Liriano, Ruiz to join Twins; Hernandez, Monroe headed out
Posted on August 1st, 2008 – 3:02 PMBy Joe Christensen
The Twins plan to cut ties with Livan Hernandez and Craig Monroe today, clearing space for Francisco Liriano and Randy Ruiz to join the roster from Class AAA Rochester.
The team has yet to make an official announcement, but Liriano and Ruiz are on their way to the Twin Cities from Class AAA Rochester, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Hernandez and Monroe likely will be designated for assignment.
Hernandez is 10-8 with a 5.48 ERA in 23 starts and has allowed 199 hits in 139 2/3 innings.
The Twins signed him to a one-year, $5 million deal shortly before spring training, and he is due to begin collecting $133,333 in incentives at 160 innings pitched, another $133,333 at 165 innings pitched, etc.
Monroe is batting .202 with eight home runs and 29 RBI in 163 at-bats. The Twins are paying him $3.82 million this season. Unless they can trade Hernandez and Monroe, they will be on the hook for most of that money.
The Liriano move was expected, as he has gone 9-1 with a 2.51 ERA in his past 10 starts for Rochester. He was scheduled to start again tonight for the Red Wings, but they are planning to use Tom Shearn in his place.
It’s uncertain when he will start for the Twins, but Hernandez was scheduled to pitch Monday in Seattle.
Ruiz needs to be added to the 40-man roster, but he is batting .320 with 17 home runs and 68 RBI for the Red Wings.
The Twins will be replacing one righthanded power hitter for another by inserting Ruiz for Monroe.
Update (4:05 p.m.): The Twins made it official. Hernandez and Monroe were designated for assignment, meaning the team now has 10 days to either trade them, release them or put them on waivers.
Ruiz is not at the Metrodome yet, but he’s in the starting lineup:
1. Denard Span, RF, 2. Nick Punto, 2B, 3. Joe Mauer, C, 4. Justin Morneau, 1B, Delmon Young, LF, 6. Randy Ruiz, DH, 7. Brendan Harris, 3B, 8. Adam Everett, SS, 9. Carlos Gomez, CF.
Twins vs. Cleveland. First pitch 7:10 p.m.
217 Responses to "Liriano, Ruiz to join Twins; Hernandez, Monroe headed out"
GOOD!
yes
Finally with Liriano. Ruiz…eh. We’ll see.
extremely overdue except I’m not so sure about calling up a 30 year old, career minor leaguer, who has yet to see a single pitch in the Majors.
About time!!!!
Thanks for the update Joe - and thanks to the Twins for making the moves.
I like the moves! Do we have any interest in Felipe Lopez?
Thank you!!
I’m glad Ruiz is getting a chance. He can crush.
Thank you, Joe (and thank you higher deity.)
Can you and/or LEN3 start snooping about waivers and the chance for Grudz? Inquiring minds want to know.
One month too late on Liriano/Hernandez, but better late than never.
Liriano might bomb, might be decent, but at least there’s hope.
freaking awesome!
how is lopez better than what we have now? what’s he hitting .230?
“extremely overdue except I’m not so sure about calling up a 30 year old, career minor leaguer, who has yet to see a single pitch in the Majors.”
I’m a little skeptical, too, but can he really be worse than Monroe?
Yes!!! Awesome, it would be good to see what Ruiz can do up here
yes! Free Randy Ruiz. I’d love to see him start today at DH against the lefty
How long until we hear Mandelaro moan and groan about how Rochester’s getting and has been gutted all season long?
Well there you are. The Twins did make significant moves. Just none before the trade deadline. I still think if they can hang in there a trade before Sept. may very well happen.
Sendric
Exactly, it cant be much worse. give him a chance he will probably play with a lot more passion than Monroe, tring to prove the ol skeptics wrong.
Dude, this is sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Finally
Know just one more person to cut… Lamb, but ill stop whining about that now for at least a week or two.
who cares ML, the MLB club has a chance for a title, the AAA club does not
What position does Ruiz play?
Hey, it’s just like making a trade!
Sendric and Nico got it right. I’m thinking about playoffs (cue Jim Mora soundbite) and if we need a PH in the late innings, I’d prefer to go with a guy who’s actually seen the opposing pitcher’s stuff. Ruiz will be seeing a lot of guys the first time around during a stretch playoff run. Vice versa I suppose.
Go Twins!
this is really good news.
Ruiz has potential. 40% of his hits are for extra bases. Should be fun to see something different.
klomp
DH… only DH, but we dont need another OF
Ruiz is a DH/1B. Not too good on the field so he will primary assume Monroe’s role as a DH
Klomp… 1B I’m pretty sure, but he’s up to DH against lefties almost exclusively I would assume
Shawn, I agree that Rochester is out of contention. I just know he’s been harping on it all year.
Everett or Lamb will be gone when Tolbert returns.
Ruiz is a poor man’s Big Papi!
I would cut both Everett and Lamb when Tolbert is healthy and bring up Macri.
move up Manship, he can handle AAA and take his lumps there. Lis would be a natural hitter replacement
let’s hope ruiz makes it a hard move to send him back when cuddy gets back. if liriano is worse than livan the season will be over anyway.
