Deolis Guerra

The Twins traded Johan Santana to the Mets in 2007 netting them DEOLIS GUERRA along with Carlos Gomez (traded for J.J. Hardy who was traded for Jim Hoey and BRETT JACOBSON), Philip Humber and Kevin Mulvey (traded for Jon Rauch). A few bodies that have turned into more bodies, but GUERRA is the last remaining hope of someone worthy of Santana.

He started young with the Mets system as a 17-year old in A-Ball. When the Twins grabbed him, he was only 19 and they put him into Ft. Myers right away in 2008 as a starter where he went 11-9 with a high 5.47 ERA and his power-arm raves translated into a 71/71 BB/K ratio. He split 2009 between High-A and New Britain, also as a starter, showing some signs of stability and control and the organization falling back on his age (only 20) being a factor for his high hit total and ERA.

In 2010 the Twins continued to groom him as a starter where he stunk with a 2-10 record and a dismal 6.24 ERA and fewer K's than the organization dreamed of (hoping he would be the second coming of Johan, or even the old Francisco - instead of the new Francisco). To give him some competitive hitters, the 21-year-old made 5 appearances at AAA Rochester getting battered before ending up on the disabled list with a left oblique arm strain.

In 2011, the now 22-year-old began the season as a starter back at AA New Britain where he was an amazing 3-5 with a 9.00 ERA (43 runs in 43 innings) before being converted to the bullpen where he shined with a 5-2 record and 2.77 ERA in 52 innings spanning 27 appearances.

He was added to the Twins 40-man roster after the Santana trade in 2008, so the Twins are now in the position of having to add him to the major league roster at some point and keep him there forever and ever AFTER this season ends.

Deolis may not be the Santana replacement the Twins hoped for, but he should get an early promotion to Rochester this summer as a righty-reliever who can face 3-8 batters in a game, and sometime later this season in the show if the Twins go into rebuilding mode to see if this 23-year-old has the real stuff. The decision has to be made now...and he is currently shining at New Britain:

7 appearances, 12 innings, 5 hits, 15K/1BB.

It will be fun to watch him as his path to the major league roster continues. I hope the Twins think of an early callup, giving him some needed exposure to major league hitting, then shuffling him back to the minors to work more with Bobby Cuellar at Rochester. I hope he can be an inning-plus reliever rather than a one-two batter specialist.

Not sure why he's in AA still....He's been dominant as a reliever in AA long enough now, time to move him up. He's certainly no worse, and probably better than some of the guys in the bullpen in MN right now.

Guerra was promoted to Rochester yesterday and debuted with the Red Wings today with three scoreless innings.

One correction rosterman. Guerra is a righthander.

Selected Twins Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Month (April) by Twins Daily: http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.ph...he-Month-April

Guerra has no chance of ever being successful in the big leagues. He was hit hard in spring training by guys who are bagging groceries right now.

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Originally Posted by Fanatic Jack

Guerra has no chance of ever being successful in the big leagues. He was hit hard in spring training by guys who are bagging groceries right now.

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I know this has probably been stated before with respect to you, but you are without a doubt the worst, most annoying Twins fan I have ever come across. It is sad that a loser like you can so easily get a platform on twitter to spout your special brand of stupidity. Do you ever say/think anything constructive?:mad:

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Originally Posted by Fanatic Jack

Guerra has no chance of ever being successful in the big leagues. He was hit hard in spring training by guys who are bagging groceries right now.

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Yes, because those Spring Training stats are such fantastic indicators of regular season performance. Just ask Francisco Liriano.

Kneelb4zerg,

I have no problems pointing out positive stuff with the Twins. Name one thing that is positive right now?? I will not tell you what you want to here like some other bloggers. The team is a mess right now and the farm system is even worse. If you want to think of a happy place and sing Kumbuya than don't read my opinions. I believe in brutal honestly and obviously you can't handle the truth. Name one thing I have said over the last 3 months that is not true. Pitching staff is a disaster, cutting $20 million in payroll was a bad idea, worst team in MLB, lineup is pretty good despite clutch hitting, and Gardy continues to coddle the boys. There is no accountability like I believed Ryan would bring back.

Fanatic Jack has never drank any teams Kool Aid. Gotta to respect that. But it doesn't make reading his opinions any easier I know.

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Originally Posted by Fanatic Jack

Kneelb4zerg,

I have no problems pointing out positive stuff with the Twins. Name one thing that is positive right now?? I will not tell you what you want to here like some other bloggers. The team is a mess right now and the farm system is even worse. If you want to think of a happy place and sing Kumbuya than don't read my opinions. I believe in brutal honestly and obviously you can't handle the truth. Name one thing I have said over the last 3 months that is not true. Pitching staff is a disaster, cutting $20 million in payroll was a bad idea, worst team in MLB, lineup is pretty good despite clutch hitting, and Gardy continues to coddle the boys. There is no accountability like I believed Ryan would bring back.

