Morneau to see hand specialist

[Seth Stohs]

Justin Morneau will be flying back to the Twin Cities to see the hand doctor. I hate to speculate, but if it was really just "sore", wouldn't they give him a day or two off rather than rushing him off to the hand specialist?

 

We can hope now. He was staying healthy and making himself tradeable. Hopefully this is nothing serious!

[shs_59]

I was going to start my own thread, so I'm thankfull Seth did so first

 

Anyways, The hand I'm not too worried about, he'll be fine. (eventually) Even though its the same wrist from SLAMMING his hand into the locker from frustrationing AB's last year some time or whatever it was.

 

(how can you blame him for that at all though, after how last year went?) (if it was i, I would have beatin in every single locker with a brain issue like that, knowing what you once were, ALL-star MVP calliber 1B mashing slugger, and suddenly not being able to time your swing or see the ball right. )

 

What i'm worried about...

Is this simple fact.

 

Morneau needs to swing at strikes.

 

he's swinging at WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to many pitches outside the strike zone.

No, I haven't looked at the K rates because they won't tell the whole story...

 

Remember 2010? that amazing first half he was having before the Incident. ? Yeah, he was swinging at strikes and only strikes then.

(maybe not at the rate of say Joe Mauer, but if Morneau just simply swings at strikes, and not balls at a much better rate) He'll be back. Not AL MVP Justin Morneau but he'll be back.

[Top Gun]

Justin Morneau is flying back to Minnesota to have his sore left wrist examined by Twins' hand specialist Dr. Tom Varecka.

 

Not a good sign for the Twins, who just began a six-game West Coast swing. Morneau told reporters that he began feeling discomfort during a series against the Rays from April 20-22, but that it got worse over the weekend. He's hopeful that it's just scar tissue breaking up following surgery last September, but the Twins will likely send him for a precautionary MRI. We should know more about his status at some point on Tuesday.

 

 

Source: Rhett Bollinger on Twitter

[Riverbrian]

What's the word I'm looking for...

 

Oh yeah... I remember. "UNCLE".

[JB_Iowa]

Anyways, The hand I'm not too worried about, he'll be fine. (eventually) Even though its the same wrist from SLAMMING his hand into the locker from frustrationing AB's last year some time or whatever it was.

Did he or didn't he? We'll probably never know for sure.

 

But this year is starting to feel like a really bad replay of last year.

[Boom Boom]

Sore wrist, huh? Maybe he should see the Orioles' trainers, I hear they're pretty good about those things.

[Gernzy]

From what I've heard he thinks his tendon is fine, so it's hopefully just inflammation. We'll have to wait and see.

[twinzgrl]

I believe that this is something serious...I hope I'm wrong.

[Seth Stohs]

I believe that this is something serious...I hope I'm wrong.

For what it's worth AND nothing personal, but I really hope you're wrong too!

[Fanatic Jack]

This team is like a defective Viagra product. Mauer and Morneau both hurt again 22 games into the season. No clutch hitting, pitching staff a disaster, no leadership, coaching staff cluless. What a joke and we were told it would be better than 2011. Right now 2011 looks pretty good.

[Yoshii]

Here we go again...

[Fanatic Jack]

Yoshii,

 

What is their record again????

[gunnarthor]

Here we go again...

Hey, the sky can't fall without Fanatic Jack

[Mr. Ed]

Worst record in baseball. This team won't see .500 this year with this staff. And they're supposed to be better than 2011?

[TwinVike61]

They were supposed to be better before they lost Baker and Frankie lost his shoes in his locker. There are positive signs in two quality starts in a row (marquis and blackburn) and the offense has been keeping us in most games...just one timely hit could make the difference. And a 10 game winning streak brings us (almost) back to .500. Stranger things have happened.

[StormJH1]

This team is like a defective Viagra product. Mauer and Morneau both hurt again 22 games into the season. No clutch hitting, pitching staff a disaster, no leadership, coaching staff cluless. What a joke and we were told it would be better than 2011. Right now 2011 looks pretty good.

