Yes, I know the big news at the Twins Spring Training site on Wednesday was the long-awaited debut of Joe Mauer in their game with the Mets, but what is there really to say about that? He hit a line drive up the middle in his first plate appearance off of Mets starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey. In fact, Pelfrey himself might have said all that needs to be said about Mauer’s debut. “I threw a slider in, and he hit a rocker right up the middle,” he was quoted as saying after the game. “He’s obviously Joe Mauer for a reason…” Indeed.
But for those of you who don’t believe what you don’t see, here’s the evidence I captured at the game.
For me, though, I’m a bit of a people watcher and today, I was interested in watching people just talk… communicate.
Not the greatest picture, but it was entertaining to watch... and listen to
One of the more humorous bits of “communication” was the bantering between Manager Ron Gardenhire and the fans surrounding the backstop of the Twins’ practice field during batting practice. Just before the last player (Jim Thome) finished getting his cuts, Gardy himself picked up a bat and stepped in the cage. From that point on, the only “communication” coming from Gardy was the word “ouch!” after each swing.
Not long after I settled in to watch some batting practice on the field where the AA level minor leaguers were getting their swings in, a group of today’s cuts from the Major League camp showed up. Rene Tosoni, Joe Benson and Chris Parmalee were not going to be going north with the Twins and today was the day they got the official word and joined their minor league brethren… and the coaches working with those young players. Among the coaches and instructors on this particular field were former Twins outfielder Tom Brunansky, who’s now a coach in the Twins organization, and Hall of Famer Paul Molitor. I just hope all of these guys know enough to take advantage of the advice available from the guys who the Twins have around this camp.
Chris Parmelee and Paul Molitor have a chat around the cage
Before heading in to Hammond Stadium for the game, I stopped along the “autograph fence” that runs between the Twins practice field and the stadium. This is where players often pause on their way to the stadium after practice to interact with fans. I found two players doing exactly that, pitcher Scott Diamond and Mr. Incredible, Jim Thome. Diamond certainly seemed popular with the young ladies.
Scott Diamond poses for a pictureJim Thome signing autographs
Once inside the stadium, I spotted a few people having conversations that I would have been interested to listen in on… like these:
I couldn't help but wonder what Morneau and Nishioka were talking about during warm upsMorneau and Jason Bay chatted before the game. Bay, Like Morneau, missed the second half of the 2010 season with a concussionI'm not sure if Nishioka understood anything 1B coach Jerry White was saying, but he nodded a lot.Nishioka didn't seem to have any trouble understanding what TC Bear was communicatingAfter coming out of the game, Alexi Casilla and Nishioka got some running... and talking... in, out along the LF wall
What’s that you say? Wasn’t there an actual game going on today?
Why yes, there was. In fact, the Twins won the game with a walk off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning. After Matt Brown opened the inning with a double to the RCF gap, Danny Lehmann followed up with a hit that drove in Brown and saved his team mates from having to endure the most hated thing among ballplayers… a spring training extra-inning ballgame. Here, below, are a few more of the 250 or so pictures I took today, beginning with a shot of Lehmann’s game winning hit.
Lehmann drives in the winning run in the 9thBrain Duensing had another effective startJim Hoey hit 99 mph with a fastball on the Hammond speed gun while striking out two Mets
Finally, while Johan Santana is still on the shelf, the Twins did reunite for the day with a couple of former team mates. Jason Pridie started in centerfield and Luis Castillo started at second base for the mets.
Jason PridieLuis Castillo
That’s a wrap for today. I’m not sure whether I’m going to make the trip up to Lakeland for the Tigers game Thursday or stick around Ft. Myers. Media reports are that Carl Pavano, Drew Butera, Matt Capps, and Joe Mauer are going to be playing in a minor league game at the Twins’ complex and Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew is reportedly going to be arriving at the complex Thursday as well.
If you want to read a bit more about my time at the Twins complex, check in periodically with Howard Sinker’s “A Fan’s View from Section 219” over at the StarTribune site. I’ll be sending periodic reports to Howard which he may be posting.
Of course, I’ll be trying to post something daily here at Knuckleballs, as well.
We all wondered how long it would take for Twins manager Ron Gardenhire to learn to communicate with the Twins’ most recent import from the other side of the globe. Well, thanks to 1500ESPN radio’s Phil Mackey, we now know that Gardy has learned enough of his new infielder’s native language to communicate a bit… even if the player himself appears to be having a little trouble understanding exactly what his manager is saying.
Oh… you think I’m talking about Gardy knowing enough Japanese to chat with Tsuyoshi Nishioka? Heavens no… I think we’ll be seeing Gardy with his handy-dandy English/Japanese pocket dictionary all summer long.
