The Twins claimed left-hander Dusty Hughes from the Royals and designated right-hander Rob Delaney for assignment to create roster space. Both teams announced the claim this afternoon.
Hughes, 28, appeared in 57 games for the Royals last year, posting a 3.83 ERA with 5.4 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9. The Royals selected the left-hander in the 11th round of the 2003 draft.
Delaney has appeared in just one big league game so far, but the 26-year-old right-hander has plenty of minor league experience. He has a 2.96 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 242 minor league relief appearances. Last year he posted a 3.44 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in 83 2/3 innings for the Twins' top affiliates.
Ugh. Delaney has done nothing but rack up K’s with good control in the minors. Why DFA him for trash like Hughes? Who cares if he’s left-handed? If you want someone cheap and left-handed, dig up Ron Mahay or sign Joe Beimel — at least they’ve had recent success. Or at the very least get rid of junk like Tolbert rather than someone we could actually use with our bullpen in flux.
I wouldn’t go as far as calling Hughes trash, but Delaney is better.
Maybe they should sign you? You seem like you know all the answers. Calling pro baseball players junk just proves your ignorance. As far as delaney, are you kidding me? Strikeouts aside, this guy had well over a 4.5+ ERA for the past 2 seasons at AAA while Hughes had a 3.75 Major League ERA. Seems like the front office knows more than you, no surprise there.
Why would they sign me? I’m not a pitcher.
MorneauVP is more of a slugger/basher type player. Not so much a pitcher.
meh
What the…?
This move would seem to indicate that the Twins intend to leave Brian Duensing in the starting rotation. They do need a 2nd lefty in the pen behind Mijares, and while Hughes was certainly no Cy Young, he was passable. That being said, I’m also mystified as to why they’d DFA Delaney. Yes, his ERA was high, but his K rates are excellent. I’m sure he won’t pass through waivers, and the Twins would be well-advised to make a trade before they lose him for nothing.
Maybe we can get a real backup catcher out of him. Not that Butera’s OPS+ of 44 isn’t impressive… it’s just that it’s impressive in that “Wow this guy’s one of the worst hitters in MLB history” type way.
I figured Diamond would be that other lefty, since he has to be on the ML roster in order to stay with the team. Unless they work out some kind of deal with the Braves.
The Twins would have had Scott Diamond as another lefty option in addition to Mijares without picking up Hughes. I really hope nobody picks Delaney up and the Twins can get him back. I’m still puzzled as to why he was DFA’d. It’s an alright move but it is a better move if they can re-acquire Delaney after all of this.
I like this move. The Twins obviously done think Delaney can get the big league bats out. I tend to agree with them. His fastball is below average it’s his slider that gets all of the minor league bats to chase.
Does KC have any lefties in the ‘pen?
…Blain Hardy, Tim Collins, Everett Teaford, and Buddy Bauman will all likely pitch at some point for the Royals this season, with Sisk, Duffy, Dwyer, Arguelles, Lamb, Chapman, W. Smith, and Justin Marks following them, so yeah, they’ve got LH’s–more than anyone in baseball, by a decent margin.
How can you not like a player named Dusty?
Would have liked this more if they had claimed Dusty Bottoms.
I’m fine with the Hughes claim but the should have moved Slama off the roster, not Delaney. I think both Delaney and Slama are marginal big leaguers but Delaney at least has a major league slider while all of Slama’s pitches are AAA all the way. Tolbert – for better or worse – is the Twins utility infielder this season so one knew that it was either Delaney or Slama that would be moved off the roster for Hughes, not Tolbert.
Slama’s track record of complete dominance should keep him on the 40-man until he gets a real shot at the Major League level. I realize he doesn’t have the velocity to match those mammoth K-rates, but that doesn’t mean he can’t succeed at the big league level.