder Eduardo Escobar is just 165 pounds. That’s a good thing, because if he carried Hernandez’ weight, he wouldn’t be “hitting his weight” this season (he’s hit .195 in 32 games for Chicago this season). He has just 99 career plate appearances for Chicago (92 this season). He appears to essentially be a utility infielder, but he’s going to have to learn how to do something with the bat if he’s going to have any kind of career. Escobar has a .270/.315/.351 split in 6 minor league seasons.
I’m sure we’ll learn more about these players in the coming hours and days. Frankly, if Hernandez turns out to be at least a replacement level starting pitcher, then this return is about all I was expecting for Liriano. There’s no doubt in my mind that his implosion in hs last start cost the Twins something in trade value.
Thanks for the memories, Frankie. I wish I could wish you good luck in the future, but given where you’ll be playing, I just can’t bring myself to do so. I do thank you for the good times and I’ll try not to think too much about the bad times.
Danny Valencia is back up with the Twins, with Trevor Plouffe on the DL and Danny is in the lineup tonight.
I haven’t been paying much attention to my Twitter feed today, so if there’s other news involving the Twins, I’m simply not aware of it.
Let’s see if our guys can put a second straight total effort out on the field tonight. Then again, it’s probably asking a bit much for Deduno to replicate Diamond’s performance from last night.
Big time offense from the Twins two nights in a row? I’m not well versed on the Book of Revelation, but I think maybe that’s a sign of the Apocalypse. Better be prepared. Just our luck, right? The Twins finally pull out of the cellar of the AL Central Division and the world comes to an end.
How do you score 12 runs on just the same number of hits? One way to do it is to go 8-12 with runners in scoring position. Four Twins drove in multiple runs. Ben Revere went 3-5 and Josh Willingham blasted his 27th home run of the season. But the offensive star was Alexi Casilla who had a double and a triple, both with runners on base, giving him 4 RBI on the night.
The Twins also got a second consecutive very good pitching performance from their starter as Sam Deduno went seven innings, giving up just one run and two hits while striking out six. If we wanted to pic nits, we might ask him to cut down on the five walks he issued, but we’re certainly not going to complain tonight.
For their efforts, Casilla and Deduno earn co-BOD awards!
Sam Deduno (Photo: John Swol/TwinsTrivia.com)Alexi Casilla
Soooo… Guess who is a late scratch because his thumb still doesn’t work?? yeah, and headed for the DL after being unavailable to play for 7 days… I gotta say that somewhere (probably the managers office) the air has turned blue from all the cussing. Gardy is likely royally PO’d about this because I got the sense early on that his preference all along would have been the DL but he went along with the info he was given.. which clearly was faulty to begin with. With Plouffe going down, the roulette wheel of replacement players has landed on Danny Valencia. Let’s see what he can do with the opportunity.
note: The irony that no one else would ever know about? The official lineups were actually up sooooo early that I thought perhaps I had the game start time wrong. Of course that would be the day that there is actually a late scratch and they have to fix them.
For all the issues of ‘who is playing what base’, our real issues are always ‘who is throwing the ball’. Tonight, it’s Scott Diamond’s turn and I think all of us have more confidence in him than anyone else in our rotation. Let’s hope he’s able to live up to that.
It was one of “those” weeks for me at work so I spent a lot of time today/tonight in a bar, but I did remember to have them put the Twins game on one of the TVs, so I was witness to Scott Diamond’s outstanding performance tonight. It was, of course, also a lot of fun to watch Justin Morneau launch a ball on to the plaza and Josh Willingham put one in the bullpens. I couldn’t help but wonder, though, whether I was seeing the last bomb off the bat of either of those gentlemen in a Twins uniform.
In the end, a complete game shutout is pretty much a no-brainer for Boyfriend of the Day and I can’t tell you how pleased I am that Diamond was given the opportunity to finish what he started. A perfect game through 4+ innings and, in the end, a three-hitter. Great job, Scott! – JC
The Twins were off yesterday. So naturally I was thinking about facial hair because Luis Perdomo has been called up to replace the injured Anthony Swarzak. Which reminded me of an excellent tournament of Twins mustachioed men recently moderated by The Platoon Advantage. This entry is not nearly as all-encompassing or interesting as said tournament. But it is something, and by definition that means it is not nothing. Enjoy this not nothing.
