Souhan: Red Sox don’t have to be loved, but they should be admired

Souhan Souhan...now staying at at the Boston Ambassador Hotel.

Gardenhire noticed that, before the bunt, Youkilis and Pedroia signaled each other that Youkilis would charge and Pedroia would cover first. That sounds routine, but it’s not. “Youkilis is like a shortstop playing first base,” Gardenhire said. “He’s unbelievable. That reminded me of Knoblauch and Kent Hrbek—they’d talk during the game like that. You like to see the game played that way.”

And we have yet to mention Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, the convalescing Curt Schilling or Jonathan Papelbon.

“They’re very professional, a lot of gamers,” Gardenhire said. “I think that right side of the infield is as good as any two guys who play together. That’s fun to watch.”

Gardenhire smiled and said what baseball fans everywhere should be saying about The Nation.

“I mean, I hate watching them,” he said. “But that’s pretty good baseball.”

Madden: No Santana, no problem, as Minnesota tops American League Central

Hey Bill...your crispy Oreste & His Queensland Orchestra 78 is skipping again.

This is probably not going to be much consolation for Hank Steinbrenner, but if he hasn’t noticed, the Minnesota Twins without Johan Santana presently have a better record than the Yankees without Johan Santana. So what exactly are we to make of this?

Well, for one thing, it is far too early - five years too early, if you ask the Twins - to start assessing the Santana trade to the Mets, although Son-of-Boss Hank has been more than willing to assess the non-trade of Santana to the Yankees. The immediate residue of that is Phil Hughes on the disabled list at least until July and Melky Cabrera gradually continuing to emerge as a better-than-average everyday center fielder.

Even if the latter development proves to be a stroke of fortune for the Yankees, should they fail to make the playoffs, one suspects we’ll be hearing how they could have gotten along just as well with Brett Gardner in center field while going all the way to the World Series with a rotation of Santana, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina and Joba Chamberlain.

AP: Twins reliever Neshek has partial tear in elbow

Pat Neshek was bracing for bad news about his right elbow, and that’s what he got. The Minnesota Twins placed their right-handed setup man on the 15-day disabled list Friday, after an MRI test revealed an acute partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in the sidearmer’s elbow.

Neshek will not be allowed to throw for a minimum of three months, which means the injury has effectively ended his season. The ulnar collateral ligament is the same ligament that pitchers have repaired when they undergo Tommy John replacement surgery.

MLB: Carlos Gomez pulls off rare Twins cycle

Or as Joe Benigno sorta said..."Bah...don’t listen to garbage like Baseball America. I guarantee Angel Pagan will be a better player than Carlos Gomez!”

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has said numerous times this season to never take your eyes off Carlos Gomez when he’s at the plate, because you never know what the 22-year-old center fielder might do.

What he did on Wednesday night was accomplish a feat that a Twins hitter hadn’t reached in nearly 22 years.

Gomez became the first Twin to hit for the cycle since Kirby Puckett did it on Aug. 1, 1986, against Oakland, and the eighth in team history to do so.

“It’s amazing, something that Kirby Puckett did,” Gomez said. “Gold Glover, All-Star. I can’t explain it to you. That’s unbelievable.”

MLB: White Sox Floyd barely misses no-no

By a whisker, if you will.

Gavin Floyd lost his bid for the 17th no-hitter in franchise history during the White Sox 7-1 victory over the Twins on Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field, when Joe Mauer lined a one-out double to left-center in the ninth, just out of Nick Swisher’s reach. It would have been the team’s first no-hitter since Mark Buehrle did the job against Texas on April 18, 2007.

On April 12, Floyd worked 7 1/3 innings against Detroit without giving up a hit before Edgar Renteria’s single to center. On Tuesday, Mike Lamb flied out to center fielder Nick Swisher on the first pitch of the eighth and Adam Everett flied out to Swisher on a 2-2 pitch for the second out. Carlos Gomez hit a broken-bat grounder to shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who threw him out at first to carry the no-hitter into the ninth.

