Crain Struck Near Knee By A Line Drive, Suffers Bruise
Posted on March 13th, 2008 – 11:16 AMBy La Velle
Twins reliever Jesse Crain, pitching in a minor league spring training game in Thursday, suffered a bruised right knee after being struck by a line drive
Crain was pitching in the first inning when Guillermo Quiroz, a catcher in the Orioles organization, sent a liner up the middle. Crain was able to recover and throw Quiroz out at first base. He was in pain, but walked off the field on his own before getting a ride back to the Twins clubhouse on a golf cart.
Twins team physician Dr. Dan Buss examined Crain and determined that no X-Rays were needed.
“I plan on throwing Sunday unless Andy (pitching coach Rick Anderson) or the doctors say something,” Crain said.
The injury occurred during a game on a back field at the Lee County Sports Complex while the major league team traveled to Ft. Lauderdale to face Baltimore on Thursday. Teams routinely send major leaguers to minor league games to get work in during spring training.
184 Responses to "Crain Struck Near Knee By A Line Drive, Suffers Bruise"
Definitely keep any updates coming. Wow! Positive, his arm is coming back well. Hopefully we’ll be talking about bruising here and not some sort of break! Hopefully ice is the cure!!
Not what they needed right now! If he’s out for a while do you put one of the extra starters in the bullpen as a stop gap? Who is best served there…Blackburn, Humber or someone that wasn’t projected to make the team?
I’d say Humber. Rincon/Guerrier/Reyes in the 7th.
And someone like Korecky may get a shot at making the team.
We cant afford to lose him after baker looks like he will start the season on the dl.
the old saying…. ya never have enough pitching…just hope all is ok with both baker and crain –dont need to start and injury streak now…but thankful the twins have so many young arms…
While not good news for Crain personally, he is far from a dominant reliever. That fastball couldn’t be straighter and it certainly isn’t high 90s gas. Major Leaguers salivate over them. Let’s keep things in perspective Crain isn’t Joba Chamberlain, Neshek, or even close to any other dominating setup man.
btw..get nathan signed…end this distraction now…
Tough break for Crain, I hope he’s OK and can get back on the mound soon. This is hardly a major problem for the Twins at this point though. First they need to figure out how to get the starters to pass off a game to the relievers with a lead.
mj1 are you going to provide updates on todays game again?
Also has anyone heard anymore regarding the whacko lady who threw herself on HWY 169 going crazy on bad dope and wasted tax payers money and man hours. aLSO ARE WE FINALLY GOING TO GET RID OF kUBEL THIS YEAR PLEEEEEASE. I would like to do a night this year like everyone face paint night
Why is there no link for the game today on gameday audio?? I paid to hear EVERY spring game, didn’t I?
@DaveE The Orioles radio team doesn’t even want to broadcast their home games. As LaVelle said in earlier post, the Orioles spring training park must really stink.
Gotta get the info from MLB sorta live spring training boxscore.
And that’s why I don’t eat shrimp.
Hey, good thing Reusse is there…he can just tell us that they suck…
Hopefully Jesse James is ok. He’s Canadian, so you know he’s tough! Punto
0-1 as the Twins went 1-2-3 in the top of the 1st at Lauderdale. Nicky’s hitting .071. Better get Carew back in the cages with him.
Good news on the update LaVelle..Just a bruise…Thanks!!
Span struck out leading off the game, btw…
There’s talk the Orioles may take over
“Dodgertown” at Vero Beach. With the Dodgers leaving Florida for Arizona, that will leave the Grapefruit league with an uneven number of teams. I guess we’ll see a lot more split squads next spring, so teams can play every day.
hell i need someone to update me, then id be glad to pass is on to ya …..today sucks.. balt not even covering their own home game
mj1. http://www.twinsbaseball.com has the live box score.
There’s been a huge delay in the live box score, that usually means the team is getting shelled!
yes i see the twins went 1-2-3 and span kd
I guess the O’s complex is pretty lame so do they use carrier pigeons to send out game info?
looks like roberts walked to lead off and scored on one hit…1-0 balt
Looks like LNP, inexplicably batting second again, is 0-for-1 and now batting at an alarming .071.
Can we all agree this guy should never see home plate this season? Pinch run, fine. Defensive replacement in the 8th inning, sure. Nothing else, period.
It’s the pipe dream of Gardy and others, fueled by apparently clueless Strib columnist Jim Souhan, that keeps the LNP momentum alive.
If I’m Crain, I take this as a sign that the baseball gods want me to retire. Not for any sort of talent reasons…but when you’re doing a rehab stint and get nailed on the leg that’s just cruel.
yes…leadoff walk/Mora double. then Blackburn settled down…1-2-3, with Gibbons fanning.