Luke Hughes (Photo: Brian Henricksen)
But apparently he’s been much quicker to pick up enough Australian to communicate with red-hot rookie infielder Luke Hughes, as evidenced by this quote from Mackey’s post game notes:
“I asked him, ‘Mate, have you ever played shortstop.’ He went, ‘Are you serious?’ And I went, ‘Very serious.’ Then I went, ‘Nevermind the question, just go play short.'”
That’s our Twins manager… Crocodile Gardee!
One other item in Mackey’s post that I really liked to see was his quotes from Kevin Slowey. You may have heard that Gardenhire has handed out four of the starting rotation spots already and, with one spot remaining, Slowey and Scott Baker are the last two men waiting for the music to stop in this rather bizarre cake walk game.
Slowey’s thrown 10 innings in his past three starts without giving up a run, so you could certainly understand if he was feeling a bit overlooked, and possibly even disrespected, by his manager stringing him along. But here’s Slowey’s response when asked how much he’s sweating out these last couple weeks of Spring Training:
“None, really,” he said. “It’s not really worth sweating it. I think you ask any one of the guys in this clubhouse, we’ll do anything it takes to help this team win. And I think we’ve seen that the last couple years.
“You’ve seen a guy like Jim Thome, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and he doesn’t get 300 at-bats last year. He’s not complaining one bit. He’s talking about how excited he is to be a part of a championship team. I think if a guy like that can be satisfied with just being part of the team, certainly I can do the same.”
Is that a great response, or what? It also goes to show what kind of example Mr. Incredible, Jim Thome, is providing in that clubhouse.
I’m outta here!
This is it… the time has finally come… I head to Ft. Myers tomorrow (Tuesday) morning and while the weather outside isn’t TOO bad here, it’s nowhere near what I’m seeing in the forecast for Ft. Myers for the next seven days. (Wednesday through Tuesday… Highs ranging from 83-84, lows 58-62 and Sunny every day except Wednesday, when I’ll have to deal with partly cloudy skies. I’ll try to cope.)
I’m planning on spending Wednesday morning at both the Major League and minor league practice fields and then catching the Twins and Mets in the afternoon. Media reports are that Joe Mauer may very well making his Spring Training debut as a DH Wednesday and, since the following two games are on the road, I would expect to see pretty much all of the A-list position players in that game.
I am wondering a bit, though, how both Mauer and Thome will be managing to get swings in during the week I’m down there. The Twins have only two home games during the next week, Wednesday’s game with the Mets and Saturday’s with the Rays. The other four games between now and a week from today are road games with the Tigers (Lakeland), Orioles (Sarasota), Blue Jays (Dunedin), and Pirates (Bradenton). It’s hard to imagine either Mauer or Thome rattling across Florida on a bus. With minor league games getting started, maybe they’ll get a few cuts in one or two of those games.
Check in here at Knuckleballs from time to time… I’ll try to post a bit while I’m gone. I’m also going to try to send Howard a report or two that he can post over at “A Fan’s View From Section 219”… something he’s been gracious enough to let me do for several years now.
Finally, let’s sign off by sharing the following excellent Public Service Announcement, shown during Monday’s Twins/Marlins broadcast, from Michael Cuddyer and Tsuyoshi Nishioka (video clip from the Star Tribune):
We have the first of two consecutive Monday televised games today as the Marlins travel to Ft. Myers to take on the Twins this afternoon.
Reports coming out of Twins camp are that 14 roster cuts have been made today. As expected, a many of the cuts were for the purpose of thinning the starting pitching ranks to allow those starters who clearly would not be going north with the Twins to continuing getting significant innings on the minor league complex. Here’s the list of those cut:
David Bromberg RHP, Anthony Swarzak RHP, Eric Hacker RHP, Deolis Guerra RHP, Yorman Bazardo RHP, Kyle Gibson RHP, Rene Tosoni OF, Joe Benson OF, Chris Parmalee 1B, Justin Huber 1B, Ray Chang IF, Brian Dozier IF, Jair Fernandez C, Chris Hermann C.
No real surprises there, but it’s interesting to note that none of the lefty pitchers were cut.
I’m going to put up a GameChat window today for anyone who’s able to pop in. I probably won’t be there myself much (if at all) due to that pesky thing called “work”.
Finally… Happy 51st birthday to Kirby Puckett. We miss you, Puck.
Well, THAT was a nice way for the Twins to head in to their sole off-day of Spring Training! All the pitchers had good days, including two rotation memebers, Slowey and Blackburn.
Danny Valencia launched a blast to LF and Luke Hughes, after entering as a pinch runner for Jason Kubel, added his fourth HR of the spring! For those interested in following what little suspense there remains in the Twins camp (the battle for the utility infield position), Gardy also shifted Hughes over to shortstop for the last few innings of the game. “Conventional wisdom” has been that, even with Hughes hitting so well, Gardy would be reluctant to go north with a utility infielder that doesn’t play SS (something Tolbert does, but Hughes has not typically done). So… with Hughes getting some innings at SS, the plot thickens a bit.
