Twins Recall Cuddyer, Send Span To Rochester
Posted on April 24th, 2008 – 6:00 PMBy La Velle
Michael Cuddyer has been activated from the 15-day disabled list after recovering from a dislocated and lacerated right index finger. He’s expected to be in the lineup on Friday when the Twins open a three-game series at Texas.
Outfielder Denard Span was optioned back to Class AAA Rochester. Span, playing out of position in right field, batted .258 in 12 games.
“I just wanted to come up here and have an opportunity to play at this level,” Span said. “Now I know I can play up here. (I’ll) go down there and continue to have the same mentality I had when I got sent down in spring training and prove to everybody that I should be here permanently.”
58 Responses to "Twins Recall Cuddyer, Send Span To Rochester"
Too Bad they didn’t send Gomez down for a wake-up call. He’s a rookie and I keep hearing Gardy talk about how he needs to have better at-bats. A wake-up call might drive that home.
So does Franchise go down when Slowey’s ready or what?
span has matured so much, he will be back and back for good sometime soon….
Franchise shouldn’t get another start up here…send him down now, call up mulvey or duensing…revisit the liriano issue in a couple of months
liriano should not be up in this rotation right now…experiment in the minor leagues…hes obviously not ready for prime time…c’mon
It is so great that they are so many Twins experts on here. Frankie just needs to stregthen his arm, thats all, wait until mid-season, he will be back…
Liriano needs more than just strengthening his arm-I would think it would be at least 90% since he had a longer than normal recup time as compared to others who TJ surgery.
Liriano needs confidence and help with his location.
Franchise should be in a plane and the Twins calling an extra bat/arm, even before Slowey will make his next start May 10th vs Boston. They should not repeat the same mistake they made delaying putting Slowey in the DL keeping the team a player short for more than a week.
mj1, if Span makes it back to the majors as an everday guy…it won’t be with the Twins.
I heard a little of Gardenhires bit after the game.He said “Frankie needs to pitch and that’s what he’s going to do”…almost under his breath he said “where he’s going to pitch we will talk about”.I can’t see how they can trot him back out there.Gardenhire mentioned that Liriano took the outing hard and has little confidence right now.That should be all they need to here.The Twins are doing him a great disservice by letting him pitch like this at the big league level.
Watching this game, I think that it is more than “confidence” or “location”.
Liriano threw 35 pitches. Only one of them was a slider. 24 were fastballs, 7 change up and 3 a mysterious slurve that someone has apparently been working with him to develop. His fastball topped out at 92, his changeup was at 81-82 and his breaking stuff was slower.
Liriano’s bread and butter was the hard slider. Unless he has the ability (and courage) to throw that 30-35% or the time, or develop another out pitch (a splitter?) he will not be effective. He needs to be down, get innings, get his velocity up, work on his location, watch the elbow and throw a slider successfully or develop another pitch. I wouldn’t mind seeing him another year or so in the minors and get in ready in 2009. This team already has 5 starters so he is not really needed at the ML level…
thrylos,
So if Liri only threw 1 slider, wouldn’t that indicate he has no confidence in his ability to throw it?
When does Pridie get a shot?
thrylos98- I didn’t see the game but in his previous two outings he wasn’t finishing like he did in the past.I know the Twins wanted him to alter his delivery to make it less violent. If thats the case he may never be the pitcher he was and it will take time for him to get used to his new delivery.In the other two games he almost looked like he was recoiling instead of following through,which would explain the lack of command.I would be interested in hearing what someone who watched him today has to say about his delivery.
If by “no confidence in his ability to throw it” you mean “he’s afraid of it”, then I suspect you’re right.
Steve Carlton lived on fastball / slider … that combination does not ipso facto mean arm problems.
That his velocity was up to 92 is a step in the right direction - - - unless they have a ‘fast’ gun in Oakland, that is.
They need to send the Franchise down and let him work out the kinks in the minors. Bring up another arm for the bullpen until Slowey is ready to start again. No need to rush him back either with the season the Twins are going to have this year.
Nice to see alittle pop in Gomez’s bat today.
Mercy, does this team have any chance to turn this around? Franchise is horrible, granted we rushed him. Bass is a career AAAA guy but of course he makes our team. Your “ACE” is Livian. You carry two guys that have had major arm surgery on your roster. ( Franchise and Crain). Your CF is a rookie, you still have Punto, you sign Monroe over Sweeney for 5 times the money and what do you get? A lousy team.
He just had a bad day, I wouldn’t pull the plug on Liriano yet, see how he responds the next time out, see what he’s mde out of, if he truly wants it, then he probably can’t wait to go out and redeem himself.
I don’t think anyone says pull the plug on Liriano, I just think that you can’t afford to have him finding himself while on the major league roster. Losses up here mean a lot more than they do in AAA, and Liriano isn’t providing the best opportunity for the Twins to win. Having him last only two thirds of an inning isn’t going to benefit his arm or his confidence, he needs to pitch a full pitch count and be allowed to regain his confidence otherwise the Twins might ruin him.