Jones-Monroe-Kubel 1-2-3 2 perfect innings for Olson
so just who do you think will be the twins 24th and 25th players…buscher, jones, casilla, …i would like to see a bench of reddog, kubel, buscher, punto, pridie gomez start in AAA and see how that goes…
looks like a long season when you have the #2 hitter below the punto line of .100 and watkins is hitting .067 in the 8 spot, fear us!
better be careful gobble, you’ll get accused of being a Reusse. God knows you can only have positive thoughts in March…being realistic isn’t allowed until late May
no pirhana commercials this year…
Haha…odd, isn’t mj1? The slogan this year should be: Minnesota Twins: Check out the Stadium site on the way to the Dome.
And our only remaining pitching hope, Nick Blackburn, is getting shelled…oh well, only March, thankfully…
blackburn has come back to earth 3-0 after 2.
how did the score?
trouble starting innings
hit batter/rbi double..then 1-2-3 again..one of those rbi ground out.
better be careful gobble, you’ll get accused of being a Reusse.
No. But I will laugh at somebody whining about a Spring Training lineup mostly consisting of guys that will most likely be on the bench or in AAA.
Like I’ve said before. When people use Spring Training as a positive, people come in and yell: “Spring training is meaningless!”
Then when something goes bad in Spring Training…it’s time to build the bomb shelter and hunker down as the universe collapses in on itself.
Either ST is meaningless…or it isn’t. People can’t argue it which ever way is most convenient for their side.
do they have a slogan this year…thought i heard something but dont remember…was it check us out or something on that line…
Trade a pitching prospect (Slowey? Duensing? Humber? Perkins? Mulvey?) to the Angels for Reggie Willits.
CF/leadoff hitter problem solved until Gomez/Span/Pridie are MLB ready.
Willits is having a great spring (.916 OPS) after hitting .293 with 27 SB last year.
Torii, Vlady, Garrett Anderson and Gary Matthews have him blocked forever with the Angels.
Looks like LNP, inexplicably batting second again…
It’s a placeholder AB so that the more regular players can get adjusted to hitting in their usual spots. Unless you want Gardy to just throw the lineup together whichever way keeps Punto batting 9th. Even if that means Young inexplicably bats 2nd or Remond has to hit cleanup.
do they have a slogan this year…thought i heard something but dont remember…
They’re still using “This is Twins Territory!” I believe. Though it could be different for radio spots (I can remember the spots, but not what the motto is)
Look T, here’s how I see it…spring training is fairly meaningless when it comes to the veterans (I don’t think anyone’s seriously worried about Ichiro’s slump, for instance), but when you’re talking about a young team, and a team of players who didn’t have great ‘07 seasons (the Kubels, the Puntos, Gomez, etc.), Spring training absolutely will tell you some things.
What’s meaningless is the win / loss record; individual performances I think are noteworthy and analyzing the potential of a team based on early indications in Spring is fair game as far as I’m concerned.
I’d take Redmond hitting clean up any day of the week before I’d put Punto in the two hole–even in Spring. Hell, Red Dog hit third quite a bit last year.
t i agree we have people here who have written off nearly every player half way through spring training. the trade was terrible!!! blackburn needs to be in the rotation now he gets beat up a little he’s a bum. imo we should wait until may 1 to really start crying to much. except about punto’s hitting. but it’s so easy to fan the fire on here!
Punto down to .067…but it’s only spring, so no panicking.
They only gave Billy Crystal one at-bat…and even though he struck out, he still amazingly has a higher slugging pct. than LNP
2 walks in the third, to Watkins and Span…Punto fails to deliver.
No hits thru 3 innings.
Spring training is meaningless - for the Twins as well as their opponents, but take a look at the starting lineup batting average for the teams - O’s .359%/Twins.213%. That’s pathetic. Why isn’t Punt0 over in the AAA complex already?
It will be interesting to see if Span actually makes the team because he shows that he can take a walk…
another one today, even with a K his OBP stays over .450
Of course there’s no panicking with Punto. He’s performing at most people’s expectations.
3 groundouts for Blackburn in the third.
6 groundouts/2 flyouts/1K in 3 innings.
Check that… OBP near .450
romer, if by most people, you mean Gardy and Redmond, then yes, punto is performing at most people’s expectations….I think the rest of us would prefer that he mix in getting on base more than once a month.
How about this trend of not getting a hit until half way through the game… I hope that stops soon.
you would think that at least a few of the twins regulars would be hitting, but this seems to be a team wide slump…..frustrating right now, thank god its only st….this is part of the reason i was questioning joe vavra the other day…just looking for some explanation some where… oh the inpatience of st
Spring Training stats mean nothing for Mauer, Young, Morneau, Kubel, Cuddyer, Lamb, Everett,Harris and yes, Punto. Those guys have their roster spots. yes, you’d prefer to see great stats, but why waste hits in the spring! Use them up during the regular season!
