Twins notes: Doug Grow, Perkins, minor signings

• Former Star Tribune and current MinnPost writer Doug Grow is coming out with a fantastic book on Twins history entitled "We're Gonna Win Twins," due to be released on March 19. I borrowed an advance copy of the book from Herald reporter Chuck Haga, who wrote a review of it several weeks ago. It is one of the best baseball books I've ever read, and I go through a lot of them. "We're Gonna Win Twins" is a season-by-season account of 50 years of Twins baseball, and devotes an entire chapter to each season. Each one starts with bits of information about what was going on in the world, the nation, the state, pop culture before going into the Twins' season. It is incredibly detailed and thorough; he interviews people from Greg Gagne to Ron Coomer to Terry Ryan to Clark Griffith to Andy MacPhail and everyone in between, and shines light on times in Twins history that don't often get talked about. This is the part I found most fascinating. Who, in recent years has written anything about, say, the 1996 Twins, let alone something so in-depth? Even for more recent years when I've been closely following the Twins, Grow touches on things that I had either missed or completely forgotten about. I plan to buy it as soon as it comes out, and I've already read most of it! You should too. 
• In some minor moves, the Twins signed pitchers Brad Hennessey and Yoslan Herrera to minor league deals. Herrera looks like filler — a Cuban signed by the Pirates to a three-year, $1.92 million deal, he was awful in his brief time in the Major Leagues and is nearly 29. Hennessey is much more interesting. A first-round pick in 2001 (21st overall) by the Giants, he spent three full seasons (2005-07) with them as a serviceable swingman. His best year was 2007, when he pitched 68 1/3 innings out of the bullpen with a 3.42 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. He missed most of 2008 and 2009 because of injuries and ineffectiveness, but if he can rediscover his form of several years ago he could suddenly become an important pickup after the recent news about Joe Nathan. Here are Hennessey's career statistics.
• According to MLB Trade Rumors, scouts from several teams watched Glen Perkins pitch on Tuesday. Rumors are picking up that he may be involved if the Twins attempt to deal for Toronto reliever Jason Frasor.

Posted by: Ben on 3/10/2010 at 7:10 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: minnesota twins, rumors, signings and trades

Nathan likely out for the year

How quickly things change. Yesterday, Joe Nathan's injury was supposedly just scar tissue built up from having bone chips removed in October. Now it's a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), which is repaired with the dreaded Tommy John surgery. Right now, Nathan plans to let it "calm down" for a few weeks before making a decision, but I don't see how he could go any route besides surgery. 

This is obviously a huge blow. BUT. I don't think it's as bad as if a different key player went down, like Joe Mauer or Denard Span. The Twins bullpen is deep, especially with the return of Pat Neshek, and I think they'll be able to absorb this. Right now, the bullpen looks something like this:

• Nathan
• Matt Guerrier
• Jon Rauch
• Pat Neshek
• Jesse Crain
• Clay Condrey
• Jose Mijares
• One of the odd-men out from the Glen Perkins-Francisco Liriano-Brian Duensing race for the fifth starter

With the exception of Crain, who I think is finished as a useful reliever, that's a very nice looking bullpen. There are enough guys there to plug the hole in-house, and I think the obvious choice is Rauch. He's been a durable and sometimes-dominant reliever and has the most closing experience of anyone (18 saves with Washington in 2008, 26 in his career). Guerrier is the other obvious choice for me, as he's been a reliable setup guy for several years. Wild cards could be Liriano, if he's improved as much as is reported, or Neshek, if he's as dominant as he was pre-surgery. 

In the Perkins-Liriano-Duensing race, I think the plan was to give one the fifth starter spot, give one a bullpen spot and send one to the minors. But if they bump Rauch or Guerrier to closer, then you can give two of those three a bullpen spot and not have to send anyone to the minors. If something happens to one of those three, Anthony Slama (he of the ridiculous minor league numbers), who should be called up anyway, would fit in nicely. 

So, my verdict on this: It sucks, but the Twins should be able to overcome it without too much trouble. 

Posted by: Ben on 3/09/2010 at 11:12 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Tags: minnesota twins

Blackburn signs four-year deal; Nathan to have MRI

It's not the contract most people were looking for, but the Twins announced today that pitcher Nick Blackburn has signed a four-year deal worth $14 million. It includes an $8 million option for 2014. Blackburn, a 29th round pick in 2001 out of Seminole State College in Oklahoma, was never a top prospect until he put himself on the radar with a strong 2007 for AAA Rochester. He made the Twins rotation out of spring training in 2008 and since then has been extremely durable and consistent, if average. 

