Some roster moves
Posted on March 9th, 2008 – 7:54 AMBy La Velle
The Twins cut 12 players from camp today.
Catcher Jose Morales was optioned to Class AAA Rochester. Righthanders Jose Mijares and Oswaldo Sosa were optioned to Class AA New Britain.
Righthanders Amando Gambino, Zach Day and Deolis Guerra, lefthander Brian Duensing, catchers Jeff Christy and Allan de San Miguel, infielders Alejandro Machado and Felix Molina and outfielder Darnell McDonald were assigned to the minor league camp.
Here are today’s lineups:
26-time World Champions: 1. Cabrera, CF. 2. Cano, 2B. 3. Matsui, DH. 4. Duncan, 1B. 5. Ensberg, 3B. 6. Lane, LF. 7. Molina, C. 8. Woodward, SS. 9. Tabata, RF. Pitching: Hughes.
Two-tiime World Champions: 1. Span, CF. 2. Gomez, RF. 3. Young, LF. 4, Morneau, 1B. 5. Monroe, DH. 6. Buscher, 3B. 7. Redmond, C. 8. Punto, 2B. 9. Everett, SS. Pitching: Bonser, then Guerrier, Nathan, Bass, Cali and others.
82 Responses to "Some roster moves"
So nice to see the injury prone, slap singles hitting, overrated catcher out of the lineup.
So Duensing and Day are out… two down. Slowey might be next if he keeps it up.
FSN today at 12:05. Pretty good linup to watch, not so much on the Yankee side.
It will be fun to see Hughes and Tabata though. Maybe we can hit Hughes like we have hit Joba, Kennedy, Buchholz and Lester…
Jeff, you forgot “batting title winning” from your adjectives for Mauer.
Jeff, the horse is already dead… you can stop beating it.
Jeff, I’m sure the majority of the teams in the majors would love to have Mauer on their team, get a clue man not every player is going to be injury free his whole career and I’ll take a slap hitting .300 hitter any day over some of the catchers we’ve had (Laudner, Butera etc.)
Jeff, Obviously a good nights sleep didn’t get you any brighter.
Obviously a good night’s sleep didn’t make you obnoxious MN homers any more objective.
V-Mart > McCann > Russell Martin >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Injury Prone Slap Hitting Baby Jesus
Getting back to the roster moves. I think out of the bunch of cuts, Machado had the best spring. It appeared that he made a nice impression.
It was a good move to pick him in the Rule 5, let him rehab in Ft. Myers all season, then bring him back in the off season.
Jeff.
Stop. You have become annoying. You have absoulutly no standing to call ANYONE “obnoxious.”
You cant keep doing this. I was ok with you when you brought this up two days ago, but if you want to keep posting you will have to diversify your opinion. If not, you are treading into “Craig” territory.
Diversify my opinion? If by that you mean, fall into the trap of buying into the Mauer BS propaganda, than no–I’m not going to be as stupid as most Minnesotans and refuse to see the flaws of an injury prone singles hitter.
No. What I mean is post something that dosent include the words “slap hitting,” “singles hitting,” or “injury prone.”
Like talk about one of the other 60 people in camp…
But cutting and pasting the same post over and over is both boring and annoying.
Is this the first time both Span and Gomez have started in the same game?
Jeff, Just to state my opinion concerning Mauer, the twin’s usually go with players with both defensive and offensive talent. When you look at the defensive side in the caught stealing percentages Mauer throws out .434 runners while Martin is at .323, V-Mart is at .245 and Mccann is at .217 plus Mauer still has a career batting average of .313, we have other “power” hitters in the lineup to cover the homeruns.
Tim, I believe so. I was disapointed to see Span at the top, until I got to the second batter… It will be interesting to compare them back to back…
The lineup today with Span & Gomez 1 & 2 should be a track meet, it should be fun to watch.
Hopefully Gardy is starting LNP @ 2nd today to “showcase” him for a potential trade. 
LEN3,
How is the rotation shaping? Baker, Franchise, Boof, Livian, Perkins?? Slowey?? Is Perkins destined for the rotation or the pen? Good to see Monroe and Kubel get some knocks in…need them both to produce at DH.
So how many more weeks do I have to wait for My29 to pick up Sunday games? I’m too poor for cable…hell, I’m too poor to go to a bar and watch their cable. (Guy can’t even afford a beer!)
I love all of the roster battles happening in today’s lineup. Gomez, Span, Monroe, Punto, the pitchers…should be interesting!
Coco — we need to see which LNP will be here this year, the 2006 edition or the 2007 edition. Be honest, if (now that he’s injury free) he can revert to his ‘06 form, he’ll be a great asset to the team.
