The Twins have designated 28-year old lefty reliever Matt Maloney for assignment. Maloney pitched in 9 games (0 starts) for the Twins this year and he was 1-0 with a 8.18 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. He has pitched in 31 games (11 starts) in his first three years in the majors and he is 5-9 with a 5.74 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. The Twins have called up 27-year old righty starter/reliever P.J. Walters to replace Maloney on the pitching staff. Walters has pitched in 6 games (all starts) in AAA-ball this year and he is 3-1 with a 2.70 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Walters has pitched in 20 games (4 starts) in his first three years in the majors and he is 2-0 with a 7.24 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP.

UPDATE: (5/12/2012) - Matt Maloney has accepted an outright assignment to AAA. He could get another shot with the Twins later this year if he pitches well in AAA-ball.

30-year old righty reliever Jared Burton is pitching well for the Twins so far this year. He has pitched in 12 games (0 starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 0-0 with a 2.45 ERA and a 0.46 WHIP. He has only given up 3 hits in 11 innings this year, while whiffing 11 batters and only walking 2. Burton has now pitched in 176 games (0 starts) in his first six years in the majors and he is 10-3 with a 3.35 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Burton is pitching well, as he has always been solid…when healthy.

The Twins have called up 25-year old lefty starting pitcher Scott Diamond to replace 23-year old righty Liam Hendriks in the rotation. Diamond has pitched in 6 games (all starts) in AAA-ball for the Twins this year and he was 4-1 with a 2.60 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. Diamond pitched in 7 games (all starts) for the Twins last year, in his first taste of the majors, and he was 1-5 with a 5.08 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP. Diamond can’t do much worse than 23-year old righty starting pitcher Liam Hendriks did. Hendriks pitched in 4 games (all starts) for the Twins last year and he was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA and a 1.89 WHIP. He gave up 30 hits in only 18 innings for the Twins this year. Hendriks has now pitched in 8 games (all starts) in his first two years with the Twins and he is 0-4 with a 7.40 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP. Hendriks has given up a whopping 59 hits (8 homers) in his first 41 1/3 innings in the show.

38-year old righty swinging SS/2B Jamey Carroll has been bumped out of a starting job at SS by rookie Brian Dozier. Carroll has played in 26 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 20 for 97 (.206 avg, .543 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 0 homers, 7 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He will share time at 2B with 27-year old switch-hitting Alexi Casilla. Casilla has played in 23 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 19 for 74 (.257 avg, .597 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 0 homers, 4 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. The Twins hope a timeshare at 2B will allow them to get the best production out of both Carroll and Casilla.

The Twins have placed 30-year old lefty swinging 1B/DH Justin Morneau on the 15-day disabled list due to a sore left wrist. Morneau has played in 20 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 17 for 74 (.230 avg, .773 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 4 homers and 9 RBIs. The Twins have called up 24-year old righty swinging SS Brian Dozier to replace Morneau on the active roster. Dozier came into this season as the Twins’ #10 prospect according to Baseball America. He will take over as the Twins’ starting shortstop in place of Jamey Carroll, who will share P.T. with Alexi Casilla at 2B. Dozier has played in 28 games in AAA-ball for the Twins so far this year and he was 29 for 105 (.276 avg, .710 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer, 12 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has now played in 345 games in his first four years in the minors and he is 405 of 1,329 (.305 avg, .795 OPS) with 205 runs scored, 15 homers, 141 RBIs and 45 stolen bases. The Twins hope that Dozier will give the offense a boost.