Roster move expected Wednesday
Posted on May 5th, 2009 – 11:17 PMBy La Velle
The Twins didn’t hide their unhappiness with second baseman Alexi Casilla after he made three mistakes during a 9-0 loss to the Tigers.
Casilla made an error and didn’t throw home to catch a slow runner in the second inning, then ran to first base with the bat in his hands after popping up in the eighth inning.
“We have a relay down the first base line where we have a chance to throw a guy out at home plate,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “The guy catches the ball, drops his head and looks around. Now we have no chance. The baserunner was a catcher at first base. That’s not knowing the game. That’s getting old. So we’ll work on this.”
Even Twins first baseman Justin Morneau mentioned the mistake.
“We can’t keep making the excuse that we’re a young team when we are making a lot of mistakes,’’ he said. “A lot of them are mental mistakes that don’t show up as errors, like not thinking to throw the ball home. Not thinking of the play ahead of time before it happens.”
Uh-oh
Gardenhire over the weekend said he was willing give Casilla a little more time to straighten things out. But, in addition to struggling at the plate, he’s making mistakes in the field. Even during my live chat on Monday, I felt that Gardy would give Casilla every chance. The mistakes haven’t ended.
Matt Tolbert struggled early at Class AAA Rochester but is batting .414 with a double, two triples and 7 RBI over his last six games.
I won’t be surprised to see Tolbert in the clubhouse when I get to Camden Yards later this morning (don’t ask, this is the not-so-glamorous part of the gig).
Gardenhire had a lot to say after the game about the state of the team:
“A bad night,” he said. “You prepare for a ballgame then you come out and start out like that, you wonder how we prepared. We go out and we do all our work, we take bp, we take our ground balls, we take our fly balls. And then nothing really good happened out there.
“I don’t know many unearned…I think at least three of the nine that Blackie gave up were unearned. We just played terrible behind him but, still, he’s got to pitch. To go back out there and give up three more like he did, he didn’t make any pitches. Whether he was frustrated or not you still have to try to get through it and eat innings out there.
“Just a bad night all the way around. We missed plays, just too many of them. And it’s just not us…and it is us because we were the ones out on the field. ”
135 Responses to "Roster move expected Wednesday"
well, one good thing is that no team is without problems.
Sounds like enough is enough. Bring on Tolbert. Hopefully Casilla will get a wake up call out of this and be back soon.
i saw the sportscenter hightlights, it was all about youngs fumble, cuddy’s crappy dive, and casilla’s botched grounder and his non-throw home. its embarrassing to be a fan when the above makes the SC highlight reel for the game.
okay, put harris in his place and bring up one of the relievers.
Gsrdy was pretty sure that talking to Casilla, after his 1st inning miscue last night, had set Casilla in the right frame of mind. Mentioned it to Jeff Joyce on SiriusXM this morning. I guess he has probably changed his mind about that after tonight’s game.
Casilla needs to pull his head out of his arse. He’s slowly but surely turning into another Luis Rivas.
The Twins are a truly schizo ballclub this year-they’ll win a couple in a row playing solid fundamental baseball and then drop a couple playing like a beer league softball team. Bizarre.
Young played young defense, Cuddy made a rookie mistake, and Casilla is playing like he belongs in AA ball, and making the fans need AA because of the amount of booze it would take to find his play acceptable.
Bring up Tolbert like I said yesterday.
I also think that it wouldn’t be too shocking to see Delaney called up either, and RA Dickey given his outright release.
Chris D…
I agree with you on how frustrating they are playing, but please realize that they are one winning streak away from being in 1st place, and with a young team like they do have, once they get on a roll you are aware of what this team is capable of doing.
I think they need to release Dickey, call up Delaney, and send Casilla and Gomez to AAA. They could bring up Tolbert, and Pirdie. Since Pirdie is fast he’d be a great late inning base runner, and his glove is solid if he had to play, plus we are not out anything if he’s not playing. That being said, I wouldn’t have a problem if they said the hell with it, and brought up Slama, Tolbert and Delaney.
[…] Twins Insider – […]
Only SIX games LaVelle?
Don’t bring that stuff in here (to paraphrase your reply to my Tolbert post in Monday’s chat).
Tolbert is hitting .365 in his last 10 games…hitting safely in 8 of those 10 games…5 multi-hit games..a couple of doubles and triples.
Thanks for finally bringing up his stats…glad SOMEONE thought of that 
.356…silly fingers 
I find it baffling that very little mention was made of the fact that the Twins bats were silent last night. According to Gardy’s comments it was all about the defense and pitching that led to that embarrassing loss. Three errors were made, but even so, the Tigers still would have won easily thanks to the offense’s poor showing against Porcello.
That was the only time I’ve ever turned off a Twins game for a lack of effort. They didn’t even look like they were trying.