Instead of swatting at an angry, stubborn, lonely bull, just let Jeff stand out in the field all alone.
Irrespective of his ability to turn every rebuttal into Joe Mauer bandwagonering, thereby raising the practice of “douchebaggery” to Platonic levels, he’s continues to offer nothing of substance to this forum–don’t indulge him and reclaim this space.
Yet another blind Mauer homer.
No wonder Twins fans are seen as some of the least intelligent in the baseball world.
On another matter, I’m heading to my favorite sports bar today to watch the should-be Santana trade pieces Twins Phil Hughes and Melky Cabrera (who’s relegated Johnny Damon–past his prime, to be sure–to the bench last season and looks to do the same this year) in center.
Are there any elements of the Santana trade certain to make the team out of spring training?
Thanks to Jeff for so reliably proving the point.
The 06 Punto hit in front of a guy who was hitting .400 at the All-Star break. The last Twin to do that was Rod Carew, that slap hitting singles hitter that he was, and a poor excuse for a defensive second baseman, as well. What’s that? Hall of Fame did your say? Oh yeah. I guess the Hall of Fame’s standards have really slipped.
Where was I? Oh yeah, if Punto is the starting second baseman, he’ll hit in front of Adam Everett. I project another 2007 from the guy who’s struck out 19% of the time for his career, which is a really high number for a middle infielder with no power.
Yeah I think Punto is probably the utility guy this year. GREAT glove, but he needs to produce this year. I’m starting to like the lineup 1-7 with Gomez leading off.
Interesting, I believe this is the first time Gomez has not lead off our played Center Field. Gardy has been giving Gomez lots of chance, I think it is good to let Pridie and Span get a few more opportunities. I like what Span has been doing this spring based on the reports.
Still looking forward to seeing Gomez lead off opening day against the Angels.
Joe Mauer was the High School All-American.
Jeff was the guy who got his face dunked in the boys-room toilet by the Jocks.
You can understand his bitterness toward Mauer.
No A-Rod or Jeter. Boy, that two hour bus trip is sooooo long.
All joking aside, Punto should see the field in every game the Twins are leading in the 7th inning for either Lamb @ 3rd or Harris @ 2nd. He should not be a starter.
If Punto is anything more than the utility guy, the folks at MLBTicket will have one less subscription.
As for the rotation, Nick Blackburn has raised the stakes. Slowey has struggled but looked better of late. Same with Perkins. Perk could be that second lefty out of the pen, although the Twins may decide that he needs innings after the lost season that was 2007.
As for Mauer, he hasn’t turned 25 yet. I wouldn’t tag him as a slap hitter yet.
jeff,
you make some interesting points, however i have to disagree with some.
you stated, “So nice to see the injury prone, slap singles hitting, overrated catcher out of the lineup.”
in regards to his being in jury prone, wouldn’t you, too? i mean, jury duty is REALLY boring, and they hardly give you any time to nap. i have found myself prone a couple of times when in jury.
slap singles hitting? this IS cause for concern. i respect mauer’s outward support for the insitution of marriage, but that gives him absolutely NO right to go around slapping singles. do men really slap people, anyway? seams kind of lame to me.
overrated catcher? (i think your english needs some work). playing professional baseball certainly builds the appetite. if i were a major league baseball catcher, i might over eat from time to time. but eventually your full stomach turns to poo, and you are no longer “overrated”. trust me, he’ll be fine!
Jeff,
You are entitled to your opinion, but since you have to come in here and insult Twins fans by saying “No wonder Twins fans are seen as some of the least intelligent in the baseball world” shows me that you aren’t a Twins fan and should stop wasting your time on a TWINS blog.
Mauer will be fine.
jeff–i just dont understand the pleasure you take in being a complete uninformed, cruel and to say the least stupid arse that you are….you need to just grow up and try to be something other than a pathetic loser…you are now on ignore from me…
Boof lost command of the strike zone in the second inning. Single, walk, walk, two-run single by Jose Molina, RBI groundout by Chris Woodward. It’s 3-0 Yanks.
Pat Reusse and Joe Soucheray are doing innings 3-4-5 of the game in KSTP. Should be a hoot..
I think we should put Jeff in touch with Beantown.
Lavelle…you need to go jump in the booth with bert and dick…..look forward to your comments…
Hey LEN3—what is the latest with the Joe Nathan Contracts. Think they will keep status quo until the deadline and then see where they are at?
twins need to sign nathan…end of story….should not even be a ? the man is a twin, wants to be here, is one of the great veteran leader, and to top it all off, hes one of, if not the best closer in baseball…give the man what he wants…he deserves it….
mj1—I agree, but I don’t think they will. They need his leadership in the pen and clubhouse.
