Article: Report From The Fort 2017: It Begins

[Parker Hageman]

And so it begins.

 

Twins Daily’s Report From The Fort 2017 kicks off from Sarasota where the Twins will tangle with the Baltimore Orioles. The visiting media at Ed Smith Stadium is placed directly under the Earth’s sun so there will be interesting tan lines by the end of this game. Not that I am complaining.

 

On to Twins baseball...Phil Hughes will make his second start of the spring. Hughes, who is returning from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, surrendered four hits and two runs in two innings of work against the Red Sox in his first outing. According to the Pioneer Press’s Mike Berardino, Hughes reached 90 on the radar, which is about what he averaged on his fastball over the past two seasons. Ideally, he would like to see that velocity creep up closer to the 92 mile per hour average he posted in his first season with the Twins.

 

Hughes will have to navigate through some big bats in the Orioles lineup. Adam Jones, Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo will present a solid challenge for the veteran

 

Glen Perkins turns 34 today. In case you were wondering, the closers with the most saves after turning 34 are Mariano Rivera (369), Dennis Eckersley (326), Trevor Hoffman (287), Jose Mesa (184) and Doug Jones (182). Former Twins closer Joe Nathan is seventh with 177.

 

From now until the end of March, Twins Daily will have you covered from Fort Myers. Be sure to follow Twins Daily on Twitter for live updates, breaking news and insight.

 

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[Blake]

Looks like a game thread to me. Chitown, you're off the hook!!

[goulik]

This seems more like the beginning after the beginning or is this the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning, or something else? 

[Blake]

 

This seems more like the beginning after the beginning or is this the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning, or something else? 

Yes.

[Craig Arko]

This seems more like the beginning after the beginning or is this the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning, or something else?

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquariums.

[Squirrel]

 

Looks like a game thread to me. Chitown, you're off the hook!!

I'm always off the hook ... or should be ... I keep hoping someone else starts one, then have to jump in when no one does!!

 

Once the regular season begins, all will be made clear.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Well, 90mph ain't terrible but it's not good enough, either... Here's to hoping Hughes is taking time to ramp up to full velocity.

 

At 90mph, it's likely Hughes is virtually worthless as a starter and marginal as a reliever.

[USAFChief]

 

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquariums.

http://www.bunchacunce.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/cageofasparagus-300x235.jpg

 

I wish I could take credit for this.

 

Oh the heck with it...I claim credit for this.

[Craig Arko]

 

http://www.bunchacunce.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/cageofasparagus-300x235.jpg

 

I wish I could take credit for this.

 

Oh the heck with it...I claim credit for this.

That is blinding in its brilliance.

[Blake]

 

That is blinding in its brilliance.

Yeah, and we're really dating ourselves by getting the cultural reference. 

[nicksaviking]

 

Well, 90mph ain't terrible but it's not good enough, either... Here's to hoping Hughes is taking time to ramp up to full velocity.

 

At 90mph, it's likely Hughes is virtually worthless as a starter and marginal as a reliever.

 

He'd likely have a better chance of ramping the velocity back up to a usable range in the pen. Just my two cents. Mariano Rivera worked with a 90-92 MPH cutter exclusively for years. That's Hughes' only reliable pitch anyway. Heck, Rivera might have been who he learned that pitch from.

[nicksaviking]

 

It's not worthless if he can use his curveball effectively off of the 90 MPH fastball, it is all about placement. Mark Buerhle regulary got by with an 87 to 88 MPH fastball because he had so much bite on his curveball. Hughes is going to need an effective curve ball or a circle change up in order to be effective with less velocity. He has had a decent fastball in the past, hopefully Castro suggest he use the curve ball more, and find a way to mix in a better slurve.

 

Hughes doesn't have a very good curve though and he's barely thrown a change up in five years and it wasn't very good when he did. He just doesn't seem to have very usable off speed stuff.

 

Also, Buerhle was a lefty. Lefties just seem to have so much more leeway when it comes to velocity than righties do.

[Craig Arko]

 

Yeah, and we're really dating ourselves by getting the cultural reference. 

This is no time for anachronisms.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Hughes doesn't have a very good curve though and he's barely thrown a change up in five years and it wasn't very good when he did. He just doesn't seem to have very usable off speed stuff.

 

Also, Buerhle was a lefty. Lefties just seem to have so much more leeway when it comes to velocity than righties do.

Yep and yep.

 

Lots of pitchers succeed at 90mph. We have a pretty lengthy record that shows Hughes is not one of those pitchers.

 

If Hughes could get to 92mph in the pen, he might be serviceable. As a 90mph starter, not so much.

[Blake]

 

This is no time for anachronisms.

Evidently, you've not been paying attention to who's been invited to Spring Training....

[Halsey Hall]

It's about time we hit the ball around a little bit. So far this spring it's just been blah down here with very little to get inthused about.

[Blake]

No extra innings in Spring Training, right?

 

Okay, then, wrong again!

[Craig Arko]

No extra innings in Spring Training, right?

 

Okay, then, wrong again!

Being right is greatly overrated.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

 

It's not worthless if he can use his curveball effectively off of the 90 MPH fastball, it is all about placement. Mark Buerhle regulary got by with an 87 to 88 MPH fastball because he had so much bite on his curveball. Hughes is going to need an effective curve ball or a circle change up in order to be effective with less velocity. He has had a decent fastball in the past, hopefully Castro suggest he use the curve ball more, and find a way to mix in a better slurve.

And if a mouse had wings he could fly.

[Darius]

Isnt it kind of ridiculous to have Hughes in the rotation, anyway?

 

It's a rebuilding team with no chance of competing, extremely young, with Santana anchoring the rotation (which tells you something), and a load of young guys with more upside that Hughes that just need innings (Gibson, to some extent, Berrios, Duffey, Mejia, May--yes, I think, May should be giving a shot, Gonsalves, etc).

 

I get that Hughes is getting paid, and that's why, but they just need to commit to the rebuild.

[gman]

It's not unusual for a pitcher coming off major surgery to not throw at top speed early in the spring or a veteran pitcher just working into shape.

[laloesch]

 

And if a mouse had wings he could fly.

 

 

hmmmm.....

 

Being right is greatly overrated.

 

yogi-issms

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Isnt it kind of ridiculous to have Hughes in the rotation, anyway?

It's a rebuilding team with no chance of competing, extremely young, with Santana anchoring the rotation (which tells you something), and a load of young guys with more upside that Hughes that just need innings (Gibson, to some extent, Berrios, Duffey, Mejia, May--yes, I think, May should be giving a shot, Gonsalves, etc).

I get that Hughes is getting paid, and that's why, but they just need to commit to the rebuild.

It's only ridiculous to have Hughes in the rotation if he's throwing 89-90mph. If he's 92-93mph, he's easily one of the best five starters in the franchise, possibly on par with or better than Santana. Hughes' 2014 is better than any season posted by Santana and the last time Ervin even came close to Hughes' 2014 was way back in 2008 with the Angels.

 

You can make this case for Santiago but not really Hughes. He's can be a really good pitcher if he has velocity.