By The Jazzy One, on September 1st, 2010%
The Twins are fighting injuries in a big way right now.
Of course it all started with Joe Nathan undergoing season-ending surgery before the season even started.
Then of course the other big one is Justin Morneau who has been out of action for nearly 2 months now because of the effects of a concussion.
Kevin Slowey is out of the pitching lineup because of an injury.
40 year old DH Jim Thome is banged up, and will not be in the lineup tonight.
Last night Jason Kubel got hit on the wrist, and even though it’s not broken (fortunately), his wrist and hand are swollen, and he’s listed as day-to-day.
New Twins reliever Brian Fuentes had his back “lock up” on him during warm-ups yesterday, and he’s not going to be available for a couple of days.
Orlando Hudson is having problems with his ankle, and although he played last night and insists that nothing is
wrong, manager Ron Gardenhire said it was obvious that his ankle was bothering him.
Tonight’s lineup:
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
5. Delmon Young, LF
6. Danny Valencia, 3B
7.Jose Morales, DH
8. Jason Repko, RF
9. J.J. Hardy, SS
I really, really, REALLY don’t like having a lineup without Morneau, Kubel, or Thome.
Hopefully Francisco Liriano has a good night.
By The Jazzy One, on August 23rd, 2010%
The Twins are going to rest Francisco Liriano for a couple extra days this week. He was scheduled to be up tonight, but manager Ron Gardenhire thinks that his struggles over the last couple of games are probably due to a “dead arm”.
This tends to be the time of year that starting pitchers can get worn out, and the fact that Liriano pitched about 50 games in Winter ball probably adds to the tiredness.
Nick Blackburn will take the mound instead. Blackburn was shipped down to AAA a few weeks back after having several straight bad outings. Blackburn seemed to find his stuff again while in the minors, so he’s going to be brought back up.
Originally Brian Duensing was put into the starting rotation to replace Blackburn. Duensing has been pitching very well, though, and the Twins are likely to want to keep him in the rotation.
During the weekend, though, Kevin Slowey hurt his throwing arm and will have to be placed on the DL. For now, Blackburn will take Slowey’s place in the rotation.
Duensing and Pavano were offered extra rest as well, but neither of them felt like they needed it at this point, which allowed Liriano to get a total of 3 extra days. Liriano was greatful for the extra time.
The current pitching rotation will look like this:
- Carl Pavano
- Brian Duensing
- Francisco Liriano
- Scott Baker
- Nick Blackburn
By The Jazzy One, on August 9th, 2010%
Kevin Slowey was scheduled to start this Wednesday against the White Sox, but he will be skipped this time around in the rotation. He’s been dealing with some soreness in his elbow lately, and this will hopefully give him a chance to heal up.
Normally in a situation like this the Twins would just move Liriano’s start up a day, since the team has Monday off, but but Liriano and Carl Pavano asked for the extra day off as well to give their arms a rest.
So instead the Twins will bring up Glen Perkins from AAA for the night. He’ll get the start against Chicago.
Perkins isn’t a newcomer to the starting rotation. He’s actually started 43 games in the last two seasons in Minnesota
By The Jazzy One, on August 9th, 2010%
After hitting his 578th career home run on Sunday, Jim Thome (who turns 40 at the end of this month) was asked if he has any plans for retiring.
Apparently this is a hot topic among 40 year old athletes in the Minneapolis area.
The difference between Thome and some other 40 year olds is that Thome isn’t afraid to say he wants to keep playing.
Of course he knows that there might be limitations, but he doesn’t really
want to hang it up just yet.
Big Jim’s response was: “I’m just having fun right now. I’d like to continue to play, I would. I’m trying not to get ahead of myself here. Bottom line is I’ve loved Minnesota. Minnesota’s been great. The organization, the front office, the players, the manager, the coaching staff, everybody’s been great. Hopefully we can accomplish what we’re tying to do.”
Thome has a good role in Minnesota. He’s not an every day player at DH… instead he can share that role with guys like Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel. When Thome plays the DH position, he gives the Twins another deep ball threat. When Mauer or Kubel start at DH, Thome gives the Twins a great pinch-hitting option.
It seems that when guys like Thome have ended up in Minnesota in the past they end up staying a year, and then they’re gone.
If Thome plans on playing beyond this year, I wouldn’t mind seeing him stick around in Minnesota.
By The Jazzy One, on August 9th, 2010%
The Twins were hoping that Justin Morneau would travel to Chicago with the team to take on-field batting practice for the next couple of days before heading to a short AAA stint to get back into playing shape.
It turns out that’s not going to happen now. Instead Morneau is going to keep working out at Target field instead.
The Twins aren’t calling it a setback, saying that Morneau had a really good weak last week. They also won’t give a timetable for a return, though, either.
I hate to be pessimistic here, but I can’t really see this as a good sign.
That being said, I don’t know if I’d want to travel all the way to Chicago just to have batting practice if I were in Justin’s shoes.
How do you feel about the whole situation?
By The Jazzy One, on August 6th, 2010%
 Image via Wikipedia
Justin Morneau has been on the DL since July 7th with concussion issues. The team was hoping that he was starting to show improvement last
weekend, but then things seemed to spin the wrong way. After trying to work out with the team last weekend Morneau started to feel worse.