As for Joe Mauer: His lifetime on base average is .394; batting average is .313; he scores just under 80 runs a year and knocks in 72; his slugging is .450 or so. He averages 32 doubles, so he’s more than a singles hitter. He doesn’t hit many homeruns - his only down side (remember Carlton Fisk was injured during his first decade and he lasted 24 years and made the hall of fame.)
Plus, Mauer has a good to very good glove.
In today’s game, where there are maybe 10 top catchers, Mauer is one of the top five.
Everybody busy? What happened to Boof? I missed the first hour or so of the game.
BTW, the top five catchers: Russell Martin, Jorge Posada, Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer, Brian McCain, in no particular order.
Then you got guys like Pudge and Ramon Hernandez and a few others, befor dropping into mediocrity. There are some up and coming backstops…
Yankees-Twins: The Live Blog
March
9 Good afternoon. It’s windy and 64 here at Hammond Stadium. We have Phil Hughes vs. Boof Bonser.
FIRST INNING
In his first at-bat of the spring, Hideki Matsui grounded into a 3-6-3 double play. The Japanese media is here in force to chronicle his debut.
A few of the New York writers went over to talk to Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire to get his opinion about yesterday’s incident. Gardenhire hadn’t seen the play but defended Elliot Johnson because it’s such an instinctive decision. “When you try not to get hurt, that’s when you get hurt,” he said. But Gardenhire made it clear that running the catcher over is not the norm for a spring training game.
This is one of those situations where both sides have a point. In my opinion, Johnson used unnecessary roughness for a spring training game. The question now is when and how the Yankees will retaliate.
Meanwhile, Phil Hughes just had a 1-2-3 first inning. 12 pitches/9 strikes.
SECOND INNING
The Yankees scored three runs off Boof Bonser. Jose Molina had a two-run double with the bases loaded.
Three up and three more down for Phil Hughes. 13 pitches/8 strikes. He looks great.
THIRD INNING
Phil Franchise is the man. Three more easy outs. Nine up and nine down. 35 pitches/24 walks.
Counting the game against South Florida, he has retired all 15 batters he has faced this spring.
FOURTH INNING
Phil Hughes threw four great innings: 4 0 0 0 2 1 57 pitches/35 strikes. He walked two in the fourth inning as he appeared to tire a bit. But the Yankees left him in to get out of his own jam and he got Craig Monroe to ground out to end the inning.
Oh, my bad. The blog is still on standard time. Time to read and catch up
Gomez 0-3 with 4 LOB, hitting .190 now. The Twins have no hits and they have their regular lineup out.
Wouldn’t you know it, the most dismal game of ST and it’s the one that’s televised.
Come on Pridie, get some frickin’ runs. Where do you want to play, AAA or the Bigs?
I didn’t see it. So was Hughes nasty and overwhelming or were the Twins sleepy?
Romer:
Not televised in NY…I got to go for a drive to hear the game but I dislike Sterling and Suzy-gal (yanks radio voices) I would have loved to see Hughes pitch today (considering he did very well)
As for Gomez, best he start in minors so he can work on his game outside the spotlight and improve.. Force-feeding him into the lineup in april and may only will mean he will hit a wall (even if he starts out well) and have to go down anyway.A desire for instant gratification will hurt in the long run.Patience, Patience and Patience.
“Patience, Patience, and Patience” is probably the mantra of choice overall for the coming season……unfortunately.
Crap, Ruiz walks. I wanted to see him hit.
Between innings, Gardy was talking with an ump in the dugout. He wasn’t very happy. Wonder what that was about.
Well, I got to see Ruiz RUN anyway. He carries some extra baggage with him, doesn’t he.
The ump sucked today, as evidenced by 18 walks in the game and only a few striekouts. I don’t think he called one close pitch a strike. Nothing makes baseball more depressing than an ump who can’t raise his right hand.
Well cmath, that makes the Hughes performance even better I suppose.
At least the Twins got the tying run on in the 9th.
Funny, Phil Hughes had no problem getting through 4 innings, even with a bad ump. Good thing he’s not a Twin.
I get sick to my stomach seeing Hughes pitch. To think the the Twins blew a chance to pick him up.Hughes straight up would have been a good trade. So much for the Twins great scouting staff.
Dave:
A local blogger here in NY felt your pain. He/She wrote
CB
March 9th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
If I were a twins fan, it would be a tough thing to watch Carlos Gomez making an out by hitting himself with a bunt while watching Phil look so smooth.
