Twins Notes
September 2nd, 2007 by ubelmann
- Mike Redmond is a warrior. He's been playing hurt, but he's still been playing well. Since Mauer went down on the 11th (through Sept. 1st), Redmond has hit .333/.404/.375. There's no power to speak of, but he's been getting on base.
- Alexi Casilla has been--more or less--a complete disappointment since getting called up to replace Luis Castillo at second base. His PrOPS line of .282/.316/.343 is barely (if at all) better than Punto's .247/.330/.318 line, suggesting that Casilla hasn't been all that unlucky as much as he's been bad.
Still, with the Twins totally out of the playoff picture, I think it would behoove them to use this next month to see if Casilla can improve. His track record suggests that he shouldn't be as bad as he has been, and it would also be good to see if he can reduce the frequency of mental lapses given some more time in the field.
- With the game completely out of reach on Sunday, Pat Neshek entered to pitch. Neshek pitched yesterday, and has had a pretty heavy load all season. With expanded rosters, I really see no reason that Pat should be pitching in a blowout loss, even if the starter didn't last very long. I understand that management feels Neshek's mechanics are the source of his recent struggles, but I can't imagine that pitching nearly every other day has been helping. Pat's previous career high in appeances was set last year at 65, and with a month left in the season, Neshek has now appeared in 67 games. He's an extremely valuable pitcher, so it seems like some caution would be in order.
- Now that the Twins are out of the race, it's really difficult for me to get excited about a game that features Garrett Jones, Luis Rodriguez, and Nick Punto in the starting lineup. It was definitely a good idea to give Morneau a day off, but it would be nice if the Twins had someone more promising or useful as a placeholder.
This entry was posted by ubelmann on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Guest Writers, MLB, Minnesota Twins, ubelmann. It is one of 640 entries by the author. We are no longer accepting Letters to the Editor on this post.
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E-6 replied on September 2, 2007 at 6:21:24 pm
Yeah, Old Mother
HubbardPohlad ain't got sh*t in the cupboard.SBG replied on September 2, 2007 at 9:12:15 pm
I was really wondering what Neshek was doing in there on Sunday. Made no sense to me whatsoever. I would shut him down for the summer. He can work on mechanics after resting for about a month or two.
Moss replied on September 2, 2007 at 10:02:23 pm
Right on. What used to be a strength for Gardenhire (i.e., managing the 'pen) is quickly becoming another in a long list of negatives.
Andrew replied on September 2, 2007 at 10:06:18 pm
I loves me some Mike Redmond. I think I might have developed a NSMC.
themoff02 replied on September 3, 2007 at 3:05:06 am
Shecky joins the chorus of fans stating that Joe Mauer should be moved to 3B to cover that gaping hole. I am shocked that the Twins didn't realize that have such tremendous depth at catching that they do and move him and stick Redmond at C for the next ten years.
http://www.startribune.com/souhan/story/1398167.html
Good thing Redmond is 25 and performs really well when he is asked to play more than 1/4 of a team's games.
Rhubarb_Runner replied on September 3, 2007 at 8:36:35 am
That, and the Twins can be confident in having a quality backup with Heintz
offon the bench.Jeff A replied on September 3, 2007 at 10:42:15 am
On Mr. Ryan's show yesterday, he said something about how they weren't going to bring up Jose Morales as a September call-up because they wouldn't be able to get him at-bats. What? You can get at-bats for Chris Heintz, but not for Morales? Does anyone in Twins management have their brains engaged any more, or have they all just packed it in early for the winter?
themoff02 replied on September 3, 2007 at 11:01:47 am
Maybe my gag gift of "Baseball for Dummies" by Joe Morgan to Terry Ryan and Gardy wasn't received as a gag gift.
SBG replied on September 3, 2007 at 10:21:17 am
Mark my words. You'll never see anything but anti-Mauer stories from Top Jimmy from this point forward. Souhan'd rather die than mouth one bad word about Hunter, but he's gonna get the knife out for Mauer. Add to that his proclamation on Sunday that he's really looking forward to watching the young Timberwolves (his distaste for KG was palpable) and you have all the evidence you need: Souhan is an idiot.
Whiffers replied on September 3, 2007 at 11:06:18 am
I heard TJ on KSTP a couple weeks ago during an anti-Mauer rant where he basically talked everything that was in his column today; maybe he finally got that day's transcript.
My favorite part was when a caller, a Cleveland fan that referenced Martinez's fluctuation from last year to this one, mentioned that hitting .295 as a catcher is still damn valuable, but TJ went off on him and obviously believes if Mauer isn't hitting .340 then he's having a down year. Not that you thought otherwise, SBG, but Souhan's obviously a douche.
Whiffers replied on September 3, 2007 at 9:36:13 am
There is no reason for Punto and L-Rod to start the same game, let alone two in a row. It doesn't matter if L-Rod goes off at AAA and hits for average and power, he has enough of a track record to know his ceiling is a crappy utility infielder with limited range and speed. And Punto's started what, 15 of 16 games?
The team needs to know what they have in Buscher and Casilla. Knowing how well they warm the bench doesn't count.
I did hear Dazzle say that Garrett Jones "runs well" yesterday. The Twins boot-lickers can now believe he has intriguing power and good speed. What's not to like?
davidwatts replied on September 3, 2007 at 3:57:15 pm
yeah, it doesnt make any sense
I would accept loses if we were playing some of our prospects like Busher and Casilla and whoever they bring up for pitchers. They have to get major league inning under thier belts sometime.
But sticking Punto out everyday is rediculous