I was hearing circus music palying while watching that crap. Things like that happened last year too!!!
I think the Twins will be fine though.
So much for “Twins Basesball”… pitching and defense if usually the mantra and signature of this club but outside Punto’s nice play behind second this team looked second-rate out there last night.
As mentioned by many, Young has to move to right field (his settled position with the Rays) and split time with Cuddyer. Put Gomez in center and give him the everyday playing time Casilla was given to sort things out and if it doesn’t work, send him down too and bring Pridie back. Span is, well… solid.
I will be interested to see if(when) Casilla gets demoted, if Harris ends up at SS and Punto takes over 2B or if Tolbert will play 2B immediately. If so, it’d be unforunate because I think Harris at adequate in the field and hasn’t been given a chance to settle in the field while his bat has been pretty decent (as compared to his middle infield peers).
Sorry, enough ranting… for now.
I don’t think it will be Delany.
Do we have LOOGY in Rochestor?
I think Breslow is the one to go.
**Revised Statement**
“As mentioned by many…”
Should read:
“As mentioned by a few bloggers yesterday…”
Sorry, I was embellishing for effect.
Eddie
Harris has little range. It seems he doesn’t move side to side very well.
I like his bat but he needs a position.
Also don’t forget how big that field is in Detriot. It can make any fielder look bad.
I don’t often question Gardy but why wasn’t Gomez in the field last night?
With him and Span there some of those hits might have been caught
I can see why Gardy especially would be frustrated. He stuck with Casilla after that ugly play in the first inning on Monday, and then gets burned for it in the next game.
I unfortunately only heard the play on the radio, so I’m not going to assume he gets the guy going home (I’ll have to take people’s word for it that the runner was dead in the water)
It’s definately the play that changed the game. Young and Cuddyer botching plays that same inning afterwards…not good. But it’s tough to tell at that point if it’s guys trying to do too much to right a bad situation or just frustration leading to poor decisions.
Do we have LOOGY in Rochestor?
Sean Henn has an ERA of .59 with 20 Ks in 15 1/3 innings. He can help us.
What are the chances Luke HUGHES moves to short and PUNTO to second?
On Harris’s range. He has a really slow first step. On several occasions, a hard-hit ball would get though within six feet of him. All he did was step and dive. But if he moves his feet as the batter swings, he gets in front of the ball without needing to dive. He’s just really flat-footed out there.
It could actually be worse: tonight’s pitching matchup between KC and Seattle features the electric Sidney Ponson (0-4, 7.16 ERA) vs. the mercurial Carlos Silva (1-2, 7.36 ERA).
Maybe it CAN’T get worse. Those are two first-place teams…
[clutterheart]
While Harris’ range isn’t that of Punto’s…I’d still let him play SS over 2B for a while and see how things shake out.
And while I agree the outfield in Detroit is vast, it had nothing to do with the gaffes made by Young and Cuddyer. Young wasn’t focused and Cuddyer misjudged the ball (and his physical abilities).
I thought Gomez would have been in there too, but Gardy was probably trying to keep the RH bats down to a minimum with the RH on the mound… see how that worked to our offensive advantage last night?
[T]
Casilla’s “no throw” play that inning caught people off guard…as everyone expected a throw. I think it would have been closer than people think but he could have gotten the runner. At any rate, he most certainly should have thrown the ball. Did I just use shoulda, coulda, woulda?
As far as playing SS vs. 2B, is there a difference in regards to where Harris’ range won’t be a disadvantage?
Or is it easier to compensate at SS because you’ve got the 3B there to potentially help out?
[BOP]
I wonder what the over/under on total runs will be.
Reall issue is, we, Loony, and even the Twins front office knew this was going to be an issue with too many outfielders, and relief pitching and they still did not go out and get anyone. I blame the front office for sitting on their hands year after year. I love the Crede deal, but jeez even that was done halfa@#%^. They should of singed him to a club option for next year if he goes on a tear. Idiots.
I get a little puzzled by the mantra that Harris can’t be a contributor at short.
Last year from June 11 to July 4 the Twins went 17-4. In those 21 games Harris was the shortstop in 20 of them. At the tail end of that stretch Punto had returned and played at second until he was moved to short on the 5th. Harris played pretty much at third from then on and not much at all in September.
I’m not a stats guy but it seems as if the bottom line is what does the team do when you are playing. It looked to me last year, and maybe it’ll turn out that way this year, that Harris can play short when the Twins are winning. He may even contribute a bit.
It wouldn’t offend me at all if Punto moved to 2nd base and Harris played short for the bulk of the next couple of weeks to see if another streak like last year can happen.
As the old fossil Al Davis said “Just win, baby.” I don’t care if a guy is a turtle and has one arm if the team wins when he’s in the lineup. This ain’t a beauty contest.
