The Twins have placed 27-year old lefty starting pitcher Francisco Liriano on the 15-day disabled list due to left elbow inflammation. Liriano has pitched in 9 games (all starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 3-5 with a 5.73 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. He has walked 32 batters in 48 2/3 innings so far this year and that has gotten him into a lot of trouble. 25-year old righty Anthony Swarzak will likely take his place in the starting rotation once again on Thursday. Swarzak pitched a brilliant game in the place of Liriano last Saturday Night against the Angels when he got a no-decision despite throwing 8 innings of 1-hit scoreless baseball. Swarzak has pitched in 4 games (2 starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 0-2 with a 3.60 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. The Twins have called up 27-year old right reliever Anthony Slama to replace Liriano on the pitching staff. Slama has pitched in 16 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the Twins so far this year and he is 2-1 with a 3.70 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. He got his first taste of the majors last year with the Twins when he worked in 5 games (0 starts) in which he was 0-1 with a 7.71 ERA and a 2.36 WHIP.

26-year old righty swinging 3B Danny Valencia burst onto the scene for the Twins in 2010 when he played in 50 games in which he was 93 for 299 (.311 avg, .799 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 7 homers, 40 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He also got some key hits in the playoffs for the Twins last year. So far in 2011, Valencia isn’t sporting the sweet batting average of last year, but he is still producing a lot of runs. Valencia has played in 50 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 42 for 183 (.230 avg, .645 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 5 homers, 25 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Valencia is tied for the team lead in homers (5) and he’s second on the team in RBIs (25), so he has been productive despite the pretty much team wide slump at the plate this year.

The Minnesota Twins have placed 36-year old righty reliever Joe Nathan on the 15-day disabled list due to right elbow soreness. Nathan has pitched in 17 games (0 starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 1-1 with 3 saves, a 7.63 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP. He has given up 17 hits (3 homers) and he has walked 9 batters in his first 15 1/3 innings while whiffing 15 batters. He just isn’t right back in his recovery from Tommy John Surgery. The Twins have called up 29-year old lefty reliever Chuck James to replace Nathan in the pen. James has pitched in 19 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 1-1 with a 1.57 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP. He has whiffed 37 batters in only 28 2/3 innings in the minors so far this year. James is looking sharp since converting to relief, just like Glen Perkins. James last pitched in the majors back in 2008 with the Braves. He has pitched in 64 games (55 starts) in parts of four years in the majors and he is 24-19 with a 4.48 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP.

Rick Aguilera was converted to a closer with the Twins as he came up as a starting pitcher with the Mets. Aguilera fit well in his new role with the Twins. He pitched in 490 games (30 starts) in his career with the Twins and he was 40-47 with 254 saves, a 3.50 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. Aguilera’s best season came back in 1991 when he pitched in 63 games (0 starts) in which he was 4-5 with 42 saves, a 2.35 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. Aguilera made 3 All-Star teams in his 11 years with the Twins. He is also the Twins’ all-time leader in saves with 254 of them (Joe Nathan is only 5 saves behind him). Aguilera is also #3 in games pitched (490) and #5 in WHIP (1.18) in Twins’ history. Aguilera was one of the best relievers in team history.

The Minnesota Twins have placed 27-year old righty Kevin Slowey back on the 15-day disabled list with an abdominal strain. Slowey has pitched in 6 games (0 starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 0-0 with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. The Twins have come to the realization that Slowey just isn’t cut out for relief work as he continues to get injured. The Twins will probably stretch Slowey out on a rehab assignment when he gets healthy with the idea of dealing him to a team that needs a starting pitcher.