Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Perkins to DL; Henn called up

This morning the Twins made a roster move that was kind of expected after the rough outing last night of Glen Perkins. Anyone that saw the game last could tell that was not the Glen Perkins that we have gotten used to seeing all year. He had no zip on the ball struggling to even hit 90 not the 92-93 we are used to seeing. In addition to that his off speed pitches did nothing so basically he had no chance last night. To replace him on the roster the Twins called up Sean Henn and minor league free agent they signed this winter from the Padres organization. He has major league experience and was pitching very good for Rochester so far this year. He had went 0-0 with a very good 1.13 era for the Red Wings along with six saves. He definatly deserved the call and If he can continue to throw strikes like he did in Rochester he will help the team very much. My question though is what are the Twins going to do about Saturday, which is Glen Perkins next scheduled start. Sean Henn is not a starter so they need to decide what to do about that start. The way I look at it is they have a few options to go with. They can either leave the roster the way it is constructed right now and insert RA Dickey into the rotation to make Perkins starts. He is probably stretched out after pitching 4.1 innings last night in relief of Perkins and who knows maybe he can give you some quality innings. My only problem with that is it feels like a band aid trying to cover up a gun shot wound. Perkins has been a very good starter for us this year and in my opinion Dickey is not good enough to pick up the slack. The other option and best option if you ask me is to bring up Anthony Swarzak who is 2-3 with a very good 2.25 era at Rochester. He has had his problems, like his drug suspension a few years ago and then his lackadasical pitching last season, but since he has been at AAA he has been lights out. In my opinion he is ready for the big leagues and would allow Dickey to stay in the right role for him and that is long man. The only question is who do you send down or release to make room for Swarzak? I think it comes down to Luis Ayala who has been a huge disappointment or Craig Breslow who also has been a huge disappointment. My guess is that Breslow will be designated for assignment hoping that he can make it to AAA because even though I think Breslow is a better pitcher than Ayala I really can't see the Twins carrying 3 left handed pitchers in the Bullpen with Jose Mijeras and Sean Henn already there. I think it is 50-50 that Breslow makes it through because even though he has been bad this year he was very good last year. There is one other option if Delmon Young is not ready to come back Friday you could send down Jose Morales and go with 13 pitchers until Young comes back, but I can't see Gardy doing that because he has said how much he detests 12 pitchers let alone 13 so I dont see that happening. I would love to hear from all you readers whats your opinion on this is. You can email me at travis_aune@yahoo.com or leave a comment on here I would appreciate the feedback.
As many of my readers know I have been gone a few days and that is because I have been traveling back home for the summer to spend time with family and friends. I am back now so I am going to start giving daily updates on the minor league teams and there is a new series of articles that I am in the process of planning out and the first one should be up tommorrow so please come back and check it out. I want to thank you all for checking my site and I hope you all bookmark this site and come back often.