Mulvey Up, Morales Down, a Trade in the Works?

As reported in the Star Tribune, Kevin Mulvey has been recalled from Rochester to pitch out of the bullpen.  Mulvey came over as part of the Santana trade, and this will be his first call-up with the Twins since coming over from the Mets.  The Twins were trying to get by with only 11 pitchers, but a series of shortened starts at the Dome (and the injury to Kevin Slowey, which sounds like it might be getting better) have made that impossible.  Mulvey has posted a 3.93 ERA, 1.402 WHIP, 2.13 K/BB, 7.1 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in seventeen starts for the Red Wings this season.  Meh, these numbers aren't great, but apparently he's going to be used for mop-up duty and should handle that role competently.  If anything, he will provide some much-needed depth in the bullpen.

Back-up catcher Jose Morales has been optioned back to AAA to make room for the extra pitcher.  Morales was mostly called up because Gardy likes to have an extra catcher on days Redmond is starting and Mauer is the DH, so he wasn't really getting much playing time.  Obviously, Morales has been having a better season at the plate than Redmond, but Red has incriminating pictures of Gardy more experience handling the pitching staff and I doubt the Twins are willing to eat what little is left of his contract.  Besides, the lack of production from some of the regulars in the lineup is much more troublesome than that from a guy who only plays once a week.  The Twins also could probably have optioned Brian Buscher instead, since he also rarely sees any playing time, but he offers more versatility in the field than Morales and often fills in at third when Joe Crede needs a break.

The Twins have been linked to a number of different players in trade rumors, most notably Freddy Sanchez, relief pitchers Matt Capps and John Grabow from the Pirates, and have apparently contacted Toronto about the availability of some of their relievers.  There doesn't seem to be anything in the works though, and I'm guessing that Bill Smith felt those organizations were asking too much in return (or the Twins just don't have the prospects Pittsburgh and Toronto are looking for).  Obviously, all that can change with one phone call, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.  I don't really like to get into what moves the organization should make, who they should be targeting in a trade and all that because, honestly, I'm not all that good at it.  I don't pay enough attention to the rest of the league to know who might be a big impact player that could help the team down the stretch.  As critical as I can be of Bill Smith and the front office sometimes, I really do like to think that they act in the best interests of the team, and there is at least some sound reasoning behind some of the moves they've made, even if they didn't exactly pan out.  And I'm really not a fan of rent-a-player deals, like the ones for Sabathia and Teixeira last year.  Such trades seldom ever help the team make a deep run in the playoffs, and more often than not, the player ends up signing elsewhere during the off-season, leaving the organization scrambling to fill the same holes they had before.  Only now the farm system is a bit thinner on top of it, which is not at all a good thing for an organization that relies as heavily on its farm system as the Twins.

• Justin Morneau was miffed about the canned Canadian anthem

Morneau was reportedly annoyed that the American national anthem got the celebrity treatment at the All-Star Game, while fans were treated to a pre-recorded version of "O, Canada".  Here's what he told Joe Christensen:

"I wasn't very impressed with that to tell you the truth. You figure they could find somebody to come and sing the song. They have a hockey team here, the Canadian teams play here.

"It's something that didn't really go over too well. I think if it happened the other way around, if they were playing in Toronto and they did that, it would have been a lot bigger deal. But nothing you can do about it."

Obviously, he wasn't too worked up about the whole thing, but Morny really does have a point.  It would be different if MLB were like football, in which all of the teams are American-based and there is no need to represent more than one country, but it isn't. It's more like the NHL, which has both American and Canadian-based teams.  Prior to the start of every hockey game, someone always sings both national anthems whether the game is being played in the U. S. or Canada.  Besides, Toronto sent two representatives to the All-Star Game, one of which was the starting pitcher!  Obviously, there are fewer Canadian baseball teams than hockey teams, and there are fewer Canadian-born baseball players than hockey players, but the canned treatment of the Canadian anthem was a bit disrespectful to our neighbors to the north.  It's not really that big of a deal, but if MLB is going to take the time to honor its Canadian representatives, then at least they should do it right.