Methinks a crisis of sorts is brewing at shortstop of the Twins.
Adam Everett has hit about as well as expected — which is to say, hardly at all — but his defense has not been as strong as advertised, largely because his throws simply doesn't seem to have much zip to them. Ron Gardenhire was quoted in one of the metros to the effect that he wasn't seeing much arm strength to Everett and that he hoped that's just the way Everett plays the position — throwing just hard enough to get the outs.
A day or two later, Everett had to make a relay throw to the plate. Watching the play unfold on TV, I expected him to get the runner. But the throw, while accurate, wasn't anywhere close to being in time. i wasn't the only one taking note of that; at least one game story commented on the lack of velocity to the peg.
Now, it is certainly possible to play shortstop — and to play it at a very high level — without a terrific arm. Ozzie Smith is a legend for his defense, and he spent most of his career with a torn rotator cuff.
But if you're hitting below the Mendoza line — as Everett is — and you can't make the throw from the hole, you're in trouble.
The problem is, what's the alternative? Nick Punto and Matt Tolbert are on the DL. Punto is likely to be back soon, but there's little reason to beleive that he'd be any improvement on Everett at the plate. Tolbert is starting to make me a believer as a hitter, but he's going to be out a good while with that torn thumb ligament.
For now, the alternatives are the error-prone Alexi Castilla; the nondescript Howie Clark, best known as the guy A-Rod conned into letting a popup fall last season and a second baseman anyway; and, at least in theory, Brendan Harris, whose defensive limitations at second base shouldn't encourage anybody to shift him to short.
Another week or so and Punto is likely to return, and it will be interesting to see how Gardenhire approaches the position then.
It's not that the Twins are seriously looking at him as starter. They wanted to see some innings; they wanted to get a serious evaluation of his stuff.
There is, after all, a serious hole in the Minnesota bullpen now. Pat Neshek in many ways was the most important guy in that pen — the man Ron Gardenhire called on both to get out of late-inning jams (well, Nesek and Dennys Reyes, with Reyes handling the lefties) and his top eighth-inning guy.
That was probably too heavy a workload. In 2006, Gardy used Neshek and Reyes in the middle of innings and relied on Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain to handle the eighth. But last year Rincon was ineffective and Crain blew out his shoulder, and the bulk of the eight-inning work got added to Neshek's duties. Now Neshek's elbow is shot, and the Twins have a problem.
Matt Guerrier doesn't fit the preferred profile of a late-inning reliever; the post-surgical Crain is unlikely to be used in the middle of an inning or on consecutive days; Rincon, despite four shutout innings in the Boston series, hasn't proved that his back to his 2004-06 form, when he was as good an eighth-inning option as there was in the game.
If Graves has any juice left in his arm, there's a job available.
The news that Pat Neshek has a tear in an elbow ligament wasn't too surprising, considering that the initial reports had him talking about hearing a snap. The Twins on Friday were apparently talking a rehab approach that would essentially take the remainder of the season; I would expect him to seek a second opinion. Tommy John surgery is a real possibility here.
Neshek's delivery, of course, is one of the most bizarre in the game. The recoil at the end — the so-called "salute" that has occasionally drawn glares from retreating, retired batters — is perhaps particularly troublesome. It's worth noting that Neshek had shoulder weakness at the end of last season, and this year the elbow blew. Francisco Liriano's elbow problems have been traced to shoulder weakness. This is not a coincidence.
Whether Neshek has ligament replacement surgery or not, the Twins won't have him to lean on this summer. That makes returns to form by Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain all the more imperative.
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The attention for Friday's last-gasp win went to Mike Lamb, and that's justifiable and understandable. The man was brought in to hit, and he hasn't. Getting a game-winner, even a softly-hit game-winner, off Jonathan Paplebon, was huge.
But the key to that inning was Carlos Gomez, and the latest chapter in the story of his maturation as a hitter.
Earlier this season young Gomez came up in a crucial situation against the Angels' Frankie Rodriguez, and K-Rod blew him away with three ptiches out of the strike zone. Gomez chased them all. Friday night, with Delmon Young on third and two down, Gomez fell behind 1-2. Papledon threw a pitch in the dirt; Gomez took it. 2-2. Paplebon threw a pitch neck-high; Gomez took that too. 3-2. Paplebon went down and away, and Gomez took ball four.
