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He has four pitches, but his best fastball tops out in the highish 80s. He got a few strikeouts on changeups. He is best getting ahead in the count and you worry about him when he falls behind or is going through the lineup multiple times. He needs to manage a baseball game the way less-talented quarterbacks manage a football game. He needs to not make mistakes. He needs to mix things up. He needs a little luck.
And unless something drastic changes, that is who he is going to be. What we learned this spring is that nothing has changed drastically, but he might be good enough to hold a spot in a rotation. And that, incidentally, is still a pretty nice player to have in the organization when the only thing the team gave up is a backup outfielder, and only needs to pay him first year arbitration money.
Seeing a performance like this, it is easy to mock the idea that ANY of the stuff seen at spring training should be used in the roster decision-making process. After all, spring training is, by definition, a small sample size. It is a fraction of the available information we have on these guys. Beyond obvious questions like "Is this guy healthy" or "Has something changed drastically" it shouldn't be used to answer many questions.
And for the most part, that is the way it works. More than 20 of the available roster spots on the 25-man roster were going to certain guys provided they weren't injured. The remaining spots are either pretty low leverage (like the last spots in the bullpen) or choosing among less than ideal options. OR finding out whether someone is "ready."
For instance, the center field competition would have been over had Aaron Hicks (again) demonstrated he is ready for the majors. As late as this weekend Manager Paul Molitor didn't know who the starting center fielder is, which demonstrates that hasn't happened.
Entering camp, I wondered if the same wasn't true of Trevor May and the fifth starter spot. But then May got sick and Milone was the one pitching in the major league fields and people started talking about Pelfrey and....
On Tuesday, I thought the three starts by Milone, May and Mike Pelfrey would all be important. Today, I'm wondering if the only one that really matters is that of May. The others are known commodities and their last couple of starts have confirmed that they are known commodities. I also wonder, given that we won't know when Pelfrey will next pitch until tomorrow, that he might already be out of the competition.
If all that is true, then tomorrow's start is going to be much more fun to watch, as it truly counts for something. And it is wholly appropriate that it does.
Twins Takes
- Twins lost 5-4 in 10 innings on the road versus the Red Sox. Spring training games often end tied after nine innings but Molitor wanted to see relief prospect Jake Reed pitch. Reed retired the first batter he faced, but threw a first pitch slider to Rusney Castillo which ended up barely clearing the Faux Green Monster at jetBlue field.
- Milone was relieved by Tim Stauffer, who has drawn a lot of commentary in our forums after my bullpen story. Given that Twins fans are not real familiar with him, it's easy to view him as a soft-throwing failed fifth starter candidate, but that's not the case. He pitched out of the bullpen for the Padres last year and racked up 57K in 56.1 IP as a reliever, and posted a 2.56 ERA. Those are awfully good setup man numbers.
- Stauffer was pulled after walking in the run and replaced by Mark Hamburger. Hamburger was outstanding again, striking out two and giving up one hit in 2.1 IP. I had him as the odd man out in my bullpen calculus story yesterday, but its worth noting that he has put up far better strikeout numbers than Blaine Boyer or even the hard-throwing J.R. Graham. Hamburger now has 10 K in 9.2IP, versus 5K in 9.2 IP for Boyer and 6 K in 9.0 IP for Graham. I still think the odds are against him, but Hamburger would come north if it was up to me. I want to see more of this kid. I expect we will, one way or the other, later this year.
- Finally, regarding center field, Shane Robinson started in center field and got a hit in his first at-bat but also struck out twice. Later in the game Eddie Rosario replaced him but didn't have any challenges defensively. He went 0-2 with a strikeout. And finally, Jordan Schafer played left field for the whole game, going 0-4. The Red Sox starter was Wade Miley, a southpaw, against which Schafer has usually struggled.
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