jokin

Mebbe, but since my post was labeled as "#2", and given the birdwatcher's recent proclivity for seeking bigger game, it leads me to believe that it was me who he had in his sights, but perhaps you are right... I'm sure BW will soon be back for further Twins-party-line enlightenment.

Great detective work, Sherlock. Of course, the fact that I said nothing of the sort doesn't stop Your Stalking-ness get from getting the point of my post entirely wrong. Before you find the need to break out the magnifying glass again, let me re-clarify my statement for you. I said nothing whatsover about Deduno "escaping the effects of Gardy and Ryan", what I did say was that the offseason emergence of Deduno has created a quandry for the braintrust in how, and in what role, if any, to bring Deduno back onto the American League roster. I hope that helps...

Because he dealt with the subject matter entirely from the US point of view and verbally patted the Domincans on the head? This is a tiny, impoverished country and we are telling them how they should feel about the victory they committed to for the last 4 years after their WBC humiliation in 2009? The tone taken is much akin to the imperialistic tone taken towards the country in the 20th Century.

Smerf, I never said that the Olympic win wasn't important to the US. I've never "denied" anything of the sort. I did say that it most certainly wasn't particularly important whatsover to the citizens of the DR. There's a reason that most of the geographical world was/is called "Third" or Non-Aligned- they generally didn't care who happened to win a Winter Olympic event. And in a country like the DR, with such a tortured relationship with the US, it's likely the few average citizens that did care would support anyone, except the US. You can put any tournament, in any sport, at any level you want and ascribe it the "importance" you deem obvious to us in the First World, and it won't make a bit of difference to the Dominicans, who just might be presumptuos enough to ascribe their own sense of importance to the things that they actually value. The country is baseball-centric and baseball-crazy. "Ice" is truly an alien concept in a country that has average high temps in the 80s all year round and average lows in the low 70s and high 60s. This thread derailment has obscured my initial point and dovetails nicely with your post, Smerf. I merely said that the Twins are in a good position to garner some goodwill in the Dominican victorious afterglow, after accomplishing something unprecedented and important to them in their history- just not our history. Maybe it won't be a fond memory to them in 30 years, but that was hardly the point.

And people wonder why the image of "The Ugly American" still regins supreme around the globe. Not too condescending, are we?

Oh yeah, the two superpowers blustering at each other and messing around with every little country to gain "influence". Of course, our meddling in the Dominican affairs began way before the actual Cold War. We occupied the country from 1916-1924- the DR citizens had such a soft spot for the US from that naked agression, they began a guerilla war that simmered off and on well throughout much of the 20th Century. Of course, when the initial guerilla war was finally repelled, the US government installed military strongman and former convicted thief, forger and pimp, Rafael Trajillo in as president as the result of a rigged election. At the time the US State Department warned that "Trujillo is a kind of Frankenstein, brought to life by the US Marines" and likely to spawn new insurrections. Through America's maintainence of the control of all customs duties and trade for the country and an amazing ability to "look the other way"- "Trujillo's political corruption, military muscle, torture, murder, nepotism, commercial monopolies and raids on the country's national treasury enabled Trujillo to quiet his opponents and amass a fortune of $800 million." The "beloved" President-for-Life (or as long as the US supported him) Trujillo was finally assassinated in 1961, causing yet more domestic instability, resulting in the next US invasion and occupation of the country in 1965-66, ultimately leading to the installation of another former Trujillo puppet and anti-democratic strongman, Joaquin Balager, who ruthlessly ruled the country into the late 1980s. So yeah, I'd say the handful of people of the DR who had any awareness of Olympic hockey (no cable TV on the island in 1980) either didn't care or were less than inclined to wave the American flag and shout "USA" in the streets of Santo Domingo.

Wow. Time to think a little more globally Mr.(Herb?) Brooks? I sincerely doubt that there is even one "someone" in the DR who either, has ever heard of the miracle on ice, or if they did, cares one fig about it.

I remember watching him coming up to the Cubs in the 80s. When he first came up, I was wondering, how do you waste such a high draft pick on someone with no velocity and not a lot of movement- and in this hitter's park? Then, in year 3 he started having success and the running joke was that he was doing it with mirrors. But what he always had was that ability to put the ball where the catcher set the mitt. And the mitt was usually low and outside, but whereever it was set, Maddux hit it. Umpires grew to love it. His outfielders loved it too, as they could basically take the day off as hitters constantly turned over on barely hittable pitches away or foolishly swung for the fences. It seemed like the Cardinals were the only team that figured Mad Dog out- go with the pitch the other way and settle for the single. Of course, just as he was ready to go on his serious HOF run, the Cubs screwed it up again and lost him to the Braves in FA.

I like having Carroll around as someone to set a good professional example to the new blood and will undoubtedly be Gardy's chief Chestnut out of the Fire in bailing out all the travailing that's likely to occur in the MI once again in 2013, and having him around for $2M next year really shouldn't bother anyone- but- I guess that Elfin Goodness doesn't translate over to ravenous interest by the rest of both leagues, as apparently interest was so low in obtaining his services that both the Dodgers and Indians let him walk away from them as a FA without obtaining a trade- and he took a $1M paycut to join the Dodgers. The one time he was traded? It was in 2007 between the Rockies and Indians for 5'10", Sean Smith, a career .260-hitting, lifetime minor league OF, so there was that...Sean Smith » Statistics » Batting | FanGraphs Baseball

Great article, possibly one of your best, Parker. But then, some of the best writing in the world happens after Midnight. Good analogy in your closing sentence. The highwire is always the best event at the circus, and since the present Twins pitching rotation qualifies for the side show, if not the freak parade, Deduno is bound to give the ringmasters, Ryan and Gardy, fits, if they are forced to fete him as their #1 Attraction.