Delmon Young once lackadaisically roamed left field for the Minnesota Twins, now he grows fantastic mustaches.
Delmon Young’s fine mustache. Image captured from Fox Sports Detroit
Wilson Ramos used to throw out base stealers for the Twins in the Minor Leagues. Then someone tried to steal him. Now, apparently, someone has stolen his mustache.
Wilson Ramos’ missing mustache. Photo Credit: David Phillip, AP.
Yesterday afternoon 32,261 baseball fans were treated to a 4.1 inning performance from Nick Blackburn in which more batters hit home runs (2) than struck out (1). Before he was yanked midway through the 5th inning, Blackburn faced 23 batters, and gave up 10 hits and 8 runs (all earned). Unfortunately for Twins fans, this marked Blackburn’s 8th start of 2012 in which he gave up 5 or more earned runs and failed to get through the 6th inning. In fact, Blackburn has pitched into the 7th inning just once in 2012, just last week when he went 6.2 innings and gave up just a single earned run, his best start since July 15th of 2011 when he was able to go seven full innings without giving up any runs, despite being tagged with a 2-1 loss.
Originally drafted in the 29th round of the 2001 amateur draft out of Seminole State College, Blackburn made his MLB debut as a September call-up in 2007, going 0-2 in 11.2 innings spread out over 6 relief appearances. In 2008 he made the team coming out of Spring Training and has been a perennial fixture in the Twins rotation since then. Blackburn pitched fairly well in 2008 and 2009, posting ERAs just a blip over 4 in back to back seasons, and averaged almost 200 innings a year. Coming off of his 2009 season the Twins inked Blackburn to a 4 year $14 million dollar extension that included an $8 million dollar team option for 2014. Since that time he has struggled to stay healthy and seen his ERA increase, despite playing in the pitcher friendly confines of Target Field for half of his starts.
Nick Blackburn
2010 was a down year for Blackburn as his ERA rose to a career high 5.24 due in large part to career highs in HR/9 and BB/9 and a career low 3.8 SO/9. In 2011 Blackburn rebounded early in the season and had a 3.64 ERA through the end of June and looked like he had finally become the pitcher the Twins had hoped he would be. He was striking out almost 1 more batter per 9 than he was in 2010 and his BB/9 were down to a minuscule .84 walks per nine innings. However, Blackburn fell off significantly after the All-Star break and was shut down at the end of August and never made another appearance in 2011, finishing the year with just 148.1 innings pitched and an ERA of 4.49.
Heading into 2012 the Twins were hopeful that Nick Blackburn would return from the arm issues that cost him the end of the 2011 season and once again be the dependable innings eater he was in 2008, 2009, and even the first half of 2011. Unfortunately things have been anything but smooth for Blackburn in 2012. His ERA is 7.46, he’s giving up more home runs than any other time in his career, and opposing teams are just spraying the ball all over the field against him. Opponents are hitting .327/.368/.566 against him, good enough for an OPS of .934, the same OPS as Melky Cabrera. Definitely not a recipe for success.
The Twins owe Blackburn another $2.9 million for the rest of 2012, and another $5.5 million in 2013, and even if they’re willing to eat a hefty portion of that salary, there are just not a lot of teams looking for a struggling 5th starter who cannot miss bats and hasn’t pitched a full season in two years.
The reality is that Nick Blackburn is a sunk cost. The Twins best option at this point is to simply cut him loose. They are a better team when he is not pitching for them. Pay him the remaining $8.4 million left on his deal and invest the rest of his innings into some other young arms. Is there even another option?
Not a lot of pre-game news to report today. If you’re listening to FSN announcers, you’re likely to hear Dick complaining about the hot weather since that is kind of his pet complaint lately. I keep trying to figure out how to send him the message that baseball is a summer game but yeah, if he hasn’t figured that out by now… But it is pretty warm for a day game – temps will be in the mid to high 90’s and I have to admit that I would be loath to be too overly active out in the sunshine in those temps. I always respect the folk who do even if they’re playing a game.
So let’s hope Blackburn is able to put some good stuff to work today!
That was just ugly.. It seemed to fit the whole series which pretty much sucked. Starting pitching wasn’t good enough, bullpen wasn’t good enough, and hitting wasn’t good enough..