Spring Training stats probably mean something to Gomez/Pridie/Span. (although I bet the coaching staff is also looking at things like quality of at bat - which doesn’t always mean a hit, line drives versus weak outs - which doesn’t always mean a hit. Defensive things like route-running and arm and positioning also are visual, not statistical.
I get frustrated by those that say because Gomez goes 0-4 with two strikeouts and an error, he’s horrible. No, it means he had a rough day. It means that the Twins may be justified if they do send him to Rochester.
My concern was that Gomez would hit like .400 in training camp and really earn the starting job and that he would only be sent to Rochester because of the whole Super-2 thing. Of course, there are 2 1/2 weeks left in camp, so he still could. It’s just too small of a sample size to draw any real conclusions.
Spring Training is a great opportunity for guys like Watkins or Tolbert, or any others who won’t make the team, but want to make a positive impression.
Okay Seth, your ‘why waste hits in spring training’ theory, which i am still chuckling over…how does it explain this:
Torii Hunter: 12-for-21 with 4 doubles, 2 triples, and 2 homers
I’m pretty sure his roster spot is secure.
ST or not - these guys are supposed to be professionals, meaning that each and every time they come to the plate they make every effort possible to get on - somehow. Maybe all of us Minnesotans can pitch in to buy Pohlad a tank of jet fuel so he can head to Florida to give the team a pep talk.
“how does it explain this:
Torii Hunter: 12-for-21 with 4 doubles, 2 triples, and 2 homers”
How much of that will appear on the back of his 2009 baseball cards?
Good for him. I mean, he’s been crushing the ball… but what happens if he goes 0-34 the rest of spring. He’ll be hitting .218, and do you think his roster spot is in jeopardy?
potential of a team based on early indications in Spring is fair game as far as I’m concerned.
I agree on this aspect. As a team it’s important to evaluate a few things. And part of the evaluation includes putting together a “scrubs” type lineup to see what the bench can do. I agree Punto should only bat second in dire emergency, but there’s going to be days where somebody needs rest or maybe even is injured that it’ll have to happen. So get him some ABs now and give him a chance to get his bat under him.
Same for guys like Monroe (i’d say especially Monroe, since they can cut him loose before the season starts and save themselves a bit of money to be used elsewhere)
but this seems to be a team wide slump
Teams can get cold just like teams get hot. Look at 06 for the Twins, or the Rockies playoff push in 07.
3-1.
2 out double by Monroe/RBI single Kubel, base hit Redmond.
Watkins fans to end the inning.
All off LHP George Sherrill
Good to see Blackburn bounce back in the 3rd. This rotation is so hard to predict. If Baker is out, I say Perkins and Slowey are in with Cisco and Blackburn fighting for the fifth spot. Obviously, everyone wants Cisco, but he may need more time.
1-2-3 Fourth Inning for Bass.
1 groundout/2 flyouts
“They only gave Billy Crystal one at-bat…and even though he struck out, he still amazingly has a higher slugging pct. than LNP”
Yeah, but who got more laughs?
Seth, a second ago you “spoke” and told us it makes no sense to waste hits in spring training, so I guess I assumed you would think it was detrimental for Hunter to be off to this hot start…you can’t really have it both ways.
We know that for veterans it’s nothing to get concerned about, but seriously, we really only have a couple of those players on our roster….hell, even Cuddyer has had only one above average season (2006)…and he just got paid…
If it truly is meaningless, than why do we follow it at all?
How about this trend of not getting a hit until half way through the game… I hope that stops soon.
At one point the Twins went 5-6 games I think scoring 5 or more runs. That’s not too shabby. And yeah, you’d like to see them get to the starter moreso than the relievers…but at the same time that’s a sign that they odn’t just give up when the life is out of their bats early.
I’m probably reading too much into it. But I’ve seen a lot of positives this Spring. I’m more worried about the pitching at this point than the offense.
I wonder if Mike Vick is bummed that he isn’t at spring training.
This rotation is so hard to predict.
Baker’s back is one of those unfortunate wrenches in the gearworks.
Boof, Slowey, Hernandez, Blackburn, Perkins…
It’ll be interesting.
“why do we follow it at all?”
To get the pitchers ready. For the veterans to get into the batter’s box again a few times again live pitching.
Obviously I was kidding about saving hits. All a hitter can do is try to put together a good at bat and make solid contact. Can’t control much after that since a line drive can be caught and a blooper can fall in.
What are you saying, sane? I get a good chuckle when Punto fails to get a bunt down every time! Hell, that’s more comical than a 60-yr old actor striking out.
Why don’t we ever play against the saints cause that would be cool
2 out hit for Punto in the fifth.
ups the average to .125
Young 0-3
Span has now fanned twice…average at .250, Everett at .222
Hey….LNP got a hit and shut all of we naysayers up! Attaboy, Nicky…see you in the two hole again tomorrow!
