Keppel reportedly promoted to Twins
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 – 1:34 PMBy Joe Christensen
According to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Class AAA reliever Bobby Keppel was told after last night’s doubleheader that he is being promoted to the Twins. (See bottom of this game story.)
I’d heard Sunday that there was a good chance Keppel would be joining the Twins before Tuesday’s game in Milwaukee but wondered if the injury situation (Justin Morneau, Nick Punto, etc.) clouded the issue.
Not sure what the corresponding roster move will be, or if the Twins will even announce it today. I will post an update here when I get one. They could cut ties with Sean Henn or Luis Ayala, although they also have been going with an 11-man pitching staff and could go back to 12 if they demote a position player or need to put someone on the DL.
18 Responses to "Keppel reportedly promoted to Twins"
If Morneau has to go on the DL, I really question this organization and their training and medical staff.
Um, players get hurt. It happens.
Keppel is pretty bad… this is obviously a move for the sake of making a move, and not an actual solution.
I’d send Pridie back down to AAA.
haha forgot he was even on the team still….along with tolbert…are team is full of a bunch of no names this year we have 3 or 4 AAAA players
I’m guessing Punto’s ribs will lead to a trip to the DL….which means Tolbert isn’t the man to send down at the moment.
If anything, they may need Casilla UP so that Gardy has some MIF bench options while they’re in the NL parks.
Hopefully the Twins do “cut ties” with Ayala AND Henn. Swarzak also needs to be recalled. A bullpen of Dickey, Gurrier, Mijares, Swarzak, Nathan would be fine by me but we still need to find a lefty-vs-lefty specialist and another solid bullpen guy (hopefully this Keppel can do well) but we must have 7 bullpen guys
Actually, at this point the only move that would make sense if they don’t dump a pitcher to make room is to send down Morales or release Redmond (so guess which one will likely happen)
They’re in an NL park, so there’s no DH. Hence it doesn’t matter if you’ve got Redmond or Mauer in the lineup…the other is on the bench.
However, with Kubel sick and Morneau ailing, they DEFINATELY need somebody versitle around the infield and then a back up OF. Otherwise you run the risk of one of those two having to come out of a game (or not even start) and having nobody to put in there…or running your bench even thinner than it is.
Pretty good commentary on Pridie that Gardy put Buscher in at first instead of Pridie in right when Kubel started revisiting his breakfast.
AJ… I am confused…. At AAAA level, what farm club of the Twins is in AAAA?
Yeah I don’t know what they’re going to do about this one. This just makes it more irritating they didn’t go after a better reliever in the offseason now that we are dealing with this bullpen for a second straight year. Seems like everybody has a bad bullpen though so I don’t know who’s really going to be available at the discount the Twins will be looking for, as if they even ever look for anybody anyway…
Keppel: just another minor league pitcher in the pen. This is still an 500 team at best.
Pretty good commentary on Pridie that Gardy put Buscher in at first instead of Pridie in right when Kubel started revisiting his breakfast.
On days Kubel is the DH (which is most days), Pridie is the 4th OF in case Cuddyer, Gomez, or Young has to come out.
Morneau had to sit, and Mauer was the DH. Had Morneau not had to sit, you likely would’ve seen an OF of Young/Gomez/Cuddyer with Kubel taking the day off against the lefty.
Gardy wants Cuddyer’s bat in the lineup over Buscher, which is why Cuddyer was in at 1B. This leaves RF open…and with Morneau out at that point, I don’t blame Gardy for going with Kubel’s bat over Pridie.
So once Kubel comes out…the right move is to slide Cuddyer back to his natural position and go with the backup 1B (Buscher).
I’m guessing Buscher vs. Cuddyer is a wash defensively.
DrDon, I’d say AJ is referring to the prototypical “better than AAA, not good enough for the big leagues” type of player. I hate the phrase, but a lot of people use it. A few years ago I heard quite a few people say that Scott Baker was a “AAAA” type of guy when he couldn’t get it to work at the big leagues.
In looking at Keppel’s splits this year, it appears he should do a good job for the Twins, as long as they only use him against righthanders, during night away games.
LENIII just said on KFAN (he’s filling in noon-3) that Ayala was DFA’ed.
during night away games.
Well they currently DO have trouble winning on the road. 
Josh…Thanks for you clarification…AAAA is that level between….Better than, but not as good as.
