Published: June 15, 2008 06:43 pm         

Pitchers in Twins discard pile still effective

When the Twins released Juan Rincon last week, they didn’t merely practice “addition by subtraction” or eat the third-largest contract on their pitching staff, although both are accurate.

They also severed yet another connection between the 2008 team and the crew that won four AL Central Division titles in five years. In some way — be it as a partial season roster filler in 2002 or as the main setup man in 2004 — Rincon was a piece of each of those teams.

He’s not the only such piece either discarded or departed, of course. And it occurred to me that one could assemble, at least on paper, a “Ron Gardenhire Alumni” pitching staff.

So I did. Ten pitchers, all of whom are (or were) pitching for major league teams this season, all of whom pitched for the Twins since 2002, when Gardenhire became manager.

The RGA staff is a bit shy on innings — 550 innings so far; the real-life Twins have 620 — and lack a current closer. (I could have cheated and used Todd Jones of Detroit.) It’s unbalanced — six starters and only four relievers. But it’s been more effective than the real-life staff — a cumulative ERA of 4.09, compared to the Twins 4.60 — and more than twice as expensive. The RGA staff adds up to about $47 million this year; the Twins staff, less than $20 million.

Your RGA pitching staff (salaries gleaned from ESPN.com); in a couple of cases I’m estimating:

• Johan Santana, New York Mets: 7-4, 2.85, $16.99 million. Mets fans and media seem slightly disappointed that he’s given up any runs at all, but he’s still good — and what are usually his best months are still ahead.

• Carlos Silva, Seattle Mariners: 3-7, 5.79, $8.25 million. Opened the season well — he was 3-0 with a 2.79 ERA at the end of April — but things went into the toilet for him and the team from there. I thought this signing would work for Seattle; right now, nothing is.

• Kyle Lohse, St. Louis Cardinals: 8-2, 3.77, $4.25 million. This late signing is working better for the Cards than even I thought, and I’ve been saying for years that Lohse might thrive under Tony La Russa-Dave Duncan. It will be interesting this winter to see if Lohse and agent Scott Boras overplay their hand again. He ought to stay with the Cards, but he might be too greedy.

• Kenny Rogers, Detroit Tigers: 4-4, 4.74, $8 million. Age 43 and still not afraid to go out there with nothing.

• Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays: 5-3, 4.06, $404,000. Minor arm issue at the start of the season has limited his innings. Had a scuffle with his catcher a couple of starts ago after shaking him off and giving up a home run. Still, nothing here to make the Rays regret the trade.

• Sidney Ponson, free agent: 4-1, 3.88 with Texas; $1 million (estimate). He was pitching well, but ...

First he reportedly got drunk at a hotel bar and, when he was cut off, threatened to beat up the barkeeper. Given his history of alcohol-fueled problems, this prompted the Rangers to give him a stern warning.

I have a bit of sympathy for Ponson over what happened next. First the Rangers, with their traditional knack for screwing up the pitching staff, started him on short rest; then they told him he wouldn’t pitch for a week. Ponson wasn’t happy, and that’s understandable. But challenging the manager to a fight wasn’t the proper response.

He’ll land a job somewhere again.

• Grant Balfour, Tampa Bay Rays: 0-0, 3.38, one save, $400,000 (estimate). It’s been a long road back for the Aussie. Pitching well but infrequently.

• LaTroy Hawkins, New York Yankees: 1-1, 5.86. $3.75 million. Having an awful season and may get the ax any day.

• J.C. Romero, Philadelphia Phillies: 4-1, 1.44, $3.25 million. Seems to have found a home in Philly. Played a big role in their drive to the divisional title and is replicating it this year.

• Eddie Guardado, Texas Rangers, 1-1, 3.05, 1 save, $2 million. Everyday Eddie is now Texas’ top eight-inning option and an unsung hero. When the Rangers brought him up, they were 8-17; since then, they’re 26-18.

Makes — after having pitched less than 51 innings the last two seasons combined — twice as much as Dennys Reyes. Guardado’s one of my favorites, but that’s ridiculous.



Edward Thoma is a Free Press staff writer. He is at 344-6377 or at ethoma@ mankatofreepress.com. He also has a baseball blog.