Gardy's Take on Mastroianni

[powrwrap]

Anybody else read the hype that is being heaped on Darin Mastroianni?

 

"Mastroianni’s been playing the living fire out of the game down there,'' Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "They told me he’s the most exciting player down there. Terry (Ryan) has been down there watching that team for a week or so. I talked to the manager down there, Gene Glynn. He told me this kid has been playing really well, swinging the bat really well. Probably the most exciting player they have on that baseball team right now, running bases, stealing bases. He can fly. We’ll see. We’ll see how he does.”

 

"Most exciting player". Wow, sounds like Gardy is shilling for management trying to sell tickets.

[Seth Stohs]

I would agree with everything that he said about Mastroianni. I don't think he'll be some great major leaguer, but Terry Ryan saw him there for a week. He's hitting .350 there. He has stolen 10 bases in like 15 games or whatever. Not many others are doing anything in Rochester.

[twinsnorth49]

Anybody else read the hype that is being heaped on Darin Mastroianni?

 

"Mastroianni’s been playing the living fire out of the game down there,'' Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "They told me he’s the most exciting player down there. Terry (Ryan) has been down there watching that team for a week or so. I talked to the manager down there, Gene Glynn. He told me this kid has been playing really well, swinging the bat really well. Probably the most exciting player they have on that baseball team right now, running bases, stealing bases. He can fly. We’ll see. We’ll see how he does.”

"Most exciting player". Wow, sounds like Gardy is shilling for management trying to sell tickets.

I think that part of his comments tells you how he really feels, he's not convinced but accepts they have to try things to change this s**t show of a baseball team. What do you expect him to say? This bites, this kid isn't the answer, I don't know what the f**k Terry is thinking?

[powrwrap]

I think that part of his comments tells you how he really feels, he's not convinced but accepts they have to try things to change this s**t show of a baseball team. What do you expect him to say? This bites, this kid isn't the answer, I don't know what the f**k Terry is thinking?

"Most exciting" was used twice. Sounds like a phrase that he's been directed to say. I do like "he's playing the living fire out of the game" much better than "battling his tail off".

[Mr. Ed]

Mastro leaves, further gutting the RWings, so they get the poor hitting castoffs. Walters, one of the most effective starters is nabbed. Can't wait for the AAA complaints to pile up.

[twinsnorth49]

"Most exciting" was used twice. Sounds like a phrase that he's been directed to say. I do like "he's playing the living fire out of the game" much better than "battling his tail off".

He also said "We'll see" twice, you're right, he's selling it but he's also hedging his bets.

 

Yeah, "Battling his tail off" is code for, using every drop of talent he has just to be a decent AAA player.

[twinsnorth49]

Mastro leaves, further gutting the RWings, so they get the poor hitting castoffs. Walters, one of the most effective starters is nabbed. Can't wait for the AAA complaints to pile up.

LOL, I think that would be true if there wasn't already so much to complain about.

[asmus_ndsu]

LOL, I think that would be true if there wasn't already so much to complain about.

wait are you saying that there are people in the area that care how well the redwings do outside of trying to build players for the twins?

[whydidnt]

Sounds a lot like what he said before we brought up Rene Rivera last year, doesn't it? We can hope that the last couple weeks in AAA is the real Mastroianni. But I think we should expect the previous results we saw at AA and AAA over an extended period are probably more likely, which means he's an end of the bench guy in the majors at best. Really a sad state of affairs for the Twins, they seem to have maybe 12-15 guys in the whole organization that really are of Major League caliber, and you have to go way down to low A to find prospects that look like they'll be more than average major leaguers. Don't know what the plan is, but it's going to have to start this year by dumping any but your core group of players to recover the payroll $ so you can spend some dollars on real players over the next couple of years. The good news is you can find tickets to about any game for under $5.00 now if you just want to watch some baseball and enjoy the best spring we've had in MN in years.

[greengoblinrulz]

Twins are one of the slowest teams in MLB.......hopefully Masto can get us some SBs out there & cause some excitement.

[nicksaviking]

He told me this kid has been playing really well, swinging the bat really well. Probably the most exciting player they have on that baseball team right now, running bases, stealing bases. He can fly. We’ll see. We’ll see how he does.”

 

Sounds like the same thing said about Ben Revere every year he started the season in the minors.

[Seth Stohs]

Do people still think that the Twins are looking for difference-makers for 2012 at this point?

Mastroianni earned the call up. He's playing great. He's playing an exciting brand of baseball...

and as Gardy said, "We'll see how he does when he gets here."

But they aren't playing for 2012, so I don't get why people worry about these types of moves.

[Alex]

Sounds like the same thing said about Ben Revere every year he started the season in the minors.

Even if Revere were playing as well as Mastroianni for Rochester, you don't Revere up playing every third day. He's better off getting at bats everyday in AAA.

[whydidnt]

Do people still think that the Twins are looking for difference-makers for 2012 at this point?

