Levels of Worry

by RandBall's Stu on Mar 19, 2010 10:42 AM EDT in Speculation

Just how worried should you be about the Twins' allotment of Spring Training injuries? Twinkie Town is here to help.

OUCHIE: Joe Nathan, torn ulnar ligament in throwing elbow. LEVEL OF WORRY: the mother in a Lifetime TV movie who can't find her daughter. Nathan will attempt to throw this weekend to see if he can overcome the odds and pitch this season. Barring a minor miracle, he will undergo Tommy John surgery soon thereafter.

OUCHIE: Justin Morneau, "general soreness." LEVEL OF WORRY: trying to remember if you locked the doors to your house while you're on vacation. Morneau sat out a couple games with the aforementioned soreness, and he did have a BROKEN BACK last year, for pity's sake, but he played in Thursday's game against the Pirates.

OUCHIE: J.J. Hardy, quad strain. LEVEL OF WORRY: the mechanic says something vague and expensive-sounding about your transmission. It's been called a mild strain, but still: Hardy's been sidelined for five days. LaVelle reports that he might play in a minor league game on Saturday. He has a lot to prove, and if he ends up out for a significant amount of time, Twins fans might be back to relying on Matt Tolbert AND Alexi Casilla, rather than Matt Tolbert OR Alexi Casilla. There's a difference.

OUCHIE: Nick Blackburn, sore knee. LEVEL OF WORRY: wondering just how much trouble you're going to get in for tracking the Twins game, your NCAA bracket and the SCSU/Wisconsin hockey game on your work PC this afternoon. It sounds like Wednesday's start is going to be only one he misses, and Gardy said he would have pitched if it was the regular season. That said: knee injuries are never a positive.

OUCHIE: Joe Mauer, sore shoulder. LEVEL OF WORRY: not near that of your worry about his contract. Came back after four days off and seems fine.

Lineups for today's game will be up in a bit. Until then, talk amongst yourselves.

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Hardy

hopefully he returns soon. I would hate going into the season with both Tolbert and Casilla. Casilla is bad enough (or servicable enough if able to play CF) but Tolbert? ugh!

Interesting note from LaVelle:

By the way, Miguel Angel Sano, Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco – the Twins’ three big international signings last year – made their pro preseason debuts yesterday during a 8-0 exhibition win over Bethel. Sano played short and DH’d, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Outfielder Kepler was 1-for-4 with a RBI and run scored and Polanco, who played short, was 1-for-3 with a RBI.

"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any of us." - Kirby Puckett

by BCTwins on Mar 19, 2010 11:53 AM EDT reply actions

Two things

1. Thanks for reading this! I knew the Bell rumor was going to be what everyone wanted to talk about, but I already had this ready to post, so I just threw it out there. 2. I missed your Fanpost about the aforementioned rumor. Had I seen it, I would’ve promoted it instead, since it’s the exact same thing I ended up posting. Sorry ’bout that.

by RandBall's Stu on Mar 19, 2010 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions

hey

no problem. Just glad the Bell rumor made the front page…it certainly has drawn a lot of speculation so far. It will be interesting to see what the Twins decide to do when Nathan does not come back.

"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any of us." - Kirby Puckett

by BCTwins on Mar 19, 2010 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Nathan & Hardy

Those are the only two I’m thinking about. With Nathan, it’s not a worry, it’s just that I think he’s done and that he’ll have the surgery. I thought that the moment I heard it was a tear. So, I’m not worried. I already think that’s a done deal. And, I think we have in-house options that can take over. They won’t be as good as Nathan, but I believe they can get the job done. Plus, I don’t want to give up the farm on Heath Bell.

Hardy-The minute I heard “mild strain” I thought okay, not a big deal. It’s been five days though. The other day I had a flashback to when Rondell White pulled his calf running up the dugout steps and he wasn’t back for about three months. I think at the time, they said his problem was mild. White was a lot less important than Hardy is.

Baseball reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.-Terence Mann/James Earl Jones in FoD

by Twins33 on Mar 19, 2010 12:04 PM EDT reply actions

I think they're just being cautious with Hardy

Quad strains can linger if you don’t rest them long enough. Better to play it safe than rush him back at this point.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Mar 19, 2010 12:20 PM EDT reply actions

yes

at this point, we are still in ST with about three weeks to go. No need to rush Hardy back….if he is back by Sunday or Monday, he will be fine. However, if he still is not back by Wednesday, I am going to start to question just how injured he is.

"Don't take life for granted, because tomorrow isn't promised to any of us." - Kirby Puckett

by BCTwins on Mar 19, 2010 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions