Ron Gardenhire said today that he expects Sidney Ponson to be the Twins' 5th starter.
That's not surprising, I expected that myself, but I wonder what Matt Garza and Scott Baker think about being told that the plan for now is for them to begin the season in Triple-A.
And that might not be a bad thing. As much as I don't like the idea of either Ponson or Ramon Ortiz taking spots away from much more talented young pitchers, I've learned to trust the Twins when it comes to their handling of young pitchers (hitters, that's another story).
Essentially telling Garza and Baker, as well as Kevin Slowey, JD Durbin, Glen Perkins and whoever else that they plan to start them in Rochester might be just the kind of motivational that leads to them having a good spring.
It just means the Red Wings are going to have the best rotation in minor league history.
*Speaking of Rochester, there's also a decent chance that Ken Harvey (2004 AL All-Star) and Matthew LeCroy (guy who was chosen over David Ortiz) will be in the lineup, as well as Glenn Williams (.425 average for Twins in brief '05 call-up), Josh Raabe and Alexi Casilla.
With any luck, Lew Ford will be there, too.
With Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer, Rondell White, Jason Kubel and Jason Tyner already on board, I don't see how the Twins can justify keeping Sweet Lew.
If they keep him and send Tyner back to Triple-A it would be an unfair mistake.
No, Tyner isn't as good as he appeared to be at times last year, but he's far more savvy, reliable and productive than Lew.
Here's my guess as to how the conversation is going in the above photo of Lew and Kubes.
Kubel: 'Dude, you know you're terrible, right?'
Lew: 'At least I don't have man-tits.'
Kubel: 'I hate you and so does Zim.'
Lew: 'I'm going to kill myself now.'
*Carlos Silva plans to ditch his curveball and start consistently working in a splitter, a pitch he brought out for the first time in the regular season finale against Chicago (a game in which he pitched well).
Makes sense, as Silva might as well fall in line as a sinker-slider-splitter guy.
The key to him having anything close to the kind of success he did in '05 (3.44 ERA) is rediscovering that sinker.
Silva said last year, in which he was arguably the AL's worst starter (11-15, 5.94) will be a positive learning experience for him.
*Just a reminder. Not only was Silva perhaps the worst regular starter in the AL, Ortiz was possibly the worst regular starter in the NL.
And they're gonna be our 2-3 starters, baby!
*A peace-out to Dan Christopherson (second photo), local radio personality and Sioux Falls Canaries director of fun, who died of a heart attack early Wednesday morning. He was 52.
I didn't know him real well, but in spending a lot of time around the Canaries organization in various situations, I can safely say he was one of the nicest people I ever met.
The Birdcage won't be the same without him.
2 comments:
Canaries are gonna hit some big bombs for Dan. RIP. Dan. Not Canaries.
Geez that's too bad, his daughter who I kind of knew died in a car accident a couple/few years ago too.
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