Twins announce September callups
Posted on August 30th, 2008 – 10:12 PMBy Joe Christensen
OAKLAND — The Twins just announced their September minor-league callups: pitchers Bobby Korecky, Philip Humber, Jose Mijares; infielders Matt Tolbert and Matt Macri, outfielder Jason Pridie and catcher Ryan Jorgensen.
All seven are expected to be in uniform Tuesday, when the Twins open a three-game series at Toronto.
Mijares and Tolbert will join the team from Class AA New Britain with the other five coming from Class AAA Rochester.
Tolbert, 26, is actually coming off the disabled list after having surgery in mid-May to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb.
Mijares, 23, is a surprising choice. The hard-throwing lefthander fractured his left elbow and injured his pitching shoulder in a car accident in Venezuela in January. But he rejoined the New Britain staff in early August and has posted a 2.63 ERA in 10 appearances.
Pridie, 24, came to the Twins from Tampa Bay with Delmon Young and Brendan Harris in the trade that sent Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to the Rays.
Pridie competed with Carlos Gomez and Denard Span for the starting center field job in spring training. After getting sent down, Pridie batted just .142 in May but rebounded to bat .329 after the All-Star break.
Macri, 26, batted .367 in a 14-game stint with the Twins earlier this year and entered Saturday batting .253 for Rochester.
Korecky, 28, posted a 3.48 ERA in nine appearances with the Twins earlier this season and entered Saturday with a 2.84 ERA and 26 saves for Rochester.
Humber, 25, who came from the Mets in the Johan Santana trade, came on strong for Rochester late in the season, going 6-1 with a 2.67 ERA after the All-Star break.
Jorgensen, 29, was another surprising choice. He was batting .251 entering Saturday, but the Twins wanted a third catcher to back up Joe Mauer and Mike Redmond.
80 Responses to "Twins announce September callups"
Jorgenson must be added to the 40-man-roster.
Good for Pridie
[…] Originally published by Around the Majors […]
Hard as the seems to believe, given how the season started, Gomez may start next year in the minors. I think the starting outfield to begin next season goes Young in left, Span in center, Cuddyer in right. And Pridie may have gotten the development that Go-Go didn’t this year.
If you look at the stats for the year, it’s clear that the biggest mistake the team made was to wait so long to start Span and then to bat him first. Go-Go has far too many at-bats for his stats.
The second biggest mistake was, of course, riding Livan for so long while keeping Francisco in the minors 3-5 starts before he had proven himself ready.
Thankfully, I think the team made the changes just soon enough to push us past the White Sox. Span + Liriano is a better late-season development for us than the Griffey trade was for the Sox.
We must never forget with our approach that call-ups ARE our trades. I love it when the media mocks us for not “doing more” to prove we want to win. Ha. We want to win ENDURINGLY.
The only gripe I have is that we should’ve moved quicker on Span batting first and Francisco in the rotation. (Have you seen Livan’s stats for the Rockies? Criminy!)
T-Mouse
say goodbye Oswaldo Sosa
Thanx Nathan - very impressive!!
Twins don’t seem to like first place huh?
Nathan just sucked tonight, which is about the only time I will say that.
Get them tomorrow.
Nathan just loooveees the West Coast.
Congratulations, Nathan, on your very sucky performance tonight. Have a piece of humble pie…just don’t choke on it. Oooops, looks like you already did.
Nathan looks worse and worse the more he appears on this road trip. That…my god, could he have pitched any worse? Seven innings, Liriano mows them down. And Joe can’t even record an out?
It’s lovely that we’re pissing away $12 mil a year for the next four years on a guy that’s just set a new career high for blown saves with an entire month left to play in the season.
Bullpens should NEVER decide baseball games, man.
Yeah, Nathan struggled. Looked llike Harris could have knocked the ball down, but not his fault two guys were on base and a bunt was laid down. So forget about it. Joe will.
What’s even more toublesome about it all is that poor Francisco should now be 6-0 since his call-up. But, the bullpen continues to cough up is wins.
Forget about it. Right. Tell that to the standings at the end of the year when we’re one game out.
Bullpens should NEVER decide baseball games, man.
Yeah, I hate when the bullpen secures a win.
Lala, chill out. Nathan’s not perfect. But close - look at his stats. He never should have even needed to come in. It’s hard to win a game when you score only two runs! Come on, guys! We need to see more of what you did last night!
That was a world-class meltdown! Twins bullpen just flat out stinks this year.
What is with the short attention of Twins fans? Yeah, Nathan blew it, but he’s considered nationwide as one of the top closers; tonight’s blown save doesn’t change that.
Surprised they didn’t bring Bass back up or will they still?
A lost it when Nathan threw the ball away, had to turn the game off. Dang I’m really getting peeved at this team lately. My wife tells me to calm down, it’s only a game, it still gets me when blow games like this lately!
What is that choking sound?
Dear Chicago White Sox,
Please just run away with the division and put us out of our pathetic misery.
Love,
The Minnesota Twins
Dan, he wasn’t throwing that good and had NO outs. He is getting paid to get outs and close out games!
The Twins Bull-pen keeps giving up wins, their new nickname is “The French Army”
Let Mauer pitch.
Steve H-
I know how you feel man. It’s been so frustrating lately, I’m trying so hard to stay positive. Tonight, after the W.Sox lost, I’m thinking “see, after all the negativity, we’re back in first place just like that.” Then we blow this game.
Tonight’s game was especially frustrating because there are no legitimate gripes. Well, maybe the lack of offense. But all these idiots blaming Nathan look like complete morons. Nathan is usually lights-out, has been great for this team, and he looked like crap tonight. He doesn’t make mistakes often so it really hits you like this when he does. But I wouldn’t want anyone else in his spot.
Hey, at least the bullpen puts up a fight…
Wow, guys, really? When are you going to start rallying to cut Nathan loose? So it’s been a sour road trip. Tomorrow will come. And the Twins will still have the chance to claim first.
“Dan, he wasn’t throwing that good and had NO outs. He is getting paid to get outs and close out games!”
So a closer isn’t allowed to make mistakes? I saw the same game everyone else did. He gave up a hit after falling behind, hit a guy, and then threw the game away. Got it. And yes, he’s getting paid to close games for us. But hitters struck out tonight, hitters left guys on, etc. Nathan’s mistake is much more high profile because it directly and immediately led to our loss.
Of course he’s getting paid to win, but so is everybody else. You can’t use that argument because we’re also paying the hitters to win, so they should’ve scored as many runs as they did last night then.
“Nathan looks worse and worse the more he appears on this road trip”
He allowed a grand total of 1 hit in 3 innings on this trip coming into the game, settle down.
“Wow, guys, really? When are you going to start rallying to cut Nathan loose? So it’s been a sour road trip. Tomorrow will come. And the Twins will still have the chance to claim first.”
I’m with you man. I’m as pissed about this road trip as anyone, I didn’t want to believe the hype about the horrid road trip, but it’s turned out worse than anyone predicted, because we didn’t just lose games, we lost plenty of games we should have won. But the way guys talk on here, Nathan must just be a pile of crap worth nothing. The same guys will be on here next time he gets a save talking about how nice it is to have a lights-out guy.
Can’t have it both ways.
True, can’t blame everything on Nathan, but he was the last line of defense. Twins had the lead, albeit one run. No one says he hasto have a perfect inning, just keep runs from scoring.
WTF JOE ?!! WTF IS WRONG WITH JOE NATHAN?!!!? Is he hiding an injury? He looks incredibly lame lately!
It’s his first loss of the year. He’s allowed to lose a game every once in awhile - he’s still one of the best (if not THE best) closers in the game. The loss just has really bad timing with the way this road trip has gone.
Answer this question: Do you think the Twins have lost more games this year that they should have won or won more games that they could have or should have lost? I say the latter.
jeez let it go.. it was harris fault too.. this stuff happens.. and who cares.. the white sox lost also..
All you can say is, Damn!
Guess it could have been worse, the Whities did lose too! Oh that’s right, Twins had a chance to move back to first…. Oh Well, better luck next time! Wild Card race, ya right.
Third base has been the problem all year. Harris looked a little out of position, maybe from lack of time at third. I can’t believe we are still platooning guys at third, and other teams have picked up guys to plug holes a little bit. We signed 54 year old Everyday Eddy. That’s all we did.
Steve H-
Good question, and a good look at the crazy 162-game season. You’re right, we have taken plenty of games from other teams’ bullpens, scored runs off errors, and silenced good lineups. This type of stuff happens. It’s just terrible lately because we could legitimately have at least another 4 wins on this road trip and and be in first place by 3 1/2, not down by 1/2. Part of the game, but frustrating.
Gardy had another strange move. When the A’s brought in Street, how come Buscher didn’t come in at 3rd since he never plays unless a righty is throwing. Buscher knocks that ball down if he has to take it in the jewels. Nathan still would have blown the game. I am old enough to remember when if a reliever came in and looked super in the 8th, he went back out there in the 9th. Jeez, for the first time in forever Guerrier was really sharp. The Twins are just having a hard time playing with their hands locked around their throats.
Humber is finally up. Maybe now Crain will be banished permanently. Pridie is finally up, maybe Gomez will sit until late in the game to play defense. I know he is young but he may be the worst outfielder in the history of the Twins. He makes Bombo Rivera look like Babe Ruth.
Assuming Nathan is not pitching despite an injury or some such issue, what Gardy said about most of the team when they played at Yankee Stadium, that they “played young” unfortunately applies tonight to one of our oldest players. It’s not fair to expect him to be perfect, he’s not, but for what the team is paying him, we should expect him to be a little more clutch than what he did tonight.
Let it go? Sure, Twins are 4-6 on the road trip and must win three to make it .500 for the road trip, the way it’s going that’s not going to happen. But that’s typical for what they have done on the road this year, tha’s why these games were so important, to try and improve on that. Thing is they were in all these games, but should probably only lost half of them. When they come up a few gmaes short at the end of the year, they can look back to this road trip and *SIGH*
Gomez has the best ZR in MLB.
Bob’s probably the first to make the point I thought of earlier, and that’s Guerrier looked sharp tonight. I can only imagine his confidence would probably be 10 points higher if his great hold led to a win, but hopefully he takes something from this game. He’s done better lately. Keep bouncing back Matt.
WOW! That really sucked! White Sux give us great opportunity, and POW, gone like that.
On the plus side, I’m glad Pridie and Mijares were included with the call-ups.
Harris needs to catch that ball.
I don’t see Bobby Korecky, Philip Humber, Jose Mijares; infielders Matt Tolbert and Matt Macri, outfielder Jason Pridie and catcher Ryan Jorgensen getting much more than garbage time until the Twins are out of the race. I guess that might not happen, so forget I said that. I just think Gardy will continue to field a lineup that he thinks will give him the best chance to win. We won’t agree with it, but whatever.
harris was just as much at fault. he should have caught that ball. everyone bashes punto on here and he would have caught that ball easily. i think nathan would have still got out of that inning and we would have won. i have seen him do it plenty of other times already. i cant believe everyone is so pissed at nathan. HARRIS SHOULD HAVE CAUGHT THAT BALL AND HOW MANY RUNNERS DID HE LEAVE ON BASE TONIGHT??? HARRIS LOST THE GAME….
Harris sucked all-around tonight, but the loss was not his fault.
Nathan was completly terrible, and had no chance at third anyways.
Bob, Gomez is bad news right now with the bat but have you already forgotten all his spectacular defensive plays? And Gatty is correct, Gomez is #1 in range in MLB.
I wanna see an uncut, unrated version of what Dick and Bert might say if they were allowed to speak their mind about these games. Sometimes Bert seems to be biting his tongue and they often seem to be covering for the team’s inadequecies, so it’d be interesting to hear what they really say. I give ‘em credit, while I’m cussing and throwing pillows in my house, they’re calm and relatively positive, or at least neutral. Guess that’s why they do what they do and I watch games from the couch….
CROSBY WAS OUT AT THIRD IF HE CAUGHT THAT BALL. LOOK AT THE REPLAYS
HE IS EVEN OUT BY MORE IF HE PLAYS THE BASE LIKE A FIRST BASEMAN ON THAT PLAY LIKE HE WAS SUPPOSE TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE
Scott Baker tomorrow. Did anyone else catch Paul Allen on KFAN dubbing Baker “Big Spot Scott” the other morning?
Dan, if Dick and Bert badmouthed the team I would blame them for the loss.
There, I said it.
HELL LAMB WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THAT BALL
Pedro-
Most 3B’s are not gonna play that play like a first baseman.
Francona had quite an interesting lineup tonight including little Dustin Pedroia batting behind and “protecting” Ortiz! Of course Pedroia is right now the hottest batter on the planet and dislodged Mauer again for the BA tonight. Anyway, this is a perfect example of a better manager than Gardy using some imagination and guts at putting together a lineup rather than the same old, same old.
Undoubtably Crosby was out at third.
