Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Twins Thoughts

Roger's Minor League Players of the Week

Twins Minor League Report

WHAT A DAY?!

Good morning everybody! Thank you very much for your patience with me. Although I won't be having a huge entry today, it is a start. Tomorrow, I plan on a large posting, so you will want to come back for that.

 

Today, I want to discuss which was a strange day, in my opinion, for the Minnesota Twins. It was a day that had me wondering what they were thinking.

 

Let's start with Monday night. The Twins lost to the Detroit Tigers 9-3. Francisco Liriano started and gave up four runs on ten hits over just four innings. Really, he did very well for himself to only allow the four runs as he was very clearly not himself.

 

Of course, speculation said that it was his forearm/elbow/muscle injury that had caused such a poor performance. And, in fact, it really was. According to a Joe Christenson article, Liriano was nearly in tears describing the pain he felt while pitching and that he could not throw any of his pitches. So of course, speculation ran rampant that Liriano would be put on the Disabled List and Matt Garza would finally get called up to the big leagues.

 

Well, by late this morning, we heard that the Twins were calling up Matt Garza and that he will start against Toronto (with one of the league's best offenses) on Friday night. Of course, this is terrific news as some of us have felt he has been ready for this opportunity for awhile now!

However, Garza was not recalled to take the place of Liriano. He was called up to replace Mike Smith who was given just one start. There was no word yet on Liriano.

(Let me cut in here. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an entire blog posting about why the Twins should call up Matt Garza. Also, in May, I was fortunate to run a Q&A with Matt Garza and he answered a lot of questions.)

Finally, by late afternoon, we found out that the Twins will be placing Francisco Liriano on the Disabled List. They will call up either Boof Bonser or Scott Baker to start against the Blue Jays on Saturday.

 

So, that is the information. You can find all of that at the Star-Tribune or the Twins website. Why am I writing about it? Well, I think that the Twins made several mistakes in this string of activity, and I think it is worth bringing up. Let me know  what you think.

 

1. The first thing I have to ask is why Francisco Liriano even started on Monday. Obviously something was wrong. I know they skipped one start, but if he was in a position where throwing two innings was going to cause him pain, he should not have started. We are talking about a 22 year old who has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball the last two months. He has a history of arm injuries. Don't push him. I really think that the Twins have been good with him this year. They have kept his innings down. They have given him proper rest. They have encouraged him to throw more fastballs and less of his devastating sliders. I just think that they should have been stronger in this situation.

2. I always talk about how as much as the Twins have to think about 2006 and trying to win now. However, I always couple that with not doing anything to give up their ability to be competitive over future years. As important as Francisco Liriano is to the 2006 Twins, he is just as important in 2007, 2008, 2009, and you get my drift.

3. Hopefully the Twins will get at least five different medical opinions on the arm/elbow/forearm of Liriano. I don't want to just hear one opinion. I hope that the team is very diligent in determining the next steps. We can hope that all opinions will be that all he needs is rest and rehabilitation. I know that is what I will be hoping for. Let him sit and rehab as long as necessary. Shut him down for a month, the season, whatever it takes. The worst possible news that we could hear is that he will need surgery. Why? Because the odds are the he will not only miss the rest of this season, but a good majority of next year too. And then what will he be able to do when he comes back? Who knows?

4. After Mike Smith's three innings start on Sunday, I thought that what Ron Gardenhire said to the media was horrible. From another Joe Christenson article, we read:
    

   "The first three innings, for both sides, felt like watching paint dry, and that's not the way we like to play baseball," Gardenhire said after his team moved a season-high 20 games over .500 at 65-45. "We expect you to attack the hitters. If they hit you, they hit you, but we're not going to sit there and watch ball one, ball two, ball three." Asked if the 28-year-old Smith would get another start, Gardenhire said, "I haven't even gotten there yet. We'll see where we're at when we get to Detroit."

   
   To me, as true as such a quote might be, that should have been said only in a one-on-one conversation between Gardy and Mike Smith. Smith is a 28 year old with some prior big league time. Do you really think that he doesn't know that he needed to throw more strikes and that 80 pitches in three innings is bad? My opinion is that Gardy should have told Smith that he needed to throw more strikes. I think that Mike Smith should have been allowed to make another start and try to make the adjustments. We are talking about a guy making his first big league appearance in four years. I'm sure he was jittery. I'm he wasn't trying to throw so many balls. I think he deserved another start. He has been Rochester's best pitcher for the last couple of months as well.

5. Terry Ryan and the Twins had to know that Francisco Liriano was going to go on the Disabled List early on Tuesday, certainly before they called up Matt Garza. This is an addition to #2, but why not allow Smith to make that second start and call up Garza to replace Liriano on the roster? Was what Smith did on Sunday so unforgivable that they are going to go with Scott Baker or Boof Bonser for the third time this year instead of giving Smith that second start?