Hmm, just looked up his stats. Pretty much can write him down for one hit per game and one strikeout per game. 133 hits and 116 strikeouts in 111 games.
These are both like making a trade. Ruiz can’t be worse than Monroe and maybe he’ll be that right-handed bat.
If only Macri was on the plane to replace Everett…
sorry, but I haven’t heard of this ruiz fella. How old is he? Has he always been in our minors?
Klomp,
Ruiz is mainly a DH, with very little range as a 1B
He’s 31 and has played in the majors I don’t think.
He has always hit for power in the minors with years of 17, 17, 20, 26 and 27 homeruns.
Josh Meyer says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Ruiz is a poor man’s Big Papi!
So, he’s going to be injured while with the Twins and move on to a productive, but not All-Star, career with another team?
It takes management a little while to come to their senses, but eventually they make the right move. Atleast in this case.
Congrats to Liriano and Ruiz.Thanks for the service provided by Hernandez and Monroe.
Ruiz is old as hell but he can launch a bomb. I think he has 16 or 17 Hrs and if will only DH him against lefties I think he will do pretty good.
BILL SMITH IS THE BEST (not the fastest) FREAKING GM IN THIS FREAKING STATE!!!!!!!
Ruiz won’t stay long if Cuddyer makes it back on the field. The intention is to keep Span in the majors. My guess is that Ruiz go down once Cuddy is back. Now we need to focus on 3rd.
I can’t believe that they couldn’t unload these two and their salaries yesterday.
There must have been as much interest in them as their was last winter, when the twins got them
This is both addition by addition and addition by subtraction.I had reluctantly come to the conclusion that Ruiz would never get a shot. If the Twins could stick with Monroe, an old-geezer, through a year and a half of no production,hopefully they will give a 30-year-old guy at least the rest of this season to prove he can cut it in the big leagues. Obviously, we won’t know until we know, but what I hear is that Ruiz can flat out hit. Yesterday the Twins didn’t give away any of the starting pitchers, today they brought up two players who deserve to be on the roster. Back-to-back good days.
I know that it’s not all about the money, but is it just coincidence that Liriano won’t qualify for super-2 arbitration and Livan won’t qualify for his innings-pitched bonuses? Plus, I’ll bet there’ll be a little boost in attendance when Liriano pitches.
Regardless, I’m relieved to hear this great news.
There were a lot of people who thought Ruiz should have made the club out of training camp. Let’s give him a chance, he deserves it.
As far as Lamb and Everett- One goes when Cuddyer comes back, the other goes when Tolbert is ready. Take your pick they both stink. Everett is hitting .170 after an 0 for 5 last night and Lamb can only hit soft ground balls and popups. I think he is around .220.
” can’t believe that they couldn’t unload these two and their salaries yesterday.
There must have been as much interest in them as their was last winter, when the twins got them”
That would be wrong. It took 4 months of failure to dissipate all interest.
Thank God they had Tom Shearn ready.
:)>
Hey Randy, there is a thing called Google that you can use to find out more about Ruiz…try it
Randy,
Ruiz is a 30 year old minor league journeyman who has been with several organizations and signed with the Twins last Spring as a minor league free agent. His career minor league hitting is .302/.369/.524 with 167 HR, this year he is hitting .320/.366/.536 in Rochester, leading the organization with 17 HRs and in July he has been hitting on a 1.2 OPS clip. Great addition.
Can Ruiz hit a lefty?
Good news, Livan did a great job this year, passing his wisdom and experience off to our young staff….it ended up not working out in the end with him, but i vote for a THANKS! to him and what he’s done this season…..GO TWINS!
Personally, I think it is time we see what we can get for Liriano before he gets too exposed. It’s so hard for pitchers to come back from Tommy John’s surgery (Joe Mays anyone?). While Liriano’s stock is high we should be trying to shop him.
Great to see Liriano back. I understand why Livan is out, but I always thought that it was good for the young pitchers to have a guy like that in the clubhouse.
Nice to see that Billy stopped by the bag store last night.
They should be able to get something for C-Moe through waivers. I heard he was like Plan D or E for the Rays. Maybe they’d offer to pay the rest of his contract.
Ruiz is smashing lefties. He is hitting .327/.400/.525 against them in Rochester
if casilla comes back everett goes but i don’t think lamb will go. he’s owed to much for next yr and actually can be of some use, a better bench option then we’ve had for yrs. tolbert isn’t the answer to anything and will only be added after sept 1 imo.
What a legacy that Bill Smith is starting to leave for himself….Yaaawwwn.
Will Ruiz be ready for tonights game? It’s kind of exciting to see a new face come to the plate once in a while.
[…] to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Twins plan on releasing starting pitcher Livan Hernandez and outfielder Craig Monroe. This has […]
Has Bill Smith turned over the GM duties to the Strib bloggers? Other than making a trade he has basically done everything that the majority of people on these boards have clamored for.
Thank God Tom Shearn was ready.
:)>
After hearing about Randy Ruiz coming up, had to visit Rochester’s website. If you go to “Meet the Team”…how disappointed does Denard Span look to be back in the minors in his picture?
