Postgame update: Morneau, Cuddyer, Punto
Posted on July 20th, 2008 – 4:34 PMBy Joe Christensen
Justin Morneau’s right hand remained numb as the Twins got ready to fly to New York this afternoon after falling to Texas 1-0.
Morneau took a fastball from Rangers closer C.J. Wilson off the base of the hand, and there appeared to be a bruise on the side of his right pinky. He shrugged it off, much as he did on the field, completing the at-bat. We’ll see how it feels overnight.
“The doctors checked it out, and it was still numb,” Morneau said. “The doc said it was fine. Everything was intact.”
(*) Michael Cuddyer will undergo a CT Scan on Monday, as the team looks for more answers about his left hand injury. It’s been diagnosed as a strained tendon in his left index finger, but Cuddyer continues to feel pain in the palm of his hand. He’s had an MRI exam, which looks at ligaments and tendons. The CT Scan will examine bone.
(*) Nick Punto said he was ready to play today if needed. He played catch before the game and hit some balls off a tee, and his knuckle felt fine, he said. Still, Gardy was concerned enough that he didn’t use Punto as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning with Brian Buscher at first base.
This way, if Punto still needs to go on the 15-day DL, the move would be made retroactive to July 12.
65 Responses to "Postgame update: Morneau, Cuddyer, Punto"
Gardy should sit GoGo down next to him for a few days on the bench as he has to DY. Put Span in center & Kubel in right in NY. Dh Lamb a couple of games, get the lefties aiming for short porch.. GoGo needs to relax & clear his mind. Otherwise drop him to ninth. How many more RBI would Joe & Justin have if Span were leading off? Gardy has set DY down. Now is the time to do it for GoGo. The NY press will be all over him coming back to town.
Boy, would that be bad if Morneau also has a hand injury.
Joe, I’ll be gone for a week or so. Keep up the “good stuff’, I’ll catch up on your writing when I get back. Thank you.
PS. First! Second! Third! Fourth! Big Whoop.
“Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has decided for now to keep Gomez in the leadoff spot, mostly to preserve his confidence. ”
No, the real reason is because after Dave St. Peter went through all the trouble of controlling the damage from the Santana deal — inventing, as he did, the whole ‘Go-Go’ theme, and requiring Dick & Bert to tell us ad nauseum how “exciting” of a player he is — moving him down in the order (or better yet to the minor leagues) would just accentuate how bad that trade was.
This is why Gardenhire is criticized as heavily as he is! If he actually thinks that “Gomez’s confidence would be shattered” if you simply moved him down in the order, then Gardy has no business being a manager. Most players are happy just to be in the big leagues! They sent Casilla down, he got his head right, and now he’s a much better player. It’s funny how when players leave this team (Popi, AJ, Garza) the first thing they say when asked about Gardenhire’s managerial style is that, “He plays favorites.” This is just another example of Gardy rationalizing his stubborness.
I guess I just don’t want to leave since there is work involved. Joe in your opinion, are the White Sox or Twins more likely to make a trade by the deadline? My guess is the Sox. Thanks again.
Brian, I have to disagree with you on players leaving the Twins. More often than not, their careers head downward.
Brian,
It’s impossible to say if that trade was bad or not. Gomez is 22 years old. You think this is what he’s going to look like for his whole career? It’s unfortunate that we have to watch Gomez struggle in the Majors, but what he’s going through right now is the same things Span was over the last two years, but we didn’t have to watch them happen.
Deolis Guerra isn’t even 20 years old. Mulvey and Humber may have an impact in the coming years.
Multiple scouts say Santana’s changeup doesn’t look even close to as good as it once was. We won’t be able to evaluate that trade for a long time.
And Coco, while I agree Gomez has been terrible of late, it’s not like Span’s last couple games have been dazzling. He just had a 14-AB hitless streak of his own.
With any young player, there’s going to be extended slumps and a lot of ups and downs.
Gomez has struggled and maybe dropping him in the order is a solution. But sedning him to the minors? for who? Pridie? he is hitting worse there than Gomez is in MLB
Pinkies are not as important as ring fingers and the one next to it. Justy will be fine.
Did anyone snicker when they read this?:
“Nick Punto….. played catch before the game and hit some balls off a tee.”
i just read it now and i did snicker
Ten bucks says he swung and missed at least once, Mudcat. 
Making fun of Punto isn’t as fun when he’s not flirting with the Mendoza Line though… sigh.
I suppose that’s a good thing though, ha.
