Twins designate Philip Humber for assignment, claim Morillo from Colorado
Posted on April 17th, 2009 – 12:34 PMBy La Velle
The Twins have designated righthander Philip Humber for assignment and will take a chance on hard-throwing righthander Juan Morillo, whom they claimed off waivers from Colorado.
Morillo, 25, didn’t pitch in a game this year and was designated for assignment by the Rockies on Apr. 10. He has a 11.42 ERA in 8.2 innings in the majors.
“He’s got a big fastball, that’s all I can tell you,” Twins player personnel head Mike Radcliff said.
Morillo can throw in the mid 90’s - he has touched 96 - but control has been an issue. Here’s his bio - check out that 80- walk season in 2006. Can pitching coach Rick Anderson work his magic with Morillo?
Morillo will replace Humber on the roster. Humber, 26, gave up 6 runs in 4.1 innings with the Twins this year.
Humber and Morillo both are out of options, so it’s a case of a couple teams looking to try something different. Humber, of course, was one of four players the Twins received for Johan Santana before the 2008 season. With Humber and R. A. Dickey, the Twins had two innings-eaters. so one was expendable. If the Twins get anything out or Morillo, they have another pitcher who can match up with power hitters late in games, which would be a big boost.
Jesse Crain, by the way, hit 95 with his last pitch on Thursday, a very good sign.
137 Responses to "Twins designate Philip Humber for assignment, claim Morillo from Colorado"
Sooooo nobody has claimed Humber yet then?
Well, Billy hit gold last year with Breslow, could Morillo be this year’s hidden gem?
Garage sale.
A lot of the Twins pitching issues will be cured the minute Mauer is behind the plate. We kept Morales because of his hitting but if I remember correctly the pitchers weren’t really fond of his pitch/game calling skills. The Twins pitchers will improve as soon as Mauer is back and we all know he will help our offense! Go Twins!!!
Rid of Humber: Probably addition by subtraction
Morillo: Probably garbage. Will keep a spot warm until Mijares is ready to come up
Humber is only 26 years old!
It could be that nobody will want to keep Humber on a major league roster at the moment and he’ll slide through so he he can be sent to Rochester. That’d be the best scenario.
Good, another scrap heaper.
Humber sucks, but this other guy will too. Book it.
Isn’t Morillo a cigar?
Bobbyk,
I believe you are 100% correct regarding Morales and Mauer. Should bring up Butera anyway to play out the rest of the month and see if he handles the pitching staff.
Interesting move… according to Fangraphs, Morillo’s fastball averaged 98.5 mph last season with Colorado in the single inning he pitched in the bigs.
Wild Thing Vaughn
“Humber is only 26 years old!”
WJ, just goes to show that age is blind to bad.
WJ -
It sounds like the twins expect Mauer to be back on the field when they return from their road trip (a little speculation there). It’s hard to say whether we need more offense, better defense, or better pitch-calling behind the plate.
Any idea on studies as to how big an influence a catcher has in the pitcher’s success?
Doesn’t degsignating for assignment give the FO 10 days to trade or outright release him?
blame it on morales, how have we done with red back there?
Lirano did just fine with Morales behind the plate last night
It is exciting to have someone who can throw 98+ on the team. I frankly don’t remember the last twin that did that.
Anyone?
Morales is the problem? Not the lack of location, speed, delta between speed, lack of tight curve balls, refusal to allow certain types of pitches to be thrown, lack of talent?
Seriously? It’s all the catchers’ fault?
As for this “trade”, why not just call up mijares, slama or delaney?
I will say this, I’ve ridiculed them for valuing throwing the ball over the middle of the plate (Humber) over stuff, so I can’t completely rip them for this.
No doubt someone will claim Humber. There are a lot of bad pitchers in the majors. some of them are old. Some teams should take a chance on him.
thry,
I can see Morillo with black rimmed glasses and skull and cross bones looking just like young Rickey. It surprises me that BS pulled the trigger on this since I thought he would do anything he could to keep Humber and not have to clear waivers - it can’t hurt the Twins that’s for sure.
Could Hawkins throw 98? Or Romero? (also a wild thang)
ggg,
I asked that question earlier and thrylos said that the opposing BA with Red was lower, but Red caught Perkins two games. Maybe Perk did so well because of Redmond?