Jay
Hughes is a defensive liability at any position. They would never put him at short where they already have an above average defender in Punto.
How about that bullpen last night?!
4 and 2/3 innings of 3 hit ball with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.
Last night was the perfect time for Dickey.
They should of singed him to a club option for next year if he goes on a tear. Idiots.
*sigh*
Crede wanted a one-year rehab deal so he could go for more money next season. He would’ve never agreed to a club option, because if he had the kind of year the Twins (and he) hopes he has…the Twins would pick up the option and Crede would miss out on his big payday.
Casilla and Young do’nt belong in the magors. Bad play is just as contagious as good play is.These two are just bad attitudes and need to go.
Eddie: It was a great time to use both Breslow and Dickey.
I’m sure people will disagree about the use of Crain, but wasn’t that his first outing since coming back?
If I’m coming back from injury, I’d hope to get a chance to throw a few innings in a low pressure situation vs. coming in for a close 7th/8th.
Dickey finally had the “chance” to fulfill the roll he was brought in to do, and low and behold, it did it just fine. It was also nice to get Crain and Breslow a low pressure, b-squad type of inning each to get back on track. Of course, I’d have rather seen Mijares protecting a one run lead…..
Any chance they can put Delmon on the bus to Rochester with Alexi?
Between Young and Gomez, they only have one major league quality between them: Gomez’s defense. Gomez should play, Young should be shipped out of town.
[T]
Agreed on Crain.
But if I’m coming back from an injury, I’d be working only a few hours a day to get my rear end used to sitting in a chair before put in some real time at my desk.
I say send Gomez & Casilla down, release Dickey, call up Tolbert, Pirdie, and Delaney. Let Breslow and Young know they could be next.
Rotate Harris in at SS, also use as a pinch hitter. Put Tolbert in at 2B. Pirdie off the bench as a PR, give him a start a week to rest one of the outfielders.
Have Rochester bat GoGo and Casilla 1-2 and play every inning, every day for a month. Then hopefully they’ll get straightened out and be back for the rest of the season, ready to contribute.
Leave young where he is, he notoriously starts out bad, and gets ging around late May early June. We need to start looking at bringing up Ben Revere. He dominated last year in the minors, and can/will be everything we need in a jump starter.
a reason to worry (besides some poor play) we’ve played 7 more gamers at home so far and are 1 game under .500. last year a team that was better than this team was .427 on the road. they could be digging a hole that will be hard to get out of. lucky we’re in a mediocre division.
amusing how one bad game gets a media feeding frenzy going. they must be reading the blogs again.
Good outing by Dickey. I was ready to give up on him, but he did fine in the mop-up role.
I’m still worried about Breslow. He allowed two runners in his one inning including a BB. He was great last year and I think his career numbers are pretty solid, but his inability to consistently find the plate this year is a big concern. I wonder how much longer Gardy and the Twins will stick with him.
Too late. This team sucks so bad, last night I reached the end of my rope and canceled my mlb.tv. These losers are not worth $20/month. But hey, at least we can root for the Royals. Now there’s a team that plays Twins style baseball.
We should see if we can trade back Young for Santanna..Hell, we’ll even through in Casilla
G. I would keep Dickey (you need SOMEBODY to pitch garbage time)
The bullpen guy that should go is Ayala. He was brought in to be the 7th/8th inning type guy. With Mijares back on track (*knockwood*) and Crain back from the DL, that hopefully gives the Twins a 7th/8th bridge to Nathan.
Closer: Nathan
8th: Mijares
7th: Crain
Garbage Time: Dickey
Wildcard: Breslow, Guerrier (depending on how they’re looking)
Get Duensing back up here to replace Ayala. See if he can handle tight games in situations where the starter exits before the 7th. (lead or deficit)
——
OF: Keep Gomez. Use him as a late inning replacement for Young. Depending on the score, you can do this in a way that gets him an AB at the end. If both Young and Gomez are struggling, I’d rather have Young at the plate since he’s more likely to contribute power once he gets on track.
Without doing too much shuffling, rotate the OF so that Gomez gets a start every 3/4 days. This would be by sliding Span into either LF or RF and benching the player he replaces. This gives Gomez some ABs to work with while also allowing an OFer to take a break from time to time. This wouldn’t be any kind of platoon, but a legit means of resting players.
———
IF: Send down Casilla. Gardy tried to cut him some slack Monday and Casilla thanked him by looking like a fool on Tuesday. Send him down, get a guy like Tolbert up here and start him off in a bench role.
Harris takes over 2B and Punto stays at 2nd. Harris bats 2nd in the lineup, Punto 9th. Tolbert is used to spell one of them enough so that he gets a start every 3/4 days.
Primary Lineup:
Span
Harris
Mauer
Morneau
Kubel
Crede
Cuddyer
Young
Punto
Changes:
Tolbert bats low in the lineup. If he’s in for Harris, everybody slides up one and Tolbet bats 8th or 9th. If he’s in for Punto, then he bats 9th.
For Gomez, you take out whichever OF he’s resting and slide everbody up one. He bats 8th or 9th. This means that if he rests Span, Harris leads off. This would only happen once a week (if even) though. I’m open for suggestions on that one.
We’ve already seen the Redmond lineup, with him batting 8th and everybody moving up one behind Span/Harris.
Heck, “everybody slides up one” sounds like a universal theme of bringing in backups. If Buscher comes in, you take out Morneau/Crede and put Buscher 7th/8th.
I also propose the “worst case scenario” in which as many backups as possible are playing…
Span (LF)
Harris (2B/SS)
Morneau (1B)
Kubel (DH)
Cuddyer (RF)
Buscher (3B)
Tolbert (SS/2B)
Redmond (C)
Gomez (CF)
Ben Revere is batting .297 in A ball. That probably translates to Casilla numbers or worse if he jumps all the way to the bigs. That is a million miles from being a serious option.
Breslow has a place on this team. He’ll be a contributor. Same with Young. You can’t give up on a young talent like that. Besides, his questionable defense is somewhat hidden in left. Dickey better get good quick. Anyone expect him to be here much longer? Gone this afternoon?
Most of these issues will sort themselves out if you just keep letting them play.
Casilla needs to get that bat off his shoulder and get his hands back in a loaded position.
I saw you sit Young as well; he doesn’t have his head in the game either! How can a guy with so much potential, again start a season so slowly? Put Gomez out there - at least he gives you good ‘D’ and some excitement at the plate!
As for Casilla, I agree, send him down; he needs a wake up call! But I might take it one step further and start Tolbert more over Punto - yes, Punto gives you better ‘D’; but we also need some consistent offense right now!
Duensing has a 6.93 ERA at Rochester. Swarzak, Mulvey, and Humber have all pitched well there so far. Maybe it’s time to see if Mulvey is ready to help.
Oh yeah, and T makes a good point- Ayala might less reason to be here than Dickey.
The guys on MLB Network lit him up last night for not making that throw home. Something needs to happen at second.
there is being a young team, then there is fundamentals one should have and know after playing baseball for for your whole life.
5 run second - I would apportion blame thusly: 50% to Blackburn. He issued a 4 pitch, 2 out walk to Laird, and then gave up 4 or 5 more hits; regardless of defense or lack thereof, that is not very good. Casilla: 40% - he might have ended the inning as scoreless if he actually throws home, rather than standing there with the ball like players on my 5 year old son’s T-Ball team. Then after 2 had scored, he could have ended the inning a second time, but booted Polanco’s grounder. Three more score. A guy hitting .150 cannot allow the other team to score 5 extra runs, or 3 unearned runs in one inning. His eight inning at-bat, which consisted of a weak wave at a ball that was head high and 6 inches outside, which was a week pop-up to right, was the final symbol of his effort level: non-existent. He needs a AAA wake-up call. Young 5%: it was a bloop single, with runner on second, so he would have scored anyway; his error only allowed the batter to take one extra base. Relatively minor in the over-all debacle. Cuddyer: 5%. He dove to try to catch a ball, to keep it at 3-0. A single would have made it 4-0. maybe not a good decision, but at least it was a effort play that turned out badly, not just a don’t give a rats ass play. Finally, as others have suggested, Span could have been in left last night with Gomez in center; the huge outfield in Detroit is crying out for our fastest outfielders.
Best point: they have played 1/6 of season, so there is plenty of time to thurn this mess around.
“They’re sh!tty again!”
-Asian guys on Major League
Wouldn’t this be a strong offensive lineup?
Span CF
Harris 2B
Mauer C/DH
Morneau 1B
Kubel LF
Crede 3B
Cuddyer RF
Morales C/DH
Tolbert SS
So far, Gomez has averaged one home run once every 89 plate appearances.
Young has averaged one home rum every 55.
By comparison, Cuddyer hits one every 36 at bats, Brendan Harris and Joe Mauer each hit one every 53 plate appearances.
Delmon Young looks like a power hitter, but he really, really isn’t.
If people attack Mauer for being a singles hitter…
Last I checked you don’t win games without scoring runs. Porcello is nothing special. This team is in complete disarray.
Sorry, the Cuddy number is PA as well, not at bats.
Buscher gives this team nothing. He’s horrible in the field and if he continues to back sub-.200 what’s the point? He should be sent down.
Bring up Tolbert. Kubel or Cuddy could spot Morneau at 1st occasionally.
I wouldn’t send Casilla down but I would sit him on the bench for a week and let him watch. I’d play Harris everyday at 2nd for awhile.