Mastroianni earned the call up. He's playing great. He's playing an exciting brand of baseball...

and as Gardy said, "We'll see how he does when he gets here."

But they aren't playing for 2012, so I don't get why people worry about these types of moves.

I don't think too many are really worried about the move itself. I'm just tired of the team trying to sell these moves as "big" when they are substituting one replacement level guy for another. How hard would it have been for Gardenhire to say, "he's been playing well at Rochester, so we're bringing him up to see if he can help"? Instead we get "most exciting", two times, as if he's going to save the season. I'm far more worried about the fact that a guy like Mastroianni or Walters is all we have in the upper levels to bring up. THAT is what has me the most worried. The Twins system has completely FAILED over the last few years, and when things aren't working you need to change them, but we aren't seeing changes in the system, just some moving of parts. That is what has me worried. I want some light at the end of the tunnel, that's all.

[Guest USAFChief]

Do people still think that the Twins are looking for difference-makers for 2012 at this point?

Mastroianni earned the call up. He's playing great. He's playing an exciting brand of baseball...

and as Gardy said, "We'll see how he does when he gets here."

But they aren't playing for 2012, so I don't get why people worry about these types of moves.

This makes no sense.

 

If the Twins aren't playing for 2012, what difference does it make how he's playing in Rochester? How does "earned the callup," "he's playing great," or "he's playing an exiting brand of baseball" in Rochester make a difference in 2013 or 2014?

 

If the Twins are playing for 2013 and beyond, what good does adding another OFer who can't even SLG .400 in the minors do? A guy who will turn 27 this season, BTW.

 

Adding Mastro to this roster is pointless, IMO, and just further stretches the 25 man roster into absurdity. What exactly is the plan here, Ryan?

[Shane Wahl]

This makes no sense.

 

If the Twins aren't playing for 2012, what difference does it make how he's playing in Rochester? How does "earned the callup," "he's playing great," or "he's playing an exiting brand of baseball" in Rochester make a difference in 2013 or 2014?

 

If the Twins are playing for 2013 and beyond, what good does adding another OFer who can't even SLG .400 in the minors do? A guy who will turn 27 this season, BTW.

 

Adding Mastro to this roster is pointless, IMO, and just further stretches the 25 man roster into absurdity. What exactly is the plan here, Ryan?

1. Mastroianni is promoted instead of Revere.

2. So . . . they have to add somebody . . . . who would you like to add?

3. There is something to be said about rewarding people for performing well, you know.

[scottz]

I think these moves and prior moves (Diamond coming up) are public admission by the front office that the Willingham, Carroll, and Marquis band-aids on the knee did nothing to stop the bleeding from the wrists and jugular that is the lack of major league talent in the system. However, it still doesn't tell us a thing about what route they are planning to take for the future. If Span gets traded, we'll know it is a complete re-build with a focus on a Sano-led 2016 team, and I'd expect that they would try to shop Willingham as well, and probably Morneau if he ever got healthy and started swinging. If trades of our few major league assets don't happen, that means they still think they could turn it around in 2013/2014 with well-placed free agent acquisitions (requirements: 2 front end starters and perhaps a 3B).

 

If it's 2016, what the roster will look like is anyone's guess.

 

If it's 2013,

C - Mauer

1B - Morneau (if healthy) or Parmalee

2B - Carroll or Casilla

SS - Dozier

3B - FA help or Carroll

LF - Willingham

CF - Span

RF - Mastro or Komatsu or whoever "wins" the job in 2013 spring training.

 

SP1 - FA

SP2 - FA (I'd prefer this not to be Pavano, but rather they make a run at someone on the market, but they may argue for Pavano if they can get him on a club friendly 1 year FA deal...maybe $6MM)

SP3 - Blackburn

SP4 - Gibson

SP5 - Hendriks or Diamond or Walters or DeVries

 

I don't know about you guys, but that sure doesn't look like something the Twins would do (2 FA pitchers and a FA 3rd baseman), and even if they do, unless the FA pitchers are a 1-2 combination of James Shields and Anibal Sanchez, I don't know that THAT team competes either.

 

The only way this team is competitive 2014 or earlier is through free agent acquisitions. If that isn't their plan, everyone had better start wrapping their heads around 2016 as a target.

[nicksaviking]

I don't care which outfielder is called up. I just want to see one guy get a chance at full-time duty to see if he can handle it. If not, try the next guy. At this point it looks like there will still be a RF rotation of at least Komatsu and Matroianni likely along with Plouffe and possible Doumit. If the young guys are on the bench every other day, right or wrong, we will be second guessing the organization when they give up on one of them. People are still upset with a marginal prospect like Hughes, why continue in this manner? Don't make these auditions any more arbitrary and opaque than they needs to be, someone needs to play every day.

[twinsnorth49]

wait are you saying that there are people in the area that care how well the redwings do outside of trying to build players for the twins?

 

 

Noooooo, I'm saying there is already enough with the Twins to complain about without having to add Rochester to the list.