Metrodome Memories

I’m pretty disgusted with the way the Twins rotation turned out.  I can’t say it much better then this and don’t have a lot to add.  I mean, is that a championship rotation?  That’s asking for an awful lot from your offense with guys like Ponson and Ortiz out there.  Sigh.

At Baseball America’s prospect blog, they take a look at sort of a post spring training look at the Twins top prospects.  They talk about Matt Garza’s great spring and subsequent likely trip to Triple A as well as Alexi Casilla, who also looks slated to start the season at Rochester.  And he closes with the decline of J.D. Durbin. 

Rob Neyer questioned how the Twins are going with inferior, yet veteran arms like Sidney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz while forgoing some of their younger, home grown starters like Scott Baker and Matt Garza.  It’s a great read from an expert and you really do have to wonder what the Twins are doing.  They did this last year at a few spots and they made a move early enough to recover so I’m hoping Rod Gardenhire and company will come to their senses and this doesn’t come back to haunt us.

MiLB.com previewed the Twins minor league system today.  In the preview, you get player profiles at each stop in the Twins minor league system and there’s also a look at the 2006 draft.  It closes things up with some players who are under the radar and it predicts good things from Alexi Casilla and Kevin Slowey.  There’s a bunch of stuff here and it’s probably the best read I’ve seen on the Twins minor league system.

Ramon Ortiz took it on the nose today.  He gave up six runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.  He gave up three homeruns but he also struck out five.  Pat Neshnek was also hit hard.  He gave up three runs on four hits and only got two batters out.  It’s not too ironic that those two outs were strikeouts.  Matt Garza was the only decent hurler today.  He gave up only one run in three innings of work.

On the hitting side, Rondell White and Luis Castillo hit solo homeruns to account for the two Twins runs in the 10-2 loss. 

Joe Mauer looks like he’s going to miss a handful of spring games because of what’s being called a stress reaction in his left leg.  It sounds a lot worse then they describe and they’re hoping after sitting out for four or five games and the getting some treatment, he’ll be all set to go.  Not sure if this is something that can linger throughout the season or what.  If you want some more details, stop by the Hardball Times.  One of their notes on the right hand side of the site (part way down the page) explains what’s going on.

Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus reviewed the Twins yesterday.  He talks about how the Twins have to make the right decisions for their back end rotation spots right now and that their pen also has to get back to it’s old dominating form.  He also talks about something we all know, and that is that the talent at the top of the team is top notch but the rest is just support.  You can also listen to a related podcast between Aaron Gleeman and Will Carroll on the Twins chances.

The Twins took care of the Reds today, with most of the offense being provided by Michael Cuddyer.  The designated hitter hit the only homerun of the game en route to a three for three game.  He drove in three and scored twice.  Luis Castillo also had a nice game at the plate.  He went three for four with a run and an RBI.

Sidney Ponson was unimpressive in four innings of work.  He gave up three runs on seven hits and a walk with one strikeout.  Matt Garza looked better and he threw three shutout innings in which he only gave up one hit.

Boof Bonser gets the start tomorrow for the Twins, who face the Devil Rays in a day game. 

Jayson Stark takes a look at the Twins and discusses how future teams could look very different going forward.  Torii Hunter could be the first to leave after this season but more importantly, Johan Santana could potentially test the market after the 2008 season.

He then goes into another profile of Johan, who’s primed for another Cy Young season.  Solid read, but a lot of it is fluff because it deals with things pretty far out in the future.  Let’s see how we do in 2007 and then think about what holes need to be filled.

Jeff Sackman recently listed the Twins as having the deepest starting rotation, although it’s with somewhat of a caveat.  This was basically an analysis of the guys who probably won’t make the top five and since the Twins will be going with some pretty bad options in their rotation (i.e. Ramon Ortiz), they still have some good arms left over to fill in as neccesary.

While he really needs no introduction, Johan Sanatan was the latest player highlighted in a Jeff Passan column.  He runs through some of Sanatan’s fantastic numbers and also compares him to some of the all time greats.

Will Young previewed the Twins over at the Hardball Times today.  In their standard five questions format, he discusses Rod Gardenhire’s use of the bullpen, Brad Radke’s retirement and how the Twins rely on just a few players to drive the team. 

There’s no doubt that once you get past Johan Santana, the Twins have a ton of question marks in their rotation.  Yeah, they have some good young arms but are they developed enough to help the Twins in 2007.  This NBCsports.com article goes into a lot of detail on what the Twins have and don’t have when it comes to pitching but there’s not a lot of doubt that how the Twins finish in 2007 will depend on a young arm or two stepping up and becoming a full fledged major league pitcher.

The Twins bats didn’t show up today in their spring loss to the Pirates and they now sport an unimpressive 1-6 record this spring.  Torri Hunter singled home Jason Bartlett and Watkins hit a solo homerun.  Boof Bonser looked sharp though.  He threw three shutout innings and he struck out three.  Jesse Crain also looked good with two shutout innings and two strikeouts but J.D. Durbin and Barrett were both shelled.

The Twins season continues tomorrow with two split squad games against the Red Sox and the Cardinals.  The A game is against the Red Sox and we’ll see Johan Sanata and Curt Schilling go head to head.

Ties are never fun, but when it’s early spring, the games don’t mean a whole lot and extended extra inning games get teams off of their schedule.  Joe Mauer had the big hit of the game.  His three run shot in the fifth tied the game at 4-4.  Rondell White had two hits and he drove in the other run.

There were some mixed results on the pitching side.  Matt Garza looked good in his two innings, but then Scott Baker gave up all four runs on seven hits in only 1 1/3 innings.  Oddly, Baker struck out all four batters he got out, he just got shelled in between.  Simonitsch also looked sharp in his two innings of work.  He gave up only one hit with three strikeouts.

The Twins square off against the Yankees this afternoon.  Carlos Silva will take the mound for the Twins to start things off.