Category Archives: Spring Training

ST – Cardinals @ Twins, 12:05 pm, am1500 & MLB.tv

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We have decided that our gamechat compromise is going to be chats during weekend and evening games or televised games..  There just aren’t enough of us with a flexible enough schedule to be able to attend noon games during the work week.  But I will continue to post the lineups and boxscores for each game so that you can follow along at home if you’re able.

St. Louis @ Minnesota
Schumaker, 2B   Span, CF
Theriot, SS   Tolbert, SS
Rasmus, CF   Kubel, RF
Berkman, DH   Thome, DH
Craig, A, RF   Hughes, L, 3B
Hamilton, 1B   Bailey, J, 1B
Molina, Y, C   Rivera, Re, C
Freese, 3B   Revere, LF
Jay, LF   Plouffe, 2B
  Westbrook, P     Baker, S, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
St. Louis 1 0 0 2 0 2 1 4 0 10 15 1
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 4 8 1

 

This was one of those back & forth games that are usually pretty entertaining except that while the Twins would get some runs and make it close again, they never managed to get the lead and the Cards just seem to stretch it out a little further each time they would get another rally going.  So it wasn’t as much fun to listen to as you’d think.

Baker didn’t have the greatest numbers but it’s not all discouraging – it’s really hard to remember where he is in the schedule and that he’s going to a bit behind the other starters still with recovery in progress.  He said he felt pretty good after the game and I have a feeling that when he starts getting a few less fly ball outs, he’ll feel even better.  Nathan looked FANTASTIC in his 3rd outing of the spring – retired the side. I am really trying hard not to let my hopes get away with me but it’s just so hard not to get excited!

The bad news came in one of our young catchers filling in for spring, Danny Lehmann, left the game after getting hit in the head with a bat. He got a CT Scan at a local hospital but I haven’t heard any results reported back. I’m sure we’ll hear more about him tomorrow. UPDATE:  Joe C. says the scans came back negative which is good news and they will re-evaluate his condition tomorrow.

GameChat – ST – Twins @ Rays, 12:05 pm, MLB.tv & am1500

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I really have to say that I’m so spoiled being here in the Twin Cities… I get to watch most of my yearly baseball on TV.  For all of you who live with your baseball on the radio all the time? I feel for you.  I don’t HATE it but I gotta say that I feel so.. disenfranchised by listening to the game but not being able to really see what’s going on to form my own opinion.  It does make me cautious about coming to ANY conclusions with confidence.  I just feel like I need to see it with my own eyes.  Considering that there are only 5 games being televised this spring (does anyone else think that this is less than last year?)

At any rate, we’ll see it when we see it and until then, I’m glad for the radio.

Minnesota @ Tampa Bay
Revere, LF   Jaso, J, C
Tolbert, SS   Damon, LF
Kubel, DH   Longoria, 3B
Valencia, 3B   Ramirez, M, DH
Parmelee, 1B   Johnson, D, 1B
Repko, CF   Upton, B, CF
Dinkelman, RF   Rodriguez, S, 2B
Plouffe, 2B   Jennings, RF
Butera, C   Olmedo, SS
  Blackburn, P     Sonnanstine, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 13 0
Tampa Bay 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 2

 

Another win for the Twins feels pretty good!  Blackburn looked great out there in his second start so I’m feeling pretty good about the progress of our returning starters – except for Liriano and it’s just too early to make any solid conclusions yet.  Of course, I’m a positive person by nature so I think 3 hitless innings and 2 K’s is solid enough for me right now.  It was fun to hear Parmelee go long even if he got all KO’s in his other AB’s.  All in all, days like today make me look forward to the season even more.

ST – Tampa Bay @ Minnesota

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here you go guys!

Tampa Bay @ Minnesota
Upton, B, CF   Span, CF
Jaso, J, DH   Nishioka, SS
Longoria, 3B   Kubel, RF
Ramirez, M, LF   Thome, DH
Kotchman, 1B   Hughes, L, 3B
Lopez, F, 2B   Bailey, J, 1B
Ruggiano, RF   Rivera, Re, C
Lobaton, C   Repko, LF
Brignac, R, SS   Casilla, A, 2B
  Torres, P     Slowey, P

NOTE: Francisco Liriano made his first appearance on the mound this morning in a “B Game”. This, from MLB.com’s beat reporter Kelly Thesier:

Liriano was a little erratic in his first spring start. He pitched two innings and threw close to 40 pitches. He gave up a run while allowing three hits, walking two and hitting a batter. He also recorded one strikeout.

A tweet from the Strib added that they were told he was throwing about 91-92 mph on his fastball and may have touched 93. Still, not exactly an impressive ST debut. Then again, it IS still just exactly that… a Spring Training debut. – JC

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Tampa Bay 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 4 6 0
Minnesota 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 2 x 5 9 2

 

So the REAL game today had better results than the B game as far as pitching goes.  Both Slowey and Nathan would be what I would call highlights since they both had excellent outtings their second time out.  The fact that Nathan had GREAT movement on his pitches, a K and good velocity for what he expects AND seemed to have recovered well from his previous outting just makes me all shivery inside. Having Slowey also have a good outting says good things for our starting rotation.

Several good hits and some heads up base play from the sounds of things from the young guys made the game interesting and Kubes was hitting the cover off the ball again.  Other entertainment available today – especially for Gordo & Dazzle – was that apparently, the Rays put on a squeeze play during the B squad game… and Liriano did his job, fielded the ball and got the out at home – so good stuff all around.  Better?  Gardy decided to return the favor and pulled the same thing in the second game… yeah, it worked for us.  Good stuff.

ST – Twins @ Orioles, MLB.tv only

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No radio broadcast today so I’m not even able to follow the game progress except by Gameday but just in case there is anyone out there following along with lineups and who is getting roster opportunities, here’s the lineups for today.

Minnesota @ Baltimore
Span, CF   Roberts, B, 2B
Nishioka, SS   Markakis, RF
Hughes, L, 3B   Scott, LF
Benson, RF   Guerrero, DH
Repko, LF   Reynolds, M, 3B
Brown, M, DH   Jones, A, CF
Tolbert, 1B   Wieters, C
Butera, C   Hardy, SS
Casilla, A, 2B   Bell, 1B
  Pavano, P     Matusz, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 9 0
Baltimore 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0

 

Since none of us got to watch this game, I’ll give you a couple entertaining highlights I heard via Twitter:  JJ Hardy broke up Pavano’s no hitter in the third inning – and then was promptly thrown out at 2B while trying to steal.  Really? I kind of wish I could have seen that!

Early Impressions

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Spring Training Rule #1: Don’t read too much in to… well… anything, really.

I know, I know… I have some trouble taking my own advice at times (like, for example, when the Twins hitters can’t seem to get a ball out of the infield off of a procession of wanna-be Red Sox pitchers). But the rule still holds. This early during Spring Training, you just have to try to sit back and enjoy the simple fact that our guys are playing baseball again… finally. Well, most of them are, anyway.

Still, we do have blog space to fill here, so there’s a certain amount of obligation to write SOMETHING about the first few Spring Training games. So here’s what I’m thinking at the moment:

It’s very cool to see Joe Nathan back.

I’m one who’s remained skeptical that he would be able to return to his old form right out of the gate, just a year after Tommy John surgery. It’s sure looking good at the moment, though.

And here’s a couple of positive thoughts regarding Joe. First, I think it’s great that he’s been working on change up to add to his arsenal of pitches. He says it’s to try to stay a step ahead of hitters who, he believes, were starting to figure him out a bit. Second, I would imagine he could benefit a bit from the fact that hitters HAVEN’T faced him in over a year. If they were, in fact, starting to figure out his pitch patterns, etc., then they’d have to go back about a year and a half in their memories (and scouting reports) to recall what to expect. That lack of recent familiarity, along with a new pitch to think about, could give him a little edge.

There’s nothing to the Liriano trade rumors. But still…

Yes, it seems like every day a new report surfaces alluding to some kind of “inside source” indicating the Yankees and Twins are talking about, have talked about, will talk about, would talk about, might talk about a swap of Francisco Liriano to the Yankees for either five top prospects or five magic beans (depending on the source). It’s either just one source feeding garbage to all those reporters or it’s just a coincidence.

Yes, Terry Ryan was spotted scouting the Pirates/Yankees game this week. I’m sure it was just a coincidence.

Yes, I know the Twins, one of the most tight-lipped organizations in baseball when it comes to personnel matters, have gone oddly public with their pronouncements that they are not interested in extending Liriano’s contract. That’s a coincidence, too, I’m sure.

Finally, I know the team has announced Liriano will pitch in a “B-squad” game against the Rays on Friday, instead of the regularly scheduled game that afternoon. I can’t think of any reason why that might be significant, but I will say that, if I were in Ft. Myers this week, I’d be camped out at that B-squad game at 10 am Friday and checking to see who all was sitting around with clipboards and speedguns.

It’s all just a bunch of idle chatter and coincidences right now and it would be absolutely nuts for the Twins to even consider trading any of their six starting pitchers before they get much, much closer to Opening Day. But if March 15 rolls around and all six starting pitchers are healthy and looking relatively sharp… well, I’m not a real big believer in coincidences in the first place.

Brian Duensing’s role

There’s been a lot of debate over whether Brian Duensing should be in the rotation to start the season or whether he should be the guy, assuming all six experienced starting pitchers are healthy, who is sent to the bullpen.

Some people say he should go to the pen because he’s proven to be effective there the past two years. Some say he’s “earned” a rotation spot with his excellent stats the past two years when called on to be a starting pitcher. Others point out his peripheral stats may indicate he’s likely to regress a bit. In other words, everyone has a couple of different reasons why he should or shouldn’t be a starter or a bullpen guy. So I’m going to simplify it.

If, at the end of Spring Training, he’s looking like one of the best five starting pitchers, then he’s going to be in the rotation. Period. Nothing else should matter.

Look, this shouldn’t even be a debate. There simply is no comparison between the value of a starting pitcher, who will have a major influence over the outcome of every fifth game of the season, and a middle relief pitcher, who will very, very rarely EVER have a major influence on the outcome of any game.

If you have a guy who gives every appearance that he’s one of your best starting pitchers, that’s how you use him. The ONLY legitimate reason not to do so would be if you have reason to believe he’s not going to be able to give you 180+ innings of work in a season (due to pitching significantly fewer innings than that the prior season, for whatever reason).

Duensing threw about 130 innings last year. If you want to pace him a little bit to keep him from risking getting worn down just when you need him most, fine… maybe have him skip a start here or there. But there’s no reason he shouldn’t be ready to go 180 innings this season.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s early reviews

Nishi hasn’t hit much yet, but at least he’s making contact. He’s also apparently looking pretty good covering ground at second base. It’s still way too early to judge how the Nishioka-Casilla experiment is going to play out, but I haven’t heard or read anything yet to raise my concern level.

One thing I really am glad to be reading is that he seems to be getting pretty comfortable in the clubhouse and on the field with a number of his team mates… or at least as comfortable as you can get when you have some obvious communication hurdles to overcome. But from all accounts I’ve read, both he and the other Twins players are making efforts to make his transition as smooth as possible.

And I know it’s just one fan’s opinion, but I think he looks much better in the uniform pants than he did in capris.

Michael Cuddyer’s wart

I was bound and determined not to even bring this up in a post, but you can’t read an article about the Twins without it being mentioned, so there you go. It’s simple really… not all warts are the same. Some are totally harmless, some are in a location that is problematic. Some go away easily. Some don’t. Michael and the Twins are doing their best to get rid of the damn thing. Hopefully, they’re successful. ‘Nuff said.

Justin Morneau’s head

This may be the issue I’m struggling with the most, in terms of trying not to be concerned. I really want to just sit back and not worry about Doc until Opening Day rolls around.  But we’re about eight months out from when he incurred his concussion and he’s obviously not yet asymptomatic.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being critical of Morneau or the Twins or their doctors. It is absolutely right that everyone concerned approach this issue conservatively. We may still not know all we’d like to about concussions, but one thing the researchers have figured out is that incurring another concussion before you’re fully recovered from your last one is bad. Bad bad. Really bad.

So, from that standpoint, I’d probably be inclined to have him stay out of competition until days… maybe even weeks… maybe even a month… after his last symptom. If we learned one thing from Joe Mauer missing the month of April a couple of years ago, it’s that missing a little time early in the season is not the worst thing that can happen.

I want to see Justin Morneau hitting the crap out of the ball in September (and maybe even October?) for a change and if it takes a little extra time in March, or even April, to assure that we get to see that… so be it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned.

