Berardino: Nolasco feels "a lot better" than last year

[Seth Stohs]

Pioneer Press's Mike Berardino wrote that RHP Ricky Nolasco feels "a lot better" this year than his his debut season with the Twins a year. 

 

Maybe those are just words, but clearly Nolasco was not himself, and was not healthy early in the season last year. If healthy, he has shown throughout his career that he can be a solid big league who can eat a lot of innings. If he can perform to his career averages, or slightly better, it would be a big boost for the Twins starting rotation. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

It's February 25th. Every baseball player feels better than they've ever felt and are in the best shape of their lives.

 

I'm not saying that it isn't true for Nolasco but crikey, writers need to stop saying this about every player in Florida and Arizona.

[70charger]

It's February 25th. Every baseball player feels better than they've ever felt and are in the best shape of their lives.

 

I'm not saying that it isn't true for Nolasco but crikey, writers need to stop saying this about every player in Florida and Arizona.

 

I should take up baseball again. It's February and I want to be in the best shape of my life.

 

I agree though, this is emblematic of the sports media, which is roughly 93.4% cliches. My favorite are post-game interviews:

 

INTERVIEWER: "That was quite the game tonight, but you came away with a win. What was the strategy when you called the audible on third-and-long? Were you thinking that the blitz was coming in from the weak side?"

 

INTERVIEWEE: "Yeah, I just want to thank God, and Gatorade, and Nike, and we played our hearts out out there tonight, and you gotta hand it to the other team, but we just outlasted them."

 

....what!?

[Kwak]

I should take up baseball again. It's February and I want to be in the best shape of my life.

 

I agree though, this is emblematic of the sports media, which is roughly 93.4% cliches. My favorite are post-game interviews:

 

INTERVIEWER: "That was quite the game tonight, but you came away with a win. What was the strategy when you called the audible on third-and-long? Were you thinking that the blitz was coming in from the weak side?"

 

INTERVIEWEE: "Yeah, I just want to thank God, and Gatorade, and Nike, and we played our hearts out out there tonight, and you gotta hand it to the other team, but we just outlasted them."

 

....what!?"

You can add:  "My struggles came from an injury, but when I healed-up a bit I could be 'my old self'  again, and..."

 

On another note:  "Why does this software eliminate spaces between sentences?"

[Brock Beauchamp]

On another note:  "Why does this software eliminate spaces between sentences?"

It's a bug that recently popped up in FireFox. Mozilla changed something that eliminates spaces after punctuation. It's on my list of things to fix.

[Monkeypaws]

It would be a huge boost if he could throw around 200 innings with an ERA below 4.5.

 

Given there was clearly something wrong last season, I'll drink the kool-aid on this one.

[iTwins]

It's easy to scoff and write off a story like this as early season "fluff" - however, I think for certain players these stories are actually important.

 

From the start last season, something was wrong with Nolasco. He had a rough spring, he didn't look right out of the gate and he simply never settled in. Whether or not that was due to his ailment / injury that he kept from the Twins until mid-season, we can't really know.

 

I'm inclined to believe him that he didn't feel 100%, so when he enters this year and says "Yes, I'm feeling good" - I think that's worth talking about.

[Brock Beauchamp]

It's easy to scoff and write off a story like this as early season "fluff" - however, I think for certain players these stories are actually important.

 

From the start last season, something was wrong with Nolasco. He had a rough spring, he didn't look right out of the gate and he simply never settled in. Whether or not that was due to his ailment / injury that he kept from the Twins until mid-season, we can't really know.

 

I'm inclined to believe him that he didn't feel 100%, so when he enters this year and says "Yes, I'm feeling good" - I think that's worth talking about.

I agree, I just wish platitudes of this kind were used more sparingly, which would make reports like this easier to believe when they do come around.

[laloesch]

Good.  The better he pitches the more easily Terry Ryan can unload him.  Better for May, better for Meyer and Berrios.  So by all means i hope this is correct.

