drjim

So would you let Jack know right away, or type with pain for a while until your queries keep spitting out Mike Pelfrey?

Any extra bonus points for analysis that comes up with former Twins to sign?

I have to admit, this job posting makes me wish I got into computer science instead of theology. I'm pretty much demanding that Brock applies.

Someone apply to this job! http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/job-posting-twins-developer/ Good to see the organization continue its march to 2000 technology levels.

I guess I would argue that happy medium is exactly what happened with the Twins and Nolasco. I don't follow other teams nearly as closely, but I always had the impression the Twins were on the conservative end of having guys push through injuries. And while I agree the problems with diagnosing injuries is certainly maddening, I'm not convinced it is all that different than other teams. Teams/players are constantly operating in that gray area. See post above.

I personally agree with you and think he would be a great candidate to spend a couple of months in the bullpen to end the season. However, with innings restrictions going into next year it is probably pretty unlikely he could start from day 1 in the rotation and last the entire season, so he will either have to spend time in the bullpen or AAA, so that would be just as effective in easing him in. It is a fun thing to debate but there is certainly wisdom in both methods.

As a general rule I don't get caught up in specific words that are used and tie myself in knots trying to decipher everything that is said. I think "show more consistency" is short hand for continue to do the things he needs to work on. Meyer has been plenty good but it's not like he has ripped off 10 dominate starts in a row. He certainly has things to improve upon.

I think comparing the minor leaguer to current major league roster is somewhat of a mistake. Half the rotation is not going to stand in the way of Meyer when he is ready. The two things he has to improve are fastball command and the development of a usable third pitch. Things that work in AAA don't necessarily work in the majors, and certainly won't lead to long term success. Meyer has the potential to be a front of the rotation guy, but won't get there until he cleans these two things up. There is good reason to be patient. The debate of course is whether this development is best done in the majors or in AAA. As a fan I surely want to see him at Target Field, but perhaps that is not the most prudent course of action.

About the same as saying you were gypped.

How about an aggressive prediction for Gordon. After the Appy season ends he goes to Cedar Rapids for the last handful of games this year and then jumps to High A for the start of next season (all barring injury of course).

I suspect they won't activate Santana until after the all star break (he will probably get some rehab games in). I imagine they option Pino after his game and call up Johnson. Times out perfectly. I wouldn't be stunned if there is a trade over the break.

I certainly agree with you that I would like to see both up. I think breaking them into the bigs for a month or two is a great way to get them ready for next year. I'm pretty confident that May will be up, and as I said earlier in this thread that Meyer not coming up is disappointing, but not necessarily surprising. Good point on the innings, I didn't realize he was only at 80 right now. Even if he pitches through the end of September no chance he blows much past 160-170.

I think this is a wonderful hypothetical thought experiment that would have no grounding in the reality of elite athletes. They don't get to this point by constantly taking themselves out of the action when they are less than 100%. Probably a combination of thinking they are invincible and realizing that at some level they are all replaceable. Also, if someone is a professional and is paid as such, their first and foremost responsibility is to show up and play.

I'm leery of parsing tweets too closely. The mention of May here actually makes me think it is very much in the plans. Assuming he's healthy, May will get a shot and the injury now might be beneficial for him to start through September (innings limit reasons).

I would be very surprised if he didn't start back in NB. He will be in a "controlled" environment but he should still see plenty of live pitching, and assuming all is well they'll give him some winter ball reps. This timetable still makes a June-ish call up possible.

I wouldn't say never, but it is rare for a starter to make his debut breaking camp in the rotation, generally more of a breaking in process. This will be doubly so for Meyer next year who will still be operating on innings limitations. Makes sense to start him slow and work his way to full tilt. That is why I thought it might make sense to call him up as a reliever, but I certainly agree with you that protecting and developing him are the top priorities.

