Game Recap: White Sox 13, Twins 3

2 hours ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

I guess I'll field this one, now that Shoemaker has officially been DFA'd.

Shoemaker's leash in the pen was indeed pretty short -- first relief appearance was on June 11, and last on June 30. That's less than 3 weeks. Only 3 consequential appearances, really -- the controversial first one, an effective extra innings win vs Cincinnati on June 21, and last night. I think if he had struggled vs Cincinnati, he probably would have been cut 10 days ago, which would have been one week and change in the pen. As it happened, he looked good in Cincinnati, and bought himself one more try, in which he epically failed last night.

As far as replacements, while Shoemaker has been in the pen, we've lost Pineda, Dobnak, Farrell, and Duran to the IL, joining Stashak (recently moved to the 60-day IL), Smeltzer, Colina, and Thorpe. (Maeda, Thielbar, and Shaun Anderson were also on the IL at the start of Shoemaker's pen assignment, but have since been activated.)

We've already had Jax and Coulombe on the 26-man roster, and ahead of Shoemaker on the pecking order; now Derek Law is returning to take Shoemaker's place. It's not a deep group at the moment. (And the point of claiming Burrows was that he has minor league options remaining, not to place him back on a MLB roster immediately.)

None of this should be read as a general defense of the front office or field staff -- the Shoemaker acquisition was indeed disastrous, and the lack of viable replacements ultimately comes down on them too. But the leash itself wasn't particularly long or problematic.

Rounding makes for easier math. He was one of the worst pitchers in baseball, but 2 relatively clean innings against the Reds bought him another 10 days? The notion that he needed to go out and have another poor performance to justify releasing him is pretty ridiculous. If you're at that point then just cut bait.

We're all well aware of the injury situation, but if you're diving for starters (Coulombe) then diving for a mop up man in the bullpen shouldn't be off the table. At least take the minuscule chance you find somebody that can stick. Burrows already burned an option this year, and only has one remaining. The Twins will have to protect internal options, plus add offseason additions, and potential deadline acquisitions to the 40 man. You're not claiming Burrows to stash him at the back end of the 40 man.

1 hour ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

We're all frustrated by the team and by Shoemaker specifically. But the error was his signing and coaching, and the failure to sign and coach effective replacements -- not giving him 19 days to try adapting to the pen when the alternative was apparently Derek Law (again).

Beau Burrows can be sent to AAA an unlimited number of times this year, while he is on the 40-man roster. He's a former #1 pick who was lousy in both AAA and limited MLB action for Detroit. He's a project who was absolutely NOT claimed to be immediately thrown into MLB action. (And he just made his first Twins AAA appearance last night.)

Sure, the first gaff was signing him, but failing to move on when it was clear he was of no value to the team in either the present or the future was a mistake in itself. 

Exactly, so it makes no sense for him to spend a bulk of his time in the minors and burn a year, particularly with a 40 man shuffle imminent. One option remaining isn't justification enough for holding onto a subpar reliever. If he's too much of a project to get innings for a team on pace to lose 100 games then he's not going to help next year, option or not. 

15 hours ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

I don’t know if we’re getting our lines crossed on Burrows, but his 2022 option year is mostly irrelevant. If he doesn’t earn his way onto our MLB roster this season, he’s likely getting cut before the offseason (if not sooner).

But that doesn’t mean his option year this year is irrelevant. Plenty of waiver claim projects get optioned, and there is plenty of time left to give him a look if he earns it.

We might be. Yes I think the '22 option is irrelevant as well. Yes I don't believe he'd survive the 40 man turnover if he were to make it to that point. No I don't see this years option as irrelevant. Yes I'm fine with him being shuttled.

My stance on Burrows is that if you've handed a 40 man spot to a player like him then you might as well find out what you have sooner rather than later.