If Phil stays healthy he’s going to have a very good season. He’s got #1 starter stuff and I think we’ll see some of that this year.
Shelley is having a very impressive spring. Not only his he hitting but showing patience. He seems to fit in the lineup with the way he’s driving the ball but also getting on base at a very high clip.
Can we please see Hughes pitch a season before we crown him? lol…I like what I am seeing out of these guys we got from the Mets. Let is play out before getting too jumpy.
What is it you like about the players the Twins got for this year? The .200 batting average? The future in AAA for Humber and Mulvey this year? How about Guerra in A? This year counts. We still have to pay for tickets. They players still get older, and their stats still count. Hughes isn’t crowned as anything, but he’s proven he can get MLB players out. Melky has proven he can play in the majors (not be great, but be good). None of the guys the Twins got have proven anything yet. And, Hughes has been and continues to be projected to be a number 1 pitcher. When you traded Garza, you had to get a number 1 pitcher back, as NO ONE in the Twins organization (maybe Robertson) has that kind of stuff. Smith failed to do that.
Should we just give him a pass? People gave Ryan a pass for years (funny, everyone says how empty the system is, but no one blames that on the FO, weird).
mike,
They deserve a pass until things play out. You are stuck staring at stats and where the players are today. Gomez may be hitting around .200 right now, but he has shown flashes of big time talent. Guerra looked very good as a 17 year old! His future appears to be bright. Humber has been solid, which is what we expect. Can he make the jump and be a solid 4 in the rotation?
Only time will tell. I agree about Hughes, he has looked great so far. I was impressed with him last year and think he is good. However, he was the only piece of the Yankee deal that I cared for. I would rather have the upside of Gomez then Melky, personally.
This trade can’t be judged this year, that is simply unfair. If we would have judged the Liriano, Bonser, Nathan trade immediately we would have been saying the same thing. Let it play out.
But you can’t just ignore this year either. They still have to play. They still expect us to pay for tickets. They will get a year closer to retiring or to FA or higher pay. This year does count. You can’t fully judge the trade for years, but you can’t write off this year as if it doesn’t count. Everyone seems to be willing to do that.
They cut payroll, raised ticket prices, and now are saying “this year doesn’t count”. Well, it does.
Mike,
I believe this years lineup is better than last years. I have no doubt in my mind. For the first time in a long time we have a balanced lineup that has some pop at the bottom. We even have some pop off the bench now that Monroe and Kubel will be splitting DH. That along with a Lamb or Buscher. This lineup will score runs and be much more dangerous.
We also have a young staff that has some experience now. Liriano is coming back and hopefully going to give us a nice starter at the top of the rotation. Baker improved a ton last year and looks ready to pitch. Bonser looks refocused and did prove 2 years ago he can throw at this level. Black and Slowey are questions, but talented ones.
It will come down to the rotation. If the rotation grows into its potential this years team will be dangerous. The future of this team is even brighter.
Honestly, I love the design of this young team.
Mike — that’s like predicting who’s going to win a ballgame after the top of the first inning. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played! We’re only about 1/3 of the way through Spring Training for heavens’ sakes. Gomez has 18 at bats, and the three pitchers have a combined 10 innings (although they’ve combined to make nine of those innings shutouts, so I can’t say I’m complaining…)
Small. Sample. Size.
Yes, Hughes is legit, but unless you’ve got a crystal ball, let’s judge the trade at the end of the season. And if you do have a crystal ball, see if you can tune in the Dow Jones instead of spending time here!
I’m not basing ANY of this off of ST, that would be foolish. I’m basing it off what scouts on BA, ESPN, SI, and people on this site, Aaron Gleeman, Seth Stohs and others have said over the last few months about all of these guys and their minor league careers.
Gomez was not viewed, by anyone, as ready to play this year. No one. Notta. Nil. Everyone agreed he was rushed by the Mets and should be in the minors. Most felt the same way about Mulvey, and many were down on Humber’s ability to return to form after surgery. Guerra is not going to see the majors this year, or probably next, especially in the overly cautious Twins’ organization.
Clearly, there is a ton of time left. But, if no one here wants to actually look at things and ask questions, I suppose I could just stop posting.
As for the lineup, I really like the addition of Young, and that frees up Kubel to be the DH. Those two positions are both upgraded this year, no doubt. But, Harris hasn’t caught a thing at 2B, and no way Gardy can handle that as the year goes on. Same with Lamb, whose never been healthy for a full year in his career (I think I heard that on the radio today).
mike — then you’ve confused me. It’s your reference to Gomez’s .200 batting average. Is that from his previous minor league stops? His MLB experience? I’m guessing you are referring to his current Spring Training batting average. Which means it looks like you’re trying to have it both ways.