I looked up some finger advice to help Morneau:
“Question: How can I prevent a fifth metacarpal fracture?
Since most fifth metacarpal fractures happen because of hitting hard objects with your fist…don’t hit things!”
And don’t let things hit you!
Milwaukee gave up their number one prospect to rent Sabathia for half a season. The Twins didn’t even get the Mets numero uno for Santana. Mulvey is a fifth-starter tops. Guerra has an ERA close to 5.00 and has only struck-out 51 in 99 innings IN A BALL. Humber got hammered by Concordia College in a spring-training game. What Gomez becomes is irrelevant to what he is now when you’re in a pennant race and have seven games coming up against teams you’re directly competing against for a playoff spot.
The Milwaukee trade was unique because they’ve got such a strong need right now. It was obvious that one last player could push them to the top of the AL Central.
The Twins didn’t have that type of advantage; they had a pitcher who gave them an ultimatum and was saying “trade me now or I’ll just walk after this season,” more or less. The Indians had the advantage of being the team with leverage, and so did the Mets.
As for Guerra, would you like to see Nick Blackburn’s numbers from when he was in A ball? Here’s the first few ERAs he posted: 5.00, 4.86, 2.77, 6.27.
But if he’s not good enough, how about Johan’s numbers, since he’s the one in question?
4.36, then 4.66, then when he got called up to the Majors, 6.49 through his first 86 innings.
Man, you’re right, they should just give up on Guerra right now. If you’re not good by the time you’re 19 years old, you just never pan out…
NL Central* in the first paragraph of my post…
This way, if Punto still needs to go on the 15-day DL, the move would be made retroactive to July 12.
Punto to DL, Liriano up? Give him a start or two to either put up or shut up?
i would think that if punto goes on the DL, they would recall another infielder, like macri. liriano is only coming up if a starter gets hurt or goes through a nice stretch of stinking. that’s all there is to it.
Brian,
“The Twins didn’t even get the Mets numero uno for Santana.”
Better than a single #1, the Twins got from the Mets best prospects list(Baseball America rankings)
#2 Guerra
#3 Gomez
#4 Mulvey
#7 Humber
Should I accept your talent evaluations, or should I believe Baseball America’s?
Take a guess!
Yes, let’s take Gomez out of the lineup to give more ABs to Craig Monroe and Mike Lamb. Brilliant!
When will some of you guys get off of Nick Punto’s back? Making fun of him is fun? What it the heck is the matter with you guys? Have you nothing better to do than make fun of a Major League baseball player who just happens to be hitting well over .300 and, when healthy, playing the best shortstop in the major leagues? What will it take you to knock off this sick habit that you have? It is a sickness. I wish I knew what you did for a living so I could make fun of you. Makes no difference if your succedding or failing….I think I’d just like to make fun of you. Pretty sick, isn’t it?
the best shortstop in the major leagues?
dknute, are you Punto’s mom?
best SS in the MLB! wow is this gardy talking or like shawn said puntos mom?!?!?
All we have been hearing about this whole weekend is the joker this the joker that. This just goes to show you good guys like Morneau don’t get any respect.
Though over the top, dknute is bringing up a valid point.
Punto isn’t sucking it up like he was in 2006. It’s time to let that ship sail and start complaining about stuff that’s actually relevant this year.
*2007*
My bad.
I know a little bit about Cuddyer’s hand situation.
If there are any Twins officials that slum and read the garbage that we all write on here… this might help you.
Provided there is no tear in the tissue, this should SEVERELY lessen the swelling, and the pain…
A Deep Tissue massage to Cuddyer’s left hand using pressure point techniques into the upper region of the palm not unlike foot reflexology… using deep friction techniques up the fingers causing the sensations to increase along with the blood flow.
Once this is done electrodes on the elbow, both sides of the wrist, and on the palm of the hand near the heal of the thumb pad for no more than 7-10 minutes at a low level should bring everything to a head.
Before icing the hand down… Myofascial Release Therapy used after this should expand the sheeth around the muscles, and nerves in the wrist, hand and finger allowing them more room to expand, and heal without pain there by healing faster with less pain, and it should decrease the time tremendously.
So while my opinions on sports may not always be appreciated… My opinions on Sports Medicine I hope if anyone of importance with the Twins are looked at, and looked into.
I have cross referenced this with 4 different books, and I’ve got calls out to 4 different high calibur MFR people that I know to make sure, but this should work better than traditional medicine on this particular case.
I don’t usually mix my career with my love of baseball, but I want to see this team in the playoffs this year. They are doing the impossible, and I would like to show them that the fans truly care beyond our words.