The last time the Twins were any good (2010) they were swept out of the post season once again by the New York Yankees. The Twins finished that season with 84 wins, 4th best in all of baseball. They were rewarded for their success with the 30th selection in the 2011 draft. With that pick they selected Levi Michael.
At the time of the draft Levi Michael and the University of North Caroline Tar Heels were playing their way into the College World Series (where they promptly made a two game exit). Levi Michael was in the midst of a fairly strong junior season (.289/.434/.434 (BA/OBP/SLG)), but he dealt with an ankle injury early on in that season which nagged him for a good part of the year. His sophomore season at UNC was his best, hitting .343/.484/.575 and ranked as the 13th best hitter in the ACC. While Michael was never projected to be a power hitter, his on-base skills (more walks than strikeouts 47/41) and his speed, coupled with pretty decent range on the defensive side of the ball made him one of, if not the top shortstops in the draft.
PHOTO BY SCOTT BUTHERUS, NAPLES NEWS
Selecting Levi Michael was a departure from the Twins’ usual draft strategy of drafting toolsy high schoolers (think Ben Revere and Aaron Hicks) and college arms (Kyle Gibson and Alex Wimmers), and was their first college position player taken since Travis Lee in 1996.* Perhaps the Twins selected Michael understanding that he was one of the best players available to them with the 30th pick and they certainly had a system void of shortstops with high upsides.
The Twins signed Michael late for $1.75 million and despite not having a chance to play competitive baseball for the Twins in 2011, they started him at High A playing a combination of shortstop and second base for the Ft. Myers Miracle. Going into 2012 Baseball America rated Michael as the Twins 6th best prospect. TheTwins’ rationale at the time had to be that Levi Michael was a polished college player who should not have much trouble adjusting to professional baseball, and could rise quickly through the Twins MiLB system.
In 87 games for the Miracle, Michael has struggled to get his offensive game going. He is hitting just .237/.333/.309. He has continued to showcase a strong understanding of the strike zone at High-A, walking in more than 11% of all plate appearances. Unfortunately, he is not getting on base enough to steal bases and he has not shown any of the power he did in college, with just 15 extra base hits so far this year (his OPS of .642 does not even rank him in the top 100 of the Florida State League). Michael’s batting line is held down mostly due to a poor 1st half where he batted just .216/.317/.293. He’s been much better in the second half so far (.275/.365/.339) and he’s cut his strike out rate nearly in half down to 12.8% from 22.6%. However, as a switch hitter he’s still struggling mightily against right handed pitching, with an OPS of just .608, almost 100 points lower than against left handed pitching. At 21 years of age Levi Michael is the 3rd youngest player on the Miracle Roster, and almost two full years younger than the average Florida State League player, so even if he spends all of 2012 and part of 2013 in Ft. Myers he would still be a full year younger than the average player when he joins the Double-A Rock Cats.
While his bat is still adjusting to the professional game, Michael is making most of the plays at both SS and 2B and leads the Miracle in games played and Fielding% at both positions. Michael’s future in the middle infield is still up in the air as the Miracle have him splitting time between the two positions, spending slightly more time at short. I’m not going to pretend to know much of anything about his defensive abilities beyond the tidbits I have listed above. I have not seen him play in person, and I do not know if the errors he is committing are because he is getting to balls outside of his range and not making plays, or because he is just booting balls on routine plays. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.
The biggest take-away on Levi Michael is that it is still early. He is in his first year of professional baseball and he is one of the youngest players on his team. He is going to face plenty more ups and downs in his career. Compared to the Twins’ current shortstop, Brian Dozier, Michael has posted essentially the same line in his first year of High-A baseball that Dozier posted in his first full year at the same level, but Michael is two years younger and did not have the extra two years in the Twins system that Dozier had. The future might not look bright right now, but Levi Michael is still the best middle infield prospect in the Twins system not named Eddie Rosario.
*The Twins whiffed on Lee in 1996, failing to sign him in the two weeks following the draft. He eventually signed a $10 million dollar 4-year contract with the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks and was their starting first basemen in their inaugural season in 1998 (and came in 3rd in Rookie of the Year voting). Lee posted a career bWAR of 5.3.
The good news is that Justin Morneau has returned to the team after becoming a daddy again (Chris Parmelee has been returned to Rochester), but the bad news is that Justin apparently woke up with a stiff neck today and he’s just DHing tonight. Can a stint on the DL be far behind?
