Spring Training Diary: Polanco's Knee, Pagan's Pitches, Maki's Thoughts

Pete Maki sounds more than a little like Chris Parnell, of SNL and Archer and other entertainments.  Parnell has the gift of smoothness that sounds like a parody of TV commercials without even trying, but dialed back just a bit he's soothing.  I have no idea what technical chops Maki brings to the job but I bet he is good at talking pitchers down from the ledge after they've blown a save for a second game in a row.

Speaking of blowing saves, I had looked at Pagan's monthly numbers recently too, and felt it best to view the good final month as merely a SSS blip in the context of a terrible month that preceded it (and not very good ones before that, nor the season before).  But baseball is a game of constant tinkering and adjustment, and it's interesting to know that there is a reason that the pitcher attributes to this difference. Trouble is that the batters are allowed to tinker and adjust too, when facing him, and I imagine that Pagan is willing to talk about the curveball because he knows that the "book" on him already has been updated to include this addition.  He's not a young man and I'm sure he's tried new things here and there many times.  I'm skeptical but I'll never root against a Twin.  Wait and see, and I'll hope he proves my skepticism to be unfounded.