Beyond the Boxscore: Anderson: This Isn’t FJM, But…

R.J. picks apart Golokhov...which, if not cleaned immediately, could lead to painful Saberrhoeic dermatitis!

Sabermetrics and scientific stats are used to evaluate players and give a better indication of their worth, but teams like the Minnesota Twins use this strategy to kiss their superstars goodbye at the trade deadline or the first day of free agency.

Or maybe he simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When you think of statistically savvy teams I imagine the franchises that pop to mind, in no particular order are the A’s, Padres, Jays, Red Sox, Rays, Indians, and perhaps the Pirates nowadays, but the Twins? Not so much.

As for Golokhov’s second point; how many superstars have the Twins shipped off over the past few years that actually have came back to haunt them? David Ortiz is one, but outside of Casey Blake the players they’ve let walk, like Jacque Jones and Cristian Guzman, haven’t exactly been “superstars” or “good” since leaving. Further being a statistical orientated team doesn’t mean you just let your superstars walk, or have we forgotten how those darn stats teams re-signed players like Jake Peavy, Mike Lowell, Travis Hafner, and Eric Chavez over the years?

If the Twins are considered a stats franchise who lets players walk, why did Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, and Joe Nathan get re-signed to deals ranging from 24 million to 80 million?

AP: Dazed [Carlos] Gomez carted off field

A dazed Carlos Gomez was carted off the field in the fifth inning on Friday night after the Minnesota Twin took a throw from Ivan Rodriguez off the head while stealing second base.

Gomez got a good jump on the pitch by Armando Galarraga and slid headfirst into the bag just as Rodriguez’s throw got there. The ball hit off Gomez’s helmet and ricocheted well into left field. Gomez’s head then collided with second baseman Placido Polanco’s left knee and he lay motionless on the turf for several minutes while team doctors and Rodriguez rushed to check on him.
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Gomez did not lose consciousness and was deemed OK by team physicians after being examined in the clubhouse, the Twins said.

Liriano’s Change

Moreover, I’m going to quibble with O’Leary’s assertion that the slider is a harder pitch on the elbow. Studies have shown that, thrown properly, the “cost” of a slider is not significantly higher than a fastball. (You can check for yourself at this link. I’m sure you’ll recognize a couple of the names involved, attesting to the quality of the study.) The big caveat is “thrown properly,” which allows any pitch to turn into a potential injury, not to mention anything of in-game or seasonal fatigue issues.

omg!!!

click the link!!

read the conclusion1!!!!!

Baseball-Intellect: A Second Look at Francisco Liriano

After a surge of Francisco Liriano articles in response to the pitcher’s recent demotion, Baseball-Intellect takes a second look at Francisco Liriano, a pitcher’s hand break, and pitching mechanics in general as a follow up to the article the site published a day after Liriano’s first start and in response to a couple of the various articles that came out this past week…

There is no one magic mechanical attribute that all of a sudden increases velocity.  Pitching mechanics are a sequence of individual actions and when these individual actions are put together with precise efficiency, a pitcher can generate velocity in any number of ways. This is not to mention factors that we honestly have no clue of knowing about; for instance, how strong exactly are those ligaments, tendons, muscles, etc in the pitcher’s arm/shoulder?

My feeling is if it is clear Liriano cannot speed up his tempo or break his hands later because he cannot coordinate all the moving parts, then an earlier hand break would be fine to deploy.  However, if he can coordinate and time correctly a later hand break or a faster tempo, then there is no reason to continue to do things that, in my opinion, hurt the quality of his stuff.

Pitcher Analysis: Nick Blackburn

A history and mechanical breakdown of Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn. Blackburn has great bb9/hr9 numbers, but he embodies “tall and fall” mechanics and has possible follow-through problems as detailed by the author.

MLB.com: Recovering Liriano sent to Triple-A

The Twins made the move to option [Francisco] Liriano back to Triple-A Rochester on Friday, one day after expressing concerns about the pitcher’s confidence level following three rough outings.