Is there a bigger predictor of failure than when a sportswriter talks in Spring Training about how a fat guy looks smaller (Boof) or a little guy looks bigger (Buscher)??
Actually, Porcello is absolutely expected to be something special. He was a first rounder in ‘07 and jumped to the majors this quickly by being dominating through the minors. Still, our lineup shouldn’t get whooped like minor opponents.
they need to just call up their first round draft pick even though he’s a little inconsistent - Matt Garza - move Punto to 2nd and give Bartlett some PT at SS even though he lacks some on-the-field leadership and maybe bring Lohse in from the pen and give him some starts. er… I mean forget about the AL champs MVP and those 2 alomst all-star starting pitchers (geez Matt brushes with a no-hitter every 3rd start).
On the infield:
Casilla needs to go down. Tolbert up. How the infield is aligned depends on the pitcher. For a RH groundballer like Blackburn you can put Punto at 2B, Harris at SS and pull Harris for Tolbert in later innings. With Liriano pitching you want good SS defense as a primary concern.
Gardy doesn’t like Harris at 2B because he turns an awkward pivot. His range is not great for either position but he’s more comfortable turning the DP on the left side of 2B. His best fielding position is probably 3B but he’s not going to move Crede. Fortunately Brendan’s bat has made up for his range this year. None of Punto, Harris or Tolbert is an above-average major leaguer (Casilla hasn’t been an above replacement major leaguer for months) so the answer is to mix and match them situationally depending on Twin and opponent pitchers. This also gives the opportunity to pinch hit with Buscher and the odd man out in the outfield.
Thank god finals have taken over me this week so I haven’t been able to listen to the games. Sounds like last night was an embarrassment. Let’s hope that with a roster move that will turn around. Might be time for our young squad from AAA to step it up once again like they usually do.
If I’m coming back from injury, I’d hope to get a chance to throw a few innings in a low pressure situation vs. coming in for a close 7th/8th.
And I hope that Crain is not put in a close situation tonight, because we know what happened last time he was in the day after he played in a blow out. Crain did not need to be there yesterday. Actually nobody but Blackburn and Dickey needed to pitch. You cannot burn pitchers while you give up on the game by substituting Redmond and Buscher for Mauer and Morneau. Bad move.
[…] mistakes, and the fact that after the game Ron Gardenhire was more than happy to talk about the, LaVelle is making an assumption that by the time the Twins get to Baltimore Matt Tolbert will be with the team, and Mr. Casilla […]
I think Young’s play was more excuseable than Cuddyers. If the Young play is a hit, the guy is scoring anyway, a catch ends the inning. The Cuddyer play is a single with no one scoring if he just stands up and catches the ball. Cuddyers play was stupid, Young’s would have been a valiant effort, had he dived for the ball
I have always liked Alexi Casilla in theory, and I’ve always wanted him to succeed. But after the first month of this season I have started to think that it might be time to replace him in the lineup. It’s too bad - he has a lot of potential with his speed. But he is disappointing in the field, he never steals bases, and this year he hasn’t even managed to get on base very much.
I think Harris should start at second for the time being.
Pridie is not a MLB player!
I’ve been saying that Gardy is a horroble manager since day one … does anyone believe me now?
Reed says: “Young has averaged one home rum every 55.”
Does that mean that Delmon Young is making his own moonshine? Because if all the Twins had a drink that would do a lot to explain their play last night!
it’s early early. In 2006 the Twins were 34-34 (in the wake of Kirby’s passing, ironically) before they went on a tear. Last year they weren’t much better out of the gate but wound up with 90 wins and “in it” late.
Starting pitching is the key — if Blackburn et al can’t get through 4 innings without giving up 7 runs then most games are going to be lost and the play in the field (i agree w/ T above on this) will suffer and it will be hard to distinguish putrid play from trying too hard. And the bullpen needs to round into form, but with Crain & Mijares late to Nathan, Guerrier and a few others to bridge the middle innings, that should work out.
Mental mistakes early on, however — you can’t take your .156 into the field with you, and if that’s what our little man at 2nd base is doing, he has to get his head straight because he can play, but you can’t not pay attention and succeed in baseball at the mlb level.
Hart
Alexi Casilla = Luis Rivas Jr
Decent ball players but just seem to not have it going on upstairs. Hopefully for us fans and Casilla, he doesn’t end up like good old Rivas.
[lconoclast]
I have always liked Casilla in theory…
I’ve liked Casilla in reality, well, the glimmer we saw in 2008. His numbers were pretty damn good last year and his defense was above average.
Although I knew he had to come down a little bit…this season’s drop off is mind blowing.
I hope he’s able to gather himself and mature a little bit in Rochester. He’s only 24 and has a lot of time ahead of him.
Yeah but, Jack, you’re a horroble speller.
DY did take a BB last night. Hopefully with more petience, we will see more power, as in getting better pitches to hit. Just a thought.