The Twins are playing two games today… one group making the trip to Tampa to face the Evil Empire and the other group defending the fort (Fort Myers, to be exact) against the visiting Phillies.
The Phillies/Twins game is on the radio in the Cities (1500). But guess what… you know how Twins games on TV have been tough to come by this spring? Well BOTH games… with identical 12:05 CT starting times (though the Phillie game has been delayed to 12:15 due to a late-arriving Phillie TV truck)… are being televised today on MLB.tv, but neither is on FSN.
I’ll post lineups as they get published and will be putting up a GameChat before the actual game time. I mess it up, blame Babs… she’s the one who left town and left me to do this stuff! – JC
OK, I’ve still never been able to figure out how Babs does the links with the box scores so if you want to see that, click here for the Yankee game and here for the Phillie game. Here are the scoring lines:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Minnesota
1
0
3
4
0
0
0
0
1
9
11
0
Yankees
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
6
2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Philadelphia
0
0
0
0
6
0
0
0
0
6
11
1
Minnesota
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
3
5
1
Some impressive performances among the crew that went to Tampa to face the Yankees. NY put their A+ lineup on the field, but then let our old BitchSox friend, Freddy Garcia, do their pitching. The Twins beat up Garcia a bit, while Twins pitchers largely shut down that Yankee lineup. Scott Baker gave up a long HR to CF off of ARoid in the first inning, but otherwise had a good 4 innings, only giving up one other hit. Matt Capps and Glen Perkins threw good innings, as well. Denard Span had 3 hits and Luke Hughes kept up his torrid hitting with a couple more hits, too.
The Phillie lineup that visited Ft Myers didn’t have much firepower in it, but beat the Twins 6-3. More accurately, they beat Joe Nathan 6-3. All six runs came off of Joe. After Ben Revere lost a flyball in the sun to start Nathan’s inning, all hell broke loose. Nathan gave up 6 ERs, on 5 hits, including 1HR and a BB in just 1/3 of an inning pitched. Ouch. Virtually no offensive performances worth mentioning, but Ben Revere did make another nice diving catch, this time coming in hard from CF. Francisco Liriano got through 3 IP, without giving up a run, but he did give up 4 hits and 2 BB, to go with his 2 Ks. Better than his last outing but still needs to keep improving. Jose Mijares, Kyle Gibson, Eric Hacker and Yoman Bazardo all pitched well, however.
The first round of cuts will be made tomorrow. Look for a lot of the pitchers who threw today to be sent to the minor league camp. Bazardo, Hacker, Gibson, Guerra, Bromberg and Swarzak could all be among the first cuts as the Major League pitchers are getting more innings to stretch out their arms and these guys will need to get their innings on the minor league side if they’re going to be ready to be starting pitchers for Rochester and New Britain. Likewise, some of the younger catchers will be candidates to get sent down, though with Joe Mauer not catching games yet, one or two may stick around a while longer than they normally would.
As we’ve mentioned a few times lately, we launched Knuckleballs just over a year ago. It has not only been fun, but every once in a while I start to think I’m getting pretty good at this “writing about baseball” thing. Then I go and read something that someone else has written and I think, “Wow… I still really suck compared to him/her.”
There are a few writers that I’ve come to accept will always be way, way… way… better than I am. Joe Posnanski and Rob Neyer, are just a couple of examples of writers that I know I can rely on to give me a humility lesson on a regular basis. You might think I would stop reading them, but I can’t. They’re just too good not to read.
I’ve got Neyer to thank for my most recent humility lesson, but only in an indirect way. I was perusing the summaries of articles posted by Neyer over at SBNation.com’s MLB site and noticed a link Rob had posted to another site, Pitchers & Poets. Sure enough, that link led me to a post that, once again, reminds me just how not good I am at this whole writing thing.
Specifically, this lesson came at the hands of Paul Dubuque, who has his own Seattle Mariners blog, The Playful Utopia. Mr. Dubuque was invited by Pitchers & Poets to participate in their “Scorekeeping Week”. (Wow, a whole week devoted to articles about scorekeeping! What a great idea… going to have to file that one away and steal it here at Knuckleballs after enough time has passed that few are likely to remember it’s not really our idea.) The title of Dubuque’s entry is “The Poetics of Scorekeeping“.
Neyer’s own post was succinct. He quoted one paragraph from Dubuque’s post and simply opinied, “Not to get all literary or anything. But, yes.” After I read the Poetics of Scorekeeping for myself, I agreed with Neyer, but I didn’t think he even chose the best quote from the post to bring to his readers’ attention. Still… it’s pretty good:
By keeping score we have created our own language. Each person’s style varies, providing a unique dialect, but the narrative is one which other scorekeepers (and, it must be emphasized, only other scorekeepers) understand. The language of baseball creates its own citizenry. It has its own punctuation and pronunciation, its own trimeter rhythm. Scorekeeping converts baseball into poetry. Its minimalism represents Keats’ negative capacity, a freedom from resolving the unresolvable, and instead revel in the process itself, the telling.