How can Ruiz hit over .300 with power for his career and never been called up before?
this1guy,
The only problem with that is teams might be hesitant to grab Liriano until they know for sure he’s recovered. Following his 3 outings earlier, I doubt that his stock is too high right now.
Ruiz is a high-risk/high-reward type player - and I’m worried that the skill level of MLB pitchers will mean it’s more of a high-risk/no-reward situation.
He did mash in Spring Training, so hopefully he’ll come up & provide a spark. It would be great to have a guy who could come up and hit 15 HR in the last 2 months - a la Morneau in 2004.
I think the success of this team, in terms of winning the Central & potentially a playoff round or 2 (or 3!) hinges on Liriano. If he can come up & regain staff ace form, him & Baker should be able to lead us deep into the playoffs. C’mon Frankie!
Whoever delivered the pacakge of Common Sense to the Metrodome–thank you very much!
Of course, they (livan and monroe) have already gotten way too many ABs / starts than they deserved.
a bit off topic, but did anyone notice what shooter did last night for beloit, another 5 inn of shutout ball with 9 strikeouts. He now has gone 29 IP 52 K 0.62 ERA since being drafted. Will we see him in AA or AAA by the end of the year?
110% chance that Ruiz is an improvement on Monroe and Lamb. Thanks for the short-term memories, Mr. Livan Hernandez.
It is about time Liriano was promoted - better late than never. I still think they were waiting until the end of the trading line to see if they could move Hernandez,Bonser or Bass and found out the Twins have to “eat” some salary. Good luck Francisco… Regarding Ruiz: I remember in 1991 the Twins called up Carl Willis, who was a 31-year old journeyman, mostly in minor leagues, and Willis became a super eight-inning pitcher for us. Hopefully Ruiz will follow the example and become a right-handed power DH: He has the tools, and he could surprise us.
I was just looking at the numbers for Ruiz this afternoon and wondering why he hadn’t gottena shot yet and why I hadn’t heard anyone mention this as a possability… What a happy day for Ruiz! And me…
It’s so hard for pitchers to come back from Tommy John’s surgery (Joe Mays anyone?).
Since one example apparently an argument makes, I think John Smoltz would disagree with your take.
Ruiz can’t play in the field–nominally he is a first baseman–but he can now replace Monroe because of the emergence of Span. Monroe isn’t as good a hitter as Kubel and didn’t hit lefties at all, so I guess the die was cast. Hopefully, Ruiz can DH and pinch hit and do well.
Hernandez gave the Twins just about exactly what was expected, except that he had a winning record. I expect both early to mid-thirties veterans to catch on somewhere. Good luck to them. They both did contribute to a surprising 2/3s of a season.
I personally wish both Livan and Monroe well. Livan was brought in for a specific purpose and he largely performed that purpose. Smith took a flyer on Monroe early in the offseason and it didn’t pan out but it wasn’t like Monroe was an ass or anything. He had a couple of big HRs and not much else. Good luck to both.
Hope Cisco is the real deal. As for Ruiz… I know he’s old and offers no defense. But, frankly, if his numbers in Rochester aren’t enough to earn a shot with a parent club in desperate need of RH power at DH and as a pinch hitter… what more would it take? Hopefully, with nobody having a real book on him yet, he’ll have some success. Sure would help!
CALL UP BEN REVERE!!!
No bold moves yesterday, well, no moves of course. But for this FO, this IS a bold move and I applaud it. And I still applaud the trade that brought Young here.
I found this picture of Gardy giving Livan and Monroe the bad news:
In his several years in a Twins uniform, Matt LeCroy mashed lefthanded pitching but was less than average against righties. I think Randy Ruiz is kind of like Matt LeCroy with 50% more power. He will be the DH only against lefties and I predict he will out-perform LeCroy.
“I would cut both Everett and Lamb when Tolbert is healthy and bring up Macri.”
Probably can’t. Punto is the 5th OF now. If he’s out there, then still need a reserve SS.
Punto can’t be the simultaneous, in-a-pinch, reserve SS and OF.
Jay,
Ruiz can hit RHP as well as LHP. No comparison with LeCroy. If he is given a chance to play and stick, I bet that he will lead the Twins in HR/PA this year.
On another note, Livan departure secured that the hits given per season in the modern era will remain intact.
we should not get too excited because Ruiz will be here 2 weeks max because they will designate him for assignment when Micheal Cuddyer comes off the DL
Mudcat - that was hysterical.
Monroe had a few big bombs for us this year, and a “big” bloop double, so hats off to him.
Boof could have done as well as Livan this year, if you ask me. Good riddance.
Luke Hughes made his way up to AAA, hoping to see him in a Twins uni this year. If he’s great, perhaps we can get another finger injury if we make the playoffs, to get him on the roster.
Shooter is tearing it up. He’ll be in AA ball by the end of the year. AAA if we keep promoting the entire Rochester roster on a bi-weekly basis.
Josh Meyer says:
August 1st, 2008 at 3:18 pm
“Ruiz is a poor man’s Big Papi!”