Did I miss something? When did Mauer get hurt? He got a day off against C.J. Wilson, a lefty he happens to be terrible against. Even the most aggressive Mauer hater (and I'm up there) would acknowledge that it's better to give Mauer a day off now and then, since any little injury, no matter how insignificant, is going to sit him down for 2 weeks minimum.

 

As for Morneau, this is bad news. Not as bad as concussion problems, but this suggests another long-term problem that he can't get over. Plus, anything having to do with the wrist, elbow, or shoulder destroys power hitters, even if they can stay in the lineup.

 

The thing about punching the locker was never corroborated. It's entirely plausible in light of how last year went and what Amare Stoudamire did yesterday. But I think that came from a tweet (Phil Mackey?) and some of the Strib guys tried to follow up on it in the offseason and never got confirmation that it happened. Suppose it doesn't really matter at this point, he clearly has a problem.

[Mr. Ed]

Mauer took one off his knee Sunday, so he could have been available to PH. So he did get dinged. Am sure the Twins would rather have had him out there at first instead of Parmelee, and in the 3 spot.

[Mr. Ed]

They were supposed to be better before they lost Baker and Frankie lost his shoes in his locker. There are positive signs in two quality starts in a row (marquis and blackburn) and the offense has been keeping us in most games...just one timely hit could make the difference. And a 10 game winning streak brings us (almost) back to .500. Stranger things have happened.

Relying on an injury prone RH and a wildly consistent LHP as being lynchpins to a better season,along with 3 guys with high WHIP numbers, did not give me any hope of being better.

 

I expected Baker to get injured. Just not this early.

 

Liriano is grossly overpaid for what he brings.

 

With out some deals and any significant moves, it's a tough next year, too.

[ashbury]

just one timely hit could make the difference.

I converted my off-topic response to a blog entry.

[nicksaviking]

Well people could look at the injury like this. It sounds like it has been lingering awhile, which means no significantly terrible diagnosis has been made to this point. Lingering wrist ailments often turn out to be something like tendinitis. In the past, when Morneau has had more serious injuries, it is usually diagnosed more quickly. He's played through several, and had procedures done in the off season, but they knew what the problem was more punctually than this.

[twinsnorth49]

Acorns people.......nothing to see here, only acorns.

[DaveW]

O/U on days until we hear Morneau needs Tommy John Surgery?

 

10?

[woolhouse]

Is there not a wrist brace Morneau could wear? I see them on most other sluggers/batters in the majors, not to mention Sue in the typing pool here has to use one for her Carpal Tunnel...

[Montecore]

Great news. What's next - Willingham goes blind? Doesn't this come down to the training/medical staff again? That they make The Three Stooges look like the Mayo Clinic?

[CDog]

Great news. What's next - Willingham goes blind? Doesn't this come down to the training/medical staff again? That they make The Three Stooges look like the Mayo Clinic?

Because why now? Because the only time players have been injured playing sports is when the training staff has done....what now?

[mikeee]

Duct tape.

[nicksaviking]

The doctors say it's normal inflamation after a surgically repaired joint. He's going to be fine, jump back aboard. Our team may stink but Morneau isn't dead and a bad baseball team is still more fun to watch than any of this reality crap on the other channels.

[twinsnorth49]

Yep....acorns, everybody back in the barn.

[John Bonnes]

Great news. Just fluid and inflammation? I'll take that.

[StormJH1]

Great news. Just fluid and inflammation? I'll take that.

Great news from a musculoskeletal standpoint, yes, but just as I was starting to get my Morneau optimism up (peaking around the Yankees series), we are reminded of why so many of us warned against expecting much of anything from him this year. It isn't just the concussions (though if it were, that would be enough). It's the combination of wrist, neck, etc. ailments that ended his seasons prematurely or broke him down after the All-Star Break, even prior to getting kneed in the head in July 2010.

 

Wrist problems can be a huge problem for power hitters, and the timeline of when this started to bother him again coincide with his bat cooling off. It really would be nice if there were more Chris Davis-type "4-A" players in this organization that have 20 HR power you could plop in at 1B for awhile. (Even Garrett Jones, hey, we had him!) I'd like to see what Parmelee can do for a solid month, but we haven't seen it yet.