T-minus two weeks and counting

March 16, exactly two weeks from today, I’ll be watching the first of six Spring Training games I hope to attend on my annual trip to Florida, when the Twins host the Mets in Ft. Myers. This is going to be a long two weeks.

– JC

PROGRAMMING UPDATE: What’s that you say? Reading all this stuff and you still need MORE JimCrikket? If so, you should probably get a life, but if that’s just not realistic, consider tuning in to Fanatic Jack’s podcast tonight (Wednesday) at 9:00. Jack will be talking Twins baseball with John Bonnes (the TwinsGeek) and me. Should be a hoot. Never mind… Jack had to cancel his podcast. Everyone is spared having to listen to me!- JC

ST – Twins @ Pirates, MLB.tv & am1500, ALREADY IN PROGRESS,

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Sorry for the tardy appearance guys! I’m in the middle of a massive remodel project with my brother and the internet at the project house decided to go on the fritz.  But better late than never in my book and I like coming in with the Twins in the lead!  We’ve already gone through Duensing, then Capps and now Neshek is just coming out!  *crosses fingers*

Minnesota @ Pittsburgh
Revere, CF   Tabata, LF
Plouffe, SS   Wimberly, SS
Kubel, DH   McCutchen, A, CF
Valencia, 3B   Alvarez, 3B
Hughes, L, 2B   Walker, N, 2B
Bailey, J, 1B   Overbay, 1B
Dinkelman, LF   Pearce, DH
Holm, C   Doumit, C
Repko, RF   Lambo, RF
  Duensing, P     Ohlendorf, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 4 9 1
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 9 1

ST – Red Sox @ Twins, 12:05 pm, MLB.tv & am1500

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Here’s the deal for today – I’m going to miss the beginning of the game so that is the time commenters will have to tell me whether or not they want a chat put up.  I’ll be back about 12:30 and will put one up if requested.

The big news is that Nathan should have his first game situation pitching!! I really wish I had the ability to see that first hand instead of just listen to someone else’s opinion of how things are going for him.  Here’s the pitchers expected today: pitchers for today’s game: Baker, Nathan, Mijares, Gibson, Gutierrez, Bazardo, Bromberg, Waldrop, & Guerra.

Here’s today’s lineups!

Boston @ Minnesota
Scutaro, SS   Span, CF
Lowrie, 2B   Nishioka, 2B
Cameron, M, DH   Valencia, 3B
Youkilis, 3B   Thome, DH
Kalish, CF   Benson, RF
McDonald, Da, LF   Parmelee, 1B
Saltalamacchia, C   Tosoni, LF
Reddick, RF   Butera, C
Sutton, 1B   Casilla, A, SS
  Lester, P     Baker, S, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Boston 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 5 13 1
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2

 

Boy is it good to remind yourself right now that these are EARLY spring training games because that was kind of painful.  Shut outs are never fun to begin with but yeah, it was a lot of very raw baesball.  The best news was Joe Nathan pitching off the mound in a game situation!!  He managed one complete inning with nothing remarkable either good or bad and throwing between 86-90 mph.  That’s about where he’s usually at this time of year so he felt REALLY good about his outing today and I can’t help but be a little encouraged that one of my favorite hurlers is so obviously on the mend.

Nathan’s post-pitching interview

ST – Twins @ Red Sox, MLB.tv & am1500

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Boy do I like typing post titles like that!  I’m not sure how many people are going to have access to listening to the game on the radio today like me so I don’t think anyone would USE a gamechat – however, if I get a couple comments from people who would like one, I’ll put it up ASAP.  So if you pop in and want to chat with other fans, let me know in the comments and I’ll add it.  But for now, here’s the lineups for today!  Pitchers for today are expected to be: Blackburn, Slowey, Perkins, Slama, Hoey, Guerra, Bromberg, Hacker, Waldrop

Minnesota @ Boston
Revere, LF   Ellsbury, CF
Plouffe, SS   Pedroia, 2B
Kubel, DH   Crawford, LF
Hughes, L, 3B   Ortiz, D, DH
Bailey, J, 1B   Drew, J, RF
Dinkelman, RF   Varitek, C
Tolbert, 2B   Dlugach, B, SS
Rivera, Re, C   Sutton, 1B
Repko, CF   Navarro, Y, 3B
  Blackburn, P     Matsuzaka, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 6 10 1
Boston 0 0 3 0 0 2 2 0   7 11 2

 

Well unfortunately, that leaves the Twins and Red Sox tied up for the Mayors Cup trophy so far with a win a piece.  Don’t forget that you can click on any name in the lineups and get that player’s stats MLB stats page or any spot in the box score and get the MLB detail page for the game.