If any of you have ever gone to a ballgame with any of the three of us who contribute to this blog, KL, CapitalBabs and myself, you know that there’s a very good chance each of us will be keeping a scorecard. I don’t do it at every game I go to and I don’t think Babs does either. KL is more religious about it, I believe. But the point is, scorekeeping is an integral part of enjoying the experience of attending a baseball game for all three of us and if you’ve ever glanced around your seating section at a baseball game, you know we are not alone.
You won’t see that at football games or basketball games. I probably haven’t attended a total of 10 hockey games, at any level, in my life, but I’d be willing to bet it’s not something you see there either. But scorekeeping is ingrained in the culture and history of baseball.
I literally learned the language of scorekeeping before I learned cursive writing. (Yes, that is no doubt a commentary on priorities learned growing up in a home as the son of a high school coach, though to be honest, I also learned to keep the scorebook for basketball before I learned cursive writing. I bet you can guess what sports my dad coached.)
I learned scorekeeping from my father. I taught it to my son. He taught it to his girlfriend long before she eventually became his wife (I’m not suggesting it would have been a deal killer if she had not learned… but you never know). What I do know is that every time I keep score at a ballgame, I feel my dad’s presence at the game with me, even two decades after he passed away.
So keeping score provides a very personal historic connection to me. But it also connects me to the games themselves. I kept score at some of the high school games my dad coached, just as I did at games he took me to at Met Stadium where we watched Harmon Killebrew. I’ve kept score at Twins games involving Joe Mauer… and Beloit Snappers games involving Aaron Hicks. And whether it was last month, last year or 1967, I’ll always feel connected to those games.
As Dubuque alluded to in his article, one interesting thing about scorekeeping is that, while we may not all do it exactly the same way, we can take one glance at someone else’s scorecard and decipher it. When we get asked by non-scorekeepers to explain what all the little lines, numbers, letters and squiggles mean, we have no trouble providing detailed explanations. But, it’s when people ask “Why do you do it?” that we struggle. At least I do. In my experience, it’s just something that you get or you don’t get.
Once again, here’s where someone who really knows something about writing, like Mr. Dubuque in this instance, comes through… putting in to words that which I’ve never been able to do.
Finally, scorekeeping isn’t merely transcription. A quick glance at a cell phone will confer a sheer quantity of information that no scorebook can replicate. It’s the writing itself that is the defining act; it is the commemoration that separates a given ballgame from any of the million before it. We write to connect ourselves to history, to name ourselves as part of it. Scorekeeping, like writing, allows us to describe for posterity our own fandom, our presence at that game and our understanding of it. It is how we take possession of our past.
Naturally, the big news coming out of the Twins’ “B” game against the Pirates Tuesday… the thing that had Twitter thumbs getting a workout… was the triumphant (and more importantly, healthy) return of first baseman Justin Morneau. Delmon Young’s debut, with a couple of walks in his two plate appearances, was less dramatic, but still noteworthy and smile-inducing. But once the dust settled on their stories, we started reading what arguably could be the most intriguing news to come out of that game, played before just a couple of hundred sets of eyes on a distant practice field that, starting this weekend, will be used exclusively for putting 18 and 19 year old minor leaguers through drills.
Is Kevin Slowey on the market?
It seems not all of the folks watching that game were vacationing Twins fans. Among the observers were a handful of people with well trained eyes focused on Twins starting pitcher Kevin Slowey, who according to reports from those in attendance, pitched an effective few innings against the Pirates’ “B” line-up. Reportedly, several scouts from the Blue Jays were watching Slowey and even videotaping his performance. The Rockies also apparently had a scout at the game.
The Twins entered Spring Training with two rotation spots nailed down and a number of other pitchers, with varying degrees of Major League experience, competing for the other three starting pitcher jobs. Carl Pavano and Francisco Liriano were considered locks, while Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, and Brian Duensing constituted the pool of arms from which the remaining three rotation jobs would be drawn. Top prospects Kyle Gibson and Alex Wimmers would be waiting in the wings for opportunities later in the season and the Twins also have a group of pitchers (for example, Glen Perkins, Kyle Waldrop, Jeff Manship, and perhaps others) that are initially competing for bullpen jobs but could be called upon in a pinch to start games, if need be.
It was a solid, if unspectacular, group of starting pitchers and the plan looked and sounded like a reasonable approach to get through the spring and probably through the first couple of months of the season, at least. Many of us think the Twins may still need a true top-of-the-rotation guy to carry the Twins beyond the first round of the playoffs, but that’s a need that is always easier to address in July, when a number of teams have fallen out of contention and enter cost-cutting mode, than it is in March when hope springs eternal in camps all over Florida and Arizona.