So…does Bill Smith have to be held accountable by ownership if they know he indeed turned down a deal involving Lester, Lowrie and Coco??? They would look pretty good in the 82′ Twins uni’s right now…
yapper says:
April 17th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Good, another scrap heaper.
Humber sucks, but this other guy will too. Book it.
Welcome back jkucenic! Getting bored waiting at the airport for Hardy to show up? Or were you down in San Francisco wondering why Crede wasn’t playing 3rd?
If anyone picks up Humber, do they have to keep him on their Major League roster? Or can they assign him.
Could be the perfect combination of the calm pitching coach and the wild hard thrower.
Could be a very shrewd move.
The trouble so far this year is that Baker and Slowey are, in temperment, too much like their pitching coach — which leaves them a little uncompetitive and lacking in the grit department.
Shouldn’t be a similar problem with Morillo, because he apparenty just needs to somehow be tamed. And Andy is a good tamer.
And can we all just accept the fact now that Morillo is essentially one of the players associated with the Santana trade now? The Twins wouldn’t touch a guy like that unless they were ready to substitute and eliminate the Humber factor associated with the Santana trade. So, tit for tat.
So, I mean, for all practical purposes…….
Kay how bout Garza?
1-5 when red starts probably because he’s getting bad advice from morales in the dugout.
MHFESQ - it was probably Pat Mahomes.
been some consistent 95-96 MPH guys, Crain before his injury, Latroy Hawkins. Remember seeing Nathan hitting 97-99 in the All-Star game a few years ago, but don’t know if that was right or wrong or if he was trying to throw that hard that game cause he was usually 93-95. and I don’t think Nathan is throwing that hard anymore consistently. (he was 93ish last year)
It surprises me that BS pulled the trigger on this since I thought he would do anything he could to keep Humber and not have to clear waivers
Good for Smith. At least he shows that he learned from the Bass debacle last season. He probably tried to trade him for a while and there were not any takers. Worse comes to worse, Morillo will be as bad as Humber and will be a placeholder from Mijares or someone else (Swarzak anyone?). There is some upside to him that Humber did not have. So far Smith is batting 1.000 with his waiver wire moves, let’s see how this will pan out.
One member of the Santana trade gone. Now just 3 more to go.
If anyone picks up Humber, do they have to keep him on their Major League roster? Or can they assign him.
Humber, like Morillo, have to be on a 25-man roster all season.
I may eat these words, but I think it would be pretty tough for him to be worse than Humber. Good luck Mr. Humber… I’m just thankful I don’t have to watch that belt-high hanging curve anymore.
Exciting move. This guy can bring it. Now lets assign 98……and DrDon.
I am Topp Dogg.
Humber, like Morillo, have to be on a 25-man roster all season.
Whose BP is bad enough to want to do that? Maybe this is the best time for Smith to do this while Humber is at his lowest.
How’s Kyle Lohse doing this year?
why did R.A. Dickey need to be kept around?? What a stiff. Wild thing with no heat.
Looks like the Twins have learned something from the Brian Bass experiment.
Not sure I like this Morillo character when the Twins have some good young pitchers that are ready in the minors.
i think morillo takes humbers spot on both the 25 and 40 man roster. if humber clears waivers he can take assignment to a minor league contract or sign with any team he wants.
According to fangraphs.com:
Romero averaged under 93 on his FB.
the Hawk never averaged over 95
Mahomes waas only throwing 92-93, but it only has stats a decade after he was on the Twins.
Crain averaged nearly 95 for a few years as well
Don’t see a twins pitcher that has averaged over 97 ever.
Whose BP is bad enough to want to do that?
A team that has Pavano, Benson or Ponson in their rotation, might want to take a flier on Humber. Hopefully it will be the Indians, Tigers or Royals.
“So…does Bill Smith have to be held accountable by ownership if they know he indeed turned down a deal involving Lester, Lowrie and Coco???”
Correction, Jake. That offer also included Masterson, Buchanan, Ellsbury, Melky Cabrera, Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, David Ortiz, C.C Sabathia, and Aretha Franklin.
MHFESQ - I remember being at games in the metrodome where Mahomes was hitting 100, thats why he came to mind. I believe he had an injury and never returned to that velocity after leaving the Twins.
the Twins have some good young pitchers that are ready in the minors.
who would that be? Keyword: ready. Based on ST, Mijares isn’t ready. Delaney and Slama need probably another year. The only pitcher who might be “ready” to contribute above a Humber or a Duensing at this point is Swarzak (but that is based only on two AAA starts, great starts but just 2). Give them some time to show what they have and if someone is “ready”, either Morillo or Dickey or Guerrier will become history…
TwinsNotesGuy - I believe you. I do remember seeing Nathan hit 98 on the metrodome radar, too.
bop, wow, Billy Smith really dropped the ball on that one. We could have had Aretha?