We did get one request (almost) for a game chat for this game and I’m more than happy to put them up for these day games if people will use them but I’m not going to worry about the effort if folk don’t speak up.  There are a LOT of day games during spring training and I just don’t know how many people have access to the radio during the day.  LET ME HEAR FROM YOU!

News From the ‘Bad Guys’

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I’m a contrarian by nature, so naturally that means I would pick the date that the Twins begin official Spring Training workouts for position players to write about what’s going on with other teams.

It’s not that there isn’t anything to write about the Twins. There’s no shortage of daily media updates, so whether it’s Joe Mauer’s knee (or his shampoo commercial), or Justin Morneau’s long awaited return to the diamond, or Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s first appearance in Twins gear (or perhaps his ‘fight song’ is of greater interest to you), there are finally a number of Twins-related news items to read and ponder. I have already and if you haven’t yet, you should.

But not here.

Here, I’m going to offer some commentary about a few items coming out of the enemy camps this week. Specifically, from our primary divisional rival White Sox, our “made up inter-league rival” Brewers and everyone’s least favorite team, the F’ing Yankees.

White Sox

Our friends on the South Side appear to be the preseason consensus pick to win the AL Central Division. In addition to re-signing Paul Konerko to a big-money deal, they bulked up their lineup by giving slugger Adam Dunn a contract guaranteeing him $56 million over the next four years.

Kenny Williams (Photo: Ron Vesely/MLB Photos)

So, it was interesting to read Sox GM Kenny Williams’ comments about the state of baseball. He essentially made three points:

  1. Anyone who pays $30 million a year for a ballplayer is “insane”.
  2. The MLB financial model sucks and needs to be replaced by something that gives the fans of every team some kind of hope that their team will eventually at least compete for a championship AND if it takes the “game being shut down” to accomplish that reform, Kenny’s fine with that.
  3. The White Sox could lose money this year.

It’s not so much that I disagree with his points (in fact, I find it a bit disconcerting to be in so much agreement with anything Kenny Williams says… to the point where I have to consider whether I might be wrong in my views). I happen to agree that no player, not even Albert Pujols, is worth $30 million a year and particularly not for a contract term that would pay him that amount well beyond any period for which one could reasonably expect him to be among the top players in the game.

I also think the MLB financial model sucks. Of course, I have no idea if the White Sox are actually in danger of losing money, but I wouldn’t find that surprisng.

What’s odd is that this rant is coming from the GM of a major market team that will start the season with something approximating a $125 million payroll. What takes it from odd to amusing is that Williams is essentially complaining about having to overspend to the point of flirting with losing money in order to have a shot at overcoming the Minnesota Twins! How cool is that?

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t recall anyone with the White Sox complaining about MLB’s financial model when the Twins were spending about $50 million a year less than the Sox. But now that the Twins… who had been kicking their collective Bitchy Sox almost every season even when being outspent for talent… are able to afford to spend every bit as much as the Sox do, suddenly their GM doesn’t like how MLB is being run.

I have to admit, however, that this does bring up an issue I’ve been struggling with a bit. Now that the Twins are one of the “haves” in terms of revenue streams, how am I supposed to feel about the whole “revenue sharing” subject? More about this later when we get to the subject of the Evil Empire.

Brewers

Over at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, columnist Michael Hunt wrote a piece on the Brewers’ new “ace” starting pitcher Zack Greinke. I found the column interesting perhaps because I’m still playing “what if”, given that Greinke topped my offseason wish list for the Twins.

Zack Greinke (AP Photo)

In any event, while it’s not the first or the most in-depth article about Greinke’s social anxiety disorder, Hunt does what I think is a balanced job of shedding some light on the relative pros and cons of having Greinke topping the Brewers’ rotation. Whether you choose to believe it’s a justifiable by-product of his ability to deal with his disorder or that it’s just another overpaid pitcher who doesn’t want to have to deal with media and fans, Greinke’s approach is to avoid having to talk whenever he can, but when he does talk, he’s going to tell you exactly what he feels. It seems to be a coping mechanism for him and I’m fine with that, personally, and I hope he has a great season for the Brewers.