About Casilla. I think the whole neighborhood heard me yell “throw the ball” last night. Hopefully if he does get sent down he can get his head on straight.
haff620: I think you have it backwards. Young was passive and f’d up. No excuse to not play it clean if you decide to pull up. Cuddyer went all or nothing to try to save Blackburns night. He came up short this time, but at least he gave it an honest, agressive try.
Alexi will be selling dental floss in six months.
If anyone’s interested, I took a pretty good look at the Farm System last night, you can check it out by clicking by name.
Holy overreactions, ya’ll,
last night was a horrible game, and as someone wrote, it was contagious. I can understand Casilla going down. But look at the numbers of late… Cuddyer has been killing the ball and getting on base. Young has been playing well since he’s been playing more. I realize they each had a bad play on defense last night, but in reality, both have played well. To hear people say that Young should be sent down is a bit crazy (expecially since he is out of options and whoever has the first claim would take him immediately and laugh!).
And I hope that Crain is not put in a close situation tonight, because we know what happened last time he was in the day after he played in a blow out.
If Crain can’t pitch two days in a row (regardless of situation) then Crain is not a “pitcher you can trust” and thus shouldn’t be coming into close games in the first place.
Wanted: a nice shrubbery (infielder) not to big, not to expensive, who can hit a little, catch and throw! Willing to take abuse from all sides.
Apply Gardy’s office!
Ekke Ekke
“If Crain can’t pitch two days in a row (regardless of situation) then Crain is not a “pitcher you can trust” and thus shouldn’t be coming into close games in the first place.”
right now we can put every Twin’s reliever in that bucket
“”"”"SethSpeaks says:
May 6th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Holy overreactions, ya’ll,”"”"”
Good call, Seth. It’s called vultures coming out of the woodwork, just waiting to pounce. Twins’ win on Monday night, never heard from ‘em. Twins’ loss on Tuesday, albeit a very ugly loss, the vultures pounce. Interesting development. I blame it on a lot of pent up frustration with their lives, so they come here to vent. Oh, well……….
It’s official: Twin’s have optioned Casilla to Rochester and Recall Tolbert.
I’m confused: When did Delmon use up his option years? Somebody explain this to me…
Holy overreactions, ya’ll…
No kidding.
Look at those calling, today, for the immediate release of Dickey when he was one of last night’s bright spots.
Paul Walsh link at the Strib:
http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/44461542.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUqCP:iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
D.Young signed a major league contract and was immediately placed on the 40-man in 03 (option 1)
He played in the minors in 04-06, that’s option 2 and 3 as well as the 4th option year that he was afforded for signing a major league deal.
“I’m confused: When did Delmon use up his option years? Somebody explain this to me…”
Delmon signed a major league contract after being the #1 draft pick.
[…] LaVelle guessed right. The Twins announced that they are sending Alexi Casilla to Rochester, and promoting utility infielder Matt Tolbert to the Twins. […]
What is “Twins Baseball” anymore? Gardy likes to talk about it, but we really don’t seem to see it.
It seems to now be massively inconsistent effort, a mostly frightening bullpen (Nathan excluded, Mijares/Crain to lesser extent), mental lapses, big big losses, and still no real power beyond Morneau.
What is the identity of this team? After watching them play pretty regularly this season, I have no idea.
At this point of the season, it would appear “Twins Baseball” is certainly not going to be playoff baseball.
Last night I went to sleep in Detroit city,
And I dreamed about those cotton fields and home,
I dreamed about my mother,
dear old papa, sister and brother,
And I dreamed about that girl,
whose been waitin’ for so long,
I want to go home, I want to go home,
Oh Lord, I want to go home,
Home folks think I’m big in Detroit city,
From the letters that I write they think I’m fine,
But by day I make the cars,
by night I make the bars,
If only they could read between the lines,
I want to go home, I want to go home,
Oh Lord, I want to go home,
I rode a freight train north to Detroit city,
After all these years I’ve been wasting my time,
I’ll take my foolish pride,
on a southbound freight and ride,
Go on back to the ones,
EI’ve left waitin’ so far behind,
I want to go home, I want to go home,
Oh Lord, I want to go home.
Twins need a spark plug like Tolbert.
Twins need a defibulator.
thanks for clearing up the option thing. Makes perfect sense. I thought he was drafted later than 2003 though. Doesn’t seem like that long ago. Man I’m getting old…
“”"”"Walter Johnson says:
May 6th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Twins need a spark plug like Tolbert”"”"”
WJ, the “spark plug” the Twins need is to take all of the advice of the vultures on the blogs.
Agree with Seth here. Sending down Young makes no sense at this point. I still don’t like the trade, but it’s done and over with. Young needs to play every day until he proves he’s good or bad.
If Baltimore is smart, they’ll bring up two rookie pitchers to make their Major League debuts against the Twins.
