Comments on: Twins win game, lose Nick Blackburn to quadriceps injury

By: ndnut

ndnut — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:37:30 +0000

We call Butera loose change in my house due to the week and a half last season when his BA was under .100

By: Cris E

Cris E — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:56:35 +0000

Hey now, let’s not be rude to Mr Butera. He’s got his OPS+ up to a robust 71 which really isn’t terrible for a backup catcher. There’s little chance it’s more than SSS, but let the man revel in his adequacy while it lasts.

By: Cris E

Cris E — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:53:00 +0000

The Twins’ staff is responding loudly, but I’m pretty sure they’re not applauding. A player does something like this every year and every time Gardy has to yell at the kid for screwing up and make do while he’s recovering. It’s not a new problem, so it may be as much a Gardy/Anderson thing as anything else. (And that’s one thing you can’t hang on Bill Smith.)

By: wlschneider09

wlschneider09 — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:54:58 +0000

Clearly you haven’t seen Liriano this year.

By: fmlizard

fmlizard — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:52:31 +0000

A healthy Mauer isn’t all that good to anyone right now either.

By: saltmanz

saltmanz — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:57:42 +0000

The fact that the first half of this headline was newsworthy on its own is downright depressing.

By: ptfu

ptfu — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:59:00 +0000

“Joe Mauer will see more action behind the plate for however long Doumit is out…”

Ugh, I hope not. Mauer breaks when he catches more than once in a blue moon, and a broken Mauer’s no good to anyone. The number of games Mauer catches should depend solely on his own limits, not on anyone else’s health. The Twins need to decide what those limits are, as in X games per week/month/season with days off in between, and then STICK WITH IT. It’s a long season and Mauer is fragile.

Don’t risk the health of your biggest star because a bit player got hurt. Exceptions only for playoff or pennant race situations, but the Twins have baseball’s worst record so never mind.

Let’s hope the Twins lean heavily on Drew Butera, as Aaron suggests. They can DL Doumit and then promote/sign/trade for whoever if that makes sense for them. Just don’t rack up overage on the Mauer Catching Plan.

I guess that was a long way of saying Leave Mauer Alone!

By: sknut

sknut — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:57:06 +0000

Not even kidding when I thought to myself earlier in that day, “Doumit has been a nice addition and has been healthy, hope he keeps it up”

By: wlschneider09

wlschneider09 — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:21:11 +0000

He already went on the DL, as far as I know. Just when he was starting to resemble a major league hitter too.

Sigh.

By: kopy

kopy — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:05:07 +0000

So what are the odds that Doumit goes on the DL anyway after a week? We can only hope a short bench doesn’t hurt the Twins in the meantime.

It’s inevitable, but we can hope.

By: raindog

raindog — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:02:00 +0000

Gotta love when your pitcher just takes the ball, injury or no injury. He really grinded it out for those two innings and inspired the rest of the team.

Or, at least, I’m assuming that’s the logic for why the Twins staff applauds this kind of thing.

By: El Jefe

El Jefe — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:57:36 +0000

I see this as a net gain. Whoever replaces him can’t be nearly as bad.