That, friends, was a quality at-bat. And it was an at-bat that Gomez simply was not capable of having a month ago.
Neshek's news was discouraging; Lamb's hit was mildly encouraging; and Gomez's under-pressure walk was almost off the charts.
2) Nick Punto drives in five runs with two extra base hits
3) Livan Hernandez throws a complete game, taking a shutout into the ninth inning.
None of this is really anything one can rationally expect.
Strictly speaking, the cycle is the rarest of those feats. But given the ability of those three, I would have to say that Gomez is a lot more likely to hit for the cycle than Punto is to get five ribbies or Hernandez to shut out a major league lineup (which he didn't do, so it's still unlikely).
I was loudly unenthusiastic about the Hernandez signing, and I remain unwilling to actually pay money to watch him pitch. But he has been, with one horrendous exception, very productive. At some point I'm going to have to try to get a grip on this. It does not compute, that he can be so awful last season with Arizona and better-than-competent the next year in Minnesota. The stuff, or lack of it, is the same.
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Jim Leyland left the Metrodome Sunday promising to revamp the Tigers lineup. The immediate speculation had former Mankato Masher Curtis Granderson moving from the leadoff spot into the middle of the order.
The Tigers designed Jones for assignment, which takes him off the active roster and gives Detroit 10 days to dispose of him — trade him, release him, talk him into going to the minors. That last is highly unlikely. Whatever happens, the Tigers remain on the hook for Jones' $16 million salary. That's a lot of money to pay somebody not to play for you.
I can't see the Twins picking up Jones, even at the major league minimum. They are emphatically committed to four outfielders — Young, Gomez, Cuddyer and Kubel — all younger than Jones and all cheaper. I'd prefer Jones to Monroe as the fifth outfielder, but I suspect Ron Gardenhire prefers having a right-handed bat to switch in for Kubel.
The Tigers have made a number of in-season position changes already, far too many for what has been a well-run organization. Since opening day they've had the first baseman and third baseman swap positions and moved the DH to the outfield. I don't know if the Tigers are going to have a full-time DH now; Magglio Ordonez was DHing Monday, and he had the job on Sunday as well. If Ordonez is the new DH, that's effectively a position switch as well, and that's four of the nine regulars playing a new position by the end of the first week of May. Either panic has set in, or the organization didn't really have a grasp on what they were going to get.
Boof Bosner That was a very impressive start Tuesday by Boof Bonser, probably better than any he had in 2007. But for all the nice things being said about Boof Lite, and despite his 3.75 ERA so far in 2008, he still isn't pitching as well as in 2006. The strikeout rate is sharply lower -- asmsot two per nine innings — and the walk to strikeout rate is worse.
Not that either number in 2008 is terrible, and not that we're dealing with a large sample size. But he hasn't yet convinced me that he's turned the corner.
Livan Hernandez Speaking of pitchers who haven't convinced me: His backed-up sewer of an outing last weekend in Texas shot his ERA up to 5.05 and his batting average allowed to .310. I fully expect it to get worse, because the weather is bound to get better.
Nick Blackburn A 3.45 ERA with a .317 batting average allowed. Something here cannot continue. He's not walking people (4 walks in 31 innings entering Wednesday's start) and he hasn't given up a homer yet. Chicago will be a good test of that, since the White Sox offsense largely consists of walks and homers.
Blackburn looks like a successor to the Scott Erickson-Joe Mays-Carlos Silva string of sinkerballers. I wasn't high on that crew. On his side — in a small sample size, his strikeout rate isn't as bad as it was for those three.
Addendum: Blackburn allowed two walks and one home run in his seven innings Wednesday. His four strikeouts goosed his K rate slightly, and his ERA rose a tad to 3.52.
Scott Baker Strained a side muscle in spring training, strained his groin last weekend. The best starter on this team right now, but he's got to make the starts to prove it.