DAN that is how you are suppose to play that in that situation. ask anyone
Ask anyone? I suppose the expert just spoke so I won’t have to.
you must not watch much baseball or must not understand the game
You must feel better ranting on and on on these boards
Pedro, I haven’t watched the replay over and over like you but wasn’t the throw on the foul side of the bag? Doesn’t that mean a throw even harder to grab if Harris had been positioned like a 1B?
Time to move on. Check the minor league scores and hopefully find a few positives.
Bake tomorrow.
I was surprised Harris didn’t block the throw with his body or knock it down or get the hell out of the way of the runner. I say put Buscher there permanently and we’ll close our eyes or hold our breath and take what we get.
left foot is suppose to be on the foul side so that if the throw is to the right it hits the runner and doesnt go down the line. it also makes a clearer path to throw the ball. would you like me to copy and paste that info for you?
That is not an easy play to catch a bullet from 45 feet away with a runner coming hard into the bag, and it looks easy in slow motion. Harris could have positioned his glove better, but the bad throw from Nathan handcuffed him. Combined with a a horrible night at the plate, Buscher will be starting at 3B Sunday and Harris will be back on the bench.
If the throw is to the right it hits the runner? You’re telling me that’s textbook? So if Harris plays it like that, it’s just guaranteed that it’ll hit the runner cause you said so.
Harris was moving toward the bag in a hurry. Nathan had to get rid of it quick and made a bad throw. Harris could have caught the ball but it would have been a hell of a catch. So yes, could’ve caught it, but the play is definitely not worth the rant on Harris you’re providing.
Not an easy play, that’s for sure. Every pitcher seems to struggle with those infield throws. Nathan was out of sync with the two men he put on and Harris having a bad night at the plate, maybe brought his struggles with him to the field. Bench ‘em both tomorrow. Maybe we’ll win a laugher.
Steve’s question: I can’t prove it but it’s probably because the ones they lost that they could have won are more memorable. Perfect bookends — remember all the bad throws pitchers made in April to try to get out runners at 2B or 3B — and then tonight’s fiasco to 3B? I still remember like it was yesterday Blackburn’s wild pitch in his 1-0 loss. Good ol’ reliable LNP booted a ball in his first game back from the DL. There were many other examples. I feel we’ve lost more that we should have won than the other way around because every time they do that I say to myself “we better not be in 2nd at the end of the season by one freakin’ loss!!!” I know I’ve said that way too many times.
I know it’s frustrating and these losses stick out in our minds, and there are definite trends in our losses.
But our wins have come against other teams’ bullpens, we’ve won close ballgames when the other team could provide offense for the pitcher, and other teams have kept our rally innings alive by not putting us away. We’ve given games and we’ve taken them. It’s just the giveaways have become more frequent. I guess it’s hard to have a “clean” loss, but our losses lately pinpoint our glaring shortcomings.
JoeC, March of the lefties is good, but A-gust of lefties is more fitting…:)
It’s particularly frustrating when they put up so many runs the night before and then came out looking flat again tonight. Braden was better than Mayer but he’s still no CY. Of course playing at McAfee doesn’t help either, the place is as lively as a mausoleum, for EITHER team except when those two yazoos are beating on the drums. What happened to the guy who used to blow on the horn?
At least the Twins bullpen isn’t as bad as the Mets’
After a hundred plus games, it seems there is a trend. I just think it’s downright laughable that the only thing the front office was able to do was pick up some also-ran’s cast off relief pitcher that the Twins gave up on long ago. I liked the move, but, is that all there is ? ? ?
Even worse, Mud, we gave up on Balfour and after his health was restored he was free for the resigning, and now he’s blowing batters away with some serious heat as a reliever for the Rays.
We’ll luck out in the remaining schedule in not having to face CC, Blake, Stairs etc. but it’s too bad we couldn’t snag Beltre. Even if he never hit well for us at least he wouldn’t have been able to hit well against us.
As one can see by the photo with this story, Harris was not in position for a force play at third base. His left foot should have been on the bag, not the right foot. One can faulty Nathan too, but with one out and men on second and first there was still a chance to will the game. I can’t remember the last time Nathan hit a batter after a walk either. He looked nervous tonight which is odd. Thanks to the Boston Red Sox for winning a game one would have expected them to lose.
Harris doesn’t like to play third, but lacks the range to play in the middle infield. The team doesn’t need a slow-footed .250 hitter, with a boat load of strikeouts. Especially when he hurts you in the field.
I think Harris should have just tackled the guy!!! That is legal right??
