Here Comes the Cavalry

Well, not exactly.
Garrett Jones (left) was called up when the Twins finally put an end to the Sidney Ponson experiment.
Ponson looked like he still might be able to pitch, but it would take a team with a lot more patience than the Twins can afford to give him right now.
I kinda liked him and was pulling for him (he's fat, he has a mullett, he's a boozer, he once punched a judge; how can you not love a guy like that?), but it was obviously time.
It's expected that Scott Baker will take his spot in the rotation, meaning someone, either Jones or Glen Perkins, will be sent down on Saturday.
It should probably be Jones.

While the soon-to-be-26-year-old 1b/of has power (76 homers in his last three years in the minors), he also has a career OBP of .300 in the minors, and entering this year he had hit just .241 in over 1,000 Triple-A at-bats.
To be fair, he was hitting .305 with a .356 OBP this season at the time of his call-up, so maybe he's turned a corner. But at his age it's more likely that he's just off to a fast start, and won't really add much to the Twins offense.

Then again, at least he's a threat to hit a home run, which is more than can be said about half the Twins lineup. The worst thing Nick Punto or Jason Tyner, hell even Jason Kubel, can do to a mistake pitch is hit it down the line for a double.
I get the feeling that Jones' call-up is more of a reward for his hard work (he's well respected by Twins players and coaches) and long service to the team than it is an attempt to improve their offense.
Then again, if he gets a couple big hits this week he might stick after all, with Perkins going back to Rochester to take Baker's spot in the rotation.

As for Baker, many fans soured on him after he struggled last season (6.37), but don't forget how good he was in '05 (3.35 in 9 starts), and how good he's been consistently in Triple-A.
He has the stuff to win in the Majors, it's simply a matter of him keeping the ball down.
He's getting the first crack over Matt Garza and Kevin Slowey because he has the most experience.
Certainly it's possible that they'd consider trading him, and this stint will be a show and tell for other teams, but that doesn't mean there isn't still the possibility that Baker is part of the Twins' long-term plans.

If you look at the big picture, the release of Ponson is good news not just because he's gone, but because it means the Twins have shortened the grace period on the lame veterans they continue to take ill-advised fliers on (Batista, Castro, Sierra, now Ponson). It means that regardless of what they say publicly, Ron Gardenhire and Terry Ryan realize that they can't fall too far behind in the Central, and that they currently lack the bullets to keep up in the fight. In other words, the hook is coming quicker, and Kubel and Punto should consider that a warning.

*Gotta give it up to Mike Redmond. Joe Mauer goes down and the guy's hitting what, like .440 since he became the starter? He doesn't look good doing it, but Redmond is a fine major league hitter (so long as he's not being asked to bat 3rd, which, mercifully, Gardy no longer does).

*Once again Johan Santana pitches six solid if unspectacular innings and is pulled, and the Twins lose.
I don't know if it's Gardy who insists on limiting Santana to pitching half a game, or if Santana has become a whiner and is pulling himself after 90-100 pitches all the time, but if he can't get to the 7th, he's not Cy Young material.
I can't stress it enough. If you'd let him pitch a little deeper he'd shake out of his annual early-season slump sooner.