Extreme flyball pitcher, which is why he's given up 6 homers in 30 innings.
Makes perfect sense. Miguel Cabrera has long been a below average third baseman, and Carlos Guillen has been a shortstop all his life. Gullen's aching knees limited him defensively the past couple of years, but let's face it — a guy who can play shortstop regularly for a 90-win team probably doesn't need to move directly to first base. This should improve the Detroit defense.
Kyle Lohse is 13th in the NL in ERA
OK, that's not a headline. But it's still noteworthy, considering that he was unemployed in mid-March.
I said this a couple of years ago: St. louis is the ideal team for him. He's exactly the type of pitcher Tony LaRussa has built his career on — he's been around a while, has obvious talent, has never really put it together. There's a startlingly impressive list of pitchers who had big years for LaRussa and never for anybody else — LaMarr Hoyt, Dave Stewart, Mike Moore, Chris Carpenter, Storm Davis. If Loshe can't succeed with Larussa and Dave Duncan, he can't pitch for anybody.
Bound to happen. Krivsky was hired to do for the Reds what he helped Terry Ryan do with the Twins, but two years — almost exactly — isn't enough.
He's not Ryan. Ryan's a scout, and Krivsky, like new Twins GM Bill Smith, is an executive. The Reds, by and large, are better off now than they were when Krivsky took over, but it has been the kind of progress -- based on drafting and developing young players -- that an impatient owner has difficulty recognizing.
He was probably doomed as soon as the Reds hired Dusty Baker to manage. The decision this spring to sign Corey Patterson late, anoint him the center fielder and keep Jay Bruce in the minors was inane in the extreme. Baker apparently never noticed that Patterson was 1-for-28 as of Sunday. Patterson's a veteran, and Bruce isn't. Baker can't see beyond that fact.
I don't know who to blame, but I have my suspicions. Hiring Baker has all the earmarks of a clueless owner deciding the team needed a big name in the dugout, and never mind the fact that Baker is far more comfortable managing veterans than young players and the fact that the Reds have a lot of good young players. Baker was a silly hire for that team at this time. I suspect Krivsky knew that.
Kivsky was probably undermined by Walt Jocketty, the former Cardinals GM who knows the Cincy owner (who sued to be part of the Cardinals ownerhsip group) and now is the Cincy GM.
Krivsky made a few very good moves, and a few dumb ones, but on the whole, he shouldn't have gotten the ax.
In my print column for Monday, April 21, I make mention of a blog that used video and still photos to analyze the changes in Francisco Liriano's delivery and promise a link to it.
This author suggests that the Twins would be better off leaving him with his original delivery. I won't go that far. This isn't just numbers on a Strat-O-Matic card, after all. This is a flesh and blood person. He feels pain. If this new delivery keeps him from getting hurt, that's a good thing.
But pitchers do get hurt. It's part of the job. There's no guarantee with any set of mechanics. When Mark Prior flashed onto the scene in 2003, he was invariably described as having perfect mechanics. Now he's hurt every year, and one has no problem finding him mechanics blamed for it. In fact, the link above makes such a reference.
I expected Verlander to have injury problems last season, based on his huge increase in innings pitched in 2006, and it didn't happen. Maybe those problems have arrived.
The Tigers have now won three in a row — two of them by roughing up the Twins middle relief corps, the third by slapping Sabathia silly. But their flaws remain evident. The rotation is thin and the bullpen thinner, and there's little depth in the organization.
The Indians have a slew of key players in slumps, and Sabathia is perhaps the worst off of all. He now has walked 14 men in 18 innings. He says his arm feels fine, but that sort of lack of command says otherwise.
Fact of the matter is that Detroit and Cleveland still figure, over 162 games, to be better than the other three teams in the division. What we've seen so far suggests it will be a good long while before they establish that as fact. ___
Whiel I'm here: Check out Carlos Silva's first three starts for Seattle. That last start, on April 12 against the Angels, is prototypical Silva: eight innings, 11 hits, one walk, zero strikeouts. Seattle figured to be as good an environment for Silva as he could hope to find in the American League. And 10 strikeouts in 22 innings is almost acceptable.
