Ricky Nolasco Misses LA

[Parker Hageman]

Prompted from a female fan on Twitter who tweeted at him that she wished that Ricky Nolasco was still in Los Angeles, Nolasco replied emphatically that he wished his was in Los Angeles too:

 

 

Five exclamation points excited, in fact. 

 

Obviously, most level-headed people will read this and recognize that\ the temperature is dropping in Minnesota and Nolasco, a native of Corona, California which resides east of Los Angeles at the base of the Santa Ana mountains, probably misses his home and there is nothing more to it than that. And then there's the fact that the team is heading to the postseason. Hell, I wish I was in LA. Still, with the season he has had that included a 6-12 record accompanied by a rotund 5.38 ERA, there will likely be some fans that interpret this gesture as a desire to be the eff away from the baseball team. This certainly would be the case had Nolasco been in a, say, Red Sox uniform when this was tweeted. 

 

Nolasco's first season of his four-year, $12 million annual deal was disappointing to say the least, but his last five starts in September (30.2 innings, 2.93 ERA and 26/5 K/BB) provide a silver hope that whatever ailed him for most of the season is behind him and ready for brighter days ahead. 

 

How do you react to this?

 

(h/t @MattKummer)

[iTwins]

Trust me Ricky, I wish you were still with LA too.

[Physics Guy]

Can't blame him, but the exclamation points were a bit much.  Not good PR with your team.  Also wouldn't be hard to see that he wishes he was with the Dodgers since they are in the playoffs.

[twinsnorth49]

LA's headed for the playoffs, what self respecting player wouldn't want to be in that position right now?

 

I think he meant it from either that perspective or the weather. Man social media stirs up so much nonsense.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

Ah, it's not saying still in LA, but still with LA. As in, still playing for the Dodgers.

 

Maybe he misread it as in - this looks like a dude flirting with someone on Twitter.

[Squirrel]

Man social media stirs up so much nonsense.

This ... with 5 exclamation points!!!!!

[Monkeypaws]

Not very flattering for the Twins.

 

Well, I don't know what he's complaining about, he's free to go back there from now until spring training.

 

That's worth a couple exclamation points at least.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I feel really bad for Ricky. Every night, he has to roll into his cold, hard Minnesota bed and cry himself to sleep.

 

It's completely irrelevant that his cold, hard Minnesota bed is made of stacked $100 bills.

[nicksaviking]

When asked to clarify, I'm sure he'll say he simply wouldn't mind being back home in the nice weather.  Still, I'm sure he would rather be in LA in the grand scheme of things.  They are in the playoffs, and he had a historically terrible year in Minnesota where has become a goat.  Don't forget he also wore a Dodges hat at a Wild game shortly after signing with the Twins.

 

In short, I'm sure he WOULD rather be in LA, and who could blame him? Doesn't everyone want to be where they are liked?  Even if you are rolling in money, it seems like an inate desire.  It's just not one of those things that should be said out loud.  It's not like Minnesota fans don't have enough of an inferiority complex already.  Pitchforks will be out.  Well, Minnesota is the land of passive aggression, so maybe not pitchforks, maybe garden trowels.  He should remember that, LA surely would have pitchforks.

[Winston Smith]

Trade him for Crawford! Crawford can be a pain but at least he can still play a little and we need a leftfielder!

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

this looks like a dude flirting with someone on Twitter.

 

This.

[Boom Boom]

It's just a player pandering to the fans.  

 

Back in 2007, in Torii Hunter's last year as a Twin, he told every beat writer in every market that he'd love to play for their team.

[sandbun]

I love the attempts to explain it away. 'Maybe he meant in LA. After all, the weather here is terrible'. Except it was in the 80s yesterday and the season is over so he can get out of here if it was bad. He had a bad year and misses being with a team he had more success with. Certainly understandable, but not very grateful or smart.

[nicksaviking]

It's just a player pandering to the fans.  

 

Back in 2007, in Torii Hunter's last year as a Twin, he told every beat writer in every market that he'd love to play for their team.