6. On a day when the Twins needed it the most, Brad Radke came out and did exactly what we all should have expected of him. He gave the Twins seven strong innings and picked up a big win against the Tigers. I know that Radke is far from an 'ace' in terms of his stuff. However, in a game like last night on a day like yesterday, he was the right guy to have on the mound!

7. For what it is worth, it was cool to see Matt Garza show up in the Twins dugout during the game last night!

Any news we hear about Francisco Liriano in the coming weeks could potentially be scary. As Twins fans, we have to hope for the best. As human beings, we have to hope for the best. I can only imagine the emotions that Liriano is going through right now.

 

Any thoughts on the Liriano situation and other situations surrounding the Twins pitchers right now? Send me an e-mail or leave some Comments below. 

 

TWINS THOUGHTS

Just a couple of quick notes and some blogger gems:

•  So many Twins fans seemed to like the Erubiel Durazo signing thinking that he would be a good guy to help the Twins at DH. In reality, it was a good insurance policy, but he really wasn't a great guy for the big league roster. If he would have been, two other big league organizations would have called him up from AAA rather than release him. He had a deal in his contract that if the Twins didn't call him up, he would be let go. Well, the Twins let him go on Monday.

• Last night, the Twins and White Sox won, so the Sox have a 1/2 game lead over the Twins who are a 1/2 game ahead of the Boston Red Sox.

• Check out Stick & Ball Guy's appearance on The Minnesota Twins Fan Network podcast.

• Here are the thoughts of the people at John Sickels' site on the Matt Garza promotion. Here are Twins fans thoughts over at Twinkie Town. 

• Pat Neshek has been doing a wonderful job of updating his blog On the Road with Pat Neshek lately.

• I know that I usually mention Jim Mandelaro's Extra Bases blog in the Twins minor league section, but really, the Rochester and Minnesota rosters have had so many of the same names that it is worth mentioning here.

• In his AAA rehab, Lew Ford is hitting .273 with six hits in 22 at bats. He has six walks and four strikeouts.

• You can vote for Justin Morneau for the Hank Aaron Award as the league's top hitter!

• Joe Nathan was named the DHL Man of the Month as baseball's top reliever. He wasn't any better in July than he was in the previous three months, just had more opportunities for the glorified saves.

• I saw this picture awhile ago, but I decided that I was not going to post it here. However, if you want to see Francisco Liriano's mug shot, click here.

• Here is another Twins blog. It is called Metrodome Memories.

• The Baseball Savant says that the Twins season hinges on Liriano's arm. Can't say I disagree with him.     

 

Any other thoughts on the Twins? E-mail me, or leave some Comments below.

 

ROGER'S MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

Throughout the year, our friend "Roger" will be keeping tabs of the Twins minor leaguers again. This year, he is coming up with a minor league hitter and pitcher each week.  Feel free to comment! And don't forget to check out his weekly minor league update at Twinkie Town.

Player of the Week…David Winfree, Ft. Myers Miracle

Last year’s Minor League Player of the Year, David Winfree, continues his comeback from an early season injury and a month long leave for personal reasons.  This week Winfree was a big part of the Miracle’s 4-2 week with five multi-hit games, finishing the week with 12 hits in 27 at bats with a walk, double, 2 home runs, 7 runs scored and 8 rbi.

2006        Ft. Myers               144ab       7-2B        6hr          29rbi       .278Ave   .338OBP .465SLG

2005        Beloit                      562ab      31-2B      16hr        101rbi     .294Ave    .329OBP .452SLG

2004        Elizabethton          217ab       8-2B        8hr          37rbi       .286Ave   .349OBP .433SLG

2003        GCL Twins              70ab       1-2B        0hr            3rbi       .129Ave   .164OBP .200SLG

Pitcher of the Week…Matt Garza, Rochester Red Wings

Matt Garza’s first start this week on Sunday, he was limited to 69 pitches following his complete game shutout in which he threw over 120 pitches.  The Red Wings lost that game as Matt was limited to 5.0 innings with 4 hits, 2 runs and 1K/1BB.  Last night, Garza led the Wings to a 8-0 win over a Charlotte team that has the best record in the International League.  Garza completed 7.0 innings with 4 hits, 0 runs and 11K/0BB lowering his era to 1.85.  For the season, Garza has moved up two levels with numbers similar to those put up by Francisco Liriano last season at New Britain and Rochester. 

2006        Rochester              5g            5gs          3W-1L                    34.0ip                      1.85era                    33K/7BB

2006        New Britain           10g          10gs        6W-2L                    77.1ip                      2.51era                    68K/14BB

2006        Ft. Myers               8g            8gs          5W-1L                    44.1ip                      1.42era                    53K/11BB

2005        Beloit                      10g          10gs        3W-3L                    56.0ip                      3.54era                    64K/15BB

2005        Elizabethton          4g            4gs          1W-1L                    19.2ip                      3.66era                    25K/6BB

TWINS MINOR LEAGUE NOTES

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