Marquis is the latest in a long line of Twins DFA'd in 2012. Photo by Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE

After a nightmarish start in Milwaukee, the Twins are designating Jason Marquis for assignment. The move likely ends his tenure with the organization. The announcement is not expected to be official until tomorrow morning, and there is no definitive answer as to which pitcher will replace Marquis in the starting rotation. Candidates include Anthony Swarzak, Brian Duensing, Liam Hendriks, and Cole DeVries.

In a sign of how truly awful the 2012 season has been, Marquis is just the latest in a long line of Twins to be DFA this year. He joins Matt Maloney, Sean Burroughs, Luke Hughes, and Clete Thomas in that club.

I wish Mr. Marquis well. By all accounts he is a positive clubhouse presence and a good human being, and he has had a very eventful Major League career so far. That said, I would like to take this opportunity to tell the Twins:

I told you so!

Marquis was never a good fit for the Twins, as I vehemently pointed out last December. As a groundball pitcher who did not even have a track record of good control, Marquis never offered anything that the team did not already have in Hendriks, Swarzak, or Nick Blackburn. You could argue that Terry Ryan was not interested in contending, but rather was focused on rebuilding, but even so the Marquis move made little sense. Why waste $3 million on a 33 year old veteran when a pitcher like Hendriks or Swarzak could lose games just as many games for the MLB minimum salary? And luring him to the American League, given his track record of giving up copious hits in the less-potent National League, was like giving an atomic bomb to a three year old.

Marquis would have been a decent pickup for a National League team that hoped to contend, but just needed someone to shore up the #5 slot in the rotation. None of those traits apply to the Twins, a rebuilding American League team who needs help everywhere.

As it turned out, Marquis only provided the Twins with seven starts and 34 innings pitched. He did not even last as long as some of the Twins’ other infamously bad veteran pitcher signings, like Livan Hernandez (23 starts, 139.2 innings pitched in 2008) or Ramon Ortiz (10 starts, 91 innings in 2007). In those seven starts, Marquis finished with an ERA of 8.47. He actually walked more batters (14) than he struck out (12), and he gave up an astounding 52 hits in his short time with the Twins.

As long as I’m busy saying “I told you so,” I would like to take this opportunity to point out that one quarter of the way through the season, Edwin Jackson is sporting a 3.31 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 8.0 K/9 for the Nationals. I argued fervently for the Twins to sign Jackson this offseason. Instead, the Nats got him for a one year deal worth $11 million, which really isn’t much more than the Twins shelled out to sign Marquis, Matt Capps, and Joel Zumaya.

Drew Butera displayed a 93 mph fastball this week, which makes him a better pitcher than 3/5 of the team's starting rotation. Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

After 17 games in 17 days, the Twins finally get a day off today. Unfortunately, that off day gives the team an extra 24 hours to stew over a nasty 16-4 loss against Milwaukee. The pitching staff sure could use the day of rest, as they were so depleted that Drew Butera had to come in for an inning yesterday. Still, if you take away that blowout loss, the Twins had a pretty good week. They recovered nicely from a two game sweep against the Indians and went on the road to win two series against 2011 playoff teams (the Tigers and Brewers).

The week ahead features two matchups against AL Central rivals. First, the Twins bounce over to Chicago for three games against the White Sox, probably the closest they have to a true rival. After the Chicago series, it’s back home to Minneapolis so the Tigers can pay a visit. The White Sox and Tigers are both well within striking distance of the division-leading Indians, but neither team is what you could call menacing, with both hovering right around the .500 mark.

The Twins can probably have another winning week if they can figure out what to do about their starting rotation. Nick Blackburn hit the Disabled List last week with a quadricep injury. Carl Pavano is still not at full strength, and as has been the case with all of his starts this season, there’s a chance he will have to miss or delay his start this week. To add insult to those injuries, Jason Marquis made an utterly awful start on Sunday, surrendering eight runs and failing to complete inning number two. P.J. Walters and Scott Diamond have been more than adequate fill-ins so far, and both will make starts this week. But the Twins are starting to run out of replacement starters, so it will be interesting to see what they do as the original ones keep dropping out.

Weekly Winners:

Butera. We all know Drew Butera can’t hit, right? I mean, he has a .216 career batting average in the minor leagues. Well, whatever you previously thought about Butera, this week has shattered those opinions. The Twins’ third string catcher hit .462 with three doubles in 13 at bats, plus a pair of walks. As if that weren’t enough, he took the mound on Sunday and delivered a hitless inning of relief. His fastball hit 93 miles per hour, and he even managed to strike out former Twin Carlos Gomez, giving him one more K for the day than starter Marquis. Finally, a pitcher who can miss bats.

Ben Revere. Revere has gotten a bit of a raw deal this year. As the Twins piled up questionable waiver wire pickups, Revere found himself sitting back in AAA after being all but guaranteed a starting slot before the year began. This week he came back and he hit great. Revere had a .357/.471/.714 line with three doubles, a triple, and two steals. The Twins are playing for the future now, not for 2012, and Revere is a part of that future. He must stay in the lineup.