That’s pretty accurate!
“This surname was used as a descriptive name to distinguish father from son (similar to the usage of Junior).”
Big Papi Junior ! ! !
Ruiz isn’t going to get many AB’s. He will mainly be a Pinch hitting option off the bench that can occasionally DH against LH pitchers. Letting Livan go is going to be the big move here. He actually had a positive approach and helped out the young pitchers but he was killing the team on his day to pitch. I think he could be a good pitching coach some day.
@mudcat…love it…its now my facebook profile pic.
i think one year lecroy had like 10 pinch hit home runs…if we get something like that (like 2 or 3) from Ruiz it would be nice. He hits lots of doubles too, so I assume he just hits the ball hard, which I like.
“Punto can’t be the simultaneous, in-a-pinch, reserve SS and OF.”
Oops. I forgot to remember Tolbert is a SS.
never mind
Randy Ruiz ‘08 = Garret Jones ‘07????
Punto is only the 5th OF until Cuddyer comes back. I don’t think we have that much to worry about.
Livan is done…Monroe was done when we signed him.
Move Cuddyer to third (2nd time is a charm) and Have him Platoon with Buscher
and demote Bonser to the Minors (to help out poor Rochester)and go with
Liriano,Baker,Slowey,Blackburn,Perkins
Keep the nucleus for a few years and watch the flags raise every year.
I bet the bitchsox would have picked up Monroe, but now have Griffey.
I feel for him. Nice guy. AND, he did produce HR’s for the Twins.
problem is, it doesnt matter how much power the guy has, the twins hitting brain trust will have him slap the ball to the opposite field anyways.
Monroe against lefties: (.138/.219/.230). That’s pretty horrible for a guy who was brought in to DH against lefties. I’m thinking Ruiz can top that.
Ruiz’s OPS is over .900 on the year, but it’s especially good since June 1. He hit .360/.437/.658/1.094 with 7 doubles and 8 homers in June. And he hit 368./.402/.651/1.053 with 12 doubles and 6 homers in July. He has to be an upgrade over Monroe. And I’m sure having Ruiz at least put doubts in people’s minds that there’s anything better on the trade market–at least worth the price relative to free.
I feel bad for Monroe…I really liked him. I thought he brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm. He did hit 8 home runs in limited at bats; including the huge one in Kansas City.
The Twins wasted both time and $$$ by not utilizing Monroe in a more constructive way. Livan we should have traded. Farewelll Eephus pitch
I am sure Ruiz has put up better numbers than Garret Jones in the minors. This should be a great addition to the bench.
b,
The comparison was more of a timing issue: couple week stint with the big boys and then go back down. Unless they get rid of Everett or Lamb, there won’t be room when Cuddyer comes back. Unless I’m wrong on the numbers.
both guys have been helpful to the team. I wish em both well. Liriano is needed and Ruiz deserves to be in the show, even if it is only for 2 weeks.
3:40 pm link to picture of Span. If anybody has not gone to see this, please do it. It was absolutely hilarious. Do you think Span hates Gomez for “winning” the CF spot out of spring training? LMAO!
It would have been interesting to see what Monroe would have done with the same chance given to Lamb at the beginging of the season.
as far as trading Monroe and Livan….
it could still happen…..
I bet we have a chance of getting something from Philly for Livan and Tampa for Monroe
I feel bad for these guys in some respects but then I remember they got paid several MILLION dollars each to play a game for part of a year and then I don’t feel so bad.
Shawn,
while it is true that they could be traded, but do you think someone would rather pay them the pro-rated portion of $5M or $400k?
Sweet,
would they have paid the money yesterday?
By the way, anybody see the sign some fans were holding up last night? It said:
“I’ve got a fever. And the Rx is MORE KU-BEL!”
How can you feel bad for Monroe? He got about 1 hit for every 10 at bats against left handed pitching. Any less and he’d be batting zero. I remember exactly 1 big hit he made this year. Salary was the only thing holding us back on cutting him, and he was so bad that even the Twins are willing to eat his salary. That NEVER happens!
00Steve,
Ruiz has almost 100 points better on his OPS than Jones did in 2007. Overall he was better than Jones in 2007.
I am Happy Ruiz is getting a chance but you have to wonder why he never played in the bigs before. I think I would have kept Monroe he has been around a while and has some big hits for us this year I no he has been struggling but playing once a week is hard when you are struggling. Lets hope Ruiz can hit as good as he did in Rochester.
Ruiz is starting tonight, they waste no time.
When Cuddyer comes back, Everett goes, if Ruiz is productive. I think that it is up to Ruiz. If he pops 5 out of the park and hitting .300+ in 2 weeks, it would be hard to send him down. Frankly, if Ruiz produces, I’d rather see Gomez down than him.
maybe we can get from Ruiz that Oakland got from Jack Cust.
Cool, Ruiz gets to play right away. That should be interesting.
AWESOME!!!!
Cust is exactly what I was thinking of from a production standpoint.
Adam Everett sucks! I don’t know why Punto hasn’t been given the opportunity to be an everyday 3B or 2B.
