Jesse Crain Placed on DL, Jose Mijares Called Up

On Monday, Jesse Crain was placed on the 15-day DL due to inflammation in his right shoulder.  The move was made retroactive to April 18th, making Crain eligible to come off of the DL on May 3rd.  The good news for Crain and the Twins is that his MRI did not reveal any structural damage.

To take Crain’s place on the active roster, the Twins recalled Jose Mijares from Triple-A.  Jose will rejoin the team after being optioned to Rochester at the end of spring training on March 31st.  Mijares reported to spring training out of shape, struggled with his control, and pitched poorly.  He took the demotion in stride and was pitching well before being called up.  In 5 appearances and 6.1 IP with Rochester this season, Mijares had allowed 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB and 4 SO.

Mijares’ recall, along with the presence of Craig Breslow, again gives the Twins two lefties in the bullpen.  Brian Duensing, the 2nd lefty in the pen to open the season, was optioned to Rochester on April 14th when Scott Baker was coming off of the DL.

For the Twins bullpen to be a success this season they need Jose Mijares on the roster and pitching well.  His call up is a good sign that he got his head on straight with the spring demotion and can recapture his late season magic in 2008 when he pitched 10 innings with a 0.88 ERA and 0.30 WHIP.

Crain heading to the DL leaves big shoes for the bullpen to fill.  He was pitching well up until his outing on Friday when he gave up 2 H, 3 BB and 4 ER in only 0.1 IP.  Prior to Friday he had pitched 5.2 innings with a 1.59 ERA and 0.53 WHIP over 6 appearances.  He was emerging as the Twins best 8th inning option to set up Joe Nathan in a bullpen that has been a collective mess thus far in 2009.