You can relax on Lamb — he has never been on the DL during his career. He’s been a reserve.
And no, no one (at least not Aaron or me) is trying to stop you from “asking questions” or “looking at things”. (Some might, but they’re trolls). I’d just want you to remember the difference between “opinion” and “fact”.
None of this is fact, no doubt about that. And, I was using the .200 average as a specific question to the person who said they’d liked what they had seen so far. I was wondering what they specifically liked.
I like Gomez’s speed, I love it. Actually, given the choices, I’d rather see him in CF this year than the other two options. I just don’t think he’s ready. I do think he’ll be entertaining to watch, though. Which, given how I suspect the year will go, will be important.
As for what I have liked from Gomez…
I like the fact that most of his mistakes are from being too excited and just young. With experience he will play within himself. I like the fact that when he gets on base he is most likely going to score. I like the fact he can bunt and steal bases very well. I like the fact he should already have two triples, just tripped on one. Again, youthful excitement. I like the fact he showed off a huge arm earlier in SP and gunned out a runner. I like that he has shown range and the ability to make a tough catch.
I really like the fact the scouts, teammates, and coaches are raving about his ability. Especially his defensive ability in center field.
He has shown a lot. He is far from polished and perfect, but I don’t understand why that should be surprising for a 22 year old. He has the capability to be a superstar, hopefully he makes the progressions he needs to. Otherwise he ends up just being an exciting player.
Play the young Gomez and Casilla and roll with it. I am sick of twins waiting! Take a gamble. Lets see the future! And get rid of punto or at least put him as utilty. If Gardy thinks Punto can play everyday he may not see 09 season with Twins. I am ok with him as utilty because he does have value but not everyday. “”"even if he plays the game right”" We have talent lets use it.
Re: Lamb,
Has anyone here ever had a hip pointer? I have, in both hips. It hurts like heck. But the biggest thing is the swelling. It’s basically water on the hip, as the bursa sack that protects the point of the femur bone bursts. But it’s a lot more fluid than the hip. Your hip swells up like a grapefruit. I had 7 oz drained in both hips.
If he can come back in the two days he says he will, that’s a measure of his toughness. I was never 100 percent earlier than a week after suffering from a hip pointer. (Richfield Ice Arena has boards built into concrete. So if you’re checked along the boards hard, you get a hip pointer.)
c’mon len, mijares is a LEFT hander. is there no proof reading going on at the star tribune at all these days? sid’s column has always been a sad calamity of editorial integrity, but there is a mistake in every piece these days.
Mathewson.
I agree. It’s painful as hell, but then in a couple of days i was able to finally stretch them out a bit, but I felt them for about a week even after… like a deep bruise.
The (Santana) trade was a long term one. Today, Hughes won. Tomorrow, we might win. In the Long run, anything can happen- including Hughes being injury prone and Gomez hitting 30 HR with a .300 Avg. and 80+ RBI’s per year to Hughes being Santana and Gomez being a bust- we don’t know yet. Today, Hughes won.
We need to look deeper than Gomez v. Hughes when comparing the deals. There is no question in my mind Hughes is the better player and will be for the rest of his career. I think he is a stud, and he showed it today. But the rest of the Yankee deal was Cabrara, Jeff Marquez and Mitch Hilligos. Umm, I will take Humber, Mulvey and Guerra over that bunch 11 times out of 10. The Twins FO went after depth, if 2 or 3 of those guys pan out it might be a better deal (especially if Guerra or Gomez become a star- which is a possibility).
How come Machado didn’t get sent down to AAA? Do the Twins have a bunch of infielders better than him at AAA?
romer,
Machado wasn’t on 40-man roster so he wasn’t optioned to AAA or AA as were Morales, Sosa and Mijares.
Machado and the other NON-ROSTER cuts were assigned to Minor League Camp.
Later, they will be assigned to their minor league teams.
Possible AAA infielders will be Plouffe, Macri, Tolbert, Casilla?, Buscher?, Watkins, Basak and Machado.
Which are better than Machado?
We’ll probably find out when the Rochester assignments are handed out.
Ah….Lavelle………3 world champs
1924 Senators……..
Play the young Gomez and Casilla and roll with it
Pridie isn’t exactly a veteran either (at least best of my knowledge). Nor is Harris.
T,
The difference between Gomez/Casilla and Pridie/Harris is about 2 years and 80 stolen bases.
[…] MYERS — Deolis Guerra was one of 12 players cut from Twins camp this morning, but the 18-year-old righthander moved to the minor-league complex knowing it was […]
