Twins put Brian Duensing on disabled list, call up Caleb Thielbar

By Aaron GleemanApr 17, 2015, 4:16 PM EDT
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Brian Duensing has an intercostal strain, so the Twins have placed him on the disabled list and called up Caleb Thielbar from Triple-A to take his spot as a left-handed reliever.

Thielbar spent most of the past two seasons in Minnesota’s bullpen and pitched well with a 2.59 ERA and 74/30 K/BB ratio in 94 innings, but the Twins still demoted him to Triple-A at the end of spring training and went with Duensing and Aaron Thompson as their lefty setup men.

Duensing had an ugly outing Thursday in which he turned a blowout into a save situation for closer Glen Perkins and he heads to the DL with a 7.36 ERA in six appearances.

Reds are the frontrunner for Nicholas Castellanos

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By Craig CalcaterraJan 27, 2020, 6:54 AM EST
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Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports that the Reds “have emerged as the frontrunner” to sign free agent outfielder Nicholas Castellanos. Morosi says the Reds and Castellanos “have made progress over the past several days.”

The Reds were going to have a lot of outfielders already when they hit Goodyear, Arizona in a couple of weeks, with newcomer Shogo Akiyama, Jesse Winkler, Nick Senzel, Aristides Aquino, Travis Jankowski, Scott Schebler, and Rule 5 draftee Mark Payton. Senzel was an infielder before last year, of course, so he could move back to the dirt, perhaps. And, of course, the Reds could trade from their outfield surplus if, indeed, they end up with an outfield surplus.

Without question, however, Castellanos would be the big dog, at least offensively, in that setup. He had a breakout year at the plate in 2019, hitting .289/.337/.525 overall (OPS+ 121), but slugging at a blistering .321/.356/.646 pace (OPS+ 151) after being traded from the Tigers to the Cubs. In Chicago — rescued from cavernous Comerica Park — his big doubles power turned into big homer power. If he were to sign to play half his season in hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark one can only imagine the damage he’d do.