However, it was good to hear that Gardenhire said that Justin was feeling great after a workout Wednesday.
When asked if Morneau would be ready to play against the White Sox, though, Gardy said “Day-to-day. Just day-to-day.”
The Twins have been hitting well without Morneau in the lineup, but obviously it never hurts to add a guy that adds one of the team’s best averages, one of the team’s highest RBI totals, and the ability to hit home runs.
By The Jazzy One, on July 30th, 2010%
I was just listening to 1500 ESPN online, and they were interviewing Ron Gardenhire.
A couple news tidbits, he mentioned that Nick Punto’s injury is more than just a cramp in his leg, and he’ll likely have to go to the DL.
Gardy also mentioned that he thinks Nick Blackburn needs to be getting some starts, so he will likely be sent down to AAA to pitch for a while.
The Punto news comes at a bad time. Valencia is playing well as an infielder for the Twins, but Punto will be the third Twins infielder out because of an injury, joining Justin Morneau and Orlando Hudson. That leaves Cuddyer, Cassilla, Hardy, and Valencia to play the infield, but the Twins will probably have to promote someone else as well.
As for the Blackburn news, I’ve been saying that he needs to be in AAA for a while now. It’s good to hear that the Twins are finally going to do it.
By The Jazzy One, on July 30th, 2010%
The Minnesota Twins traded catching prospect Wilson Ramos and minor league pitcher Joe Testa for All Star closer Matt Capps from the Washington Nationals.
I’ll be honest, I’m a little torn with my opinion on this one.
On one had it seems that it’s a good trade for the next couple of months. Jon Rauch has been doing a decent job as a closer, but most people agree that Matt Capps is a step up from Rauch. That will give the Twins the freedom to move Rauch to a setup role, which might be helpful since Matt Guerrier has had some less-than-stellar outings lately. It also gives the Twins an extra bullpen option since they recently had to move Brian Duensing into a starting role, and no one is sure how stable Nick Blackburn will be when it comes to relief pitching.
On the other hand, what about next year? The Twins will have control of Capps’ contract through 2011, but assuming Joe Nathan comes back healthy and effective next season, the Twins will find themselves with two All Star closers. I suppose it would work to put one of them into a setup role, but are either of them going to be happy in that position? Would the Twins end up trading one of them? If so, that puts them in a rough spot… do they keep Joe Nathan, who has been valuable for years to the Twins, a regular in the All Star game, is closing in on the Twins all time saves record, and probably at this point plans to close out his career in Minnesota? Or do they keep Capps, who is also an All Star, and is quite a bit younger than Nathan, but will become a free agent after 2011 (which means if he’s good, the Twins will have to worry about the bigger market teams swooping in)?
Wilson Ramos might not have as much value to the Twins as he could since they just locked up Joe Mauer for the next 8 years, but if he’s really as promising as many people around the web seem to think he is, was it really worth trading him for a pitcher (that will fill a role that was already filled fairly well) for a couple months of baseball? It just seems that they could’ve went after someone to fill a bigger need.. like making more of a push for Lee or Oswalt when they were available.
I really don’t know which way I lean.
What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know.
By The Jazzy One, on July 26th, 2010%
BALTIMORE — Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson landed on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday because of a strained right oblique muscle — although he tried all he could to stay on the active roster.
Read The Whole Article Here:Hudson goes on DL for a second time | StarTribune.com
Hudson will be headed to the 15 day DL for the second time this season, but it brings up some interesting (and potentially scary?) questions about the real status of Joe Mauer.
Mauer has been battling some soreness lately, leading to the Twins giving him some extra days off at the catcher position.
And now when our second baseman gets hurt, the Twins bring up Jose Morales… another catcher? Butera will probably still get the spot of primary backup catcher, according to the article, with Morales able to pinch hit for Drew late in games. While Morales probably is a better hitter than Butera, do you really bring up a guy to pinch hit for your backup catcher if you expect your starting catcher to play?
The whole thing seems kind of strange to me. I think there’s more going on with Joe Mauer than Gardenhire wants to share with the world at this point.
By The Jazzy One, on July 21st, 2010%
In a move that likely shocks nobody, Brian Duensing will replace Nick Blackburn in the starting rotation, beginning Friday night in Baltimore.
Per third base coach Scott Ullger, who is the acting manager on Wednesday with Ron Gardenhire tending to a family issue, the move is temporary — a chance for Blackburn to simply take a step back.
Read The Whole Article Here:Notebook: Duensing to replace Blackburn in starting rotation | 1500 ESPN Twin Cities
Earlier this week I wrote about the struggles of Nick Blackburn, so the news comes as no surprise to me that this Friday Blackburn will move to the bullpen and Brian Duensing will take his spot in the starting rotation.
Some people thought Duensing would take the fifth starting spot over Francisco Liriano at the beginning of the season, but when Liriano started to pitch well, Duensing was moved to the bullpen. He’s done a good job so far pitching in relief.
The Twins say that this is temporary, and it’s just an opportunity for Blackburn to “catch his breath” so to speak. I assume if Blackburn struggles at all from the bullpen he will be taking a trip to Rochester soon.
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