May 23, 2008

Twins recall Macri

The Twins lost their second game in a row, this time losing a heart breaker in extra innings off of a Josh Hamilton home run. The Twins played well yesterday, but it just wasn't enough. For a more in depth look at the game, here's Over The Baggy's recap.

Last Nights Game Ball
Carlos Gomez - Center Fielder

Note:
Gomez had himself a very good game yesterday. He played stellar defense again for the Twins, robbing Milton Bradley of a potential extra base hit by diving head first for a ball onto the turf (it was the second straight game he's made such a play). Gomez also was stellar at the plate, going 4-5 with a home run and 3 RBI's. Gomez is now hitting .318 with 3 home runs, 10 RBI's and has a .920 OPS in the month of May.

Adam Everett has been placed on the 15-day D.L. for the second time this season, both of them for the same injury. Yesterday, the Twins decided to shelve the 8-year vet after he was experiencing pain in his right shoulder for the second time this season. The injury has made Everett's defense less than desirable by not being able to make routine throws around the infield as well as he's capable of. Everett has a solid glove, but his throws have hurt the Twins this season. It looked even recently that the injury was behind him, but of course things aren't always the way they appear.

By placing Everett on the D.L., the Twins recalled Rochester infielder Matt Macri. Macri was hitting .263 with a .758 OPS this season for the Red Wings. He missed almost 3 weeks with a strained left calf and has played 4 games with the Red Wings since returning. The Twins pondered on bringing up either Trevor Plouffe or Luke Hughes straight from Double-A, but with their reluctance of promoting them even to Triple-A, I'm not sure if this was ever actually a strong consideration.


The injury further depletes the Red Wings roster. With Denard Span already out because of injury and players like Bobby Korecky, Macri, Howie Clark and Alexi Casilla in the majors because of other injuries, the Red Wings needed some help. The Twins chose not to promote either Plouffe or Hughes despite them having good seasons thus far (and them being in the same level for a year already), but instead they chose to promote the struggling Felix Molina. Molina has been horrible at the plate this season, but there's still a spot for him in the lineup nearly everyday. Molina has been in New Britain since midway through the 2005 season, so this promotion is definitely long overdue, but I have to wonder why the Twins are being so reluctant to promote a player who can help the Red Wings offensively as they've been abysmal this season. I'm happy to see Molina finally get to Rochester, but I still believe that either Trevor Plouffe or Luke Hughes would have been a better option.

I expect the Twins to be making many roster changes within the next month or so, but it has been sad watching the Twins deplete the Red Wings team without giving them really any help from Double-A. Either way, I'm happy to see Macri get the call as he's a new face, and as unfortunate as an injury is, it's nice to see Everett not in the lineup for a little while. And it's also nice to see Molina get the promotion, although I think the Twins should promote another player or two to Rochester such as a guy who can play multiple positions like Luke Hughes?

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