Minnesota Twins: Minor-League Arms to the Rescue?

The Twins are a franchise that loves its pitching. This offseason, the Twins lost three starters from last season and reloaded with nary a blink...or so they thought.

Some of their stopgaps haven't looked so good, and, unlike in previous years, AAA Rochester isn't stocked with arms waiting to contribute. Three players stand out as players who were likely to see time with the Twins at some point during the year, but Boof Bonser's recent struggles have reignited these conversations with greater intensity.

At the beginning of May, the three likely call-ups were: Phillip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Francisco Liriano. Here's how each is doing for the Twins AAA affiliate the Rochester Red Wings.

Phillip Humber

He probably should have made the team out of spring training, but he has self-destructed to the tune of a 1-5 record with an ERA of 5.89 and a WHIP of nearly 2. His walk rate has skyrocketed and opponents are hitting .317 off him.

He simply isn't missing bats the way he did in March, which is a huge disappointment. Perhaps he can still contribute, but it doesn't seem likely that he will help the Twins this year.

Kevin Mulvey

The other piece of the Johan Santana deal in AAA looked very promising in his first four starts of the year, but then he hit a patch of three rough starts. His last three have been better, but they still do not make him look like a legit candidate to take over for Bonser.

He gave up only one run in five innings of work in his last outing against Pawtucket, but he still surrendered eight baserunners. If he can get back to the way he pitched in April, he may earn a call-up yet.

However, the Twins need someone who can come up now, and until he gets his WHIP below one, it isn't Mulvey.

Francisco Liriano

He wasn't nearly ready for his call up the first time this season, and it showed. However, he has improved significantly in the month of May. He is 0-2 (the Twins took most of the hitters from AAA too) with a 2.77 ERA, just eight walks and 16 Ks in his four starts.

He hasn't been dominating, but he seems to have solved the problems that got him sent down in the first place, namely, finding what zip code the plate is in.

If Liriano's numbers were Mulvey's, we might see Mulvey up to take a spot start while Boof clears his head, but Liriano is the future of this team and everyone knows it. Liriano is too valuable to be thrust into the rotation willy-nilly. His April call-up showed that clearly enough.

Gardy isn't going to call him up this month, and probably won't even entertain the idea until mid-June at the earliest. The All-Star Break is as soon as I expect to see him, but I've been wrong before.

His next outing will tell us a lot about Liriano's progress, Pawtucket is 10 games over .500 and is loaded with big league talent, as one might expect from the Red Sox organization.

If he can continue to raise his K-rate, while keeping runners off of the bases, it may hasten his return to the Twin Cities. If he pitches poorly, however, the Twins won't move him until they see another three or four good starts.

None of these three pitchers should make Twins' fans swoon, but Liriano does seem to be progressing well, and Mulvey seems close to reestablishing himself. Humber is the most worrying, but he's also the most experienced of the three, so he may yet find himself again.

The reality of the Twins situation is, however, that help is not on the horizon. Scott Baker is set to pitch a rehab start on Monday, and could be activated shortly thereafter. After him, however, the Twins don't have much in the pipeline to help them stay competitive in the short term.