Coco and Lowrie stink. Lowrie is not better than Tolbert, maybe worse.
I guess my concern is that the Twins may have robbed Peter to pay Paul to use a cliche.
Hopefully they’ll have a quick trigger finger with Morillo like they did with Humber.
I agree with that assessment Thrylos. As much as I love the Twins minor league system, we don’t know if Mijares, Delaney or Slama are ready now. Swarzak’s had a good TWO start start. I like this pickup actually. Does Morillo walk significantly more than Juan Cruz does?
[…] on MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com. Click here to visit the full article on the original website.According to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Twins claimed reliever Juan Morillo off waivers from the Rockies and designated Philip Humber […]
“bop, wow, Billy Smith really dropped the ball on that one. We could have had Aretha?”
Yup. The idiot was holding out for Whitney Houston.
Lord, how I miss Boof Bonser!
Seth-
in AAA, he walked 56, struck out 55. Ouch.
“Can pitching coach Rick Anderson work his magic with Morillo?”
He can’t seem to with Humber or Ayala or Mulvey…Mijares….Guerrier…..Crain…
JUAN MORILLO!!!!
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-AHHHHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA
Aretha was just a rumor, she was never really involved in any proposed deals.
I just tried the nachos from super america. let me tell all of you that they taste absolutely disgusting. Warning do not ever try these!
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/M/Juan-Morillo.shtml
I like this website a lot for player stat tracking. The Scouting Report in the top right corner gives me a little concern, (his ratings are far worse than Humbers if you compare them, not that I put too much stock in those though), does look like he’s a walk machine, in 59.2 innings at AAA last year, he walked 56(!) batters. (struck out 55)
I wish we could start up something like daily contests on the Blogs where a quote of the day or most entries gets fans here free tickets to games.
One more deck chair off the Titanic.
“And the farmer haulled another load away”.
Mr. bee,
Where have you been? There was nothing here worth reading when you were gone.
Some people that like this move said, before Humber’s last appearance, that letting him go would be a mistake….
As for the guys in the minors, we don’t know if they’ll be good or not, true. But, I’m pretty sure we know Ayala is not good already. That’s likely the case for dickey too.
Craig Goes Deep new job, bad economy. I am making more $$$ and work much closer to home.
I’m of the bring up Delaney or Slama from AA ala Mijares last year and let ‘em show us what they got. They both compare very favorably in their minor league careers to Pat Neshek (slama actually blows him away). But its too early to do that type of thing right now.
and Mijares has been pitching very well for Rochester so far, 5.1 IP, 4 K’s, 0.19 WHIP, 0.00 ERA. maybe he’ll get the call soon if Morillo fails in his on the job tryout.
So what’s the scoop with Morillo can the Twins send him down or not?
Toby Gardenhire is knocking the cover off the ball in AA. Hell, if he can can, he can probably pitch.
Does Morillo walk significantly more than Juan Cruz does?
hard to compare apples and oranges, but his minor league total is 5.4 BB/9 (but also has 8.6 K/9, and opponents to a .246 batting average.) His last season walk numbers might have been inflated by the fact that he pitched in the Pacific Coast League. In the majors in parts of 3 years he faced 44 batters and walked 4, which is encouraging. At some point, the Colorado organization had him at a higher standing than Umberto Jimenez (he is a year younger)… I am not saying that he will solve all the Twins’ problems and have a season like the last September Mijares had, but he is definitely worth a chance, esp. if he is to be used in games like those of the last couple of nights to begin…
catch
Terry Ryan beleived in collecting pitchers who could throw strikes. Morillo is a radical departure from that mindset.
To consider Morillo or RA Dickhead to be major league pitchers is a wild stretch of the imagination.
Lets give good ole BS a game of keep your job. Here are the rules of the game for BS. Each player in the Santana trade when no longer with the Twins represents an out. We will be nice and give 4 outs to BS because we received 4 players in the Santana trade. Humber represents 1 out with 3 outs remaining. When the final out is in the complete and in the books we will then be allowed to run Billy right out of Minny. Following his excile his job duties wil be given to a panel of 3 representatives from the Star Tribune Blog’s.