I would suggest the procedure mentioned by BC is performed on cuddy by the doctor and the chairman. i can just see mauer massaging cuddy’s left hand while morneau prepares the electrodes.
As for making fun of Nick Punto…
1) 2007 was one of the worst years in the history of major league baseball. It wasn’t a bad year… it was disgustingly bad, and as Twins fans when you see that there is a player out there getting paid high 6 digits, to low 7 digits that is playing so poorly it was embaressing, it was frustrating seeing him go out there and look so badly, and while it made me hate Ron Gardenhire and Terry Ryan for not solving the problem… it kind of manifested into Little Nicky Punterrible.
2) The man dives into 1st base far too often, and gets hurt from it. This is as anyone who has ever played baseball knows… A HUGE NO NO. It defies logic, and it is proven to be an ineffective way to beat a throw to 1st base, and should only be used in an emergency to avoid a tag situation. I have seen 4th grade coaches use the phrase DON’T YOU EVER PULL A PUNTO EVER AGAIN!
3) He is not the best SS in the AL, let alone the best SS in MLB. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, and he makes some amazing plays on Sportcenter, but if he was faster, and had better positioning he would not need to be diving all over the damn place in the first place. Ryne Sandberg never had to dive for balls at 2nd base. Shawon Dunston rarely had to do it at SS. It’s from my earliest memories, but I don’t remember a lot of diving from Brooks Robinson at 3rd base, and Joe DiMaggio made a point that he never dove for a ball in the outfield because he always knew the right trajectory, and the right path… so to say that Punto is the best is ridiculous. To say that he’s terrible is ridiculous… he’s proved that last year was last year… however just like a bankruptcy which his season last year could be compared to… it stays with you for 3 to 8 years… If Punto plays well for the next 2-3 years, and doesn’t dive into 1st base and injure himself again… there is a chance that the 2007 season could be forgotten, and forgiven.
But to expect everyone to be nice, and kind, and hold hands, and not choose Tolbert (who pulled a punto and got hurt), or some other ball player over Punto is asking too much.
Have I and others gone too far? Probably 10 seconds into it, but if we have hurt his feelings, or offended your sensibilities it is as much your fault as ours for allowing that to happen. That being said I am willing to admit to being in the wrong… so feel free.
I am a writer, I am a business owner, I am a massage Therapist, a song writer, and a poet. You can make fun of all of those if you like. I am also hoping to open a T-shirt Business over the internet in the next year or two…
If ripping me would make you feel better about your friend, family member, yourself (if you are Nick Punto), or your role model as a ball player please feel free.
As for any of the rest of you who decide to come after me personally… I will not appreciate that, but if this one individual feels the need… as long as you make no comments about my children, or my wife… this one individual can do whatever they like to try and make me look, and feel bad.
The sad part is when I make those statements about ball players, and I knit pick… it’s because I want this team to be the very best, and in those cases I don’t mind being wrong. Like with Denard Span who is light years better this year than he’s ever shown teh capacity for… I like being wrong like that.
But Punto is hurt again looking like his 3rd trip to the DL if he doesn’t play in the Yankee series.
Oh and if you should need any help picking on me… I’m arrogant, I’m cocky, I’m lousy at spelling, and I think faster than I can type so sometimes I miss mistakes I make on here. Also clicking on my name will take you to my myspace writing page… you can use my words against me from that…
But if I feel like making fun of Punto, or if make a crack about Cuddyer not pulling his weight… or question Bill Smith, or Ron Gardenhire… If I should decide to take shots on here at the Pohlad family… I will whenever I damn well please.
Ugh! BC Beneke
Tom…
That’s a very good point. I don’t want to see Morneau anywhere near electrodes, and I don’t want Cuddyer’s wife worrying about Mauer… lol.
Thank you, you restored my smile!
BC that’s the longest post I’ve ever seen…write a book, my man!
Sane:
#2 Ellsbury (#13 overall)
#4 Masterson (#64 overall)
#5 Lowrie (#73 overall)
Red Sox minor league system ranked #2 in majors. Mets ranked #27.
Martinez (whom Twins didn’t get) #20 overall…
Guerra #35
Gomez #52
Mulvey-not ranked in top 100
Humber-not ranked in top 100.
Every baseball analyst in the country from Buster Olney and Jason Starks to Ken Rosenthal said that it was a bad trade for the Twins. Should we accept your evaluations, or should we believe people who actually make a living at covering major league baseball? Hmm?