 

Well Torii was a free agent and likely trying to get multiple parties intersted.  Nolasco's not going anywhere.  In fact by moping about not being in LA, he's hurting the Twins leverage (not that there was any after that terrible season) to trade him out of Minnesota.

[DaveW]

LA has a lot of advantages over Minnesota:
Better baseball team.

Better weather.

Better looking women (this one ain't even close)

Nothing to see here.

[twinssouth]

trade him for a bag of balls, that's all he's worth right now

[Boom Boom]

Well Torii was a free agent and likely trying to get multiple parties intersted.  Nolasco's not going anywhere.  In fact by moping about not being in LA, he's hurting the Twins leverage (not that there was any after that terrible season) to trade him out of Minnesota.

 

You can read it any way you like.  Nolasco realizes he's not going anywhere.  The Dodgers are going to the playoffs, so there's that.

 

He phrased it poorly, but I really think he's just trying to make sure his fans in LA are still his fans.  If someone tweeted to him, "I wish you were an Astro!"  he'd probably play that up, too. 

[Seth Stohs]

Nolasco also lives like an hour from LA. So it is kind of home for him.

 

Following his final start over the weekend, in which he pitched well, Jamie Hersch asked him if it was the kind of start that could help get him ready for next year (or something like that). He basically said (paraphrasing), "I don't even want to think about next year. I just want this year to be done." 

 

Which, of course, can't blame him, but sometimes the company line comes across much better.

[tobi0040]

 

 

This.

 

I was going to say the exact same thing.  He was flirting with someone on the internet.

[Mike Sixel]

A: too much is read into a simple statement

B: I would rather be with a playoff team than one of the worst in all of baseball too, wouldn't you?

[Brandon]

I think he finished the year strong and shown the last month that he can be a capable pitcher.  I expect his results next year to be similar to what Gibson did this year.  I live in the town over from Corona and it is real nice out here.    in the 70's and 80's right now.  lots of sunshine. 

[nicksaviking]

I don't think the statement is being taken out of context.  I just think, duh, of course he would like to play for LA.  He wouldn't have left had they offered what the Twins did last off season.  I just think it's silly that anyone would get upset about his statements.  After all, haven't we been complaining for years that our teams have to overpay for players because they'd prefer to play for a team on their preferred coast because those teams are winning/warm/more exposed/close to home?

 

Why would anyone act like his is an atrocity now?  We all knew the terms and conditions of being a fan of a mid-market midwest team.

[Brad Swanson]

I'm more offended by his lack of capital letters.  How am I supposed to know where your sentences start, Ricky?  He's clearly got punctuation down, but I'd like to see him work on the rest of his mechanics.  

[Gernzy]

I'm interested to see what he says about this. I'm sure someone in the media will address it.

[Mike Sixel]

I'm more offended by his lack of capital letters.  How am I supposed to know where your sentences start, Ricky?  He's clearly got punctuation down, but I'd like to see him work on the rest of his mechanics.  

 

Typical Twin, can't do the little things.....

[Mike Sixel]

I'm curious, why does anyone care? If he tries his hardest, roots on his teammates, etc.....why does anyone care about this?

[Craig Arko]

I'm curious, why does anyone care? If he tries his hardest, roots on his teammates, etc.....why does anyone care about this?

You must be new here.

 

I go with the flirting notion.

[drunksam]

I like reading so much into twitter tweets. 140 characters is worth a thousand words...

[nicksaviking]

I'm interested to see what he says about this. I'm sure someone in the media will address it.

 

Lucky Ricky may get off easy.  I'm guessing the baseball writers have bigger fish to fry today!

 

Hmmmm, in fact perhaps we can start thinking about conspiracies.  Perhaps Ryan canned Gardy to defelct attention from Nolasco's tweet.

[ashbury]

he's hurting the Twins leverage (not that there was any after that terrible season) to trade him out of Minnesota.

There, see?  Proof positive, he loves it here in Minnesota.

 

If Ricky had even one drop of alcohol in his system when he tweeted that, I can think of a New Years resolution he should adopt for 2015, starting September 29, 2014.

 

PS: !!!!!