Again, not saying he's the next Greg Maddux, but Maddux was awful his first 2 years. Maddux's K/9 his first 2 seasons was 5.8, but Mr Pinpoint Control had a BB/9 rate of 4.3! (Versus Hendrik's BB/9 of 2.7). Based on his strong minor league success, you gotta think Hendriks will continue to get better at building confidence in more effectively attacking the corners and continuing to develop his secondary stuff.

Needless, perhaps. To the point, positively. Sorry for making you too sleepy to find that ignore button.

You keep searching for that ignore button, but apparently never know how to keep it working. Believe it or not, I am well aware that the Russians dominated international hockey for 20 years, so no, it is far from "clear that I have zero idea on the topic." Obviously, it was a big deal to win the Olympics in 1980, with the backdrop of the Cold War. But it wasn't the first time it had happened. And just for your information, only 10.3% of the players in the NHL in 1980 were Americans and the 5 from the team that did make it on American NHL teams were marketed for their Olympic hero status, even the bust, Jim Craig. The percentage of Americans in the NHL has now grown to 23.2%, so the generic good will for hockey that was established by the win in 1980 carried over to greater participative interest. Of course, to that point in time, the US had dominated in most every other significant sport for much of the 20th Century, so the sport became just a bigger piece of the mosaic. But you missed the entire point in your original analogy. The tiny DR, with a paltry-poverty-stricken GDP per capita of $9400, has one true passion, one truly national sport, one primary color in its national sporting tableau- and its very first significant victory on the international stage! Baseball is their primary means of expressing themselves on that world stage, and have a rich history of doing just that. Deduno is now a part of it, a tiny nation with very little going for it- and deservedly proud of its conquering heros- can associate their newest baseball hero with the WBC- and the MN Twins.

If Gardy has his way, he's gonna knock that good juju right out of Deduno's swagger, right quick!

Now you're arguing just to be arguing. The DR was eliminated in 2009 by the Netherlands in the opening round- the whole country was primed to make amends for that blunder. How did your bet go that year? I'm sure you're aware that the US had won the Gold Medal in hockey before 1980. You probably also knew that our country (yes, it is a mega-country, 315.5 Million, 3rd largest in the world) has won a boatload of medals- in every significant sport- at every international event. The DR, population 10 Million? Not so much.

Evidently, everyone lives in the moment. Guys without incredible stuff usually struggle, some for quite some time, before they settle in. Even Greg Maddux was horrible in his first 2 years in the majors. The panic button that some posters are placing on Hendriks' performance thus far is not well-thought out, especially for a guy coming in from another culture. If the Twins get 2 years of back-end 1-2 WAR starting pitcher performance from Deduno, they should be giddy ( by comparison, Dan Haren had a 1.8 WAR in 2012, finishing 25th among AL pitchers).

I didn't characterize him as the star of the DR. My thought was to capitalize now, in the moment, put him on the roster now, while he's a hot commodity. You do realize that the comparison to Eruzione is entirely incongruent, right? A microscopically tiny, baseball-centric country that wins the biggest event on the international stage is not the same as a mega-country winning it all in a niche sport. Deduno doesn't have to do another thing the rest of his life and he's still going to be legendary in his country for what was accomplished in the last couple of weeks.

The tepid water-throwing is well-placed. The main appeal to watching Deduno perform is the Perils of Pauline act, a guy with electric stuff and the FB command of a knuckleballer.

Actually, it's not silly at all. I'm sure you know how marketing works. They have control of a guy who will be on the front page of every electronic medium in the Caribbean tomorrow morning. In the DR, they will directly be able to associate Deduno with the MN Twins, the team that gave him a chance to realize every DR kid's dream. It should help to open doors for good intel to the scouting staff and make Deduno a real-life at-large ambassador to the concept of playing in MN. Moving Sano right up the line won't hurt, either. Obviously, we agree that they have to be willing to pony up for the right guys, this just helps get in front of them earlier in the process.

Over Gardy's dead body...

Dominican Winter League Stats for Deduno in 25.2IP and 5 starts: 0.35ERA/1.13WHIP/11.2K*9 The Twins now have a viable pitching candidate for inclusion onto the roster. I'm sure they're sweating out how/whether to clear a roster space for him and to decide whether or not to "risk" putting him in the starting rotation or making him a set-up man. Gardy and Ryan also must have been quite concerned about Deduno showing too much emotion out there, Butera will have to be his calming caddy. I hope they realize they have the chance to build good-will in the Caribbean by maximizing his exposure with the big club while he's such a hot commodity.

Your SP projection is close, but if Diamond is scheduled to have his first start on April 12, Deduno, or someone else, is getting at least a start or two in early April. Regarding the BP, a few things we know for certain: 1) The Twins won't have the next 3-4 potential starters on their depth chart as role players in the bullpen. Duensing, for sure, but at most, only one of the other 3, likely dependent on... 2) ...Just how soon Swarzak becomes available for long relief. The Twins do love their mop-up man doing all the hard mopping. 3) And they love Burnett, too. And Fien has done nothing to change their plans for him, either. And Wood is there to justify his signing.

I believe the Twins paleontology department has considered them an extinct species since the the closing of the WilsonRamoscene Era.

It's SPEED

Abominable? Characterizing a demotion as something akin to the torture of prisoners might be a wee bit harsh? They do have the very separate interests of the AAA team's ownership to consider.