The Twins have claimed 27-year old righty reliever Esmerling Vasquez off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Vasquez pitched in 31 games (0 starts) this year for the D-Backs and he was 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. He has now pitched in 141 games (0 starts) in his first three years in the majors and he is 5-10 with a 4.66 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. Vasquez will likely get a chance to win a job in the Twins’ bullpen next spring.

UPDATE: (2/9/2012) - The Twins have designated Esmerling Vasquez for assignment.

UPDATE: (2/14/2012) - The Twins have outrighted Esmerling Vasquez to AAA after he cleared waivers. He will try to win a spot in the Twins’ bullpen this spring.

30-year old lefty reliever Phil Dumatrait has revived his major league career in 2011. He has pitched in 44 games (0 starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 1-3 with 1 save, a 3.79 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. Dumatrait has now pitched in 86 games (17 starts) in his first four years in the majors and he is 4-13 with 1 save, a 6.18 ERA and a 1.77 WHIP. It will be interesting to see if the Twins bring back Dumatrait for the 2012 season.

23-year old lefty swinging 1B Chris Parmelee and 27-year old lefty swinging 2B/OF Brian Dinkelman are both taking advantage of the P.T. that they are getting this month due to widespread injuries on the Twins’ roster. Parmelee came into this season as the Twins’ #18 prospect according to Baseball America. He has played in 11 games for the Twins so far and he is 14 of 38 (.368 avg, 1.047 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 2 homers and 7 RBIs as he has been impressive. Dinkelman has played in 15 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 17 for 44 (.386 avg, .812 OPS) with 1 run scored, 0 homers and 3 RBIs. If these guys both finish the year really strong, they might have a good chance to make the Twins’ 2012 roster out of spring training.

The Twins have shut down 30-year old lefty swinging 1B Justin Morneau for the rest of the season. He had surgery today to remove a cyst from his left knee and a bone spur in his right foot. Morneau played in 69 games for the Twins this year and he was 60 for 264 (.227 avg, .618 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 4 homers and 30 RBIs. He has now played in 1,017 games in his first 9 years with the Twins and he was 1,055 for 3,749 (.281 avg, .851 OPS) with 550 runs scored, 185 homers, 709 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Twins hope that Morneau will be ready to rock in 2012 as he has suffered two injury ravaged years in a row now.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Kevin Slowey started this season as the odd man out in the starting rotation. He couldn’t adjust to pitching in relief as he was constantly hurting his elbow. Slowey has now pitched in 12 games (6 starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 0-6 with a 6.51 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. Slowey has given up 62 hits in his first 47 innings this year which has negated the fact that he has only walked 5 batters this year. Slowey has now pitched in 98 games (88 starts) in his first 5 years with the Twins and he is 39-27 with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. The Twins will likely try to deal Slowey over the winter.