Nate’s Notes: Diamond, Deduno, and Arcia

Scott Diamond keeps on making starts. That might not be such a good thing at this point. Photo by Kevin Jairaj-US PRESSWIRE

Scott Diamond started Tuesday night, and it was not pretty. He managed to escape six innings with only four runs allowed – thanks to the fact that he was pitching against the Royals – but he allowed 10 hits and a season-high three walks. Given that Diamond has now pitched 181 innings between AAA and the Twins, almost 20 more innings than his previous career high, one has to assume that he is tiring out as the season progresses. The Twins have obviously seen enough of Diamond this season to know that he is one of their rotation options next season, so they don’t have a whole lot to gain from giving him too many more starts. It might be time to shut him down for the season.

After watching Samuel Deduno silence the Indians for five plus innings on Monday night, I have come to the conclusion that he’s the most likely of all the current Twins pitchers to throw a no-hitter. Deduno has proven capable of long stretches where he is completely unhittable. Given his generosity with walks, he’ll never come close to a perfect game. But there’s a tiny chance he could string together 9 hitless innings at some point. Of course, there’s a flip side to this as well; when he’s not on, he can be awful. Deduno is probably also the Twins starter most likely to give up 10 runs in the first two innings, and on this pitching staff, that’s saying something!

The Twins ostensibly refused to call up Oswaldo Arcia for September because they feared he would take valuable at bats away from young players like Ben Revere and Chris Parmelee. I complained last week that it was not the strongest reasoning, because Arcia could still be useful as a DH or outfielder to give veterans like Joe Mauer or Josh Willingham a breather. This week I feel vindicated. Mauer was held out of the lineup with back spasms, setting off a chain reaction in the lineup that resulted in Trevor Plouffe occupying the DH slot. That would have been a great opportunity to let Arcia take a few at bats. Parmelee has also missed a couple games due to soreness, thus providing even more opportunity for Arcia. Not only that, but according to that Strib post, Parmelee is due to take some time off very soon to be with his wife, who is due to give birth any day. I’m not sure how much the Twins know about human biology, but if someone had bothered to tell them that women tend to go into labor after 9 months of pregnancy, they might have anticipated this absence and called Arcia up. He could have gotten into at least three or four games without taking away a single at bat from Parmelee.

I will probably be bitter about the Arcia situation all offseason, if you’re wondering.