Tagged: Twins
Twins Minor Leaguer Henry Sanchez suspended 50 games
Henry Sanchez, the Twins first round sandwich pick in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, has been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a drug of abuse in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
Sanchez, 22, is currently playing first base for Class A Beloit. Sanchez was batting .231 (3-for-13) with nine strikeouts in the four games he’s played for Beloit this season. In five Minor League seasons, he has batted .210 with eight home runs and 48 RBIs. He’s also tallied 140 strikeouts in 343 at-bats over that span.
Sanchez’s suspension will begin immediately.
Break Time….and a welcome back to the Inbox
Some disappointing news today for the Twins bullpen with the club placing Jesse Crain on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation.
That means that Crain will be out until at least Sunday, May 3. From everyone I’ve talked to it doesn’t sound like this is a big concern. It seems like during Crain’s outing on Friday, he started feeling a little something in his shoulder. My guess is that based on the amount of work the bullpen has gotten lately, the club didn’t want to go a few extra days short an arm. So they decided to be extra cautious and put Crain on the DL to call up left-hander Jose Mijares.
All of the reports lately on Mijares have been positive. It will be interesting to see if he can come up and duplicate the success he had last September. If so, that could be a big boost to this bullpen that’s been having a hard go of it so far this season.
As for me, I’m not making the trip to Boston so I’ll be off for the next few days. That means the blog will be quiet until Friday when I’m in Cleveland for the start of the three-game series with the Indians.
Over my few days off, I’m planning to work on another edition of the Inbox. Because it’s been a little time since the last one, I could use some new questions. So please log into your email and shoot me a few questions to twinsmailbag@yahoo.com. Any help from you guys would be greatly appreciated.
NOTE: Also, just to let everyone know that I’ll be doing a short segment on the Twins Radio Network every Tuesday when the Twins are on the road. The first one will run tomorrow night during the pre-game show.
Make it 14 straight…
Different lineups that is. The Twins will finish off their stretch of 14 consecutive games to start the ’09 season on Sunday. And so far, not a single lineup this season has been the same.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire used Sunday to give days off to Michael Cuddyer and Joe Crede. This is the first rest of the year for Cuddyer. Brendan Harris is slotted at third in place of Crede.
The club has a chance at its first series sweep of the year today. They’ve already secured the first series win by winning the first two games.
Today’s Lineups:
Angels
Chone Figgins, 3B
Howie Kendrick, 2B
Robb Quinlan, RF
Bobby Abreu, DH
Torii Hunter, CF
Kendry Morales, 1B
Juan Rivera, LF
Jeff Mathis, C
Erick Aybar, SS
Pitching: Shane Loux, RHP
Twins
Denard Span, RF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Delmon Young, LF
Brendan Harris, 3B
Jose Morales, C
Nick Punto, SS
Carlos Gomez, CF
Pitching: Glen Perkins, LHP
Opening Day Lineups….and a little NCAA action
For the first day of the season, it’s Delmon Young that’s the odd man out in the outfield. The starting lineup for Monday’s opener against the Mariners has Denard Span in left, Carlos Gomez in center and Michael Cuddyer in right. So Young will be on the bench tonight.
Again, it’s only the first day so I’m sure we’ll see plenty of shuffling over the next couple days when it comes to the outfield.
There is plenty of excitment here at the Dome for its final Opening Day, but I’ll admit that my heart is a little torn since my Michigan State Spartans are playing North Carolina in the National Championship game tonight. Don’t worry I’ll be keeping careful watch on the game here, but yes I will also try to sneak a peak to see how MSU is faring. Thanks to everyone who has sent me nice messages about the Spartans…here’s hoping to one more victory for them tonight.
All right, I’ll have more info here or on the site tonight about Opening Day. For now, here are the lineups.
