I watched most of the broadcast today and I was struck by some of the comments by the announcers and guests. From hearing them talk, Bartlett is almost assured of a roster spot--Gladden was talking about Bartlett changing numbers and such. IMHO, he has far less than a 50-50 chance of making the team. Also, Probus and Gladden were talking about Pinto DHing and hitting for power. It seemed as if they were guaranteeing Suzuki with the starting job. I know the Twins brass has talked up Suzuki as the starting catcher, but there has to be some competition in the spring, doesn't there? I don't see Pinto as a part-time DH and I don't want to see situations where neither Suzuki nor Pinto can leave games because there is no back-up if the catcher is injured. Perhaps the Twins are willing to use Pinto as the alternate catcher and have Suzuki pick up a majority of the starts at the beginning of the season, but they don't really see him as another Doumit, do they?

FWIW, lots of that info both on the TV and the Radio broadcasts (and somewhat but much less on the ink-stained press) is fed by the Twins' Front Office for a variety of reasons, including to motivate players.

 

Interesting to hear Gladden talk about himself and his stolen bases in the minors compared to Mastroianni's, again. And I would love it if Gladden mentions his OPS in '87 (.673) and '91 (.662) to put things into perspective occasionally...

Edited March 2, 201412 yr by Thrylos

It was also fun to watch Buxton live (vs highlights on YouTube) and see just how patient the kid really is. I didn't watch the whole game, and was hoping to see him open up the jets, but it was fun watching his approach.

 

I don't think the Twins' brass see Pinto as a Doumit type, Gardy likes having three catchers, but can't tie up two bench players to catcher only.

I also heard Gladden talking up Danny Santanna at short. Personally, I don't understand why Florimon has been given the job without having to show improvement, particularily in the way he takes such awful at bats. Is there even a remote chance Santanna could win the job?