Thursday, February 26, 2009
Random Twins Notes/Thoughts
Good morning everyone! Life has
been more than hectic the last couple of weeks, so I apologize for a lack of
postings here. I dont have a lot of time tonight either, but I did want to at
least post some new content for people to discuss.
·
First of all, be
sure to check back later for details and times of tonights SethSpeaks.net Minnesota Twins Live Chat. It will likely
be at 8:00 central time. As always, it is your opportunity to send me
questions. I will answer your questions for up to two hours.
·
Boof Bonser had
exploratory surgery on Tuesday, and yesterday we found out that he will likely
miss the entire 2009 season with a torn rotator cuff and a torn labrum. If you
recall, these are the two surgeries that Jesse
Crain had two years ago. Bonser can and will come back. Many are dismissing this,
but I happen to think that Bonser would have really
made big strides as a reliever in 2009. I think he would have been more
comfortable in the bullpen, and known how to prepare himself differently. One
cant help but wonder if something was done wrong last year when he first
transitioned to the bullpen?
·
Does the Bonser injury make the Twins more likely to do more to
acquire Juan Cruz? I really dont
think so. I think whatever numbers or players the Twins offered, they were
comfortable with, and Cruz is the same pitcher regardless of the Twins
situation. With Pat Neshek
and Bonser out for the season, it has become
increasingly obvious that the Twins were wise to offer arbitration to Matt Guerrier,
sign Luis Ayala and keep Philip Humber around. Injuries happen,
and its unfortunate, but all a team can do is be prepared for the worst, and
the Twins do a good job of that.
·
12 players
currently in the Minnesota Twins organization made a WBC teams final roster.
o
Joe Nathan
will represent the United States.
o
Jesse Crain
and Justin Morneau
will play for Team USA.
o
Nick Punto will play for Italy.
o
Luke Hughes,
Liam Hendricks, Danny Berg and James
Beresford all will play for Australia. Hendricks told me the other day that
they will begin workouts together in Arizona on Friday, and their first round
of games will be played in Mexico City. Brad
Tippett certainly would have been on the team if
not for his broken finger, but he says it is healing very well and very quickly.
o
Luis Ayala will
play for Mexico.
o
2008 pick Carlos Gutierrez will play for Puerto
Rico.
o
Tom Stuifbergen will be playing for pitching coach Bert Blyleven and Team Netherlands. He
informed me last night that they have been working out in Bradenton, Florida
for about a week. If they play a third game, he will be the starter. I asked
who the top two starters will be, and he said that Sidney Ponson would get the Game 1 nod,
with Marlins starter Rick Vanden Hurk starting Game 2.
o
Finally, Hein Robb will play for the South
Africa team. I honestly knew nothing about him, but found out that the Twins
signed him last summer. He is likely going to be playing in the Australian
Summer League this year.
·
Of course, one of
the feel-good stories of the spring is Corey
Koskie trying one more time to make a return. He
is on Team Canada in hopes of getting one more shot with a big league club. Yahoos
Gordon Eades
wrote a nice
article on him.
·
Who needed Crede anyway? In the Twins spring training opener last
night against the Red Sox, Brian Buscher started at 3B and went 2-2. Then Danny Valencia came in and also went
2-2!
·
If youre a big
Twins fan and enjoy learning more about those minor leaguers who get into the
spring training games in the late innings and want to learn more, be sure to
purchase a copy or six of my book, Minnesota Twins
Prospect Handbook 2009. (I havent shamelessly self-promoted it for a
long time
well, not in a blog posting, just at the top of my page!!).
·
And finally,
spring training box scores are some of the coolest things in the world. Twins
fans seem to enjoy following where former Twins players are playing, so I will
try to give updates on former Twins in spring training. Here are players who
played in games on Wednesday:
o
Luis Castillo
NYM 2B 2-3, 2B, 4 RBI
o
Chris Gomez
BAL SS 0-1, R
o
Craig Monroe
PIT DH 0-1, 2 BB
o
Javier Valentin WASH C 0-3, RBI
o
Randy Ruiz
TOR PH 0-0, BB
o
Jacque Jones
CIN DH 1-2, R, K
o
Darnell McDonald CIN PH 0-0
o
Jason Bartlett
TB SS 1-2
o
AJ Pierzynski CHW C 2-3, 2 RBI
o
Sergio Santos
CHW PH-DH 0-1
o
Michael Restovich CHW RF 0-1
o
Mike Lamb
MIL PH 0-1, K
o
Danny Ardoin LAD C 0-1
o
Luis Maza LAD DH 0-1
o
Casey Blake
LAD 3B 1-2
o
Doug Deeds
CHC RF 0-1
o
Luis Rivas
CHC 3B 1-2
o
Augie Ojeda ARIZ SS 1-2, 2B, R, RBI
o
Trent Oeltjen ARIZ LF 1-3, RBI
o
Gil Velazquez
BOS 3B 0-2
o
Brian Bass
BAL 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 K, 1 WP
o
Danny Graves
HOU 1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
o
Eduardo Morlan MIL 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R
o
Eric Milton
LAD 1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
o
Carmen Cali
LAD 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K
o
Casey Daigle
TEX 1 IP, 1 H
That is it for now. Again, be sure to check back later for details on tonights Twins Live Chat
!
For today, you will also want to review
Aaron Gleemans chat from yesterday. If you have any questions or comments, please
feel free to put them in the comments,
or e-mail me and I will try to
get a response.