Punto is my fiance’s favorite player…. and bitches when i complain about him…. Since he is with the team this year, i HOPE he has a year at the high end of his talent….ie 06
Bass allows 2 out hit…scoreless fifth.
If MLB players “save” their so called hits for the regular season, Torii Hunter won’t miss. He’s batting .571 now. Save their hits - pleeeeeze.
Bring back Tyner!!! I think that we should have a promotion for face painter’s like paint your face night ooooh that would be cool
So in other words Shawn, you’re asking for one of those year’s when Halley’s Comet comes within the Earth’s sight?
And to go back to Seth’s theory on the pitchers and hitters, I guess I am not totally following because in order to effectively evaluate the pitchers, you have to assume they are facing hitters who are trying as well, right?
Otherwise we can’t put a whole lot of stock in great spring pitching performances, either.
It should be mandatory that Pridie, Span and Gomez all listen to “Centerfield” by John Fogerty before every game. Every time i hear that song i want to run home grab my glove and head to the nearest ballpark.
“especially Monroe, since they can cut him loose before the season starts and save themselves a bit of money to be used elsewhere”
If they cut Monroe, they could get shutout until Mothers Day.
Jason,
is it so wrong to ask for a miracle? 
I wonder if Seattle is having “buyers remorse” yet. The line on Hi-Ho Home run Silva. 10 innings pitched / 15 hits. Stellar, I say!!!!
sane…you’re right..Monroe is earning playing time.
Kubel has an RBI off a lefty today.
Too bad neither of them can DH for Punto or Everett instead.
face paint night at the dome
i demand face paint night at the dome
Yard,
That is nothing new, Silva always gives up more hits than innings pitched. His career WHIP is 1.37
Monroe 1-out hit is it for MN in the sixth.
5 hits, just 3 for the Orioles, it was the wildness that cost them.
3-1 Baltimore..
Scrubs coming in..
Korecky says he’s fully back now from TJ surgery..was still wild last season and in winterball.
May get a shot with injuries…
Punto got a hit and double his average to .125.
Monroe’s money can’t be used elsewhere. Where else could it be used this year? Now, they could save it and acquire an actual 3B next year somehow (hahahahahaha)or pitcher if they turn out to need one that is better than AAAA.
Why doesn’t Korecky get a shot with the team? Twice he has lead a league in saves (AA and AAA). He hasn’t got the opportunities this spring, but when called on he hasn’t given up anything. The kid gets the job done and should get a chance. We are rebuilding….errr….doing our normal thing this season, so lets see what he has.
Jason,
Pitchers are evaluated by quality of pitches on a pitching chart.
Good hitters often hit “good pitches” and sometimes miss “bad pitches”.
Not to mention bullets that are caught and duck farts that land.
Conventional stats are not a good evaluation tool.
jimmy - go to home depot and spill a gallon on yourself and get it over with already.
i want tyner back
Here’s the thing about Punto that is truly scary…he played in 150 games in 2007. He got 472 at-bats. He came up with just 25 rbi…55 walks versus 128 K’s.
You have to be kidding me, right? We gave him that much playing time and he manages only 25 rbi (only 10 of which came after the All Star break)…you honestly want this guy to step into the batters box, even once, for the major league club this year?
Jason - When did I say that the players don’t or shouldn’t try?
I am perfect to play for the Twins. I am 6′3 1/2 210 lb’s and i can throw very hard. I don’t always know where it’s going. You guys think the Twin’s need someone like Charlie Sheen from the movie Major League
Keisler shut out sixth. 3-1 Orioles
Well Seth, I re-read your comment (in response to my question: why should we follow spring training at all?) and you said:
“To get the pitchers ready. For the veterans to get into the batter’s box again a few times again live pitching.”
Now I have to assume that to get the pitchers ready they need to be facing hitters who are trying to get hits, not merely going through the motions, correct?
So if we assume that to be true, then why isn’t it fair to evaluate some players, particularly the ones who don’t have a proven track record at the major league level (nice bertism there, huh), based on spring training?
Again, the point here is be consistent, because I know as well as you that if the Twins were off to a hot start–both teamwise and individually, you’d be telling us to get our 2008 Homer Hankies ready.
Jones had an error vs Markakis..Keisler picked Markakis off.
And for that matter, I wouldn’t blame you for it. I’d be excited, too. Just own up to the fact that it’s more encouraging to be playing well in Spring Training, in terms of a somewhat early indicator of how things will go up North, at least early in the season.
The converse is also true, I believe.
2-out hit with no one on. Classic Nick Punto. Why does this happen all the time? Because pitchers will throw fastballs down the middle to the guy, and don’t have to worry about power and a homerun. The last thing they want to do is walk him, then face Mauer in the 3-hole with a runner on. And with Punto’s stellar average, pitchers pipe it. I would like to see Punto’s average with 2 outs with RISP. I noticed last year the trend was if there were runners on base (excluding bases loaded) to pitch around the batter before Nick Punto. They knew Punto was an easy out. If Punto starts at 2nd Base again this year, I will cry.