(BTW, the dude never said they should have traded Santana for their “numero uno” prospect alone. It says that they didn’t even get their number one prospect as part of the deal. If you can’t even read a post correctly on here than stop embarassing yourself by acting like a freakin’ expert on every little thing).
Nate,
One knows you are on the losing side of an argument when you have to resort to the accuracy of commentary of Olney, Starks and Rosenthal.
Their records are no better than most/many bloggers here. Wish I could get a line on the accuracy of their opinions, I’d take the under and make a fortune
Regards,
Nate–
Do we even know if Ellsbury, Masterson and Lowrie were ever offered for Santana? Or was it just speculation from fans and sportswriters?
Every baseball analyst in the country from Buster Olney and Jason Starks to Ken Rosenthal said that it was a bad trade for the Twins. Should we accept your evaluations, or should we believe people who actually make a living at covering major league baseball? Hmm?
WAS is the key word. What are they saying now when Johan doesn’t look like the Johan of old????
The problem with taking the word of ESPuNdits as law is that a lot of times they’re guilty of the same bandwagon jumping as all the rest of us.
A trade of Johan for prospects looks terrible as an immediate value. But with prospects the long term benefits have to be measured against what they gave up.
It’s just like Young/Harris vs. Garza/Bartlett. Or Kielty vs. Stewart.
Heck, look at the Castillo trade. Yeah it had a negative impact at the time of the trade, but what has Castillo put together for the Mets since he went there? Is he even playing right now?
On the trade front: I see the Orioles might be shopping George Sherrill.
Is that a possible fit? Or do you think Baltimore will grossly overvalue him after his grand national appearance at the All-Star Game?
I knew Cuddy was going to be out for a while. I’ve had finger injuries from diving into third and they take much longer than most people think to heal. It’s amazing how you forget how important EVERY finger on your hand is until one is hurt. Strained ligament? He won’t be 100% this year and it will affect his swing still when/if he comes back at less than 100% (Ligament Strains suck!!
Twins need to do something about teams like the Rangers hitting Morneau so much.
Johan has been pitching like Johan the 1st half. W/L isn’t that good, but ERA is low 3, best on the team actually. Let’s see what happens the 2nd half when Johan usually starts hitting stride before anyone says he’s not the same
Starters wise
T,
grossly overvalue
although he is under control and cheap until 2011
BC Beneke,
I certainly seemed to hit a raw nerve with you, and you weren’t even one of the people who had gotten under my skin. Anyway, I certainly do admit to “going over the top” about Punto in my post. I didn’t mean to say that I think Punto is the best SS in the Major Leagues. What I intended to post was that I thought he was currently playing the best SS in the American League (before his injury). Unfortunately, I’m not a writer professionally like you are (and I was a bit too “fired up” when I posted). I’m an elementary school counselor who’s spends a great deal of time teaching young kids about character traits like Trustworthiness, Responsibility, Fairness, and Respect. That’s part of my problem with people who consistently post negative attacks against a single player like Punto. I think it’s disrespectful and tremendously unfair. Especially since 2007 is over and this is 2008 and he’s performing at a much, much higher level. I’m 61 years old now, but when I was a lot younger I played baseball….American Legion, High School and Amateur for a number of years. I’ve also coached baseball. I totally agree with you about the impropriety of diving into first base. It’s not a very smart thing to do…I would never teach anyone to do it. I would teach just the opposite. But would I publicly bash someone for doing it as consistently as so many have done and still do? Absolutely not. It would be totally unfair, especially if there were so many other positive things about that player’s game, as is the case with Punto. He had a terrible year last year. It’s now 2007 and he’s doing well. Stop the bashing…. that’s all I’m saying. By the way, I’m not Punto’s mother nor am I related to him in any way. I’m not even a real big Nick Punto fan necessarily. I just want people to be fair and I think it’s time to lay off of Nick Punto. Again, I will apologize if I went to far in my first post.
By the way, I’m not Punto’s mother nor am I related to him in any way.
I wouldn’t worry about comments such as those, dknute. They’re the typical response if anybody dares to disagree that maybe X-player isn’t the worst ever.
Because either you hate the player unapologetically, or your his mom. It makes sense in some context I guess…I’ve just yet to find it.
Nate,
Olney, Starks and Rosenthal’s jobs are to write, not to evaluate baseball talent. That job is for professional baseball scouts and BA’s job is to pick the brains of those scouts.
And if reciting BA rankings means that I am “acting like a freakin’ expert on every little thing”, then you have just committed the same crime.