Pitchers and catchers had barely put on practice jerseys when media speculation about a possible trade of Liriano to the Yankees began to circulate. Those rumors have quieted now, but in the mean time, manager Ron Gardenhire has gone on record committing two more of those coveted rotation spots to Brian Duensing and Nick Blackburn. If Gardy sticks to those commitments (which I don’t think is necessarily as certain as people may tend to think), that leaves just one remaining starting role up for grabs between Baker and Slowey.
That’s one too many roosters for the rotation henhouse and thus the scouting eyes focused on Slowey’s performance Tuesday and the inevitable speculation that Slowey may be on the verge of being traded to Toronto in return for some of the Jays’ surplus of bullpen arms.
That seems to make sense to a lot of people. In fact, during his podcast last night, Jack Steal (Twins blogger “Fanatic Jack”) voiced a number of concerns that I think a lot of Twins fans have. (TwinsCentric blogger John Bonnes, of “TwinsGeek” fame, and I sparred with Jack on this and other issues… you can listen to the archived podcast at 612sports.net.)
People still aren’t comfortable with the prospect of letting Gardy and pitching coach Rick Anderson sift through the large group of relatively unknown options that GM Bill Smith brought in to camp to compete for the middle relief roles behind Joe Nathan, Matt Capps and Jose Mijares. So why shouldn’t the Twins go ahead now and trade their surplus starting pitcher to strengthen their questionable bullpen?
I’m glad you asked.
Let’s start with a basic truth. Starting pitchers good enough to hold down a spot in a Major League rotation are more important, more valuable, more difficult to find, and more difficult to replace when you need them, than even the best middle relief pitchers. They just are.
Second, you need more than five starting pitchers. Remember Scott Baker going on the Disabled List just before the Twins broke camp in 2009? Remember Nick Blackburn needing a family medical leave last April? Having six starting pitchers with a history of having success at the top levels of baseball should not be considered a luxury, it should be looked at for what it is… a potential significant advantage over the competition. Every team, including the Twins, is likely to need at least six starting pitchers, even during the first couple of months of the season. The difference between the Twins and other teams is that they have the depth to meet that need when it arises.
Will Liriano be ready to lead in April?
Has anyone read the reports about Liriano’s lack of offseason preparedness and his shoulder discomfort and not come away with some level of concern over whether he’s going to be reliable when the season opens in April? How many of the projected starting pitchers had some sort of “clean up” done on their elbows this winter? If we’re uncomfortable with the prospect of Perkins, Manship, Waldrop, et al, coming in for a couple of innings in the middle of games, just how comfortable are we going to be if those are the options to plug the holes in the rotation?
Does this mean the Twins shouldn’t ever consider trading one of their starting pitchers? Of course not. But why hurry? We’re still about three weeks away from Opening Day. Nobody can say with any certainty what the Twins’ real needs will be by then. The relief arms in camp right now have thrown about 4-5 innings each. That’s not nearly enough to conclude that the bullpen is going to need shoring up. What if one of the big sticks blows out a knee over the next three weeks? If guys like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Danny Valencia or Denard Span are forced to miss significant early time, don’t we think a surplus starting pitcher to deal away for a legitimate everyday replacement might be a nice option to have?
Making a trade now would also unnecessarily limit the market. When the Liriano rumors started flying, all anyone talked about was that the Yankees needed rotation help. Then the Cardinals lost Adam Wainright and the potential bidders doubled. Just in the last few days, the Cardinals have seen Chris Carpenter miss time with a hamstring issue, the Dodgers have found out they’ll start the season without Vicente Padilla and Jon Garland, and the Brewers announced Zack Greinke will miss time with a rib injury. How many more teams will figure out they’re short handed in their rotations over the next few weeks?
It just makes no sense to me to trade any of the Twins’ starting pitchers until (a) the Twins themselves are 100% certain they don’t need that pitcher themselves, (b) Opening Day is close enough on the horizon that the Twins know exactly what the most important position to fill via trade is, and (c) the market for starting pitchers is given enough time to fully develop, maximizing the number of potential bidders for a pitcher and therefore maximizing the value received in return.
There may come a time when it makes sense to trade from a perceived surplus of starting pitching. Now is not that time.
I’m sure most of you follow a number of other Twins blogs (and if you don’t, you should) so you probably already know that several of said bloggers are currently basking in the glow of sunshine and baseball down in Ft. Myers.
Amazingly, some of them have taken the time to post to their blogs while down there and several of them have also been giving their Twitter thumbs a workout, as well.