Amen, AJ.
Better yet, if he gets 1/5th of the 472 ABs he got last year, I will cry like I did at the end of Field of Dreams.
Twins waste leadoff single by Watkins.
Everett (.231) Span (.238) and Punto (.118) go down in order.
Rincon to pitch the bottom/7th.
You boys all come up out of the basement and have some nice soup.
with how this team looks i don’t know how they will compete with boston, detroit, yanks & angels
Rincon shut out 7th, allowing a walk. 3-1 after 7.
Our pitching is what kept us in ball games not our hitting and now that our entire rotation is gone from last year and the loss of hunter and the delmon young trade to basically = out what tori did hmmm…. I am not sold
Young leadoff hit in the 8th.
Jones K- second of game (.217) and outs from Knott(.200) and Pridie (.280)
Cali to pitch 8th.
nice to see punto above the punto line, of course 3 runners lob. that’s how you only have 25 rbi in a season!
Sure we’d all have a better feeling if the Twins were 15-0 so far and everyone was hitting .300. But it still would be spring training and on March 31, they will all be 0-0 when it counts.
I understand what you’re saying, but in small sample size, stats don’t tell the full story. Of course they should all be trying their best. And yes, the coaches should be analyzing at bats. My point is that it shouldn’t just be about the result of the at bat, about whether the guy got a hit or not. A player can have a good at bat, and impress the coaching staff, without getting a hit. A pitcher can impress the coaching staff and still give up a couple of runs if the other guy bloops a double down the line and then the next guy lays down a bunt in no man’s land, and then he breaks a guys bat, but the ball drops into the OF to score a run.
“nice to see punto above the punto line, of course 3 runners lob. that’s how you only have 25 rbi in a season!”
Not to pick on Gobble, or certainly not to defend Punto, but how do we know that with runners on, Punto didn’t have a good at bat.
I know that this isn’t the case, but what if he had been at bat with two outs and the bases loaded. What if he hit a line drive that would have decapitated the 3B if he hadn’t been able to get his glove up to catch the ball. Nothing more Punto could do?
Again, please don’t take that as a defense of Punto!
Shutout 8th for Cali.
seth i like to pick on punto because he’s about my size and kind of the way i played except he is lot better than i ever was. we all need to have somebody to pick on to make ourselves feel better about our lives. he has a place on the club no doubt he just shouldn’t be an every day player. i agree st means very little.
well said seth.
when are the next cuts….thx for update funky…
3-1 final. hit/walk in the 9th…
game over 11 lob. hope that doesn’t get to be a trend.
The bullpen pitching looks great as usual. Glad to see Rincon throwing another shutout inning. Baltimore only got 3 hits.
mj1 I’ll be cutting my wrists after the game. Funky do you happen to have the pitching lines for all the pitchers? thanks for the updates.
great blog day - thanks to those updating us
- thanks YOUR MOM, I’ll be laughing for hours on that.
Lavelle, say hi to the warm sunshine for us! And thanks for the Nino’s tip - we partook last week - it was delicious.
BC rather drastic, but if you must…just remember…opening nite just two weeks away …..
Ok I’ll give it two more weeks but if they little Nicky doesn’t hit at least four homeruns i will be on the edge. Does anyone have the pitching lines?
not sure how well this will be formatted but here’s the twins pitcher lines.
Minnesota IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Blackburn(L,0-1)3.0 2 3 3 2 1 0 3.86
Bass 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.16
Keisler 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.11
Rincon 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.80
Cali 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
I think Punto is an awful batter all the time.
Since ABs with runners are in scoring position would fall under “all the time,” I would conclude that he is an awful batter with RISP.
The other “monkey wrench” to throw into the Spring Training stats. Veterans often times are working on something specific — a pitcher is throwing nothing but a certain pitch, a hitter is making an effort to go the other way, etc. Best example I can think of was last spring with Silva — he was throwing so many sinkers that batters could just sit on them. He got lit up, of course. But, he was working on that pitch and felt he’d succeeded.
In short, I’d leave the evaluations to the pitching staff. It’s just fun for us to speculate, but that’s all it is…speculation.
ok, pitch line turned out ok. lets try the hitters.
Minnesota AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Span, CF 4 0 0 0 1 2 3 .227
Punto, 2B 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 .118
Casilla, 2B 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .250
Young, LF 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 .357
2-Basak, PR-LF 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 .286
Jones, 1B 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .217
Monroe, DH 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 .421
1-Knott, PR-DH 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .200
Kubel, RF 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 .185
Pridie, RF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .280
Redmond, C 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .176
Whiteside, C 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .400
Watkins, 3B 2 0 1 0 1 1 2 .118
Clark, 3B 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .188
Everett, SS 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 .211
Tolbert, SS 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .286
Totals 35 1 8 1 3 7 20
Between,
One stat that you missed is that Blackburn also had a HBP.
replace “batter” with “hitter.”