The real issue with Frankie is this: He should have been back on a minor league mound last August. He should’ve pitched somewhere in the fall/winter.
The Twins have had a “kid glove” approach to all their pitchers. It might work once in a while, but this is ridiculous. The Twins know nothing about bringing along a player after TJ surgery. Want proof? The only one they’ve had to deal with until Frankie is Joe Mays, and that guy’s career went south with hell-force thereafter.
Eddie G had his TJ surgery one week after Liriano. He was back with Cincy by the end of July. Forget age. Because of the Twins overall ineptness in rehabbing players effectively, Liriano might be washed up at 24. But, as Twins fans, all we care about is “tomorrow.” That’s the Terry Ryan way, man. So, let’s “not rush him.” Why didn’t we? This approach certainly hasn’t worked. The guy’s stronger and more able than ever, yet his head is filled with nonsense.
The truth of the matter is that the Twins have blown this so badly. They have no idea what they’re doing with Liriano, and it’s sickening. And to put him in the minors and plan for ‘09 is a lame way of saying, “We have no idea what we’re doing.” He belongs in the minors, yes, but he should have been there late last summer!!!
This is Joe Mays all over again. And it’s sad, because Liriano could’ve been better than Johan.
I’m in the physical therapy profession, and all I can say is blame the Twins on this one. This has been handled with idiocy since day one. (Why did they wait four months after declaring him out for the season before having him go under the knife??? Why??? It’s like 2003, when they had known Milton’s knee was bad since the previous September and finally told him to have surgery in SPRING TRAINING! He didn’t return until September!)
Thank god Terry Ryan is gone. Now, it’s time to get rid of this coaching staff!
Joe Mays came back too soon
BD,
yes, they have a fast gun in Oakland and it showed that he was hitting 97. With gameday’s gun he was hitting 92. Crain is a whole different story. He has been at 95-96 all year. He is ready.
Somehow I have this nasty hunch that the Twins brass will do the best thing for Liriano.
When you can’t spot your fastball for strikes in the big leagues, you’re not gonna win. Send him down before his confidence is completely shattered.
Gameday doesn’t use gun readings. The pitch f/x system uses a series of cameras. Both accurate and consistent, unlike a radar gun.
Joe Mays took the same amount of time to come back as Liriano.
So Lala is in the physical rehab field. How many professional atheletes has he rehab’ed? And exactly when did the Twins give him access to Lirano’s medical records. To be so arrogant to think you know what is best for someone that you have never met is beyond belief. Try giving an opinion without making it sound like you are the foremost knowledge on something that you know nothing about. The Twins management and Doctors are the only ones that have been with Liriano every step of the way. Even another major league team wouldn’t be so stupid as to give a medical opinion on another player they haven’t checked out medically. Good god…..
you’re right, i thought i’d read a thread at some point that he rushed himself or the Twins rushed him
and…..I guess the reason Liriano can’t throw strikes with a fastball is because he wasn’t forced into rehab a year ago. Yes, I’m sure that’s it. Or, maybe it’s because Liriano threw a nasty slider that screwed up his arm early and the Twins are working on a completely different delivery for him. If the Twins want to work out Liriano’s kinks in the majors fine, but there is going to be more outings like todays.
You’re wrong Shawn. Didn’t you read Lala tell us he was actually a whole year late on starting to throw. Apparently some other pitcher recovered quicker for some other team, therefore every pitcher for every team should recover just as fast. Apparently, and I didn’t know this because I’m not in the physical therapy field, but every person heals at the same rate. I’ll alert the AMA. Lala needs to publish this information.
Span contributed a reasonable, if not sensational .324 OBP while he was here. Compared to Gomez’ .258 OBP, it looks huge.
The Twins can’t sustain an inning and score many runs, with their pathetic, team OBP. Worst in the league. Gomez, Young, Kubel and Lamb are all everyday players that are sub .300 OBP.
It was nice to see Gomez hit a home run. Eventually it had to happen; that is, someone threw the ball where Gomez was swinging.
Toby Gardenhire had THREE ERRORS in a game at Fort Myers tonight.
But he did get after it.
Liriano has to go to the minors. We can’t afford to be taxing our bullpen and throwing games away while he learns how to pitch again. If he can pitch for a solid month or two in the minors with a decent strike to ball ratio, then maybe he can come back and work things out.
My ex-girlfriend is also in the physical therapy profession.
She’s a hooker.
Alright then give him a few more starts and let’s see what happen’s and if the results are the same then you have to send him down and give him a chance to find himself. Perhaps at single A then if he shows improvement then move him to a double team and so on. But not here! This team has enough problems with it punchless offense and I say why keep throwing this young pitcher to the wolves……
Let’s get Barry Bonds in here for the league minimum. Bat him 5th behind Morneau. If Morneau doesn’t drive them in Bonds will. Or have Cuddy between the two of them to split up the leftys. I know it doesn’t help the Twins for “tomorrow”, but lets win some games today with some offense!