That said, I couldn’t help but wonder how his statements would be going over with Twins fans and other Twins players right now, had he been opening up Spring Training in Ft. Myers instead of Phoenix. Throwing him in to the mix along with Nishioka certainly would have given everyone more to chew on this year, that’s for certain.

(And, yes, typing the Milwaukee columnist’s name did cause me to have a “Porky’s” flashback.)

Yankees

The Steinbrenners are back in the news, again. Hank gave an interview which touched on a couple of subjects.

The comment that most of the NY media latched on to most fiercely was when Steinbrenner implied that the reason the Yankees didn’t repeat as WS champions last year was that some players got complacent following the 2009 championship. Specifically, he said, “Some of the players are too busy building mansions and doing other things, not concentrating on winning. I have no problem saying that.”

Apparently Derek Jeter was the only Yankee anyone could identify as having built a new “mansion” during the 2009-10 offseason, so naturally the media assumed this was aimed at Jeter. Steinbrenner denies that his comment was directed at The Great One. To his credit, Jeter responded appropriately. He laughed at his idiot owner.

Bud: "Tell Hank to shut up" (Photo: Cataffo/NY Daily News)

As entertaining as that little exchange was, the Steinbrenner comment that I found spinechilling was with regard to a much broader topic… the MLB financial model (see, I told you we’d get back to this subject). It seems that, like Kenny Williams and me, Hank Steinbrenner thinks the MLB financial model is broken. He sees the problem a bit differently than Kenny and I do, however. Here were his comments about the revenue sharing system that resulted in the Yankees shelling out about $130 million to other teams last year:

“We’ve got to do a little something about that and I know Bud (Selig) wants to correct it in some way,” Steinbrenner said. “There’s a way. Obviously we’re very much allied with the Red Sox, Mets, Dodgers and Cubs in that area. At some point if you don’t want to worry about teams in minor markets, don’t put teams in minor markets or don’t leave teams in minor markets. Socialism, communism – whatever you want to call it – is never the answer.”

I found this comment both refreshing and deeply disturbing.

Refreshing because just when I was growing concerned about agreeing with Kenny Williams about an issue, a Steinbrenner spoke up and argued the opposing side and, thus, reassured me that I’m still on the right side of this debate.

On the other hand, just a hint (regardless of whether there’s even a kernel of truth to it), that the future direction of Major League Baseball and specifically the issue of competitive/financial balance might actually be decided behind closed doors by Bud Selig and the Steinbrenners is just about the worst kind of nightmare possible for fans in virtually every other market.

While Selig apparently was not amused by the comment, he hasn’t exactly jumped at the opportunity to deny anything, either. I do admit, however, that I found it kinda funny that Bud didn’t call Hank and tell him to shut up. He called Hank’s brother, Hal, and told HIM to tell Hank to shut up! Hilarious.

OK, I think I’ve killed enough time not talking about the Twins today… let’s all go check in on Mauer’s knee lubricant, shall we?

– JC

We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

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With spring training opening this week, we’ve had almost four months to dissect literally every aspect of the Twins roster as they head in to the new season. You would think we should all pretty much have it all figured out now, wouldn’t you?

Then again, it’s educational, entertaining, and more than a little bit humbling, to go back in to the archives and take a peek at what the Twins’ perceived strengths and weaknesses have been as pitchers and catchers reported to spring trainings past and compare those to what actually happened.

Glen Perkins, Spring Training 2009 rotation lock (Photo: Jim Crikket)

Two Years Ago

How well do you remember the winter leading up to the 2009 season? Our guys had wrapped up 2008 with a heartbreaking Game 163 loss to the White Sox, despite a gallant pitching effort in that game by Nick Blackburn. In fact, the Twins rotation had finished the season strongly enough that if there was one area part of the roster that seemed set heading in to 2009, it was the rotation. All five members of the Twins’ young rotation (Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Nick Blackburn, Glen Perkins and Kevin Slowey) were returning. Four of them (all but Liriano) had won 10 or more games the previous season and the future looked bright.

