Minnesota Sports Forum

Wow I'm surprised by some of these moves.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/05/05/twins-place-tommy-milone-casey-fien-on-waivers/

monsterpile wrote:Wow I'm surprised by some of these moves.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/05/05/twins-place-tommy-milone-casey-fien-on-waivers/

I'm guessing this means Berrios is here to stay

If the season keeps going like this, you could see Hughes Nolasco and Santana all gone at the trade deadline.

Also just think the last time we made the playoffs we could've had cliff lee for Wilson Ramos and Aaron Hicks. Now all we have is new Drew Butera.

jester1534 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Wow I'm surprised by some of these moves.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/05/05/twins-place-tommy-milone-casey-fien-on-waivers/

I'm guessing this means Berrios is here to stay

If the season keeps going like this, you could see Hughes Nolasco and Santana all gone at the trade deadline.

Yeah I wonder if they will end up offering up Plouffe as well.

I don't know what to make of this move, and I sense there is more to it than the team is disclosing...some internal issue that forced Terry's hand. A typical mid-season move is either a release of a veteran who clearly can't cut it anymore or the trade of a still viable veteran for prospects. This is simply a release of two players who, while not experiencing a great deal of success this year, are still in the sweet spot of their careers and playing a role this season. Hard to figure this one out.

If I had to guess, Milone and Fien were becoming a problem in the clubhouse, and Terry decided they weren't performing well enough to put up with any issues. I don't see this as a "giving up" move, but rather a move to shake the team up and try to get them to play better. The two guys who are coming up aren't likely to help much, so any value from this move has to come from guys already on the roster who are underperforming.

Very unusual, to say the least.

longstrangetrip wrote:I don't know what to make of this move, and I sense there is more to it than the team is disclosing...some internal issue that forced Terry's hand. A typical mid-season move is either a release of a veteran who clearly can't cut it anymore or the trade of a still viable veteran for prospects. This is simply a release of two players who, while not experiencing a great deal of success this year, are still in the sweet spot of their careers and playing a role this season. Hard to figure this one out.

If I had to guess, Milone and Fien were becoming a problem in the clubhouse, and Terry decided they weren't performing well enough to put up with any issues. I don't see this as a "giving up" move, but rather a move to shake the team up and try to get them to play better. The two guys who are coming up aren't likely to help much, so any value from this move has to come from guys already on the roster who are underperforming.

Very unusual, to say the least.

Interesting perspective. Fien I can see moving on from more than Milone. He has been a worthwhile 5th starter most of his career. It seems weird you would just let that go for nothing although if someone picks up those guys...boom you don't have to pay them but I don't see that as the only motivation with this franchise anymore. I get the Twins were needing to clear spots on the 40 man but this was still a little strange. Maybe they decided these guys probably weren't going to help them in whatever year they will actually be a playoff team so why keep them around in a possibly lost year when they aren't even performing. Dumping Milone from the rotation to the Pen still seems buzz are to me but I haven't watched the games (with the exceptions of now seeing 3) maybe he just didn't have it but that's a quick trigger for a guy with a decent resume.

Monster, what makes the Milone move even odder is the fact that he was the only viable left-handed starting pitcher in the system. Managers are uncomfortable with an all-right handed rotation, and it spoke volumes when Mollie put Milone in the bullpen...and even more when he was cut from the team. That's why I think there has to be more to this than performance.

On the other hand, there was an alarming aspect to Milone this year...he was practically lights out first time through the lineup, but then would get shelled the second time around. More than any other pitcher on the roster, batters seemed to figure him out quickly. Look at these splits regarding oppenents' batting average and Tommy's pitch count.

1-15: .160
16-30: .286
31-45: .348
46-60: 462

That's not a pretty picture for a would-be starter, and perhaps had something to do with this odd move.

To be fair about Milone is not like we would get much value for him. I mean we traded journeyman Sam Fuld to get him.

longstrangetrip wrote:Monster, what makes the Milone move even odder is the fact that he was the only viable left-handed starting pitcher in the system. Managers are uncomfortable with an all-right handed rotation, and it spoke volumes when Mollie put Milone in the bullpen...and even more when he was cut from the team. That's why I think there has to be more to this than performance.

On the other hand, there was an alarming aspect to Milone this year...he was practically lights out first time through the lineup, but then would get shelled the second time around. More than any other pitcher on the roster, batters seemed to figure him out quickly. Look at these splits regarding oppenents' batting average and Tommy's pitch count.

1-15: .160
16-30: .286
31-45: .348
46-60: 462

That's not a pretty picture for a would-be starter, and perhaps had something to do with this odd move.

When I see this stat, I don't think "Lets waive this guy". He's still under team control, and he does have 15 good pitches in him. Move him to the pen. The bullpen is 12th in the AL in ERA, so there's room.

Questions: When they put those two on waivers, that is because they both are "out of options", right? Don't don't have to cut them if they clear waivers, do they?

JasonIsDaMan wrote:

longstrangetrip wrote:Monster, what makes the Milone move even odder is the fact that he was the only viable left-handed starting pitcher in the system. Managers are uncomfortable with an all-right handed rotation, and it spoke volumes when Mollie put Milone in the bullpen...and even more when he was cut from the team. That's why I think there has to be more to this than performance.

On the other hand, there was an alarming aspect to Milone this year...he was practically lights out first time through the lineup, but then would get shelled the second time around. More than any other pitcher on the roster, batters seemed to figure him out quickly. Look at these splits regarding oppenents' batting average and Tommy's pitch count.

1-15: .160
16-30: .286
31-45: .348
46-60: 462

That's not a pretty picture for a would-be starter, and perhaps had something to do with this odd move.

When I see this stat, I don't think "Lets waive this guy". He's still under team control, and he does have 15 good pitches in him. Move him to the pen. The bullpen is 12th in the AL in ERA, so there's room.

Questions: When they put those two on waivers, that is because they both are "out of options", right? Don't don't have to cut them if they clear waivers, do they?

If the do clear waivers Fien has already been through this process once so he can decline to go to the Minors but Milone would have to go down.

LaVelle with more:

Twins announce moves:

Ervin Santana reinstated
Murphy to Rochester
Mastroianni and Centeno called up.
O'Rourke and J.R. Graham DFA'd

I got a chuckle out of this and I don't even watch the show.

https://twitter.com/apkrawczynski/status/728650455568519168

Twins pitching staff thought they were going to US Cellular Field. Instead they're in the dining hall at the Red Wedding.