I am tired.
you gotta look close for replacements coming into the lineup, for example casilla for punto… but it’s legible.
monroe seems to be swinging a good bat as of late.
here’s a link to the boxscore
Monroe another nice day, 2-3 with a double and a run scored.
He might see some innings this year… at least in April and May.
9th inning.
Whiteside HBP
Clark Out
Tolbert Hit
Span Out
Casilla Walk
(bases loaded)
Basak Out
thanks mike 
i am relieved bc and so glad i could help, at least for 2 wks…..we will figure out something more down the line…your family will thank me..
going to be seeing alot of rincon 7th neshek 8th nathan 9th…. thats pretty tough if rincon holds on…..now get us 1-6, 5-6 runs a game and were in…lol
Without Cuddy, M&M, Lamb, and Harris (who was hot yesterday), Twins did okay for ST with 8 hits.
The pitching 3-hit the Orioles. One bad inning by Blackburn, right?
And Crain is okay. So overall, a good news day. Kubel gets a hit off a lefty.
No Strib, radio, or TV. So GREAT THANKS to Funkytown for all the info!
Negatives:
Could have had one more hit a piece from Span and Everett (who will be starters this year). Looks like the Jones audition is over (7 K’s, errors, an occasional HR).
romer…2 bad starts to 2 innings..
walk/double, and HBP/double in the first 2 innings.
oh yeah, gotta use Gardyspeak romer.
Cuddy, LAMMER…
Twins should release Jones now, so he can audition with someone else.
He pitched a good 3rd inning. The way he’s been, you could expect him to keep it up through 6 innings.
Whatever, no reason to be troubled or completely negative. His command was off. Is he working on a certain pitch? Is this ST?
(BTW, when was the last time he started?)
Given Baker’s injury, all Twins starters are now, in a sense, works in progress this year.
If you want to feel better look at the Tigers stats. Sheffield might be finished. Jacque is swinging a missing wildly. Granderson and Renteria crappy as well. Although Pudge has apparently found the fountain of HGH at 36yo. His buddy Guillen too. Weird how Guillen became a 20hr guy when he me Pudge in Detroit. Strange coincidence? Let’s ask Canseco. Ok, back to the Twins.
just because pudge lost about 20+ lbs of muscle and his hr’s dropped by half shouldn’t make you read to much into it.
Cute little pitching effort, but nothing the Twins could do about it today. More like, Markaikis swiiiings and lines one to deep right. That’s all kinds of trouble as it’s off the wall and three runs are going to score. Nick Markaikis into third with a game breaking tripe and the O’s take the lead.
Looks to me like “Big” Nick Markaikis came up “Small” with no hits and 2 left on base. No liners to deep right here. Even smaller than Ellsbury yesterday
Punto hits one between the pitcher and third, they run into each other, Punto is rounding 2nd. Punto is huslting so hard that a cloud of dust has enveloped the field. Safe, Twins Win, Twins Win.
Yeah Everett Fan, Jacques might be to Detroit what Ponson was to the Twins last year. Detroit might get old quick this year. (And don’t forget about Rogers.)
But we can’t do much about it this year given our starting staff.
Yeah bro..well, I just go out and give it 110% every at bat. Put some good wood on the ball and hope it finds a seam somewhere or I’m lucky enough to hit it over the fence. May have gone 0-2 today but it’s nice to get the win, that’s all that matters.
“Jacque is swinging a missing wildly. ”
What’s new?
I was watching ESPNews the other day and they had a baseball fantasy “expert” on. He said that Spring stats have virtually no bearing on the regular season. With one exception: he said if a player hits .200 points higher in SLUGGING PERCENTAGE than his carrer high, that means he will have a good year. Other than that, S.T. results, ultimately, mean nothing.
Your mom is hot. You know who I’m talking to.
Can we please start the Save the Piranhas campaign and “Free Punto”. My god people any of you that defend him are just clueless regarding the game of baseball. He struggled to hit .210 last season and is currently ripping the cover off the ball at a .118 clip in 17AB’s. The 2006 season where he hit .290 was a severe statistical outlier. In 8 minor league seasons Punto hit an eye popping .265 whereas in 7 major league seasons he as successfully received a hit in 24.5% of his at bats or an average of .245. If we were to remove the outlier year of 2006 Little Nicky has amassed 239 hits in 1060 AB’s for an average of .225. Let the numbers speak for themselves and let’s “Free Punto” allowing for all of the Piranhas to be let go.
Defensively, the Twins have nobody reliable as a backup infielder except Punto.
If Harris or Lamb go down with injury, then they call up Tolbert/Buscher or Casilla.
End of story.
I kinda like this Tolbert dude,,,
And the Cards “kinda like” this Lohse dude. If you really-really have to go to the prom, you’ll take the last best gal available.