Liriano went 0-3 with an 11.32 ERA in his three starts for the Twins, with the worst coming Thursday in Oakland. The left-hander lasted just two-thirds of an inning and gave up six runs to the A’s while issuing three walks and not striking out a batter.
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The coaching staff at Rochester had warned the Twins that Liriano was not ready yet for a callup following one so-so start there earlier this month. But despite the poor results from Liriano, Gardenhire said that the club does not regret bringing the left-hander up the Majors.

“He needed to learn exactly where he was at, too,” Gardenhire said. “Now he understands what it’s going to take for him to get back out on the mound and make it back to the Major Leagues. If he had been down floundering in the Minor Leagues, he would never have known.

“He knows now that he really has to go down there and work. Maybe he can clear his head. But he’s got work to do. He saw it himself that he couldn’t get it done up here.”

Country Genius: Cobb’s Player of the Day: Bert Blyleven

Ricky Cobb on hot feet, curveballs, and whether Bert Blyleven really belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Did he achieve his potential?

If one were to answer this question “no” he would essentially be setting the bar on Blyleven’s potential at a Thor, God of Thunder-like level. And yet you can’t help but wonder if he should have won 300 games. His peripherals suggest over 300 wins and immortality in the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Bert didn’t have the (guts) of a Jack “I’ll Rip Your Head Off, #### Down Your Neck, and Beat You 8-7” Morris.*

*Then again, perhaps it was because he didn’t get nearly as much run support.

30 Years Ago Today, Lyman Bostock Tried to Forfeit His Salary

Mired in a horrendous slump after signing a rich free-agent contract with the Angels in November 1977, the former Cal State Northridge and Manual Arts High star told owner Gene Autry, in essence, he didn’t deserve to be paid.

...

Autry, through general manager Buzzie Bavasi, declined the offer. Baseball regulations also would have forbidden it, but Bavasi appreciated the gesture.

“He came into my office and told me he was reluctant to take his salary,” Bavasi recalled 10 years later. “He said, ‘I’m not doing my job.’ But I told him, ‘I won’t let you do that.’ And he says, ‘Why not?’ So I told him, ‘What if you hit .600 next month? You’re sure as hell not getting any more money out of me.’ “

Unmoved, Bostock donated a month’s salary to charity.

After April 22, Bostock hit 312/379/399, good for an OPS+ of 124.  Of course, you know what happened next.

The Most Overrated Pitching Prospects in Baseball | Baseball-Intellect

Video scouting reports of the most overrated pitching prospects in baseball.  An excerpt follows:

Lofgren is liked by many because of his mental make-up. He is intelligent and has a great “feel” for pitching and many think his stuff plays up because of this. I completely appreciate the need for a pitcher to have a strong make-up and a great feel for pitching, but when it becomes the central argument for putting Lofgren among the better pitching prospects in the game, you lose me.

Including Chuck Lofgren (Indians), the other pitchers include Luke Hochevar (Royals), Greg Reynolds (Rockies), Matt Harrison (Rangers), and Kevin Mulvey (Twins)

Star-Tribune: ‘Bitter’ Monroe back in Motown

Twins outfielder Craig Monroe used the word “bitter” to describe his sentiment toward the Tigers on Monday, so it’s fair to say he will be especiall y motivated if manager Ron Gardenhire sticks with his plan to play Monroe tonight.

“I’m excited to see those guys and talk to them,” Monroe said. “I’m also excited to get a chance to do some damage and beat them, too.”

..."I’m bitter,” Monroe said before the Twins lost 11-9 Monday. “I’m disappointed when I think about the situation.

“I think as players we’re forced into—even when you’re not on a good team, like ‘03, losing 119 games—still being motivated.

“And to do some of the things I’ve done, I felt like I would like to have some of it back, when I scuffled the first half. I think I struggled every first half, but when you look up at the end, every September, my numbers are right there.”

Yep...a .300 OBP like clockwork.

AP: Tigers show signs of life: Rodriguez-led rally helps beat Twins 11-9

TIGERS WIN!  TIGERS WIN!