[stringer bell]

Nobody called Nolasco fat last year, but he seemed bigger than I remembered him as a Marlin or a Dodger. Halsey reported that he had slimmed down--maybe that will be the magic elixir for him. It didn't work for Vanimal when he was with the Twins, but Delmon had his best year when he had noticeably slimmed down.

[clutterheart]

If Nolasco i better this Pitching Staff could be ABOVE average this year!

[Brock Beauchamp]

If Nolasco i better this Pitching Staff could be ABOVE average this year!

Slow your roll, clutterheart. Let's focus on "average" before we head into CrazyTown with references to "above average".

[puckstopper1]

I'm not quite ready to drink the Nolasco cool-aid quite yet.  I've seen too many solid NL pitchers who failed when they came to the AL.  I agree, a solid Nolasco would be a HUGE boost to this squad.

[James]

If Nolasco i better this Pitching Staff could be ABOVE average this year!

Slow down there, Turbo.  Let's see how everyone is pitching in a few spring training games before we start to contemplate that idea.  One step at a time.

 

I hope Nolasco feeling better translates to him pitching better this season.  I hope all the starting rotation contenders pitch incredibly well and force the coaching staff to make some really tough decisions on who starts the year with the big league club.  Then... and only then, should we start discussing being above average.   

[Otto von Ballpark]

It's easy to scoff and write off a story like this as early season "fluff" - however, I think for certain players these stories are actually important.

 

From the start last season, something was wrong with Nolasco. He had a rough spring, he didn't look right out of the gate and he simply never settled in. Whether or not that was due to his ailment / injury that he kept from the Twins until mid-season, we can't really know.

 

I'm inclined to believe him that he didn't feel 100%, so when he enters this year and says "Yes, I'm feeling good" - I think that's worth talking about.

Of course, I am sure he said he was feeling good last spring too, or would have if he was asked.  Same for Mauer, Pelfrey, etc.

[strumdatjaguar]

Some say that RN is an "innings eater", like that is a huge compliment.   Has anyone ever heard of a Hall of Fame pitcher being referred to as an "innings eater"?   NO!!!   It's usually a durable, but mediocre (or even below-average) pitcher who gets that moniker.   "You know, he's not going to pitch great, and maybe won't even pitch good, but he'll eat up a lot of innings." I remember the Twins signed Bob Tewksbury in 1997 as a Free Agent in order to be an Innings eater. He pitched 168 and 148 innings in his two years here, not exactly "feed me more" Ryback-type numbers (for you WWE fans).  I'd like to have a  pitcher described as the next ace of our staff or Cy Young contender, or perennial All-Star . . .   It's about time.  As a fan, I want more than innings eaters;

[adorduan]

Some say that RN is an "innings eater", like that is a huge compliment.   Has anyone ever heard of a Hall of Fame pitcher being referred to as an "innings eater"?   NO!!!   It's usually a durable, but mediocre (or even below-average) pitcher who gets that moniker.   "You know, he's not going to pitch great, and maybe won't even pitch good, but he'll eat up a lot of innings." I remember the Twins signed Bob Tewksbury in 1997 as a Free Agent in order to be an Innings eater. He pitched 168 and 148 innings in his two years here, not exactly "feed me more" Ryback-type numbers (for you WWE fans).  I'd like to have a  pitcher described as the next ace of our staff or Cy Young contender, or perennial All-Star . . .   It's about time.  As a fan, I want more than innings eaters;

Well, you aren't going to get a hall of fame, or a cy young contender, or even an all star starting pitcher for $12 million a year in free agency.....

[big dog]

Well, you aren't going to get a hall of fame, or a cy young contender, or even an all star starting pitcher for $12 million a year in free agency.....

Or a 19-year-old Cuban who isn't ready for the majors.

[Platoon]

I would rather have Ricky feeling better in June, than now.