Gomez is never going to AAA. I think that’s obvious. If Ruiz can produce then one of Lamb or Everett should go and when Tolbert is ready the other one should go.
But what a weak bunch of hitters in the infields at 2nd, 3rd and SS.
b,
So why wasn’t Ruiz called up last year? I mean, I don’t think we had a stellar DH in his way. The front office must’ve felt Tyner/Kubel/LROD were better than Ruiz. I’m just askin ?s.
[…] wasn’t ready at the start, so we was sent down to AAA where he as been on fire. The Twins are reportedly calling up Liriano and a career minor league hitter Randy Ruiz, and releasing veteran pitcher Livian Hernandez and […]
If Everett goes down when Cuddyer comes back, the (non-1B) infielders will be Punto, Harris, Buscher, and Lamb. They need at least one more middle infielder, don’t they?
Awesome, from what we saw of Ruiz in spring training I am very excited!!
Monroe, Lamb and Everett = Dead Weight. One down two to go.
Until Cuddyer even starts a rehab…. we can’t worry about him, if he isn’t back until Sept…. no one needs to go down anyway
Ruiz was not with the Twins last year he was signed over the winter to play in the minors with a chance to make the team out of spring training.
Steve,
Ruiz was in the Phillies org last year….
“It would have been interesting to see what Monroe would have done with the same chance given to Lamb at the beginging of the season.”
Very true, Walter Johnson. Heas 10th on the Twins for AB’s.
But he was hitting HRs at the fastest rate for the Twins this year (Kubel 2nd, Morneau 3rd). Something like 30 HRs given a full season.
But he failed miserably, as cmath points out at 3:55, in his primary role.
[…] to Joe Christensen on The Star Tribune (click here for the article) the Twins will indeed recall Francisco Liriano from Triple A, as we discussed […]
I can’t believe they got the trading deadline SO wrong (I got to watch the two guys I so desperately wanted them to get essentially be traded for each other — I’m not talking about ramierez) and got this SO right. I’ve been resigned to the fact that Livan was going to have to continue sucking for a good three or four more starts before he’d be moved to the pen and that boof or bass would be DFA’d, and now this. And I was absolutely convinced that my pleas to call up Ruiz, who is on an absolute tear, would go unheeded.
Now, if they can just apply the same logic regarding the hot bat and option Gomez to Rochester at the first sign of re-slumpitude and get Jason Pridie (who is Carlos Gomez with more power and without the temper) up here I’ll be over the moon. (And yes, I realize Gomez will probably eventually be better than Pridie; but that’s a “probably” and that’s an “eventually,” and right now Pridie is killing it.)
Ruiz needs to start tonight against LH Sowers!
Walter
That will be Tolbert for sure he is the only other person other than Punto that can play 3b,SS and 2b.He will be ready in less than 2 weeks.
I would not doubt that the Rays or the Marlins might take a flyer on Monroe and the Philies on Hernandez for the remaining of the season
Ruiz is starting vs Sowers
That makes more sense. Thanks to those who put me in my place on “Where has Ruiz been all my life”
Jason Pridie (who is Carlos Gomez with more power and without the temper)
No. Pridie is more similar to Denard Span than Gomez. He’s the slowest of the three by far.
romer, yeah Monroe was either HR or nothing. Kenny Williams should LOVE hime.
I think that Tolbert will be up in September when the rosters expand. No need to rush him. He can be with Rochester in August.
Jason Pridie (who is Carlos Gomez with more power and without the temper)
Um, Jason Pridie is nowhere near Carlos Gomez. Carlos is hitting in the high .300s since moving to the 9 spot. That’s at the “major league level”(in my best Bert voice).
I can understand why this guy was blocked in Philly
Ryan Howard and no DH?
also, plenty of other offense
Given the long delay and the current situation, I would have delayed the Livan move. (Liriano will pitch Monday.)
If they make a decent move involving Boof in the next couple days, then Livan could have been mop-up and served as cross-interpreter to both sides of Liriano/Gomez v. coaching staff.
Well for the most part Ruiz has played for the NL minor leagues. Meaning no DH and he’s not known for his fielding. The AL teams he’s played any games for in the minors had pretty good DH’s already.
I agree he’ll have to perform well to stay when Cuddy comes back.
I have a feeling he will
Ask and I shall receive!
Even though he had not arrived at the Metrodome by 4 p.m., Ruiz was scheduled to be the starting DH tonight against Cleveland.
Boof has to clear waivers to be traded now(or get traded to the team who claims him). Is that likely to happen?
Best guess on when Liriano starts?
He was scheduled to start tonight, so is it bad if he gets off his schedule at all?
I figure that’s 5 million to Hernandez, 3.8 million to Monroe, 2.7 million to Rincon, almost 2 mil to Neverhit, and 3.2 mill to Lamb. That’s almost 17 million, wasted, in one season.
Not to mention the bloated contract they singed Cruddy too, with him being injured, and getting 9 mil and 10 mil over the next two seasons (I think they back ended his contract like that?).
My point is sometimes you need to pool your money and spend on one or two guys, who are proven, not take chances on old vets, or people who’s track records suggest they are declining, because you wanna save a buck.