While we always want you to make Knuckleballs a daily stop on your daily virtual baseball tour, here are a few links you should definitely be looking in on this week as these bloggers give us on-site reports from the Twins’ spring home:
Seth Stohs (sethspeaks.net) had a very long day as he started Tuesday with a 2:45 am alarm clock setting and followed that up with a couple of flights, an eventful first day at the Lee County Sports Complex, and a post-game gathering at a sports bar near the stadium. Seth also relates how he and other bloggers down there narrowly avoided suffering the infamous anti-blogger/twitter wrath of Ron Gardenhire as Gardy tried in vain to run the guys down on his golf cart. (OK, yeah, maybe a bit of embellishment on my part… but it makes for a better story!) Follow Seth on Twitter at @SethSpeaks.
Nick Nelson (nickstwinsblog.com) arrived at the back field where Justin Morneau and Delmon Young made their debuts in a “B” game with the Pirates Tuesday morning just in time to see Justin slide in to home and score from second base, ending his 4 inning performance. Follow Nick on Twitter at @nnelson9.
Parker Hageman of Over The Baggy is also down in Florida, but it looks like he’s dogging it so far, in terms of posting his adventures on his blog. I suggest continuing to check in at OTB periodically, though, and you can follow him on Twitter at @OverTheBaggy.
Like a lot of people, I’m sure, I’m jealous of all those folks currently soaking up the sun and baseball, but I take some solace from knowing it will be my turn in less than a week. I head to Ft. Myers on the 15th and will be over at Hammond Stadium the following day.
A couple of months ago, in the first of my 3-part “Spring Training Guide” series of posts, I wrote that I break the Spring Training schedule down in to three parts. Well, we’re starting to transition from the first part to the second, as the Twins have played 10 Spring Training games heading in to today’s game in Sarasota vs. the Orioles. As I wrote back in January, this middle portion of the ST schedule is really my favorite part.
We’re winding up the initial stretch of games where starting pitchers have been throwing only 2-4 innings and regular position players take a seat after just a couple of plate appearances. The minor league camp officially opens at the end of this week and that’s when we’ll start to see some of the 3,961 pitchers (ok… a slight exaggeration… maybe) that started ST in the Major League clubhouse move their equipment across the complex to their minor league lockers.
This is also when we should start seeing the regular position players getting an additional plate appearance during each game. Of course, this spring has been somewhat of an unusual situation with regard to the Twins position players because so many of them are coming off of injuries and are just now starting to get cleared to play in games. It will be interesting to see how many swings guys like Morneau, Young, Cuddyer and Mauer get during games as they each make their belated debuts on Gardy’s line-up cards.
This year, my trip to Spring Training is going to end up straddling the second and third parts of the schedule, as games 18-23 will be played while I’m in the Sunshine State. Right now, I’m planning on catching home games against the Mets and Rays, on the 16th and 19th, respectively, and road games against the Tigers (17th), Orioles (18th), Blue Jays (20th) and Pirates (21st). I admit, though, that I’m giving some thought to skipping the Tiger game… it’s the longest drive of the bunch and just hanging out in Ft. Myers and watching the workouts back there that morning might not be a bad decision.
In any event, I’ll be posting regularly here at Knuckleballs and I’ll also be filing some reports with Howard Sinker for his “A Fan’s View from Section 219” blog over at the Strib site.
One final programming note… I’m scheduled to join the TwinsGeek, John Bonnes, on Fanatic Jack’s “Twins Talk” podcast tonight at 9:00 (I’m tentatively scheduled to join in the discussion at 9:20). You can find it under the 612 Sports Radio tab over at 612sports.net.
It’s not like we really need an EXCUSE to party tonight, but we might as well get in the Mardi Gras spirit, right!?
I may not be the biggest party animal in Twinsville, but there are plenty of reasons for Twins fans to be celebrating tonight!
First and foremost, there was the return of Justin Morneau to the playing field. Check out the video of both of Doc’s plate appearances this morning in the ‘B’ game with the Pirates!
This got everyone pretty excited!
It doesn’t take much to get the Twinsville Tweeters’ fingers going (much to Gardy’s chagrin, at times… does anyone else find it just hilarious that he hasn’t quite come to grips with the fact that things he tells reporters no longer take 18 hours before those words become public?) and we certainly had reactions flying across the airwaves today. Here’s just a sampling of today’s revelry:
Justin was all smiles after the game… at least I THINK there’s a smile under that fu manchu somewhere. Check out the pic link:
Naturally, Carl “the ‘stache” Pavano, himself, was not easily impressed:
@JoeCStrib Pavano on Morneau: “He shaved into a handlebar moustache. You gotta be feeling really good if you are going to be wearing that around here.”
.
Joe Mauer was duly impressed… kind of:
@JoeCStrib Huge crowd was watching Mauer take swings in batting cage. I told him Morneau hit a 3-run 2B. “Did he?” Mauer said. “That’s pretty good.”