A Bobby Bare reference sane?
Well played, sir. Well played.
Baseball is a game played by imperfect human beings. Casilla’s trip to AAA Roch is deserved, he played himself out of the lineup. This is now Tolbert’s opportunity, I am truly interested in seeing how this plays out. GO TWINS!!!
Normally, I don’t like to hear players call out their teammates for criticism in the press. But in Morneau’s case, I’m glad he is maybe starting to be more vocal. Of course, I have no idea what he is like in the locker room, but he doesn’t strike me as the Torii Hunter type.
I’m glad to see some roster moves that aren’t soley injury related. It keeps the players on the 25-man on their toes and gives hope to the guys down in Rochester. Except maybe for whoever is playing first base down there.
The Torii Hunter type? You mean Morneau could actually hit the person he is swinging at? I would pay a lot of money to see Torii’s swing and miss at Morneau and the ensuing connection with Punto’s face! Priceless!
“gobbledygookguy says:
May 6th, 2009 at 8:01 am
a reason to worry (besides some poor play) we’ve played 7 more gamers at home so far and are 1 game under .500. last year a team that was better than this team was .427 on the road. they could be digging a hole that will be hard to get out of. lucky we’re in a mediocre division.
amusing how one bad game gets a media feeding frenzy going. they must be reading the blogs again.”
ONE BAD GAME?? Have you been in a coma for the past month???
John Moses Fan 10:38 Am Post sums it up concisely. Roster moves need to happen now, before we are 10 games under. There are so many things going wrong right now it’s hard to point at one area, or one player. But there needs to be accountability and changes, and Casilla is the most deserving to go down. Not saying Tolbert is the cure either, but definitely time to start moving people around.
I’ll predict that Tolbert is the starting 2B tonight, batting 2nd
is sending Casilla down for Tolbert just “arranging deck chairs on the Titanic” ? until Twin’s pitching improves it won’t matter who’s playing in the infield
Torii wasn’t dumb enough to actually hit Morneau.
FIRE,
I think it’s a move that has to be done regardless of the pitching.
I agree WJ - but folks are talking this is the magic elixir for the Twin’s pitching,hitting,baserunning,mental error woes…
The last thing you want when your pitching is struggling is for your fielders to be giving away outs.
is sending Casilla down for Tolbert just “arranging deck chairs on the Titanic” ? until Twin’s pitching improves it won’t matter who’s playing in the infield
Now that’s funny…and to some degree, correct.
FIRE,
No, you’re right there, but at least it seems to be a step in the right direction.
It ALL starts with pitching (and scoring at least one run).
On the other hand, when you lose 9-0, is it any better if you have solid defense and good pitching and lose 1-0?
[WJ]
A loss is a loss. But I’d rather lose 1-0 with solid defense and good pitching than lose 9-0 while looking like a second rate baseball team.
Then again, we’d all be here going off on the lack of offensive output.
So, losing sucks any way you look at it.
LVIII was right. Casilla optioned to Rochester. Tolbert on his way up.
Todd Anthony says:
ONE BAD GAME?? Have you been in a coma for the past month???
nope just pointing out the tenor of the media and blog the night before after a win was very upbeat. 180 degree shift in 24 hrs, note i said they may be digging a hole they can’t get out. i’ve been watching, this team has been on a roller coaster all year and it doesn’t look like getting mauer back has solved all the problems.
imo we’ll find out in the next month if gardy is as good as some say he is, he has his work cut out for him.
I’m glad that La Velle and Funkytown are now buddies.
:)>
gook: It’s hardly one bad game. Casilla made an ugly baserunning mistake on Monday and the praise was on GARDY (not Casilla) because GARDY didn’t just yank him to make a point.
If anything, Tuesday’s game following Gardy’s actions on Monday were the final straw.
Anybody paying attention could see he was regressing back to 2007 form in the field.
So, if Casilla gets called back up, that will be his fourth chance? Fifth chance?
Hopefully Tolbert continues to hit like he has the past 6 games.
I like Casilla, but I don’t want him to develop into a headcase like the guy he was traded for!
I get the feeling that this is it for Casilla and the Twins. If he can turn it around in the minors he may wind up getting traded elsewhere.
I don’t blame the Twins. He had an ugly 2007…but they brought him back in 2008 and he excelled.
Then they handed him the starting job in 2009 and he turned right back into 2007 Casilla.
What’s with the Twins and odd-numbered years??
Okay GGG, I do see your point…everyone sees a bright season ahead after a Twins win, but after a loss, the “rancor” is deafening. What I interpreted you saying was that it was “just one loss.” When we all know, it hasn’t bee JUST one bad loss. We’ve had several…
WJ…..sometimes odd-numbered years are good…. circa 1987 and 1991.
