Deduno

I was actually excited at the end of last season. Even though the Twins had a miserable season, three Twins starters we're having some well pitched games. Scott Diamond, Sam Deduno, and Cole DeVries ALL looked like they had the makings of a very good Twins starting rotation.

But then problems came up. Diamond ended up with a brief arm injury at seasons' end so the Twins started looking for other help outside of their organization. Deduno got hurt at the WBC as his country won the entire event. And DeVries took a line drive to the ribs just before the season ended last year and then he  developed a tight forearm in spring training that was diagnosed as "day-to-day" by an incompetent training staff. We haven't seen or heard from him since.

At least I like to think that's the reason that the rotation of Diamond, Deduno, and DeVries (the 3Ds as I liked to call them) weren't starting for the Twins when this season started. The REAL reason is that even though Diamond WAS hurt, the other guys weren't even being CONSIDERED as serious entries into our rotation this year. The Twins simply did not see the talent in these guys that I did.

That's the primary reason that the Twins loaded up on losers like Vance Worley, Mike Pelfrey and Kevin Correia. They went with castoffs and guys with a history of arm trouble hoping they would be good enough to be what the Twins needed. And that's MY primary reason for hating the Twins early this season. Correia looked good in April, but he's really struggled since. Worley was basically worthless from day ONE, but we traded a very good center fielder for him, and the Twins, as an organization, were bound and determined to show that was a good trade for the Twins despite all evidence to the contrary. They literally forced two months of his losses down the Twins fans throats waiting for the "real" Worley to finally show up. He never did. But he, Pelfrey, and Correia managed to put the Twins into a huge hole to start the season.

At least Corriea got some wins in the month of April. At least Pelfrey was good for five innings in most of his starts. But Pelfrey was used poorly by Gardy and His ERA and the Twins win/loss record suffered as a result.

I'm finally coming back to my original point. We had three guys WITH PROMISE in our own organization, ready to start for us when the season started. We have three other guys in the minors close to breaking into the bigs this season, and yet we decided to go with questionable trades and castoffs during what was already considered to be a REBUILDING year.

I'm so happy that Scott Diamond's arm is healthy. He pitched a fantastic game on Sunday and the Twins managed a shutout as a result. Guess what? Deduno looked great LAST NIGHT and the Twins produced ANOTHER shutout.

Thankfully the Twins are in a forgiving division. And equally thankfully, the Twins are finally facing teams that are actually WORSE than they are. A few more solid wins on this road trip and the Twins may actually get back into this race within a couple of weeks.

I'm still waiting for DeVries to return healthy. He's only pitched about 20 innings in the minors this season and his AAA stats have not been good.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying what P.J. Walters has accomplished since being brought up. He gets the start tonight.

And we all are just waiting for Kyle Gibson to be consistent enough to join the rotation permanently...