The door is still open with Cuddy to prove himself, but I am not holding my breath.
The most amazing thing is our division is terrible and we are still in this thing.
Liriano probably starts in Livan’s spot on Monday and I doubt it is going to have a major effect on him being two days off schedule.
Randy Ruiz = Bernardo Brito (All he does is hit homers!)
Frankie is fed up with people laughing at him and saying he is not good enough to pitch in the major leagues anymore. He is not afraid to unleash the high and inside headball once in a while to terrorize the opposition. Opposition hitters better be careful.
Liriano will start were Livan usually did. Better than throwing all the other pitchers off
Can Ruiz be a good bench player (meaning pinch hitter and platoon guy)?
I can’t imagine how good Ruiz must feel at this moment. I don’t think he’s ever played in a regular season MLB game and at 30 he gets called up and inserted in the starting lineup. That’s got to be a pretty neat feeling.
We’ll find out I guess
Which washed-up has-beens will the Twins sign for too much money in the upcoming off-season, only to dump them in mid-season after they flounder for 3 months?
Tony Batista? Juan Castro? Ramon Ortiz? Sidney Ponson? Rondell White? For all the money they spent, combined, on those guys, they could have actually signed some decent players. When will they learn their lesson?
Julio Franco is available. Might have to check with Jesse Orosco’s agent…
Ruiz will be so pumped up I bet he hits a 600 ft homerun or seperates his shoulder stricking out.
For all the money they spent, combined, on those guys, they could have actually signed some decent players. When will they learn their lesson?
Correction: For all the money they have spent on those guys, they could have had one good player. This year, they spent close to $15 million on dead weight. That might have gotten, um, Andrew Jones. Doh!
Seriously, there just aren’t any good free agents any more. They’re better of saving their money. But then fans would call Pohlad cheap or something, not like that ever happens now.
AWFUL move unloading Livan. The people on here who were only too eager to see him go don’t have a clue. The team is going to sorely miss his veteran presence
I would not put Livan up there with those guys.
Livan won 10 games. In his wins he had 2.31 ERA, which means it was not run support. The problems with Livan were:
a. he was all or none and you could never know which Livan will show
b. he was the weakest link in the rotation
c. Liriano gives the team a better opportunity to win than Livan
The team is pretty young and locked in at this point. I’d guess we try to pick up another free agent 3B like Casey Blake or something but no other spots are really lacking. The outfield is set(and crowded) The infield needs a 3B and maybe a SS but maybe Tolbert takes that. That would be about it. No more need for wasting money.
“Seriously, there just aren’t any good free agents any more. They’re better of saving their money. But then fans would call Pohlad cheap or something, not like that ever happens now.”
I would agree with that.
I wouldn’t say Livan’s money was “wasted.” Nor would I say Monroe’s was.
There was a brief period of time where Monroe was performing just fine.
Livan came in handy while Slowey and Baker were injured early on, pitched well over the first month, and then scattered a few good starts here and there amongst the rest of his atrocious season.
I think they both needed to go, and they both were let go too late, but they provided some good things to the Twins early in the year.
Craig Monroe’s pinch-hit HR in KC will still go down as one of my most memorable moments of this season. What a game!
I wish Monroe nothing but the best and hope he can rediscover his stroke somewhere, because he seems like a genuinely great character, and his intensity is a nice asset to any clubhouse.
Livan… well, thanks for April, I guess. Otherwise, you were the 2008 Ramon Ortiz, but Smith didn’t pull the trigger because he was scared about his young staff and didn’t have Santana and Silva around as proven innings eaters (though Johan was obviously more than that)… in any event, good riddance to the Cuban Camel.
I think Liriano should start tomorrow and push Slowey and Perkins back a day.
I think this for 2 reasons:
First, you keep Liriano close to his scheduled start (instead of 4 days later).
2nd, you won’t have Perkins and Liriano going Back to back.
2008 FA’s. Not an impressive list.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/03/2008_mlb_free_a.html
Do the words “sample size” mean anything to you? Did you see what his “3-3″ performance actually looked like?? And just look at those power numbers. Oh wait, there aren’t any. I realize the Twins aren’t gonna make this (Pridie up, Gomez down) move and therefore I hope Gomez (truly) gets hot, but I’m not holding my breath.
I’m just gonna take a flying leap and suggest, based on your comment about a guy’s batting average over all of 6 games being a meaningful indicator of… well, of anything, that you don’t follow minor league baseball and thus have no idea what Pridie’s done this year before/since enduring one of the ugliest, most unlucky (.184 BABIP!????) slumps imaginable in May, nor that he brings the same super-fast, super-rangey, free-swinger type profile Gomez has (thus my earlier comment about their similarity). Gomez has options left and Pridie has been destroying AAA for almost two months. He also bats lefty and kills RH pitching which means he and Span can play in the field against righties and eliminate the Kubel-in-the-field factor.
Thanks, 00Steve.
Steve, that is last offseason’s FA class not the upcoming one.
But Livan was our BEST pitcher! He had 10 wins!
