So Liriano is the latest Twins pitcher to go on the DL with seemingly nothing physically wrong, but just in need of a mental break. Now it seems like Liriano has more fire than Perkins (who seemingly is trying to find any excuse to explain why he has pitched poorly), but this seems like it's getting to be a big problem for the Twins. I know Anderson has done well with some of his "projects" (see LaTroy Hawkins, Dennys Reyes, etc.), but lately it seems like he has not been able to get the most out of his staff. Physically, most of the Twins staff has enough stuff to be successful and being such a young staff, the thing they need help with is the mental side of pitching and the grind of 162 game schedule. Sure Anderson can help the pitchers make adjustments to the mechanics, but his staff needs help with the mental side of pitching.
With a roster spot open, the Twins called up Humber - a pitcher the Twins gave an opportunity to earlier this year - granted it wasn't much of an opportunity (4.1 IP) but he was not successful (6 ER). This is how bad the overall pitching staff has been; they need to bring up a pitcher from AAA who had an ERA over 5! With that said, hopefully Humber can show something and become at least an effective long reliever.
With Humber joining the 40, that means that he will be bumping someone off the roster. I am guessing by the time I am finished with this post, that the person who is taken off the 40 man roster will be announced. The bigger picture here is that there are quite a few players who will be added to the 40 man roster, meaning that many players will have to be removed. The following players will most likely be added to the 40 man roster by the time next year begins (if not sooner): Rob Delaney, Anthony Slama, Danny Valencia, Juan Morillo, and Matt Fox. It will be interesting to see if some of the faster moving pitchers (Gutierrez, Bullock, Tootle) will also be added or if they will be added during the 2010 season if they are needed - it will depend on how their fall/winter seasons go, as well as how they do in spring training. With the five players listed above probably being added to the 40 man roster, it will be interesting to see who the Twins take off. Here are my predictions of who those players will replace (for the start of the 2010 season): RA Dickey, Brian Buscher, Matt Macri, Jason Pridie. These players will be off the 40 man roster as they are free agents: Carl Pavano, Mike Redmond, Orlando Cabrera, and Joe Crede. That is 8 players I predict that will be off the 40 man roster with the 5 players that will be added from the minors. That leaves 3 more spots for either free agents or other minor leaguers (David Winfree, Erik Lis, Rene Tosoni, Alex Burnett, and maybe even Ben Revere or Chris Parmalee).
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