Brian Duensing. Four games, four scoreless appearances, three strikeouts in 4.1 innings. With so many starters on the brink, it’s hard to imagine that Duensing will stay in the bullpen for long.

Weekly Worst:

Marquis. Unfortunately, Sunday’s debacle was not the only bad start this week for Marquis. He was also guilty of allowing five runs to the Indians in a loss on Tuesday. In 6.2 innings this week, Marquis racked up an ERA of 17.55 (Blackburn’s weekly ERA of 27.00 was actually worse, but we’ll give Blackburn a pass off this list because he was pitching injured). He also had a WHIP of 3.0. It is 100% impossible to win games in the Major Leagues if you allow three base runners per inning.

Weekly Wonder:

Trevor Plouffe. TWIT couldn’t decide if Plouffe belonged in the Weekly Winner or Weekly Worst list, so we decided to make a new category for him. Plouffe played six games and had just four hits this week, but three of those hits were home runs. The most notable was his game winner in the 11th inning Saturday. He hit just .182 and struck out eight times, but he provided more exciting moments in this roller coaster week than any other Twin.

After two pleasantly surprising victories in the Motor City, the Minnesota Twins (12-26) try to continue their success against the Milwaukee Brewers (16-22). It’s the third series this week for the Twins, who have already swept one opponent and been swept by another.

Wouldn't it be great if Zach Greinke joined the Twins? World peace would be awesome, too. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

The Matchups:

Friday, May 18, 7:10 p.m. CDT: LHP Scott Diamond vs. RHP Marco Estrada

Saturday, May 19, 3:10 p.m. CDT: RHP Carl Pavano vs. RHP Yovani Gallardo

Sunday, May 20, 1:10 p.m. CDT: RHP Jason Marquis vs. RHP Zack Greinke

Sunday is this series’ mismatch special. Greinke is a former Cy Young winner who sports a 2.88 ERA this year. Marquis is not. He owns an ERA nearly four full runs higher than Greinke (6.68), has given up five earned runs in each of his last two starts, and has yet to strike out more than three batters in a game this year. Also, the current Brewer roster is hitting .371/.420/.587 against him! On the plus side, Greinke is a free agent after this season, and with Marquis, Pavano, Francisco Liriano, and Scott Baker all departing as well, the Twins should have some money to spend on pitching (hey we can dream, right?).

Since the Brewers are in the wrong league, the Twins haven’t faced their pitchers too much, but both Justin Morneau (4 for 7) and Joe Mauer (5 for 9) have decent numbers against Gallardo. Estrada has three career appearances versus the Twins, including a start back in 2010. In that game he lasted just three innings and allowed two runs. Pavano has a lackluster 4.77 career ERA versus Milwaukee, but the only Brewer in the lineup who has hit him hard is Ryan Braun (.357/.357/1.000 in 14 PAs). Scott Diamond has never faced the Brewers.

The Head to Head:

The Twins are a respectable 522-513 against the Brewers since the latter team was founded as the Seattle Pilots in 1969. For the first 29 seasons of the rivalry, these were both American League squads, and they met an average of 12 times per year. The Brew Crew defected to the National League following the 1997 season, and since then these two have not played each other as often. But the Twins still hold a slender advantage, 38-32, in interleague play with Milwaukee.

Last year the Brewers got the best of it, winning four of six, including all three games in Milwaukee.

The Weather:

Beautiful baseball weather is on schedule for this weekend. Highs will near 80 degrees each of the three days, which means the two day games should be pleasantly warm. No chance of rain until Sunday, and even then it is a minimal chance.

The Story:

The Twins’ dreary season got a little less dreary as they ambushed the Tigers with a two game sweep. First baseman Morneau returned from a wrist injury and hit a homer in his second game back, which more than made up for the bad injury news that hit Nick Blackburn (quadricep). Ryan Doumit is also slowed by a calf strain, but in a weird move the Twins decided to send Blackburn to the DL instead of Doumit. That injury means that we will probably see a fair amount of Drew Butera this weekend.

Minnesota has a history of surging in interleague play. A 16-2 interleague run in 2006 propelled the Twins on a surge that eventually took them atop the AL Central. Last year they finished 8-10 in interleague games, but series victories against the Brewers, Dodgers, and Padres highlighted a surprising month of June.

The Brewers absorbed a severe blow this offseason when Prince Fielder bolted to Detroit, and this team is nowhere near as menacing as they were during last year’s playoff run. Still, it’s hard to dismiss a pitching staff led by Gallardo and Greinke, especially when they have Braun for run support.

After being swept in two games by their division-rival Astros, the Brewers sit in fifth place in the NL Central. This is yet another opportunity for the Twins to earn a few wins at the hands of a stumbling team. Unfortunately, Minnesota has almost always squandered those opportunities.

The Bottom Line:

The Brewers will probably win this series. Look for the two teams to split the first two games. Don’t bother watching on Sunday, unless you hate happiness.