The Twins have placed 27-year old righty reliever Jesse Crain on the 15-day disabled list with a case of right shoulder inflammation. Crain has pitched in 7 games (0 starts) for the Twins this season and he is 1-0 with a 7.50 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Crain will be replaced in the bullpen by 24-year old lefty Jose Mijares. Mijares pitched in 5 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball this season and he was 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.47 WHIP. He only allowed 2 hits in only 6 1/3 innings this season. Mijares pitched in 10 games (0 starts) for the Twins last season and he was 0-1 with a 0.87 ERA and a 0.29 WHIP. He only allowed 3 hits while not walking any batters in 10 1/3 innings last season with the Twins. Mijares will give the Twins’ bullpen a big boost.

The Twins have claimed 25-year old righty reliever Juan Morillo off waivers from the Rockies. He has pitched in 1 game with the Twins already working a scoreless inning and whiffing a batter. In his previous three seasons in the majors he has pitched in 6 games (1 start) in which he is 0-0 with a 11.42 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP. Morillo pitched in 52 games (0 starts) last season in AAA-ball for the Rockies and he was 1-0 with a 5.28 ERA and a 1.83 WHIP. Morillo has good stuff as he whiffed 55 batters in 59 2/3 innings last season in the minors but he often didn’t know where the ball was going as he also walked 56 hitters. Morillo will have to improve his control to stick with the Twins as they stress throwing strikes.

The Twins have designated 26-year old righty pitcher Philip Humber for assignment after he was pitching putrid for them this season. Humber has pitched in 4 games (0 starts) this season for the Twins and he was 0-0 with a 12.46 ERA and a 3.23 WHIP. Humber allowed an amazing 11 hits and walked 3 batters in only 4 1/3 innings so far this season. Humber has appeared in 9 games (0 starts) in his two seasons with the Twins and he is 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP. The Twins won’t miss Humber even if someone else picks him up on waivers.

If I were a betting man I would definately take the over for the Twins in 2009. They have a solid pitching staff, play good defense and Ron Gardenhire gets the most out of his roster. With those issues in mind and no clear cut favorite in the A.L. Central the Twins are a solid bet to win more than 84 games.

The Twins do the little things very well under manager Ron Gardenhire. They bunt to move runners, throw strikes and they play good defense. Gardenhire led the Twins to a 88-75 record (54%) last season losing to the White Sox on the final day of the season to miss the playoffs. In 7 years with the Twins, Gardenhire has compiled a 622-512 record (54.9%) with an average finish in the American League Central of 1.7.