Interesting tweet from LEN3 today: Disappointing, but probably not a surprise. The Twins clearly wanted to limit his workload this year to manage innings and with the team falling off probably don't see the need to push it. I wonder if he is starting to get a little gassed as well. I thought he would be an ideal guy to call up and get some work as a reliever in August/September, get his feet that way, but it would also open the 40 man issue going into the offseason (i.e. if he gets hurt they would have to pay him all year and lose a year of service time). Realistically, this probably takes him out of the running for a rotation job breaking camp next year.

C - Pinto, Herrmann, Fryer INF - Mauer, Dozier, Santana, Plouffe, Nunez, Escobar OF - Parmelee, Fuld, Arcia DH - Colabello SP - Hughes, Gibson, May, Johnson, Deduno (Nolasco DL) RP - Perkins, Tonkin, Swarzak, Guerrier, Meyer, Thielbar, Darnell Moved/DFA - Suzuki, Willingham, Morales, Correia, Fien, Duensing, Burton September call-ups - Florimon, Vargas, Pino, Pressly

I'm curious to see what they do after the all star break. I can't fault them for waiting one start when everything would get messed up with the four days off. Hopefully Meyer just stays in Minneapolis. Though I doubt it, I wonder if this prepares the way for a Suzuki trade soon after the all star game.

I would suspect your #3 point applies to 0 professional teams in regards to this specific scenario. The Twins actually strike me as conservative/cautious in regards to playing with injuries relative to other teams. Part of the reason athletes make it to the majors is the mentality that if they don't play someone will take their place, or they will go to the minors, or something else will happen. That is probably how they get to where they are. I think the idea of open communication is critical on certain issues, but the gray area of pitching with a sore elbow vs. injured elbow is lower on the list.

I'm not forgiving the Twins per se, I just think this is the way elite athletics work. I definitely concur with your last line. This type of stuff is blown out of proportion when the team sucks.

I have a couple of thoughts: 1. Does anyone here have any sense of how other team's operate? There is a lot of raging against the Twins and that they have some unique culture that leads to these outcomes, but I suspect pretty much every team deals with the exact same situations. Players don't report dings and management doesn't go out of its way to find injuries. 2. Does anyone here have any insight at all into the mindset of an elite athlete? Or even a college athlete? Players hide injuries from management all the time. It is so gray preciously because it is such a fine line. He wasn't injured enough not to pitch, just injured enough not to pitch at peak performance. How does a team respond to that? 3. I thought Gardy's comments to Berardino were spot on (all the comments in addition to the one you shared). If I was an athlete, I don't want a coach questioning me about injuries unless it is clear that I can't play - it wasn't clear Nolasco couldn't pitch, in fact he could pitch. If I had a bad stretch and the coach asked if I was hurt I would probably punch him. I thought the article was well written, but your conclusions were terrible. There is absolutely no context from other teams or what it might be like to be an athlete and how the interaction between athlete and coach happens in the real world. The idea that this will have any impact on future free agents or that there is some especially terrible culture here regarding injuries is laughable. This sort of thing plays out all the time across the league. Roughly 50% of pitchers and a got percentage of hitters spend time on the DL every year.

A cold reality is that relievers are fungible assets. What was good for Neshek was probably not all that good for the organization in regards to coming back from TJ. Even if they followed his plan, Neshek still wasn't all that effective until this year (4 years later), and I wouldn't be surprised if his second half takes a big dip. He seems like a great guy, is a great story coming back from personal tragedy and it is awesome that he is an all star in his home state.

Though it didn't work out as planned, the Twins did give out the second biggest FA pitcher contract last year and they will certainly have plenty of money to work with along with a young and cheap offensive core emerging. I'm not predicting it, just suggesting a possible candidate. Shields fits the mold the Twins would like and competition might not be was heavy as one might expect. I suspect he would prefer signing with a team that has had more recent success.

I certainly was in favor of the efforts this past offseason and was supportive of the actual players they brought in (though Pelfrey was certainly uninspired). $90 mil outlay is nothing to scoff at.