Please let me know when I have your permission to express another opinion and I will pretend to give a sh-t.
Thank you T, I do understand that. One more thing I’d like to add to my post above is that, as a school counselor I spend a great deal of time trying to stop bullying in our school. In that attempt I’ve worked a great deal not only with the victims of bullying but also with the bullies themselves. I’ve got to say that this ‘Attack the weak player” attitude that so many who post on these blogs have very much mirrors bully behavior and I’ll work against that wherever I see it.
to lighten things up a little;
does anybody else think if you put a top hat on gardy and shave his beard he’d look just like w.c. fields?
“does anybody else think if you put a top hat on gardy and shave his beard he’d look just like w.c. fields?”
Ahhh Yasssss!
I can definitely see it in the little fellaaahhh!
‘Attack the weak player” attitude ??
hold on now are you calling PUNTO a weak player?? 
dknute,
IMO, your 9:48am post is dead-on target.
Ooops!
Did I just offer an opinion which wasn’t pre-approved?
My bad!
sane,
I second your comments on dknute’s comments. Shame on you bullies!!
not sure a player getting 2.4M this year to slide into 1st and sit on the DL is really going to feel “victimized” by what some folks on a BLOG have to say
I’m guessing that the bullying is not as seen from Punto’s perspective, but more from the perspective of the jackasses who pile on someone who is struggling.
sane are you talking about souhan? have to say i agree with him this morning, even tho he likes to pile on.
speaking of souhan piling on:
young: .299 ave, .340 obp, .405 slg. 4 hr, 39 rbi.
the great carl crawford: .270 ave, .313 obp, .384 slg, 8 hr, 48 rbi.
I think we all need some perspective if the harshest trial these millionaries go through is some guys with no athletic talent(otherwise we would be playing baseball not discussing it!!) ripping them in a blog for a paper that is losing membership in droves they are indeed blessed. in NY or Boston these guys would have been skewered.. look at Johan? he is having his best 1st half of the season in his career and they are booing him??
“in NY or Boston these guys would have been skewered.”
Thats because, in NY and Boston, there are millions of no-talent, frustrated losers.
In Minnesota we just don’t have the numbers.
LOL - sane did you just zing all of us in one concise post??
Because a player dives a lot doesn’t mean he’s out of position or doesn’t field his position well. I bet Punto’s getting to a lot of grounders that other shortstops wouldn’t get to. It’s called having range, maybe he’s diving for grounders that other players wouldn’t even be close enough to consider diving.
Gomez has made a fair amount of diving catches this year, and he’s pretty slow too.
FIRE,
“Thats because, in NY and Boston, there are millions of no-talent, frustrated losers.
In Minnesota we just don’t have the numbers.”
“sane did you just zing all of us in one concise post??”
I think I included a self-inflicted zing.
I have been a frustrated loser in MN and NY. i could as 2 of the millions i figure.
oops i count as 2 of the millions…..
I respect the “cutting Punto some slack” stance, but I also have a right to bash him as often as I want to. That’s not to say I’m going to. I’ve been uncharacteristically Punto-friendly lately, due to his level of play. Still, for a player who makes millions of dollars (that we, the fans, provide) to essentially entertain us and to not produce… well, a little criticism is the price one might have to pay. If that’s “bullying” (it’s not) than so be it. This is a grown man who plays a game for a living. When Gardenhire insisted on playing Punto everyday when he was doing poorly or when Punto acted entitled to a starting spot even though he wasn’t earning it I had every right to criticize him everyday, all day, from a mountain top. I still do, even if he is earning more playing time.
I’ve been saying for a long time that DY doesn’t deserve the criticism and that people should go easy on him, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do it.
Patrick,
You (and everyone) has that right.
No one is calling the police to arrest the critics.
You, I, and everyone also have the right to verbally(?) defend the criticized and question the reasoning and motivation of the critics.
No one’s “rights” are in question or in jeopardy.
Sane,
I wasn’t doubting our “rights”, but when the criticizers are made out to be bad people, I feel it’s necessary to reassert them. Of course people can say whatever they like about whatever topic they choose… that’s the beauty of blogs. Complete and total anonymity.
Patrick,
Totally agree.
If personal attacks are eliminated, and the subject is just baseball, then the blogs are great!
Personal attacks come far to frequently in this type of setting. Seems the anonymity of the internet makes allows people to say things that they never, ever would say under any normal circumstance.
The only way that I feel this would be even partially combated is to have a login, but even with that, it wouldn’t make things that much better. At least there wouldn’t be name stealing.