Dickey throwing a couple of scoreless innings when the game was out of reach doesn’t mean much. Let’s see if he can do it with the game on the line…that will show A LOT more!! There are major concerns about the entire bullpen (in front of Nathan)…but Guerrier has pitched well for the most part. But, we need to be more solid throughout the bullpen. I think some changes MUST be made!!
In other news, Shooter Hunt(0-1,10.43) pitches tonight in Beloit.
Tickets are still available.
Dickey throwing a couple of scoreless innings when the game was out of reach doesn’t mean much.
While it’s not a proud task, Twins needs a guy like Dickey that can just go pitch in a game when they need somebody to finish up some innings.
It’s garbage time. And you don’t want guys that you’d normally use in tight spots to always have to throw it.
[Leftyd]
I know Dickey’s performance last night doesn’t excuse his previous performances but I don’t believe they brought him in to bring him into tight situations where the game is on the line.
Last night’s role was most likely what the Twins were envisioning when they took him on… an innings-eater that can enter either side of blowouts while conserving short relief staff.
He (Casilla) had an ugly 2007…but they brought him back in 2008 and he excelled.
I disagree with the notion that Casilla had an ‘excellent’ 2008.
He put up a .707 OPS, and it was only that high due to a fluke first month, his OPS declined steadily month by month. He had only 22 EBHs. I don’t put a whole lotta stock in current defensive metrics, but if you do, he did not put up good defensive numbers.
IMO part of the problem with the Twins is they look at a player like that, and since he pretends to play middle infield, conclude that’s good enough. Middle infielders are not required by law to be light hiting ’scrappers.’
Better ones are hard to find, but they do exist, and settling for less–or choosing less in Punto’s case–is an organizational philosophy that needs to change.
Good thing we didn’t trade Harris like many who post here wanted us to do after we got Crede. Now everyone thinks he should be our regular 2b. I still don’t thinks he’s an everyday 2B guy. Tolbert is there every day. Harris will get spot time at SS and 2b. When LNP dives head first into first and breaks a finger then he’ll start at SS.
“Dickey throwing a couple of scoreless innings when the game was out of reach doesn’t mean much.”
Pure BS.
With a shakey catcher, and the mammoth Tigers blasting last night, his performance is no mean feat. Especially since Gardy didn’t let him throw the knuckler for that one game recently. And especially since Dickey is fighting to remain a MLB player with mixed results.
Dickey’s performance was fully professional last night.
And don’t think MLB hitters go into automatic cruise control when they have a big lead. Just ask the Yankees in that Cleveland game a couple Saturdays ago. These guys will pad their stats at every opportunity because it eventually helps them in the $$$ department.
“…an innings-eater that can enter either side of blowouts while conserving short relief staff.”
But don’t forget about the 6-2 games after 4 innings with the Twins playing catchup ball. Dickey can be VERY valuable if he throws a couple shutout innings in that situation (like he did last night).
I like a pitcher who goes out and makes the best of whatever situation he’s thrown into.
Agreed, Casilla was nothing special last year. But, I’m told he’s young, and therefore will get better. So, there’s still hope.
What did Dickey provide the Twins last night that Humber wouldn’t provide?
Conversely, who would you rather bring into a tie game in the 11th as the last bullpen option with one out and the bases loaded…Dickey or Humber?
Dickey needs to go. It was a bad idea to start with, and it’s a waste of a bullpen spot. He provides no value, and he didn’t even finish off the blowout last night.
“Now everyone thinks he should be our regular 2b.”
Not me, I wanna see if Tolbert can spark this team while playing some 2B. And I wanna see more Harris at 3B because Crede can use some rest.
Both Crede and Cuddy look a little stiff-backed.
I wanna see Gomez in CF tonight. Don’t care if he displaces Young or Cuddy; but I wanna see how he responds to Casilla being gone, and I wanna see how Tolbert responds to getting rid of his disappointment from not making the team out of ST.
And I hope Gardy shows some creative energy. I’m still bedazzled at Leyland starting the mediocre Thomas last night in the 3-hole (on a hunch, I presume) and getting the unpredictable great results.
No better time to play some hunches than against the rather lackluster Orioles.
“No better time to play some hunches than against the rather lackluster Orioles.”
Welcome to the Lackluster Bowl sponsored by No-doze.
“”"”"sane says:
May 6th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
“No better time to play some hunches than against the rather lackluster Orioles.”
Welcome to the Lackluster Bowl sponsored by No-doze.”"”"”
I was gonna take romer’s quote and replace the word Orioles with Twins!!!! Hey, new game tonight, so LET’S GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!
[…] 21 of last year Casilla has hit just .204/.276/.257 in 60 games, including .167/.231/.202 with increasingly bad defense and decision-making in 24 games this season. Ron Gardenhire and the Twins decided yesterday that they’d seen […]
