Monday, August 20, 2012

The Mid-month (or Thereabouts) Roster Catch Up Update

The last time I talked about the Twins roster changes, Danny Valencia had just been traded and Tsyoshi Nishioka had been called up to replace him. That was August 6th. The Twins have made a move or two since then. Let's review.

August 6: Nishioka was called up to replace Valencia on the roster. Since he makes $3 million a year, it was worth giving him another chance to see if he could hack it in the bigs. In fact, Gardy mentioned that he wanted to give him a nice long look -- saying something like it being more than a 3-day thing. The team wanted to give him full opportunity to make an impression.

August 13: Nishioka was optioned to AAA to make room for Trevor Plouffe to return from the DL. So, technically, he was with the Twins more than three days, but he really only played three games. He once again looked so lost and overmatched both in the field and at the plate, it was painful to watch him. He made an impression alright.

August 15: Brian Dozier was optioned to AAA. After making a good first impression at the beginning of the season (how many times did I write that I thought he wanted me to love him?), he struggled quite a bit. He jumped from AA last year to the bigs this year, so he probably just needs more development. Terry Ryan said something about slowing the game down for him to build his confidence. I'll bet he's back with the Twins for September call-ups. Pedro Florimon was called up to replace him.

August 16: The Twins optioned Luis Perdomo and Jeff Manship to AAA. It's funny, every time Perdomo came in to a game, I never remembered who he was; he was always "the guy with the beard." One of them was sent down to make room for Anthony Swarzak's return from the DL. The other one was sent down because the Twins were finally tired of a 13(!)-man pitching rotation.

August 17: The Twins purchased the contract of OF Matt Carson. They wanted another outfielder around because Denard Span and Ben Revere were banged up. Rene Tosoni, who is having kind of a crummy year in AA, was removed from the 40-man roster to make room for Carson.

August 20: The Twins outrighted both Nick Blackburn and Tsuyoshi Nishioka to AAA, which means they removed them from the 40-man roster. It doesn't really mean much for Nishioka, but it does mean that the organization has pretty much given up on Blackburn. Removing them from the 40-man roster means that they won't come back for September call ups, so they'll just finish up their seasons in Rochester. Both of them have contracts that last through next season, so we might see them again in Spring Training. Who knows who will take these roster spots. They could add some guys that they want to see in September, or they could be getting ready for Carl Pavano or PJ Walters to return off the 60-day DL.

And, finally, the roster move that wasn't made: Denard Span sprained his shoulder/clavicle on August 12 and hasn't played since; however, the Twins haven't put him on the DL yet. And it doesn't seem like they have any intention of putting him on it any time soon. I guess they're comfortable with a thin bench.

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