OK, so I’m not really sure this falls under the category of “revelry”… but it’s interesting anyway:
@JoeCStrib Blue Jays had 3 scouts watching B-game, one with a video camera. I’m told they like Slowey and have relievers to spare. #stribtwins
Tsuyoshi Nishioka got in to the Mardi Gras spirit:
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@TwinsNow Japanese media said Nishioka was very excited today because, for the first time with the #Twins, he started a double play.
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and…
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@JoeCStrib Nishioka lines an opposite-field single to left and is replaced by a pinch runner. He was 1-for-2 today. #stribtwins
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Ben Revere had his own way of celebrating:
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@PMac21 Ben Revere just made a ridiculous diving catch on the left-field warning track.
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Gardy was in a jovial mood, as well:
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@TomPelissero#Twins manager Ron Gardenhire when asked how Justin Morneau looked in his spring debut: “Canadian. Real Canadian.”
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Of course, Gardy made sure everyone knew Doc wasn’t the only guy making his spring debut today:
@TwinsNow Gardy on DY’s 2 walks today: “Haven’t seen that in a long time, ever maybe. … We thought that was historic.” #Twins
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OK I guess that’s enough celebrating for this old man tonight… and enough of stealing others’ work to fill blogspace here at Knuckleballs.
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So let me leave you with this final Mardi Gras thought… and image.
Both Justin Morneau and Delmon Young are in the line up this morning for the Twins during a “B” game against the Pirates on a back field at the Twins’ complex in Fort Myers, FL.
Justin is back! (Photo: @MinnesotaTwins)
Young is hitting 3rd and Morneau 4th. Morneau is also playing first base. According to Star Tribune reports from the Twins complex, Morneau is expected to get two plate appearances in the game.
Just seeing that Morneau is back on the field in a game might just be the best news to come out of the Twins spring training site thus far.
Let’s hope all goes well and this is a sign of better days ahead for Doc and the Twins!
– JC
UPDATE: And now, thanks to @MinnesotaTwins, we have visual evidence. What a terrific sight to see!
UPDATED UPDATE: Morneau played four innings in the field and hit a bases-loaded double down the right field line in his second plate appearance. Terrific return for the big Canadian!
The Twins and their consensus AL Central Division challengers, the White Sox and Tigers, are all about 25-30% of the way through their Spring Training exhibition schedules, so maybe now is a good time to sneak a quick peek at how they’re measuring up. With the caveat being, as always, that you really shouldn’t read too much in to Spring Training performances, at least we aren’t having to do all of our evaluation “on paper”, as we did all off-season.
A lot of us were pretty harsh in our evaluations of the Twins’ moves (or lack thereof), especially during the first couple of months of the off-season. The Twins lost over half of their historically reliable bullpen and both of their starting middle infielders. With only one exception, the plan clearly became to replace those vacancies either from within or with spare parts picked up from other teams’ cast-offs. That strategy could very well work, at least in the bullpen, where there are a couple of guys with pretty good track records looking to regain past levels of effectiveness.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka (Photo: C Krupa/AP)
That one exception, Japanese batting champion Tsuyoshi Nishioka, comes with his own set of question marks, though the biggest is not necessarily one of his own making. Nishioka is relatively young for a guy making the transition from the NBL to Major League Baseball. He’s had a successful career in Japan, though he’s had some trouble staying healthy at times. The relative lack of experience, compared to other Japanese stars who’ve made the jump to the US, makes it impossible to know just how good he really is. On the other hand, it’s pretty tough to find comparable Japanese position players who have come over and become true stars at the MLB level. There’s Ichiro and… well… nobody else, really. The result is that American fans rightfully take a “show me” attitude toward Japanese imports.
Early returns are mixed on Nishioka. Scouting reports that his arm strength made him a better match for second base than shortstop have been somewhat backed up by his performance and after just a couple of games at each position, manager Ron Gardenhire announced that Nishioka would, indeed, play second base. Alexi Casilla, who broke in to the Angels organization as a shortstop, has the stronger arm and shortstop is his position to lose, at this point. But Nishioka seems to put bat on ball pretty well and that’s going to be critical if he hits in the #2 spot in the order.
Nishioka may be the lone “big addition” to the Twins roster over the winter, but the two biggest additions to the Twins’ 25-man roster entering the season stand to be names very familiar to Twins fans… Joe Nathan and Justin Morneau. Some of us tend to forget that the Twins essentially won the AL Central last season with little contribution from two of their biggest stars. Nathan missed the entire 2010 season and Morneau missed the last half of the year. While Nathan appears to be back and ready to reclaim his closer role, Morneau has yet to be cleared to play in games. If the Twins have a healthy Morneau on the field most of the season (especially at the end, for a change) and if Nathan’s arm stays intact and he maybe gets a little help from Pat Neshek, who’s also hoping to return to past levels of effectiveness, there’s no reason the Twins shouldn’t be considered the favorite to defend their Division Championship.