Go Cards!!!!
Romer, if the Twins had the luxury of only needing to carry 11 pitchers then keeping Punto “Solely” for late inning defense that would be fine, but they do not have that luxury. Offense is the thing that is going to keep them competitive this season thus the reason to not waste 1 of the 25 spots on LNP.
If someone has a espn insider it would make me happy if they could post the new twins article by Peter Gammons.
posted: Thursday, March 13, 2008 | Print Entry
filed under: MLB
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Delmon Young got excited talking about it.
“This is incredible,” he said, looking out across the Twins’ spring training site (Lee County Stadium). “Every day I get to work on hitting with Rod Carew and Tony Oliva, and Harmon Killebrew is watching. I get to work on baserunning with Paul Molitor. It’s been great for me.”
First of all, the fact that Young not only appreciates working with Hall of Famers but knows who they are speaks volumes about Young as a baseball player.
“I’ve said all along that the Twins got themselves a future star in Delmon,” says one AL GM. “That’s great that he understands what that means. We have a guy who had never heard of Brooks Robinson or Mike Schmidt.”
These are the Twins. Oh, they’ve lost to free agency or traded away three-fifths of its starting rotation that was fourth in the league in ERA in 2007, and what’s left is a rotation where Livan Hernandez may be their Opening Day starter and the four remaining starters were a combined 21-22 last season. Torii Hunter is now playing with the Angels, and they have some issues in their infield. Oh, by the way, they finished 17 games behind the Indians last season and were outscored by the opposition.
“We’ve had to change directions,” said manager Ron Gardenhire, who from 2002 through 2006 won four division titles and were 97 games over .500. “But we’re going to stress what we’ve always stressed [that we] hope we catch the ball and throw strikes. We’re not too bad offensively, and our bullpen is pretty good. We’ll be all right.”
One sees Carew and Killebrew, Oliva and Molitor and the ever-diligent presence of former manager and current Twins executive Tom Kelly drilling players on the back fields. But one doesn’t Johan Santana or Hunter, only the lingering question of whether or not they will trade closer Joe Nathan at the deadline if they’re trailing by double digits at the All-Star break.
“The biggest thing to start with is to get [Francisco] Liriano back healthy and on track,” says Gardenhire. The gifted 24-year old left-hander did not pitch last year after arm surgery, and in his first two outings has shown signs of rust; he touched 90 mph in one outing, his delivery and breaking ball have been out of sync and he is a tad heavy, but that was expected. What pitching coach Rick Anderson is trying to do is get him back to normal, and deflect the comparisons to Santana.
Boof Bonser has reshaped his body, Scott Baker has been bothered by a minor upper back strain but is progressing and Kevin Slowey will get a place in the rotation after going 10-5 at Triple-A Rochester and 4-1 with the Twins last season. There is no pretense of power, just the promise to throw strikes and get to what should be a very strong bullpen with Nathan at the end and Pat Neshek, Juan Rincon, Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain and the very impressive Nick Blackburn setting up.
“We’ll be able to win some high-scoring games,” says Gardenhire, “because of that bullpen. We’re going to score runs.”
The middle of the order is very good, with Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Young and a DH platoon of Jason Kubel and Craig Monroe. There is balance in the three-through-six spots in the batting order. Gardenhire is also going to rest Mauer when he doesn’t catch instead of DHing him to try to keep his legs fresh, and Young seems to be getting the whole pitch recognition thing.
The Twins will have to work out their infield situation. Brendan Harris will play second base, Adam Everett will be the shortstop, Mike Lamb will play third and Nick Punto will be the utility infielder. For Twin Gary Gaetti, who worked with Everett as a coach and manager in the Astros’ minor league system, told Gardenhire that Everett was the best fundamental shortstop in the National League (”You’d love to be able to teach kids how to cuddle the ball the way Everett does,” says Gardenhire).
Then there’s the whole situation with Carlos Gomez. There is no doubting Gomez’s tools — he can fly, he takes great batting practice, his arm is a rifle (Young in left field, Gomez in center and Cuddyer in right will be the best throwing outfield in the game). But he’s a stylemaster, which won’t fly with the Twins, and he is raw, as evidenced by his .288 on base percentage in 125 at-bats last season with the Mets. Scouts say he seldom takes the same swing in consecutive at-bats, which makes him vulnerable to good pitching, but Gardenhire says “what he needs [to do] is to go out and get 500 at-bats and learn how to play.”
“He’s a good kid, we just had to keep telling him not to draw attention to himself,” says one Mets official. “But with at-bats, he can become a star. He can fly, hit for power, steal bases …”
So if Gomez beats out Denard Span and Jason Pridie in center, it will be an educational year. “We’ve done this kind of thing before and put together a good team,” says Gardenhire. “We’ll have to try to do it again.”