Mariners
Endy Chavez, LF
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Mike Sweeney, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Ken Griffey Jr, RF
Jose Lopez, 2B
Russell Branyan, 1B
Kenji Johjima, C
Yuniesky Betancourt, SS
Pitching: Felix Hernandez, RHP
Twins
Denard Span, LF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Joe Crede, 3B
Carlos Gomez, CF
Mike Redmond, C
Nick Punto, SS
Pitching: Francisco Liriano, LHP
Morneau returns
Justin Morneau returns to the Twins lineup today after missing four games due to stiffness in the middle of his back.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire prepared two lineups this morning — one with Morneau and one without. He was waiting to see how Morneau was feeling after taking some swings in the batting cage, and after the session Morneau declared himself ready to go.
“I’m in there,” Morneau said. “Good to go.”
The Twins will still have to wait and see how Morneau makes it through the game. The starters aren’t expected to play more than five innings so Morneau should get a good test of his back in a few at-bats and some time at first base.
Scott Baker was scheduled to play long toss today. He said that he’ll throw two bullpen this week — one on Monday and one Wednesday — putting him on schedule to pitch a game for Class A Fort Myers on Friday. His shoulder is feeling much better after taking two days off throwing and his expectation is still that he’ll be back with the team when his DL stint is over on April 12.
I talked with Joe Mauer this morning and he said that he caught R.A. Dickey in a bullpen session yesterday. It was a step in the right direction as far as his back is concerned, but Mauer was more excited about finally getting a chance to see the knuckleball since he hopes to see be catching it soon.
Mauer said he’d heard about the amount of movement on Dickey’s knuckleball, but didn’t really get a good feel for just how much until he was catching it.
The clubhouse was full of players packing bags this morning and the team is ready to head to the airport right after the game. So expect this to be a day of players taking a lot of early swings.
Lineups
Twins
Denard Span, CF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Joe Crede, 3B
Delmon Young, LF
Carlos Gomez, CF
Jose Morales, C
Nick Punto, SS
Pitching: Glen Perkins, LHP
Pirates
Nyjer Morgan, LF
Freddy Sanchez, 2B
Nate McLouth, CF
Ryan Doumit, C
Adam LaRoche, 1B
Eric Hinske, DH
Brandon Moss, RF
Andy LaRoche, 3B
Jack Wilson, SS
Pitching: Ross Ohlendorf, RHP
Baker to start season on the disabled list
Twins right-hander Scott Baker will not get the Opening Day start after he was placed on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with right shoulder stiffness.
The move was made retroactive to March 28. So Baker will be eligible to come off the disabled list on April 12.
Francisco Liriano will start Opening Day against the Mariners on Monday in place of Baker. The Twins rotation will then go as follows — Nick Blackburn Kevin Slowey, and Glen Perkins in the next three games vs. Seattle.
Friday’s starter in Chicago has not yet been named but it’s expected to be knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who started Wednesday’s Grapefruit League contest against the Rays.
Baker threw just 58 pitches in a Minor League start against Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday.
Joe Mauer and Boof Bonser were also placed on the 15-day disabled list. Those were expected moves.
Wednesday Postgame updates
Here are some tidbits that didn’t get into the stories…
–Scott Baker threw five shutout innings in a Minor League start against Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday. He allowed three hits and struck out four while throwing a total of 58 pitches in the outing. Baker’s next start will come on Opening Day, April 6, against the Mariners at the Metrodome.
— Left-handed pitcher Jose Lugo, a Rule 5 Draft pick, was returned to the Twins by the Mariners. He was assigned to Double-A New Britain
— The Rays stole five bases in Wednesday’s contest with backup catcher Jose Morales behind the plate. While the Rays are known for using their speed on the basepaths, manager Ron Gardenhire said that Morales was also trying to be a little too quick in trying to throw guys out.
“He had a couple of chances, the one to third base, that’s the one he should have thrown him out on but he got too quick and dropped the ball,” Gardenhire said. “But we know that’s a process. That’s not the best part of his game, but you have to do a better job than that. He knows that and he’s been working hard.”
Buscher taken to hospital with chest soreness, but everything checks out OK
Twins infielder Brian Buscher was taken to a Fort Myers, Fla. hospital this morning to have his chest examined after experiencing soreness in his chest, but he’s returned to the Twins complex after all of his tests checked out OK.
“He’s fine,” Twins director of baseball communications Mike Herman said.
