Everyday Eddie Returns

In a surprise move today the Twins acquired veteran lefty and former Twin, Eddie Guardado, from the Texas Rangers. Guardado rejoins the team after a five year tour between Seattle, Cincinnatti, and Texas.

"Everyday Eddie," who was acquired for Single A pitcher Mark Hamburger, is having a solid rebound season after a couple of injury plauged years. The lefty is 3-3 with a 3.65 ERA in 55 appearances and will hopefully provide some stability and leadership to a shaky bullpen that has blown too many leads this past month. Guardado, 37, brings playoff experience and pressure pitching which have earned him 187 career saves, 116 of those with the Twins.

The move surprised me as it seems we were stuck with the guys we had in the bullpen for the remainder of the year. Guardado is certainly not the same pitcher as the 2002 and 2003 Minnesota Twins All-Star, but I think he could end up being a very key addition. He adds another option for Ron Gardenhire and will certainly never say no to taking the ball and entering the game in an important situation.

As I write this blog and watch the game, Guardado has just entered the game to pitch the 8th inning. Gardy never proclaimed Eddie has the setup man today but this is a clear sign of how the Twins hope things work in the final month of the season. Eddie pitched a 3-up, 3-down 8th and right now Joe Nathan is entering to pitch the 9th.

Even more surprising, to clear a roster spot for Guardado the Twins have designated Mike Lamb for assignment which means they have 10 days to trade the veteran 3B or he becomes a free agent. I'm not surprised that Gardy and the Twins no longer have interest in Lamb, but because he signed a 2-year $6.6 million deal this offseason I thought we were stuck with him as a bench player in 2009. Unless we are able to move Lamb, we will still owe him roughly $3.8 million but the move shows the Twins confidence in rookie Brian Buscher.

Hopefully Eddie can be the final piece of the Twins puzzle to take this team into the playoffs. It certainly will be fun to see the dynamic Guardado trot out to the mound in his same number 18 jersey. So today the Twins move a Hamburger and return an Everyday!