Yeah popbelly, why isn’t Tolbert playing more? Lamb’s been gone a week, and Tolbert’s had an okay ST.
I see Tolbert’s listed as a SS on the Twins office site.
But Jerry D, I doubt the Twins would eat Punto’s contract and make Tolbert the utility infielder. Besides, Gardy says Tolbert should play every day somewhere.
So who is YOUR utility infielder(s), if not Punto.
Here is how I see it Romer,
Harris becomes the utility infielder while Everett mans short and Casilla mans second. We all know, and what was so eloquently stated by the Great Peter Gammons that this is an educational year. LNP has nothing left to learn, let Casilla and Gomez have the on the job training filling the #9 and #1 spots respectively in the batting order. Casilla performed well in the Dominican Winter League and is holding his own with a .423 OBP this spring with 4 steals. IF (notice it is a big if), Casilla is able to even get on base at a .350 clip, that is going to lead to more fastballs for Gomez vs. breaking pitches. My infield to start the season would include Morneau, Casilla, Everett, Lamb, Harris and Buscher.
GOMEZ IS NOT READY!!!!!!!
If he starts then why does gardy keep ripping Casilla for mistakes???Gomez is 3x as stupid.If Gomez starts trade Nathan and offically call it a rebuilding year
I haven’t been particularly anti-Punto or pro-Punto in the blogging Great Debate about him. But his dismal BA leaves no source for patience. And I’m definitely pro-Casilla.
So, Jerry D, I agree with the big picture of your plan (except I’d substitute Span in the Gomez part). And I’d only change it if Harris and Punto hit their way back onto the team this ST.
This defies traditional strategy of course since it leaves you without a great defensive backup infielder. So it could look like a mess from time to time…….or a lot of the time. (But starting pitching will be about the same.)
But Machado could arrive in 2009, after this “educational” year.
Is Punto out of options?
Neither was a 22 year old named Jose Reyes when he took over the SS role for the Mets in 2005 and he has turned out ok. There numbers as 20 and 21 year olds are very similar.
Buscher is hitting .190 in ST and is a defensive butcher. Why would you keep him instead of Punto. At least Punto is a versatile defensive replacement at six positions. Just keep him out of the batters box as much as possible.
Harris is a good hitter who is back to .261 in ST.
Forget Buscher.
Reyes vs. Gomez that is.
Romer, I have been looking to see if Punto has options for the past couple of weeks but cannot find that information anywhere.
We all know Gardy would not do that, but I wonder how Punto would react playing in Rochester.
Harris 2b
Mauer c
Young lf
Morneau 1b
cuddyer rf
lamb 3b
monroe cf
kubel dh
everett 2b
just wondering what a lineup like this could do…on all cylinders this could be very dangerous, but lacking a bit of speed until gomez and casilla grow up to be big leaguers…. reddog, pridie,punto, buscher make up the bench……just my preseason tinkering, any thoughts???
i dont think you will ever see punto in rochester, i understand the thinking but will never happen as long as gardy is around….its accepted that punto is a defensive whiz and anything above and beyond that is icing…kinda like everett….
mj1,
You are correct that the possibility of Punto at Rochester while Buscher is in MLB is zero.
And I agree with Gardy on that.
Punto should be the top defensive
BACK-UP (not starter) IF on the Twins.
Sorry, Jerry D. These guys are right. Punto is a lock for utility.
I’d still like to see Casilla at 2B though. Harris would have to fail miserably this ST before that would happen. I believe Gardy thinks Casilla isn’t coachable enough.
Is Punto out of options?
Punto’s contract expires at the end of 2008. Since the Twins are rebuilding I imagine they’ll just play it out and we say farewell to the last pirahna.
Unless some contender needs a utility guy in mid June… but I think there are other places they’d go before knocking on the Twins door about Punto.
Enjoyed watching the video clip of you and Joe C.
Why are there so many anti-Harris fans? He is a year younger than Bartlett, meaning he is in the same spot as Bartlett was last spring. I don’t remember people considering Bartlett old or just a utility player.
Despite being a year older, they both have 4 years of service time (Harris has fewer atbats, however). But compare their career hitting numbers:
Bartlett .272/.341/.362
Harris .273 /.331/.418
Let the guy play, there is no reason to make him a utility player. His defense will improve, as he played most of last season at SS. It takes a little time to make the adjustments at 2b, but he will be fine. If he would have come up through our system, we would all love him. Give the guy a chance.
Correction, they do not have 4 years of service time, they have played in 4 major league seasons
sign cocoa
span goomez and pirdie in minors
24rick… so who goes to AA then?
gomez , he has no idea how to play baseball the right way (used to be twins way until kelly left)
well that would be quite a demotion for him as he spend nearly every game last year at either AAA or in the Majors.
he need to get knock off his high horse
i might be too hard on him but he’s too cocky for me when he cant even throw home
You are a good man Shawn
