Twins Claim LHP Adam Wilk From Mets

 The Minnesota Twins have claimed left-hander Adam Wilk off waivers from the New York Mets.

The Twins announced the move on Wednesday. The 29-year-old Wilk was the Mets’ emergency starter on Sunday when Matt Harvey was suspended. He started six games for Triple-A Las Vegas this season, going 2-3 with a 5.91 ERA.Minnesota has been in the middle of a shuffle of the starting rotation after sending Kyle Gibson down to Triple-A Rochester last week. The Twins currently have an opening in the rotation for the game Saturday at Cleveland and Will could slide into that spot.

Will will join the Twins on Thursday in Chicago, where they are playing the White Sox.

David Hurlbut is left handed and breathing on his own.  And he hasn't been with 6 different MLB organizations (and one in Korea) over the last 5 years.

David Hurlbut is a starting pitcher thriving in AAA. That's actually more of a need for the Twins. After years of tons of mediocre depth, the Twins have a pretty bare stable of starting pitching. It's Santana, Hughes and Santiago at the MLB level and Mejia, Berrios and Gibson in AAA. Then you have Tepesch and Hurlbut. With Gibson struggling, Tepesch being Tepesch, Mejia being unproven and Phil Hughes a pretty big injury risk, the Twins need Hurlbut as emergency depth. It would not surprise me at all if he started a game or two for the Twins this year. He's likely #7 or #8 in the starting pitching ranks and teams regularly hit that guy. I wouldn't mind seeing what he can do.

I was pretty upset about Wilk when I first heard it. Then we heard he's not going to be starting. Then I looked at his splits against lefties. Then I looked at our current left handed relievers (Rogers and a bunch of trash). Then I realized I was wrong to be upset about Wilk. We overreacted ladies and germs. Apologies to the front office, they weren't wrong on this one. Way to do your homework.

(But if Tepesch starts more than one more game I'm going to poop in the glove outside Target Field. That man is not even hot garbage, he's frozen garbage you scrape off the driveway after the raccoons get into your trash in November.)

EDIT: I forgot Duffey. There is Duffey. But he'd likely need to be stretched out a bit and I like him in the pen. But there is Duffey.

Buddy Boshers has a lower WHIP and a higher K/9 in his MLB career than Wilk. We already have the incredibly talented Justin Haley who must be great because Flavine picked him up in a Rule 5 ‘coup’.
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I don’t understand how anyone can defend this move.  If he comes in and is a great pitcher out of the bullpen, well that would be nice. There is no statistic anywhere that suggests that is likely to happen.

This is how you defend the move:

Thrylos posted his splits against lefties over the last three years in AAA. They are ridiculous - high K rates, low BA against. It's not crazy to see him as a reliever and though the Twins can't start him in the minors like you might prefer to, he's not going to be in high leverage situations. It's not like the Twins used him to replace Pressley, he replaced Rucinski. The Twins haven't been pressed for position players and are carrying 13 pitchers. With the lack of left handed pitching in the upper minors, it's not awful to take a shot on him with Rucinski's roster spot and use him as a low-leverage mop up man while experimenting with him as a LOOGY in the vein of Ryan O'Rourke.

P.S. While looking on BR, I saw that Wilk's minor league hitting features a .596 OPS. That's not bad for a pitcher. I'm going to file that away for when the Twins play a 14 inning game in a NL park this summer . . . 

It wouldn't even have to be about Berrios, though. What do you think as a player when a Rule 5 pick makes the team and has a game like last Sunday? Or when you turn to a starter like Tepesch last Saturday, despite no recent injuries on the staff?

I've seen it speculated that the team would be energized by the new FO turning over guys like Tonkin, but if they are turning them into guys like Tepesch and Wilk, I think their would be some doubts.

I mean, all kinds of guys have bad outings. The indictment of a rule 5 pick shouldn't be one game. Haley hasn't been good but he is a Rule 5 pick. Those guys are overmatched and you're trying to sneak them through the year in a mop-up role so that you can send them down to the minors and work on things in a low-leverage position the next year. That's how Rule 5 is supposed to work.

Your Tepesch criticism is right on though. That was sad and that's what paved the way for Haley on Sunday -- the Twins used a lot of pitchers Saturday so Haley was in a game that was way too close for your Rule 5 pickup. 

Not sure who else they should be turning them into? Tepesch is pretty awful but I'm encouraged by Wilk's potential as a LOOGY. There just aren't amazing players floating around on the wire. I'd like to see Wimmers/Burdi/Chargois get a shot as the summer goes along but I'm willing to trust the FO that those guys aren't quite ready yet and indulge them throwing things at the wall to see what sticks with a guy like Wilk.

Buddy Boshers has a lower WHIP and a higher K/9 in his MLB career than Wilk. We already have the incredibly talented Justin Haley who must be great because Flavine picked him up in a Rule 5 ‘coup’.
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I don’t understand how anyone can defend this move.  If he comes in and is a great pitcher out of the bullpen, well that would be nice. There is no statistic anywhere that suggests that is likely to happen.

Buddy Boshers was a reliever that whole time. Wilk was a starter. That's not an even comparison. Would you pick a random middle reliever from the mid 90s and choose him over Mariano Rivera while looking at his early career starting pitching stats (they're not good)? 

Nope. This is where stats can't explain everything. Wilk has been starting and the Twins see something in him they think will translate to relieving. It's that old adage of choosing between two guys with the same home to 1B time - one with perfect form and one with terrible form. You pick the guy with the terrible form because you can teach him to be better. We know what kind of a reliever Buddy Boshers is, we don't know what Wilk could be. I'd take Wilk every day.

It wouldn't even have to be about Berrios, though. What do you think as a player when a Rule 5 pick makes the team and has a game like last Sunday? Or when you turn to a starter like Tepesch last Saturday, despite no recent injuries on the staff?

 

I've seen it speculated that the team would be energized by the new FO turning over guys like Tonkin, but if they are turning them into guys like Tepesch and Wilk, I think their would be some doubts.

I don't think the players are unaware the pitching is problematic.

Is it my imagination, or do Falvey and Levine not speak much in public? Terry Ryan used to have regular spots on somebody's radio show, didn't he? "What's the plan with WIlk" is something Ryan would have been asked, and he would have answered straightforwardly (even if he couldn't tell the complete story). With the present regime we're left to wonder. Or... are they speaking somewhere and I'm not picking up on it, being out of town as I am?

There's a front office person on the radio each week.