Speaking of the DL, Trevor Plouffe is neither on the DL nor playing baseball. Let’s just leave it there without comment.
Cole DeVries pitched well his last time out (or at least I think he did… I haven’t really been paying that much attention lately), so let’s hope he can do so again. I really hate losing to the Bitch Sox!
Oh… and it’s National Tequila Day, so I may not be in the chat. 🙂
Cole DeVries was excellent through six innings tonight, giving up just two runs (only one earned) on 7 hits, with four strikeouts and no walks. He was backed by a two-home run night by Josh Willingham and held a 4-2 lead through 6 innings. But… he had thrown 95 pitches and no matter what Gardy says to the media, you KNOW he just can’t change. So… the bullpen comes on in the 7th inning and four relievers cough up… no, make that vomit up… NINE friggin’ runs in two innings to cost DeVries and the Twins the ballgame, 11-4.
I can’t imagine how Gardy and those pitchers can even look DeVries and Willingham in the eyes after that. – JC
On the most recent episode of Gleeman and the Geek they noted that Denard Span has been getting a lot of days off recently. But just how many days has Span had off recently, and is that enough to cause alarm?
Denard Span has played in 87 of 95 games so far in 2012, and started 84 of those games. He played in 28 of the Twins games to start the season, and despite missing 3 more games in the middle of May with a minor injury, he remained the Twins’ everyday center fielder and lead off man, getting just one more day off between May 18 and June 30. However, dating back to the 2nd game of the double-header against the Royals, Denard Span has been out of the line up 3 times, only came in as a pinch runner on July 20 in extra innings, and had to be removed from Saturday’s game with dizzyness (caused by the heat). Now, 4 scheduled off days (ignoring the appearance to pitch run) in an 18 game stretch is not necessarily alarming, and his batting line is virtually unchanged from the .275/.344/.391 it was at before he started getting extra time off (.275/.340.378 going into last night’s game) but carried out over a 162 game season that’s at least the equivalent of two extra trips on the 15 day DL every year.
If the Twins are serious about finding a potential trade partner for Span before the August 31 trade deadline they should be doing everything they can to increase his value. Maybe the Twins are thinking that giving Span a day off every 6th day will allow him to stay healthy and fresh, increasing his offensive and defensive permanence, thus increasing interest in acquiring his services. However, opposing GMs might also wonder what is going on with his playing time, wondering why an everyday player like Denard Span is suddenly out of the lineup more than 15% of the time. Is he injured? Is he having recurring concussion and dizzyness issues that plagued him in parts of 2010 and 2011? Moving him in and out of the lineup is certainly raising a lot of questions.
If Denard Span is nursing some sort of injury, then the Twins are walking a tight rope as they head to the trading deadline. Obviously moving him onto the 15 day Disable List would give him time to recover, but it also takes him out of trade consideration. Instead the Twins would be stuck trying to move him, along with Carl Pavano and Matt Capps, through a waiver trade, severely limiting the leverage of the Twins to field competing offers. I would not expect the Twins to be playing fast and loose with the health of one of their key assets, regardless of trade value, so that makes his current spike in days off all the more intriguing.
You may or may not have heard today’s big trade news already. No, it doesn’t involve Denard Span. Yankees got Ichiro for people I’ve never heard of.. no seriously, two players I have no clue who are. How does something like that actually happen? *shrug* But it does mean that it’s EXTREMELY doubtful that Spanky will be wearing NY Pinstripes next year.. thank god.
My guess is that Liriano is still being watched as diligently as he has for his last few starts. If he gets a win tonight, my guess is that it will certainly help build interest which is funny given how well he pitched in his last two losses.
Morneau is taking one more day of paternity leave so he’s not in tonight’s lineup. Plouffe is also still out – day to day. So there we have the regular lineup with those guys missing.
Many of us wondered whether Terry Ryan would manage to trade Frankie before he crashed back down to earth and tonight we got our answer. Liriano didn’t help his trade value tonight as he gave up seven earned runs in less than three innings. Ouch.
Denard Span demonstrated he’s healthy, however, as he went 3-5 with a double and Ryan Doumit launched his 10th home run of the season off of our old friend Jesse Crain.
Brian Duensing turned in a nice four-inning relief appearance, limiting the Sox to no runs on three hits. He even plunked AJ Pierzynski just to endear himself even more in our hearts. – JC
