The Twins made a somewhat curious move by selecting Cole DeVries from AAA Rochester to replace struggling starter, Jason Marquis. DeVries has been a mediocre minor league reliever the past two seasons, and is only eight starts into his return to starting, posting a 1-4 record, 4.24 ERA and 47 hits in 46.2 innings.
Again, this is just a matter of getting someone in the rotation that can keep the team in the game into the fifth or sixth inning, and expectations aren’t particularly high. The surprise isn’t the replacement of Marquis, but that the team chose DeVries over more recognizable pitchers, Liam Hendricks and Jeff Manship. Perhaps the thinking here was along the lines of, “you guys have had your chance, let’s give a new kid the ball.”
At the age of 27, DeVries is not a “blue chip” prospect, but his control has intrigued the Twins this season, with only 7 walks on the year. The feeling may be that Henricks and Liriano need more time to find themselves, and that DeVries can step in for a few starts and give them a better chance to win than Marquis.
Once Blackburn comes off the disabled list, the team will need to decide weither to demote DeVries or P.J. Walters, or move Blackburn to the bullpen. There’s a decent chance he may get some rehab starts in the minor leagues to see if his stuff has come back.
Carl Pavano has battled shoulder ailments all year, and there’s talk that Swarzak, Duensing or Liriano may make a spot start to give him extra rest. With starting pitching thinned and a solid core of relievers in AAA, one of these more veteran pitchers will likely return to the rotation shortly. It's unlikely that the full rookie trio of Diamond, Walters and DeVries will be able to remain consistent over the long run. although they are certainly being auditioned for more than just "place holders" if they can take hold of the opportunity.
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