The Competition
The Indians and Royals should be interesting to watch this season. Both have some very highly regarded young players, though it’s too early to know for sure how much time those prospects will see at the Major League level in 2011. In any event, it would surprise just about everyone if either of those teams was in contention for the AL Central title in September. But the White Sox and Tigers almost certainly will be.
A year ago, it seemed like everyone was handing the Division to the White Sox, on the strength of their starting rotation. The Sox’ brain trust (yeah, I know, referring to Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen as a brain trust is downright giggle-inducing) apparently felt their pitching was so good that they could and should dump Jim Thome from his DH spot and replace him with Mark Teahan… no, seriously, that’s what they thought! I don’t believe even the Sox fan base was surprised when they turned out to be wrong.
This year, the Whities have tweaked the pitching staff a bit, including signing away Jesse Crain from the Twins, but their biggest addition (both figuratively and literally) is 6’6” hitting machine, Adam Dunn. Dunn sees himself as a complete player, capable of playing defense as well as hitting, and hoped to stay in the National League, where he’s played his entire career. But he got only a token offer from the Nationals, while several AL teams made significantly higher offers, virtually all of which came with the catch that he’d primarily be a DH. Dunn may be reluctant to embrace that role, but make no mistake, he will excel at it. In his last six seasons, Dunn has hit 40, 40, 40, 40, 38 and 38 home runs. Hmmm… I wonder how many he’s likely to hit for the White Sox, especially in that Little League ballpark they have on the South Side.
The White Sox definitely should be better this year, but the Twins still have one thing going for them… that “brain trust” (giggle) can probably be counted on to screw things up somehow.
Speaking of screwing things up, I’m not sure whether Vegas let’s you bet on who will lead the Divisions at the mid-point of the season, but if they do, you can pretty safely put your money on the Detroit Tigers. Absolutely nobody will be shocked if the Tigers come out of the gate strong and lead the Twins and White Sox in to July. Likewise, absolutely nobody will be shocked if they go 10-20 in August and fade away in September.
How and why they do it is always a mystery. Maybe their pitching will fade, maybe a star player will need to detox. Every season we get to watch a new drama unfold in Detroit.
Again, make no mistake, the Tigers made some moves that look to improve themselves. Victor Martinez will make hitters around him better and Joaquin Benoit should improve their bullpen. I’m just not sure it will be enough to keep the Tigers in contention all year. Benoit can’t do it all himself and the rest of the Tigers bullpen isn’t terribly scary. Joel Zumaya throws serious heat, but the only thing he’s reliable at is getting hurt at some point. In fact, he’s already had the predictable “setback” in his recovery from elbow surgery. And let’s face it, Miguel Cabrera is a time bomb waiting to go off on that organization and, from all appearances, Tiger management’s plan to deal with his drinking problem consists of sticking their heads in the sand. Good luck with that.
So far this spring, the Tigers’ rotation is looking pretty good. Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer are all throwing strikes and getting outs. The guy to watch the rest of the spring, though, might be former Yankee Phil Coke. He’s looked pretty good over his first three starts and if he carries that performance in to the season, he could make an already strong rotation a very, very good rotation. On the offensive side, things aren’t so rosy yet. The three big bats in the middle of the Tiger order, Martinez, Cabrera and Ordonez, have accumulated OPS’s of .566, .334 and .286, respectively. Yes… those are the SUMS of their on-base percentages and slugging percentages. Ouch. Then again, small sample size. One of the games I’m planning on attending down in Florida in a couple of weeks is a Twins/Tigers matchup in Lakeland. I’m anxious to get a look at this year’s edition of the Tigers as we get deeper in to the exhibition season.
Over in Arizona, the White Sox are not having fun (at least not during the games). They’re 1-6, heading in to this week, and much of the blame for that lies with their vaunted rotation. While Peavy, Danks and Jackson got through their first starts without incident, Mark Buehrle and Gavin Floyd got beat around pretty good. Mr. Crain hasn’t looked too good yet, either, by the way. Dunn hasn’t gotten untracked either yet and, in fact, their only regular with a respectable showing with the bat so far is Juan Pierre, who’s OPS is north of .900. Alex Rios has the only HR for the White Sox in their first seven games.
To wrap things up on a positive note, I thought I would share this video from Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, evaluating the Twins prospects for defending their Division Championship. – JC
P.S. I did a guest spot on Seth Stohs (Sethspeaks.net) Sunday night podcast and you can click here to listen to the half hour program, during which Seth and I touched on a number of Twins topics. I’m also scheduled to appear with John Bonnes (TwinsGeek) on Fanatic Jack’s podcast at 9:00 this Wednesday night. – JC