My 3 representatives for future GM will be
Craig Goes Deep
sane
and
Seth of Seth Speaks
“To consider Morillo or RA Dickhead to be major league pitchers is a wild stretch of the imagination”
LOL
Thrylos - with all that, it seems like this is certainly worth the risk. Ubaldo Jiminez is certainly a nice name to drop, and if he’s that young, who knows? Maybe he will walk a bunch. Maybe he’ll find a measure of control and gain confidence with an opportunity. Definitely worth the risk.
They should have released Ayala. Or are those dangerous 86 mph “fast” balls hiding something?
At least Humber might have done something down the road.
Morillo has to stay on the 25 man or be put thru waivers again if the want to send him down.
Most minor league stats don’t tell you much, but generally it’s harder to blow the fast ball by major league hitters, and as a group they swing at fewer bad pitches.
I don’t expect Morillo to just be hit hard, I expect him to be anihilated.
“Can pitching coach Rick Anderson work his magic with Morillo?”
the best idea might be to let anderson go and have the real magic man cuddy work with the pitching staff. the problem so far is to many pitches disappearing over the outfield fence.
“At least Humber might have done something down the road.”
That was the idea.
Have him do it DOWN THE ROAD.
Anywhere, but here!
“He’s got a big fastball, that’s all I can tell you,”
That’s what our organization knows about this guy, I’m not saying losing Humber is terrible, but this is what we replace him with…
What “magic” does Rick Anderson have? I can’t name a single pitcher he has turned around. All of our current starers learned how to pitch in the minors.
It has come to this - I pray this is the bottom. BS shivering underneath a bridge somewhere would be sad.
I strongly approve of this move already for the simple reason that it has spawned so many references to Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn on this comments page. Good job, Twins!
Now if only we could add a Pedro Serrano clone…
We are test driving a bunch of dead beat pitchers the last couple of seasons. Who the He_ _ is next.
If Humber is not claimed, he can go to Rochester and get his head back on straight. IMHO, he should do what Mike Trembly did when he got DFAed: Work on the fork ball and start dominating.
I don’t think Ayala is very far behind. If Mijares continues to dominate in Rochester, my over/under on an Ayala release is 3 bad outings, or one week.
Iconoclast Now if only we could add a Pedro Serrano clone…
Gomez can’t hit the breaking ball!
Maybe he could if he sacrificed a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
how long will it take for morales to ruin this guys career?
“My 3 representatives for future GM will be
Craig Goes Deep
sane
and
Seth of Seth Speaks”
Craig would just do what Terry Ryan did (except sign Batista and other washed up flunkies). Craig would make Gardy play the youngsters. Ryan and Smith tried too hard to placate Gardy by signing washed up, scrap heap “veterans”.
Speaking of scrap heap veterans, the Twins appear to have signed another….. so how is Danny Valentia progressing?
I’ll go with sane or Seth as GM.
What exactly is a big fastball? Does it look like a beach ball to the hitter, but too far away to actually hit?
Iconoclast Bo bo likes rum and cigars
sp correction: Valencia.
“What exactly is a big fastball? Does it look like a beach ball to the hitter, but too far away to actually hit?”
Ha! Good one.
Are we ever going to bring Dougy back to the Twinkies?
Actually, I investigated this story a little bit, and I found out it was a misprint.
The Twins didn’t sign pitcher Juan MORILLO, they actually signed former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom MORELLO. It is a common mistake.
Morello’s fastball is not very strong, but he’ll make the seventh inning stretch a lot more interesting when he replaces the traditional “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with his rendition of Cypress Hill’s “How I Could Just Kill a Man.”
“I’ll go with sane or Seth as GM”
Count me out.
If I want to take THAT much crap from the public, I’ll start stealing their money and make it worthwhile.
Seth is our GM!
Thats it! Seth is the next GM!
We could have had Aretha?
Nope. Apparently Bill Smith’s offer lacked in the R-E-S-P-E-C-T department.
He wasn’t willing to find out what it meant to her.
And Jimmy Bee can play the village idiot and act like the drunken fool he is…
God damn he’s annoying…
Aretha is in better shape than Mijares.
“If Humber is not claimed, he can go to Rochester and get his head back on straight.”
Rochester, Minnesota? Surgery at Mayo?
What a drag when a guy gets his head put on, and it’s not on straight.