In all seriousness, Livan gave us what Carlos Silva was supposed to be this season had they resigned him. And we KNOW that would’ve been a major mistake.
Monroe gave this team some major jolts that helped a lot. (Against KC, against Detroit) He was a bat off the bench that we haven’t had in a while, but couldn’t do anything on the regular when he was in the lineup.
Damn!
Here’s the 2009 FA class
Will Livan and Craig get WS shares after the Twins sweep the Cubs in 4 straight?
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/12/2009-mlb-free-a.html
There’s your 2009 lineup.
when should Liriano start? Have a look at this splits for the season. Pitcher’s ERA with 4 vs 5 days rest:
Baker: 4 Days rest ERA: 3.60; 5 Days rest: 4.30
Blackburn: 3.22; 4.42
Perkins: 4.34; 5.00
Slowey: 4.58; 1.80
It would make sense to Have him take Slowey’s spot tomorrow with Slowey moving to Hernandez’ spot Monday in Seattle… But not too sure that Gardy and Andy are that analytical 
I agree, Sweet, on starting Liriano tomorrow. Not only for your stated reasons, but I guess I’d like to see him start a home game before going on the road.
SweetOne, the point was that there wasn’t much out there in FAs before the current season.
Is Ruiz a placeholder until there’s a post-waivers trade?
Or until Cuddyer returns, anyway?
The Twins could pick up Mark Prior and have the top 2 draft picks from the 2001 Draft class
Walter,
My mistake, I thought we were looking ahead to next offseason.
too early to talk about ‘09, but another need would be backup catcher. I can’t see them exercising Redmond option, and there is not that much in the high minors…
I know full well what the sample size on Gomez at 9 is and it’s irrelevant. They aren’t moving him down nor should they.
Thanks T….what about signing Orlando Hudson at 2B, moving Casilla to SS, and seeing if we can swing a trade for a 3B?
JimCrikket,
I was going to add that as a 3rd reason as well
Thrylos99: It wasn’t run support that secured Livan’s official Ws in the end, but it wasn’t Livan’s dominance, either. It was to a signficant degree lucky hit/batted ball distribution. Look at his (weak) pop-up rate; look at his (anemic) K/PA rate and (medicore) GB% (for just the wins, if you prefer). Not impressive. Except at how lucky he got ten times exhibiting sub-MLB-quality stuff. Sure, he exhibited pretty good control when he won, but that’s not hard to do when you’re pitching BP.
I think he should learn the knuckleball and become a true junkballer.
thrylos,
I disagree, I can see them keeping Red dog next year. Actually that will probably be the first thing the do this offseason.
I can’t see the Twins parting with Redmond. Clubhouse “presence”, gives 110%, calls a great game, country line dances, makes Baby Jesus better, …
Couldn’t agree with you more cmatthewson. People wonder why the Twins don’t count FA to comprise most of the roster, look at how often it fails, or the player signs a bloated contract. FA is set up for the players, not for the teams. I konw that the players that the Twins have gone after int the past have not been top tier, but Lamb wasn’t this bad before, and RonDL was a legit ballplayer until he couldn’t stay healthy. Only a few teams sucessfully navigate the waters of Free Agency with consistency and even they have there duds.
You are correct Mr Brent. Look at the FA class T links at mlbtraderumors. Not much to get excited about for infielders. So it’s going to be tough to solve the left-side conundrum. BS will need to be creative. The only guy I really really like is Hudson. He’ll probably be out of our range, of course, but he would definitely upgrade the entire infield operation.
Well, Ryan Howard isn’t the only reason Ruiz was blocked. He’s been in the Phillies, Pirates, Giants, Royals and Yankees organizations - and that’s the last two seasons before this year.
Before that, Philly again, Baltimore and Cincinnati…
He may well be a Cust-like performer but let’s not get too carried away and expect him to be the reason the offense suddenly explodes again.
doese anyony elese think that Liriano could start sometime this weekend sence i think he was sosposed to pitch today
for Rochester
“Liriano probably starts in Livan’s spot on Monday…”
Right. But look for him in the pen once tonight or tomorrow.
Victor Lebanon,
Part of the reasons that Ruiz bounced to many organizations in 2006 and 2007 is that he tested positive for steroids in 2005. Funny that at least 3 of those organizations (Baltimore, Yankees, Giants) have been employing steroid offenders in the majors for years…
I really don’t think anyone is going to expect miracles from Ruiz. I just think that you hope he shows a little bit of what he showed in Rochester (which would be an improvement over Monroe) and if he catches lightning in a bottle… great!
Even if he does only last until Cuddyer gets back and calls it a career… thats several days more in the Bigs that I (and I’d wager anyone else here) had. Hope he makes the best of it.
Now… if we can just make sure he can find the Dome… anyone hear if he’s shown up yet? A guy can get lost pretty easily trying to get from Rochester to Minneapolis.
JimCrikket,
I bet he is in the same cab with Liriano and Liriano knows the way (and probably instructing the driver to go 100 mph because he cannot get there fast enough )
I think for 09 free agents the Twins should try to sign Crede away from the BitchSox. I hope Ruiz does alright tonight and that KC can handle the sox.