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Saying that Guerra has no chance to pitch in the big leagues isn't "fact" or "brutal honesty," it's an ignorant opinion that may turn out to be true by virtue of dumb luck.

Seth named him the minor-league pitcher of the week. http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.ph...he-Month-April

He did one appearance in Rochester after being promoted, pitching 3 innings with 3 hits, a walk, and a couple of K's. His changeup was called outstanding.

Over in the St. Paul Daily, Ron Gardenhire said this about Deolis: "When we sent him out in spring training, we told him, 'I think you've found your place in baseball here, out of the bullpen.' He's more confident. He lets it fly more. He was more comfortable with it. He actually said, 'I really like this.' He comes to the park everyday knowing he might have a chance to go out there and play, and he likes that part of it."

I bet he is up by the end of the year, the Twins bullpen could use him!

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/...ke-he-belongs/

Other people keep talking every week about my adopt-a-prospect, so he must be doing something right...

and he is!

4 games at Rochester. Has a win. Faced 34 batters...1 walk, 10 strikeouts, has hit a couple of guys, six hits in 9 innings. One double-play ball. NO RUNS, yet.

Talk is that he settles in around 89-91 mph.....

I'll keep watching.......

http://twinsdaily.com/entry.php?993-...d-Target-Field

Another very nice piece about my adopt-a-prospect.....

On the verge of being considered for a call-up, depending on the state of Mr. Brunett. Deolis Guerra is one of the real bright spots at Rochester out of the bullpen. You can argue that Slama is waaaay ahead of anyone, but is he best suited to being dropped totally into a closing role rather than pick-up or setup. Lester Oliveros is throwing heat and getting guys out.

Since my last post, Deolis has made 3 appearances pitching 7.2 innings. The first of the three he took a loss giving up a 2 hits and three walks mixed with an error and a homer in his two inning stint (1 run not earned). But his next two outings gave up 2 hits and a walk while striking out 4.

The upside is that he is pitching multiple innings and going thru the order once. The downside is that he seems to pitch only every 3-4 days and hasn't done a back-to-back stint yet at Rochester.

Let's keep watching!

Lookin at this ROC numbers (impressive) but found something weird. IF he's gonna get called up, he will need to pitch back to back or maybe 3 consecutive days......but they are giving him several days off in between games. Doesnt appear to me this is preparing him for MN
Apr 28 3IP....ok, 3IP may need a day or 2 off....gets 3, fine
May 2 1.1IP....solid spot to see if he can come back on consecutive nites....gets 2 off, fine
May 5 2.1IP....again, can see he needs a day off....gets 2, fine
May 8 2.1IP....again, can see he needs a day/2 off...gets 4
May 13 2IP.....can he go back to back here??? gets 3 off
May 17 3IP....ok needs day or 2 off.....gets 4
May 22 2.2IP ...day off maybe??? gets 3
May 26 2IP......off till Tue now???

They have him pitching 1-3IP per outing.....but are givin him starter time off in between starts......doesnt seem the way to get him ready for big leagues IMO

It's been a tough 25 days since my last post for good old Deolis. He went from being in prime consideration for a call-up, a position magnified greatly with Slama, Gutierrez and Oliveros all going on the DL, to just a work-in-progress that still needs watching.

The Twins continue to stretch him out as a reliever. In his past 9 bullpen appearances he pitched two innings almost 5 times and three innings once. But in those 9 appearance he only had two perfect outings, getting lit up in 7 of them including one where all three batters were walked and scored. 9 games, 16.1 innings, 19 hits and 15 runs (all earned). He walked 7, struck out 16, gave up three homers and took one loss.

Considering the battering the Rochester rotation took the past week+, pitching is a watch-wait-hope life in Rochester NY. He is still on the Twins radar, but probably won't see any action until September, unless other arms (Waldrop for one) go down.

with Waldrop called up today a couple days before the end of the ROC season shows how little MN thinks of the one remaining link to Johan.
He hasnt been good in ROC this year, but how he's been used has been curious as I pointed out a couple posts up.
Last 2 yrs in New Brit out of pen-----with ROC this year....60 total gms out of pen (first gms/DL stints not showing)
back to back appearances--once (aug 10/11 last yr)----none in AAA
1 day between appearances 7 times------3times in AAA
2 day between 14 times------8times in AAA
3 days 9 times--------9times in AAA
4 days or more twice----twice in AAA
Am I making too much out of this or should a guy on the 40 man, that would pitch out of the pen, get pitched more often???
Is he unable to go back to back and that is why the organization doesnt think much of him??
If he cant and needs 2/3 days between appearances, he's basically useless for Gardy in the pen as Burton, not being used 3 days in a row, cripples the pen on occassion