In the wake of Robbie Grossman’s fractured thumb, the Twins are turning to one of their top organizational prospects. Catcher Mitch Garver, who ranked ninth on Fangraphs’ summer edition of the team’s top prospects, is being called up to the Majors, the club announced. In addition to his work behind the plate, the 26-year-old Garver has played 14 games in left field this season, so he can serve as a third catcher as well as a spare outfielder or first baseman. Garver’s bat also could be a nice addition to the team’s bench. In 372 Triple-A plate appearances, Garver has slashed .291/.387/.541 with 17 homers and 29 doubles.
A few more notes out of the Twin Cities…
- Right-hander Bartolo Colon has enjoyed some success with the Twins after a terrible start to the season in Atlanta, and he tells John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he’s open to playing beyond the 2017 season. There was some brief talk of retirement for Colon, but the 44-year-old has turned in a solid 4.21 ERA in 36 1/3 innings with the Twins (albeit with more concerning peripheral metrics). Colon also tells Shipley that a phone call from former Angels teammate Ervin Santana may have been the tipping point in Colon signing with the Twins. The Mets were also pursuing a reunion with Colon, but the veteran righty said some urging from Santana, the Twins superior place in the standings and the opportunity to serve as a mentor for a number of young Twins pitchers all appealed to him. “…I thought it’s not only an opportunity for me to pitch, but an opportunity to teach other young players how to pitch and how to be big-leaguers,” said Colon.
- The Twins placed lefty Dietrich Enns, who was only just acquired from the Yankees as part of the Jaime Garcia swap, on the 10-day disabled list with a shoulder strain yesterday. Enns missed more than two months of the season with a shoulder issue as a member of the Yankees’ Triple-A club, and Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press suggests that the Twins could potentially seek additional compensation from the Yankees if Enns’ shoulder issue proves to be serious.
- The Astros and Mariners have both showed plenty of interest in right-hander Ervin Santana this summer, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports in his latest podcast (audio link, Twins talk starts up around the 45:00 mark). However, Minnesota has never shown any real willingness to deal him, and there’s no reason to expect that they’d change that mentality now with a Wild Card spot still in the crosshairs.
- Minnesota GM Thad Levine joins Wolfson to discuss several Twins topics ranging from outplaying their run differential, to the performance of young players to the fine line between making short-term and long-term moves this time of year. Of surging outfielder Eddie Rosario, Levine notes that he and Twins chief baseball office Derek Falvey received quite a few inquiries from other clubs regarding Rosario. Many teams wanted to gauge whether the new front office duo valued Rosario (and others, though Levine doesn’t get into specific names) as highly as their predecessors. “We made it clear to them that we view this guy as part of the core, part of the future of this franchise,” said Levine of Rosario. The 25-year-old Rosario is hitting .297/.337/.500 with 16 homers, 25 doubles and a pair of triples this season.
Colon probably got payed by the mets to lose on the braves
That sounds ridiculous, but then again Big Sloppi has cheated the game in so many other ways you just never know…
So, a 4.21 ERA is now considered solid? Hmm, standards sure have sunk.
And Colon “teaching other young players how to pitch and how to be big-leaguers”? Seriously? Is he gonna teach them about juicing, too?
The current league average ERA is 4.36
For an innings eater that’s pretty solid.
“Innings Eater” – AKA veteran pitcher that puts up terrible numbers but they trot them out there poor inning after poor inning instead of wearing out the bullpen more.
Colon has a 106 ERA+ with the Twins. I would call that the very definition of “solid,” yes. I also noted that it’s not backed up by his secondary numbers, so it’s not as if I’m praising Bartolo to be anything he isn’t.
The point I was trying to make is that standards have sunk from the old days.
Maybe it’s time to raise the mound?
It always will go back and forth between hitting and pitching year to year. Just 2 years ago I remember MLB network talking about how the game needs changes due to pitching over matching hitting
A quality start is 6 innings or greater with 3 earned runs or fewer. By that definition, and ERA of 4.50 is “quality” and anything below that can be considered solid.
Which is exactly why the stats Quality Start has been scrutinized since its inception. No way is a 4.50 ERA “Quality”, it should be 2 ER or less in 6+ innings.
So by your definition there are only 6 quality starters in all of baseball? That’s how many qualified pitchers have an ERA of 3 or less which what 2 ER’s in 6 innings would be.
Maybe you didn’t notice that offense is up league wide?
Poor Mike Beradino! Tough guy reporter missed two months with that sore shoulder, shame…
Mets should sign Colon to a six-year deal this offseason. Take him to his age-50 season.
He’s already 50, back when he got caught lying about his age the first time he gave another fake birth certificate.
Um?
You didn’t know he got nabbed lying about his age years ago? That was back before the stem cell treatment, PEDs and being a deabeat dad to his secret family.
Holy agenda batman
Twins should seek additional compensation for receiving a “damaged” player (Enns) back from the Yankees in the Garcia trade. How about they toss in Aaron Judge and we call it even?
Twinkies got more than enough compensation when they got Littell for Garcia.