Twins call up Dillon Gee, activate Byron Buxton

The Twins made two exciting roster moves Tuesday, announcing the call-up of veteran righty Dillon Gee and finally activating Byron Buxton from the 10-day DL. The best part of the moves? Since the Twins had two open spots on the 25-roster (they traded both Jaime Garcia and Brandon Kintzler before Monday’s trade deadline, in case you missed that), nobody gets sent down, DFA’d, or placed on the DL! Woo!

The already-open roster spots were especially good news for young outfielder Zack Granite, whom many speculated would be sent down upon Buxton’s return. Alas, Granite will live to see another day in the majors, where he’s 16-for-60 (.267) through 17 games. It’s unclear how long Granite will stick around, however, since the roster is at 12 pitchers and 13 batters, and the Twins front office has shown an affinity for carrying more arms in the pen than batters on the bench.

It’s also a stroke of luck for Dillon Gee. Since the Twins flipped their fourth-starter-for-a-day, Jaime Garcia, to the Yankees, it appears Gee will finally get the chance to start again in the majors. Gee, an eight year veteran with the Mets, Royals, and Rangers, has been trying to make a major-league comeback now for awhile. His promotion isn’t completely out of necessity either—he’s held a pretty good 2.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP over his 27.0 innings pitched in Triple-A Rochester this year.

The Twins did and do have other options, such recalling Kyle Gibson, or calling promoting young prospects like Stephen Gonsalves or Fernando Romero.

But heck, why not give Gee a chance? Best case scenario is that Gee pitches well, the Twins can move him in a waiver-trade, get a prospect out of the deal, and then still call up Gonsalves and Romero in a month when rosters expand. The worst case scenario is that Gee sucks butt and the Twins DFA him.

Sounds fine to me.