The Twins finally seemed to have someone they could plant at 3B with the newly acquired Joe Crede, leaving Alexi Casilla, Nick Punto, Matt Tolbert, Brendan Harris and a few others to mix and match in the middle infield and fill the utility role.

We thought the set-up roles in the bullpen were a bit questionable, but when the Twins brought on Luis Ayala just before camp opened up, that seemed to add the depth necessary to make most people more comfortable. After all, the team still had Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier. Jose Mijares was also coming off an impressive 2008 and was the guy a lot of people thought was set to take on the 8th inning role.

Joe Mauer had been dealing with a kidney issue, but word from the Twins’ office was that he was working his way back in to shape and expectations were that he would be ready to go by Opening Day. A lot of people weren’t so sure and, as it appeared to turn out, with good reason. Mauer missed the first month of the regular season. There was significant angst over who the catchers should be, especially with Mauer’s season in doubt.

The Twins didn’t even open the season with their rotation intact. Baker went on the Disabled List just before camp broke and RA Dickey started the season as the fifth starter. Mijares started the season at AAA Rochester and Ayala never impressed.

As July turned to August, Slowey’s season was finished due to wrist surgery and Liriano had a 4-10 record, a sore forearm, and the worst ERA in the League. The rotation, which was “set” in February, was a mess. The Twins were led down the stretch by newly acquired Carl Pavano and newly promoted Brian Duensing. Crede never seemed to be on the field and the Twins brought in Orlando Cabrera from Oakland to provide some semblance of stability in the infield. Oh… and that catcher everyone fretted about ended up turning in an MVP season that ended after a successful Game 163 and a quick exit from the playoffs.

One Year Ago

As for a year ago, everyone was relieved that Mauer was returning healthy, but there was concern with his M&M partner, Justin Morneau, who had missed the final several weeks of the 2009 season with a back injury. Everyone agreed Jim Thome’s days as a regular contributor were probably behind him but it was good to have him aboard to provide depth at DH and a pinch hitting option that wouldn’t make opposing pitchers giggle when he stepped in to the on deck circle. The arrival of JJ Hardy and Orlando Hudson gave the infield the appearance of having more stability, but now third base was once more a concern with the overly-reviled Nick Punto the likely heir. Fortunately, the back of the bullpen was returning virtually intact, so at least nobody had be concerned with the late inning arms!

Joe Nathan's 2010 season was over before it started (Photo: Jim Crikket)

Oops… that lack of concern, as we now know, lasted all of one week in to March, when Joe Nathan’s season came to an abrupt end. By the time the season started, all anyone could talk about was the one thing nobody had had to talk about before camp opened… who would the Twins use as their closer? A significant number of people felt the job should go to Liriano. Maybe he wouldn’t ever be a reliable starter again, but perhaps the Twins could salvage something by turning him in to a closer. In the end, Ron Gardenhire gave the closer role to Jon Rauch and the final rotation spot to Liriano. Neither decision was met with unanimous (or even consensus) approval in the Twins blogdom.

Once again, by the time the Twins were preparing to enter the final couple of months of the regular season, they had needs that weren’t apparent in February. The perennial black hole at 3B had been filled by Danny Valencia, but the bench depth that Thome was to provide had disappeared when he was pressed in to near-everyday service following Morneau’s July concussion. The rotation once again seemed one solid arm short and the back end of the bullpen was showing signs of wear. Once again, it was Brian Duensing who provided a stabilizing force to the rotation, while Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes were brought in from outside the organization to shore up the bullpen.

Which brings us to today

As camp opens this week, the rotation seems six arms deep, led by Liriano at the top, filling the “ace” role in the minds of many (if not the Twins front office, themselves). There’s understandable concern about the health of both Mauer and Morneau, but the outfield is set. In fact, the only non-pitching spot arguably up for grabs is the utility infielder role. Most of the concerns being expressed focus on the likely performance of the new middle infield and the rebuilt bullpen.

So here’s my final pre-spring training prediction: On March 30, there will be a position causing consternation that few of us are talking about right now and by the July 30 trading deadline, we’ll be pleading for the front office to go get help to fill a role that nobody sees as a major issue today.

Today, we just don’t know what we don’t know.

But I’m sure glad that we’re all finally about to find out.

– JC