Looks like Baker had a set back

[Thrylos]

out of the Miracle game after he faced 3 batters. No details yet...

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Threw 11 pitches!

[Seth Stohs]

can't be good... Not to go too negative, but sounds like Dr. James Andrews might be getting a call. Not good. Hopefully not!

[Parker Hageman]

Disappointing but not surprising. It was odd that when Terry Ryan was on KFAN today he said there was 'frustration' with Baker because 'there was nothing wrong with him.' Clearly something is wrong.

[Thrylos]

Disappointing but not surprising. It was odd that when Terry Ryan was on KFAN today he said there was 'frustration' with Baker because 'there was nothing wrong with him.' Clearly something is wrong.

If Ryan said that on the radio, he should just a. Learn to STFU and b. fire a few of the medical types... This is just too much and getting a bit too old.

[DJSim22]

If Ryan said that on the radio, he should just a. Learn to STFU and b. fire a few of the medical types... This is just too much and getting a bit too old.

I don't remember exactly what Ryan said, but he was clearly annoyed with Mr. Baker. This is getting really old, guess Hendriks might be around a while.

[Evan Grabouski]

From Joe C.:

 

Twins GM Terry Ryan announces that "Baker just didn’t feel right tonight. He couldn’t seem to get loose on the mound (more)...

 

... and instead of pushing the envelope, we decided we would go get him out of the game. We will evaluate him again tomorrow."

[Thrylos]

Per JC's twitter Ryan said that Baker "could not get loose" and decided to take him out instead of "pushing the envelope". They will re-evaluate tomorrow.

[Seth Stohs]

Is this a fair translation? Gave up a double and a triple in his first 11 pitches... called it a day?? Frustrating!

[jorgenswest]

Frustrating. Yes. Frustrated with Baker. No.

 

I did not get a sense that Ryan is frustrated with Baker. He is frustrated that they can't get a handle on the problem.

[JB_Iowa]

"Baker 'could not get loose'"

 

Seems to me that we heard this last year before an injury to another pitcher. Any recollections?

[nicksaviking]

There has to be something wrong with him. Baker has 9.5 million reasons to show the club that he would be a good investment.

[Montecore]

This sounds like a repeat of last year with Mauer, i.e. the utter incompetence of the Twins trainers and medical staff. Yet, as far as I know - no one was fired in the off-season. Just a very bad sign of things to come. Hope I'm wrong, but...

[Fanatic Jack]

I'm sure glad the Pohlad family decided to cut payroll by $15 million and not upgrade the pitching staff. More pitch to contact guys like Hendriks, Wimmers, and Salcedo. Let's not forget the great Kyle Gibson who will never make to the big show after TJ surgery. This organization is a mess and the Twins will have to score 15 runs a game to win.

[asmus_ndsu]

Call me the blind optimist but if the twins can get their earned runs per game around 4.0 (hopefully less) and our avg runs per game above 4.0 then we should ultimately Finnish with a winning record right? Don't forget we do have an extra wild card this year, and I'm gonna call a Detroit disappointment this year (not that they won't win games but defiantly Finnish lower than expected with their mish-mash of a wannabe Yankee team)

[jimbo92107]

This raises a disturbing question. If winning is sixty percent pitching, and the Twins have sixty percent of an average pitching staff, then how can we expect them to win half their games? By my crayon-on-napkin calculations, 0.6 x 0.6 = 0.36, so the Twins will win just 0.36 games! How can they fill the stands if they can't win even one game? And how can Joe Mauer win another batting title if his average is BELOW 1???

 

I know math is a hard science, but how can it be so cruel?

[gil4]

"Baker 'could not get loose'"

 

Seems to me that we heard this last year before an injury to another pitcher. Any recollections?

 

I think that was Baker before they shut him down for the year. Rest was supposed to cure what ailed him, but I don't think they ever had a handle on exactly what that was. (Still don't.)

[CDog]

Let's not forget the great Kyle Gibson who will never make to the big show after TJ surgery.

Maybe Gibson could become the first player to come back from Tommy John surgery and be effective.

[CDog]

This sounds like a repeat of last year with Mauer, i.e. the utter incompetence of the Twins trainers and medical staff. Yet, as far as I know - no one was fired in the off-season. Just a very bad sign of things to come. Hope I'm wrong, but...

Because they're both coming off of off-season surgery? Because poor training was the cause of either injury? Because...??

[Shane Wahl]

Have any of you pitched, even in high school? I ask because I am wondering about your experience if you have not been able to get loose. For me, it was not about my arm. It was about my legs being tired which resulted in changing how I threw. I have no idea about Baker's conditioning, but I would say that it might not be a problem with his elbow. Hopefully.

 

Also, there is going to be no reason whatsoever to pick up his option. Spend the money on Liriano (assuming he has a very good year--if not spend it on Dempster or somebody).

[Shane Wahl]

Maybe Gibson could become the first player to come back from Tommy John surgery and be effective.

Haha. Yes, Gibson will be fine. I expect him to actually be where Hendriks is now in 2013.

[Gernzy]

So hard to know for sure whats going on. I hope they reveal more today. It might have just been a bad day, but I'm not optimistic. Hendricks needs to step up if we're without Baker all year.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

I have no idea about Baker's conditioning, but I would say that it might not be a problem with his elbow.

I am not 100% sure, but I thought I had read/heard previously that Scott Baker is typically the best-conditioned pitcher the Twins have. May or may not be accurate... so take it for what it's worth.

[jctwins]

I am not 100% sure, but I thought I had read/heard previously that Scott Baker is typically the best-conditioned pitcher the Twins have. May or may not be accurate... so take it for what it's worth.

Is there a chance you heard it from the local media? If so, then I'm sure it's true!

[JB_Iowa]

I don't really want to bash the Twins medical/training staff right now but I do have to wonder how any of the Twins players can have confidence in them.

 

Would you trust your career to them? And if not, does that make you more skeptical of anything you feel when you go out on the mound or in the field?

 

I guess we'll see what happens on the injury front this year but I would think that having confidence in the docs/trainers would have a lot to do with recovery and performance. I know they can get second opinions but you know that isn't going to happen everyday.

 

Just have to wonder if some of this doesn't start snowballing from a lack of confidence.

 

And thanks, gil4, I thought we had heard this in almost the exact same words. (Not that it was an unusual phrase but it just triggered a bad thought for me).

[81Exposruledbaseball]

I'm gonna call it bilateral brain weakness

[Cody Christie]

I'm okay with seeing a little bit more of what Hendriks can do at the big league level.

[BHtwins]

Grant Balfour, Francisco Liriano, Pat Neshek, Kyle Gibson, Zumaya to a lesser extent, now maybe Baker?? all misdiagnosed or slow diagnosed

 

I really dont think the track record is particularly good.

[jctwins]

Grant Balfour, Francisco Liriano, Pat Neshek, Kyle Gibson, Zumaya to a lesser extent, now maybe Baker?? all misdiagnosed or slow diagnosed

 

I really dont think the track record is particularly good.

JJ Hardy can go on that list, too, why not.

[Thrylos]

This just in from Joe C on his updating that Baker will have an MRI:

 

He didn't have an MRI during spring training so this is his first one in a while. Stay tuned.

So he has been having issues with the elbow most of the spring, they diagnosed it as 'tendonitis' and 'treated it' without an MRI?

Nuts!