Twins call up Michael Tonkin, activate Robbie Grossman

The Rochester Red Wings season came to an abrupt end yesterday, and as predicted, the Twins made a bevy of roster moves today. Some of the moves were obvious, with the activation of Robbie Grossman off the DL being the biggest “duh.”

The other moves were less obvious, but make sense. First, the Twins activated Michael Tonkin. Hey, settle down, stop screaming—Tonkin has actually been really good at since being DFA’d way back on May 6th. Over 41.2 innings at Triple-A this year, Tonkin posted a 1.73 ERA with 61 strikeouts and a 1.08 WHIP. While Tonkin has posted similar numbers in Triple-A before and still failed to translate them to the majors, he should (hopefully) provide some more useful bullpen depth.

To make space on the 40-man roster for Tonkin, the Twins called up J.T. Chargois and moved him to the 60-day DL. Chargois has been injured since late April and wasn’t expected to make a comeback anytime soon.

The Twins also sent both Dietrich Enns and Adalberto Mejia to Double-A. Unlike the Red Wings, the Chattanooga Lookouts are in the playoffs and therefore still playing, so this is basically just an extended rehab assignment for both pitchers. They’ll probably be back with the Twins before the end of the season (Mejia for sure).

There are a few notable consequences of these moves:

• By transferring J.T. Chargois to the 60-day DL to make space for Michael Tonkin, the Twins have used up their last obvious 40-man roster spot. That makes even less likely players not on the 40-man roster will be called up before the end of the season.
• By using the last obvious 40-man roster spot, it’s a lot less clear what the Twins are going to do with Hector Santiago. Santiago is on the 60-day DL and was already rehabbing with the Red Wings, but he wasn’t doing well. His season could likely be over, or maybe the team with just DFA Tonkin again when Santiago’s ready to be activated?
• The Twins have apparently passed on calling up power outfielder Daniel Palka. Palka—who missed nearly a month due to injury—hit .274/.328/.433 and eleven home runs in Triple-A this year. Last year he was hitting homers left and right, so he could have maybe been a bat off the bench, but I’m not too sad about this move. The Twins have a lot of outfielders right now, and the offense has been working. Don’t fix what’s not broke, you know?

What do you think of these moves? Is your mind blown? Will you be able to sleep tonight? Discuss below.

UPDATE (2:51 pm CT):

It appears Mejia won’t be going to Double-A after all.

This is particularly interesting because Darren Wolfson had reported earlier that Mejia was joining the big league club in Tampa Bay, but then the Twins themselves released the contradictory news that he was going to Double-A. I wonder why the Twins did that?