Twins notes
By Tom Grout
March 25, 2008
-It’s been a tough spring for Scott Baker of the Twins. He finished last season on a good note pitching very good. In fact he had a one hitter against Kansas City which I was there to witness. This spring he started out pitching like he was going to be the ace then a back injury and then a severe case of the flu.
The back injury is minor but the flu has been a problem. It sounds like he still has it and is on medication. He had a bullpen session yesterday and ran out of gas real fast. It looks like he will start the season on the disabled list which is unfortunate for him and the Twins.
The thing that scares me about this is that it’s like déjà vu all over again. How many of you out there remember Joe Decker? Decker was a pitcher who came to the Twins from the Cubs in a trade. His first season with the Twins was in 1973 and he got himself into the starting rotation a month or so into the year and ended up winning 10 games. In 1974 it looked like the Twins had a pitcher for years to come as he won 16 games in 249 innings with an earned run average of 3.29. Decker had a good fastball and was defiantly a power type pitcher.
In Spring Training of 1975 Decker got sick. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but he missed part of training and when he came back he had lost a lot of weight and body strength. The other thing he lost was the strike zone. The poor guy could not throw a strike after coming back and really wasn’t coming close to the plate at all. In fact he was dangerous. In that 1975 season he started 7 games, pitched 26.3 innings, struck out only 8 batters and walked 36 with and ERA of 8.54. The next year wasn’t any better for Decker as he started 12 games while pitching 58 innings struck out 35 but walked 51 with an ERA of 5.28. He pitched 9 games with Seattle in 1977 and that was it. He just never recovered from being sick that spring.
Looking up Decker on Baseball Reference I found out that Decker had passed away at the age of 56. I wrote Bert Blyleven about it and he understood it was some kind of accident.
This may have been a long story but I just hope that this sort of thing doesn’t affect the career of Scott Baker.
-The Twins have picked out their position players who will start the season and the centerfield job has gone to Carlos Gomez. Gomez is some kind of exciting ball player. It’s been a long time, if ever, that the Twins have had anybody with this kind of speed. In one spring game he scored from second on a bloop single just over the second baseman’s head. The fact that he scored was enough of a surprise, but the fact that he wasn’t even close to getting thrown out was the eye opener. The kid has stolen 10 bases in 11 attempts and has converted singles to double, doubles to triples, and has bunted his way on.
He is still a pretty green player and will make mistakes and may struggle hitting a little bit but he brings along something the Twins lack which is an exciting player. I think he will be fun to watch, unless he proves to be totally outmatched at the plate at the major league level.
-Another guy who made the team and maybe the most unexpected was infielder Matt Tolbert. Tolbert had a pretty good year at AAA last year and a decent spring. I think he made it mostly because nobody else, or at least the guys the Twins were looking to make the team, played well. Brian Buscher and Garrett Jones, who were supposed to get the final spot, just did not hit. I’m not sure why the Twins would need another infielder but who am I to argue. They always seemed to have Luis Rodriguez on the bench but then Nick Punto was starting then. Now, hopefully, Punto will not start and he will be the utility guy so what Tolbert’s purpose will be is a little unclear to me but hey, I am happy for him.
Speaking of being happy for him, it has to be hard on the guys who make the final cut because they really can’t celebrate too much right away, because if they made the team someone else did not. It’s kind of hard to do the happy victory dance in the clubhouse when the guys that just got cut are packing their bags.
Tom --
Nice article, again. You give us pause with respect to Baker. His spring more brought to my mind Eric Milton and Joe Mays. They both first left the lineup with things seemingly so minor that they were listed as "day to day". And then, never the same again.
Gomez is quite a story. I saw (on TV) the play you mentioned in which he scored from second on that fluffer. Burned into my brain is the sequence of the catcher reaching for the ball and a blur flashing across home plate. It was eye popping. The Blue Angels have nothing on Carlos.
That being said, I would have had a mild preference for starting Dinner Spam in center and Carlos @ AAA. The reasons are that Spam is an organization guy that earned the job by doing everything asked of him (except, I guess, beating out Carlos). I'd start Gomez at AAA so that the staff could work on his irregularities for a while without the preasure of doing so in the show. If Spam thrives, he's been showcased to the league. If he doesn't, then calling up Carlos would be the natural move.
As for Tolbert making the roster, good for him. I suspect it is not permanent. And I was really tickled that the Twins broke camp with only 2 utility infielders. Who would have guessed that? And only 2 catchers? How is Gardy going to manage with only 2 catchers?
The rotation is sure going to have to step it up. I'm also concerned about the pen, but I shouldn't be, right?
My big point of anxiety is Francisco. A part of what kind of team we got this year depends on what kind of Francisco we got.
Post a comment