I hear that some pitchers “pitch with their head”. Maybe that’s what Humber was doing. Do that too long and eventually you will need an adjustment.
I can’t name a single pitcher he has turned around.
Johan Santana, Carlos Silva, Joe Nathan, Scott Baker, Glen Perkins, … the list goes on.
“play the village idiot and act like the drunken fool”
Sounds like fun.
Humber was doing fine last year when they called him up.
Aretha is not left handed, and does not throw 93 miles an hour.
“play the village idiot and act like the drunken fool”
How did you know I did my blogging from the renaissance festival.
Johan Santana, Carlos Silva, Joe Nathan, Scott Baker, Glen Perkins did not need turning around. Silva and Nathan were converted from long relievers. Baker and Perkins have never been down to the point they needed “turning around”.
“Aretha is in better shape than Mijares.”
These days, Mijares sings better.
I don’t care if we get Aretha or not. I just want the hat.
Levan is coming back…… I called it first …..
I love rummage sale season……
medschoolpat
“Aretha is not left handed, and does not throw 93 miles an hour.”
Which is why Smith was holding out for Whitney Houston, who can top 91 on the gun when sober according to Bobby.
The trouble with Aretha is she has a little of that stubbornness, like Delmon Young. Instead of listening to Anderson, she’d take her advice from the good Rev. James Cleveland and his gospel choir.
But the hat, WJ. Yes.
This is the best baseball discussion I’ve ever read.
Better sit Harris…..he is batting over .400
Bring on the savior LNP
I might have held out for Tina Turner.
Which is why Smith was holding out for Whitney Houston, who can top 91 on the gun when sober according to Bobby.
But that is only when she is throwing hard objects at Bobby’s head. So unless you also want to sign Bobby Brown as a catcher, Whitney won’t be able to top out at more than 65 mph, I bet.
My choice for a signing would be Claudia Jordan. She could even throw underhanded.
Harris is actually batting .429. If he played everyday, that is what he would hit for the season. No question.
Craig done.
“you also want to sign Bobby Brown as a catcher,”
Great idea, WJ. Because Morales is ruining the pitchers and Bobby can certainly hit better than Butera.
Just ask Whitney about Bobby’s hitting.
How about signing Pedro Martinez for some bullpen help. He pitched fine in the WBC. Must just not be “the Twins way”
Instead of Claudia Jordan, AT, or in addition?
Crack is Whack!!!!
Pedro says he won’t sign for less than $5 million or somewhere in that range.
Cleveland lost. The Twins are assured to avoid the division basement no matter what happens tonight.
[…] Twins Insider – […]
“The Twins are assured to avoid the division basement”
Primary goal……Achieved!
The Twins being cheap with the bullpen
this year might really hurt them in the
long run. It sure would be nice to have
Juan Cruz or Dennys Reyes about right now
I did a really good job! I traded the best pitcher in baseball for a butch of losers! I need to be fired!
This could be the worst pitching twins team in 20 years!
Those are some strong words, Bill. The Twins had some REALLY terrible pitching teams in the late nineties!
Gardenhire’s excess outfielders and constant manipulation of the everyday lineup will eventually lead the Twins to the cellar. He is constantly trying to please everyone by platooning players at every position. It is a formula for losing.
Anyway, it’s only 11 games. I remember at the beginning of the ‘06 season the Twins seemed to be even worse. Lohse and Silva were getting lit up on a regular basis (if I remember correctly, they had ERAs over 9.00!)and the infield combo of Juan Castro and Tony Batista wasn’t helping at all. But the Twins management and front office made the necessary corrections and they got much better.
I have faith that they’ll make the right decisions again.
Morillo huh?
Throws really hard, has no idea where it’s going.
I fear for Reddog’s life.
Poor guy manages to get dinged somehow every darn game NOW, with the current crop of mostly marshmellow-throwing control artists.
My 3 representatives for future GM will be
Craig Goes Deep
sane
and
Seth of Seth Speaks
Then I’ll offically change the team that I root for.
“My 3 representatives for future GM will be
Craig Goes Deep
sane
and
Seth of Seth Speaks
Then I’ll offically change the team that I root for.”
Don’t worry.
Those three idiots were chosen by an even bigger idiot.
Won’t happen.
[…] Filed under: Joseph DelGrippo. One of the key pieces of the Johan Santana trade, Philip Humber, has been designated for assignment by the Minnesota Twins. He only made the team out of spring training because he was out of minor […]