His 2008 and 2009 seasons are about as identical as you can get:
2008: 33 starts, 193 1/3 innings, 4.05 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 96 K, 39 BB, 11-11 win/loss record
2009: 33 starts, 205 2/3, 4.03 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 98 K, 42 BB, 11-11 win/loss record

Even digging deeper into the advanced statistics, you see amazing similarities. In 2008, he had a .308 BABIP; in 2009 it was .309. His FIP was 4.40 and 4.37 and his ERA+ was 103 and 109. 

It's a good signing. There's something to be said for that kind of consistency, and the price was definitely right, but I'm worried how long Blackburn can keep this up. He's always had low strikeout numbers and he led the league in hits allowed last year, but he helps make up for it with very low numbers of walks and keeping the ball on the ground. If he can continue to do that, he should be a useful pitcher for the duration of the contract even if he regresses a little. 

• Closer Joe Nathan is headed back to the Twin Cities to have an MRI on his elbow. He left a spring training game on Saturday after throwing just a third of an inning because of soreness in his surgically repaired elbow. Right now, the Twins are saying it's not serious, but these things have a way of escalating quickly. While losing Nathan would be a huge blow, it would be an easier loss to absorb than if one of the Twins' other key players went down because the bullpen is so deep. Jon Rauch has closing experience and Matt Guerrier could also fill in.

Posted by: Ben on 3/07/2010 at 12:12 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: minnesota twins, signings and trades

Twins conclude first spring series; Mauer deal could be close (again)

After dropping the first game against Boston, Minnesota came back strong on Friday and roughed up Jon Lester to beat the Red Sox 5-0 (box score here). Carl Pavano started, and pitched two scoreless innings, and was followed by scoreless relief work from Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, Clay Condrey, Rob Delaney, Anthony Slama, Alex Burnett and Deolis Guerra. Michael Cuddyer went 2-for-2 and Justin Morneau, Chris Parmelee and Danny Rams all doubled in the win.

Unfortunately, today's game didn't go quite as well. The Red Sox slapped the Twins around 9-3 (box), and Joe Nathan had to leave the game with tightness in his elbow. Francisco Liriano gave a strong performance with two scoreless innings, but the bullpen fell apart later. Glen Perkins gave up two runs in 1 2/3 innings and Jeff Manship gave up four runs in two innings. Jose Lugo also gave up three unearned runs on a Trevor Plouffe throwing error. Nathan leaving is the big news of the day. He had surgery after last season to remove bone chips, and will undergo further testing tomorrow.

Next up: March 7, Twins vs. Yankees, noon. On the radio at 1310 AM.

• A Joe Mauer deal could be close (again), according to a report by KFAN yesterday and blogged by Twinkie Town.

Posted by: Ben on 3/06/2010 at 3:21 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: minnesota twins, rumors, spring training

Twins vs. Red Sox tonight

Red Sox win, 2-1: Full box score here. Red Sox took the lead in the eighth off Jose Lugo. Lugo takes the loss and Scott Atchison gets the win for Boston. Kyle Waldrop pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Maroth before being replaced by Lugo. The Twins scored in the first and held Boston scoreless until the sixth when Mike Maroth gave up the tying run. Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey eached pitched two scoreless innings and Pat Neshek pitched one. It's particularly good to see a solid outing from Neshek in his first appearance since Tommy John surgery. Ben Revere, Brian Dinkelman, Rene Tosoni, Juan Portes, Luke Hughes, Danny Lehmann, Steve Singleton, Chris Parmelee and Trevor Plouffe have all gotten at bats as pinch hitters.

And so it begins. The Twins will play their first spring training game tonight at 6:05 p.m. (on the radio at 1500 AM) against the Boston Red Sox. Spring training is relatively meaningless as far as statistics go because of small sample sizes, but it's obviously an exciting event to finally have baseball being played again. Though they're absnet from today's game, we'll also soon catch our first glimpses of new acquisitions Orlando Hudson, Jim Thome and J.J. Hardy in Twins uniforms. From La Velle E. Neal, here is today's starting lineup. Clearly the Twins B team, but who cares? Twins baseball is back!

Denard Span CF
Alexi Casilla 2B
Jason Kubel DH
Michael Cuddyer RF
Jacque Jones LF
Brendan Harris 3B
Brock Peterson 1B
Drew Butera C
Matt Tolbert SS
Nick Blackburn P

• Quick note about former Twin Chuck Knoblauch. I'm sure everyone heard about his marital problems back in September. He assaulted his wife and got arrested, continuing his downward spiral since leaving Minnesota. Somehow, though, I didn't stumble upon this mugshot until now. I was a big Knoblauch fan growing up — I still have a poster of him from 1991 that says "New Kid on the Blauch" — and I still like him, as long as I use my selective memory to only think about his days with the Twins. But that mugshot still amuses me in so many ways. It is now posted by my desk at the Herald.

Posted by: Ben on 3/04/2010 at 8:36 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: minnesota twins, spring training