Cuddyer’s coming back! Whoopi…What does that mean? Is he the team savior? Or just another player we can add to this punchless offense……
“Let’s get Barry Bonds in here”
Expecting him to be granted work release privileges?
I just read on the red wings website that Bobby Korecky has been called up. What other roster move do you suppose is happening???
After tonight’s Rochester Triple-A game, it was announced that the Twins are also calling up reliever Bobby Korecky from the minors. I think you can safely assume that means Liriano is going down to Triple-A. Stay tuned.
Bat Bonds leadoff.
OBP last year .480
OBP lifetime .444
“I just read on the red wings website that Bobby Korecky has been called up. What other roster move do you suppose is happening???”
Liriano going down, I bet. In 5 days they will bring up a starter.
Did someone say Joe Mays actually came back?
Who becomes the SP replacing Liriano?
Is Korecky gone when Slowey is ready?
Probably Slowey, butg hopefully Mulvey.
“Who becomes the SP replacing Liriano?
Is Korecky gone when Slowey is ready?”
Korecky could be sent back. The pen is a little depleted after Cisco’s flop. They may just need him for a few days.
They could also send back Brian “the Butcher” Buscher. Buscher is just a clone of Lamb. One is more than enough.
Craig,
Are you saying that they cloned a Lamb?
I think I read about that.
When Joe Mays came back, he was moderately successful until he threw 75-82 pitches. After that, he got shelled. Gardy & Anderson for some reason kept trying to stretch him out and cost him and the Twins 4 wins. I wrote to Joe C. and mentioned this. He checked Elias stats and, indeed, verified it. That’s the last time I had any faith in the two old NY Met minor league roommates to run/lead a ML pitching staff. I believe the year was 2005. If you don’t believe me, check it out!!
“Are you saying that they cloned a Lamb?”
Yeah, didn’t you notice Buscher’s sheepish grin?
A little concerned about the bats on this team. I thought going into the season we’d be scoring atleast 5 to 6 runs on average. It’s early but if they don’t start hitting, Yikes. What happened with going the other way. Alot of outside pitches getting pounded into the dirt for easy outs. Hopefully Texas could be our cure. Patience I guess.
everyone,
Liriano was an unusual case. I remember the first 2006 game he felt something in his elbow… it was after he slipped on his follow through which screwed up his left leg. that in turn altered his arm motion. he didnt complain of arm discomfort until later in the game.
serial MRI’s never showed elbow injury. yet Liriano kept feeling “something” in his elbow. Another pitcher on the staff, i think Silva, kept telling him that he needed to think about his long term career and not jepeordize his arm, which made him more of a headcase.
the whole idea that his “violent” arm motion (which i’m not arguing is not violent) caused either a progressive or an acute elbow injury due to his natural delivery is something i’ll never agree with, since it was precipitated by a slip and then altered mechanics for one game and since we have never seen proof of elbow injury on his multiple MRI’s.
then he had “prophylactic” TJ surgery to avoid elbow problems in the future. Twins did this b/c Liriano was not going to push himself as long as he felt something funny in his elbow and they made a calculated guess it was not going away in 2007.
If anyone doubts the above, just google “Liriano MRI”. it’s bizarre.
BETTER question - what happened to taking walks? This team is dead last in that category…and their 11 behind the closest team (2nd to last team). In order to win ball games you have to get on base - team batting average is barely any good either…combo that with a terrible OBP and little to NO walks and you’re not going to score runs. Force the opposing pitcher to pitch from the set - put some stress on the opposing teams D and let your team speed run all over the base paths by taking a walk from time to time. The only thing i can see that might be positive about Cuddy being back is that Mauer goes back to the 2 hole sooner rather than later! (I can’t stand Cuddy though - the guys a #6 or #7 hitter on most MLB clubs…or a spot guy late in the game / every 3rd game - like Bobby Kielty is/was).
And where did LaLa go - seems like someone was able to shut his arse up pretty quickly!
“sid says:
April 24th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
My ex-girlfriend is also in the physical therapy profession.
She’s a hooker.”
Nice.
I love Denard Span. What a great player. He is fiercely competitive. He’s got the physical toolkit. If he works hard he could improve his hitting and be a major contributor with the Twins.
Hitting is the major problem on this team. If the team batting average improved by 10 or 15 points, the Twins would be a top-5 AL team.
The Twins hitting has actually fallen off the map this year. This is why we must fire the hitting coach. Bring back Rod Carew or Tony Oliva. Maybe hire Ken Landreaux or Roy Smalley. Just get somebody who can teach these kids how to hit!!!
Two years ago we led the american league in batting average. We do need to address the power stats. I’m not a fan of the spray the ball all over the field approach.