Gomez has to go to AAA. He’s clearly the worst hitter in the majors, save for Adam Everett and some pitchers. But demoting him will expose further that Smith made a horrible trade, so I’m not expecting it.
If Ruiz can hit (and I’m pretty sure he’ll struggle with big league breaking ball), and if Cuddyer comes back, it is so obvious that Gomez should be the one to go down. Punto will need to get some reps in CF, though!
I like Buscher as a platoon 3B and would really like to see this:
IF: Morneau, Ruiz, Punto, Casilla/Tolbert, Buscher, Harris, Macri
OF: Span, Young, Cuddyer, Kubel (Punto)
C: Mauer, Redmond, Lamb (noting we’re unlikely to dump him)
None of this really matters, though, because I don’t think there is an adequate enough bridge from SP to Nathan.
have been employing steroid offenders in the majors for years…
Employing may not be the right word. “Supplying” maybe?
now lets call up Macri for Everett, Hughes for Lamb and activate Cuddyer for Punto…..
Livan won 10 games. In his wins he had 2.31 ERA, which means it was not run support.
Cherry pick.
In Silva’s 10 best starts he had a 2.59 ERA. His record? 4-2 with 4 no decisions.
It is a matter of run support.
Twinstalker,
“Gomez has to go to AAA. He’s clearly the worst hitter in the majors, save for Adam Everett and some pitchers.”
No other MLB teams have worse hitters than the Twins?
Thats amazing!
And I am sure you have researched the other 29 teams carefully.
“He’s clearly the worst hitter in the majors…”
Have you read any MLB stats or watched any MLB games this year, Twinstalker?
BTW, are you a Twins talker, or a Twin stalker?
Twinstalker,
You might want to take a look at the National’s team stats. You will have trouble finding a player on that team which has stat’s as good as Gomez.
Maybe they don’t qualify as a major league team, but I was at a game last night where they played the Phillies, another alleged major league team.
Regards,
Hernandez has to feel terrible. To know that He was designated before Brian Bassackwards…
Funny I think we could probably have gotten more for Monroe this year from the Rays than we did for Castillo last year.
I could list about 4 players on the Twins that are worse offensive players than Gomez…
My guess I could probably come up with 200 ball players around major league baseball, and fringe MLB/AAA ball players that are a far worse than Gomez.
He needs to go to AAA if and Cuddyer comes back for a while to get his groove back, but Gomez is one of the better mistakes the Twins have made.
BC,
“Funny I think we could probably have gotten more for Monroe this year from the Rays than we did for Castillo last year.”
More than Martin and Butera?
WOW!!
Its not too late.
We still can deal Monroe AND Hernandez.
But, more than Martin and Butera?
You must be dreaming big dreams!
Oh well, shoot for the stars!
1. Punto isn’t going anywhere. He can play 2nd, 3rd, SS, and if needed 1st and OF. And play them well. He has way more range than Harris. Also, the jury is still out on Macri and Tolbert.
2. Gomez is an igniter. He’s not going anywhere.
3. Lirano will be a stistical improvement over Livan, but he is NOT going to be the pitcher we saw in ‘06, and he may have turned into a head case. If so, this will be a problem and NOT an upgrade over Livan.
4. There are a lot of question marks with this team. We’re going to gey a lot of those answers in the next two months. For better or worse.
Also realize, for those of you who want Boof put on waivers, that doing so isn’t always a transaction that is announced, as players can be shopped relatively secretly after the trade deadline. So even if you don’t hear Boof’s name in the trade rumor mill, it could be happening (or dying) without you even knowing it.
Any guess on when Liriano will make his first start? My guess is tommorow. I dont think you want his arm to get too rusty. A six day rest would be good in my opinion. Thoughts? I wonder when we will get that information.
Three good FAs this past year:
Hunter (wasn’t coming back)
Lohse (yeah, right)
Dotel (who saw that one coming?
Livan did what he was brought into to do. i think despite most of the other post Liriano will be an upgrade. you can”t be 10-0 and things not working right…he doesn”t have to be like 2006. Although, would be nice. Too bad Monroe didnot contribute better. I still liked that signing. I am sure the DFA will allow Twins to move their salaries for nothing….
Hindsight is 20-20. Yet for the failed signings combining these monies for one star player would make future sense,’
more importantly, the ability of scouts to see better talent in the young players.
Win Twins!
How come so little is known about Ruiz?
this reminds me so much of phil nevin….if ruiz had anything to offer he would have been in the bigs along time ago…good lord hes 31…. i wish him luck because we need it, but he is no beltre….did i mention a guy named nevin
it never stops with this f.o….. next thing they are going to find out what lecroy is up to ….arrghhhhhh.,
karbo - hes a career minor leaguer, thats why…its a total shot in the dark- its the best that this pretend gm bill smith we have, can do…..
Good move to dump Hernandez and promote Liriano. Now the Twins have five good starting pitchers and a better chance to win the division. When will Bonser be unloaded?
Well I wont be as disrepectful as some.
Sr. Hernandez - you handled your release with much class and good luck to you. Thanks for hanging in there with us as best you could.