Buscher, 27, had originally been slotted to start at first base against
the Rays, but he was scratched due to the chest soreness. Brendan Harris
was shifted to first base and Matt Tolbert will get start at third base.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he couldn’t elaborate on Buscher’s soreness because he didn’t have more information.
“He’s getting checked out. It’s something in his chest, whether it’s muscular or whatever, they took him to the hospital this morning to get him checked out,” Gardenhire said before Wednesday’s game against the Rays.
Morales is the backup catcher — plus Tuesday lineups
Jose Morales will start the season as the Twins backup catcher, the team informed him on
Tuesday morning.
Morales beat out Drew Butera to be the backup to Mike Redmond, who will be the starting catcher while Joe Mauer is out with his sore back. Butera had appeared to have the edge a couple of weeks ago as he’s the stronger catcher defensively, but Morales showed a lot of improvement behind the plate recently and that combined with his stronger bat helped to earn him the nod.
Butera was one of three cuts the Twins made on Tuesday. The club optioned Butera and left-hander Jose Mijares to Triple-A Rochester and reassigned infielder Alejandro Machado to Minor League camp.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Monday that the team expected to have their bullpen set following this set of cuts, but Mijares was the only pitcher cut. The expectation is that the Twins will break camp with 12 pitchers so that would leave three pitchers battling for two relief spots. Philip Humber, R.A. Dickey and Brian Duensing are in the mix for the long relief role and one other opening in the bullpen.
The club also still has three infielders competing for two utility spots. That race is expected to go down to the final day of camp.
The Twins also informed catcher Jeff Christy that he’ll stay with the Major League club through Saturday but will then be reassigned to Minor League camp.
That leaves the Twins with 30 players in camp, although that includes Christy along with Mauer and Boof Bonser, who are both expected to be placed on the disabled list for the start of the season. So technically the Twins have to make two more cuts to get down to their Opening Day 25-man roster.
Lineups
Twins
Denard Span, CF
Matt Tolbert, SS
Brendan Harris, 2B
Jason Kubel, LF
Brian Buscher, 3B
Mike Redmond, C
Matt Moses, DH
Brock Peterson, 1B
Chris Parmelee, RF
Pitching: Nick Blackburn, RHP
Pirates
Nyjer Morgan, LF
Freddy Sanchez, 2B
Nate McLouth, CF
Eric Hinske, DH
Adam LaRoche, 1B
Brandon Moss, RF
Ramon Vazquez, 3B
Jack Wilson, SS
Jason Jaramillo, C
Pitching: Jeff Karstens, RHP
UPDATE: Justin Morneau was scratched from an early lineup due to some stiffness in his back that he felt while swinging earlier today. It doesn’t seem serious, just something that the Twins decided not to take a chance with.
Facing Matt Garza — Twins vs. Rays
Former Twins pitcher Matt Garza will be facing his old team for the first time today when the Twins host the Rays at Hammond Stadium.
Garza is slated to be the Rays’ No. 3 starter this season and is coming off a breakout 2008 season when he was named the MVP of the ALCS vs. the Red Sox. This will be Garza’s fourth official start this spring and he’s 0-0 with a 5.90 ERA in his previous three outings.
As for the Twins, both Justin Morneau and Joe Crede are back in the lineup after getting a day off yesterday due to the long rain delay.
It was a pretty quiet morning in the Twins clubhouse so not much news to report, but I’ll leave you with the lineups — both of which feature many of the regulars so you can tell we’re getting toward the end of Spring Training. Today also marks the final spring broadcast being shown on FS North, so for those of you looking to catch a glimpse of the club, tune in.
Twins
Denard Span, CF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Delmon Young, LF
Joe Crede, 3B
Jose Morales, C
Nick Punto, SS
Pitching: Glen Perkins, LHP
Rays
Akinori Iwamura, 2B
Carl Crawford, LF
Evan Longoria, 3B
Carlos Pena, 1B
Pat Burrell, DH
Dioner Navarro, C
Ben Zobrist, RF
Gabe Kapler, CF
Jason Bartlett, SS
Pitching: Matt Garza, RHP
Kelly's Corner 