Ivan Rodriguez hit a tying two-run triple in the eighth then scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to lift the high-priced Detroit Tigers to their first win at home this season, 11-9 over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.

The Tigers won for the first time in seven games at home and improved to 3-10 overall, still the worst record in baseball.
...
Trailing 9-5, the Tigers scored six runs in the eighth inning… Matt Guerrier didn’t take the loss, but he made Detroit’s comeback possible by giving up five runs—four earned—and five hits in just 1 1-3 innings. Pat Neshek (0-1) allowed two runs in the eighth.

Mauer, Gomez in helmet-breaking moods

It’s about time somebody joined the Larry Bowa crusad...oh, damn.

An 0-for-12 streak has lowered Mauer’s average to .250, and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Mauer broke his helmet in frustration after one of his at-bats Saturday.

“He’s pretty calm, but he’s been a little fired up the past couple days,” Gardenhire said. “It doesn’t happen very much; he’s a pretty good hitter. He’s not getting pitches right now to do anything good.”

He wasn’t the only player who broke a helmet this weekend; Carlos Gomez did, too, Gardenhire said. The center fielder is mired in an 0-for-11 slump.

“I’m going to have the old calm-down-on-the-helmet meeting,” Gardenhire said. “It’s not the helmet’s fault. It’s that head inside the helmet.”

Baseball-Intellect: Francisco Liriano One Year Later - What’s Changed?

A look at the changes Francisco Liriano has undergone after injury…

The major differences are boiled down to two still images. An aggressive fury of power and momentum on the left and a safer, controlled action on the right.

MLB.com: Liriano uneven in return to Majors

Francisco Liriano’s return to the Major Leagues wasn’t exactly reminiscent of the pitcher who dominated the league in 2006 as a rookie.

The left-hander looked much more human in his first start back following a 19-month layoff due to Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery, giving up four runs over 4 2/3 innings in a 5-1 loss to the Royals on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

Liriano was effective at times in his start, but the Royals were able to scatter six hits and drew a total of five walks. He threw a total of 90 pitches in the outing, 51 for strikes.
...
The Twins managed just three hits off Bannister, who went the distance.

Bugs & Cranks: Bill James thinks steroids fueled the Twins’ two championships

I believe it was noted poet/Yankee apologist, Barry MacSweeney Murti, that said..."Nothing is more discouraging than unappreciated sarcasm.”

And finally, item 12, which concludes the essay about Atypical Seasons: “Two of the greatest home run under-producers of all time were teammates: Kirby Puckett and Gary Gaetti in 1984. Puckett hit no home runs (-16), Gaetti hit only 5 (-19). Suggesting the possibility that the Twins’ two World Championships may have been aided by their team being among the first to discover…well, I’d better not go there. Nor will I point out that Gaetti was bald and had acne and Puckett died young.”

Maybe I’ve been on Mars, but I’ve never heard Puckett’s name mentioned in the conversation about performance-enhancing drugs. He’s become an easy target after his death, especially in light of the unflattering revelations about his personal life, e.g., he was arrested for groping a woman in the ladies’ room of a Minnesota restaurant, but was acquited at trial. Puckett might have had his cheerful veneer pulled back after his playing days were over, but saying a guy died early because he was using PEDs? I mean, this isn’t Ken Caminiti, who was an admitted steroid user. It’s Kirby Puckett, a Hall of Famer. Who else does James think is in Cooperstown via the aid of performance-enhancing drugs? (Bolivian marching powder doesn’t count, so Molitor gets a pass.)

Pioneer Press: Joe Mauer struggles at home, shines on the road

Ron Gardenhire and Bill James on the same page? I knew the Weepy-Voiced Killer of Minnesota site was getting kinda crowded!

“The first thing you have to learn in this game is sometimes you have to say, ‘No, hey, I can’t do this, I’ve got to get ready for tonight,’ “ Gardenhire said. “He’s such a nice guy, and he says yes to a lot of things. As he goes along he’s got to learn how to handle his time a little bit better and prepare to come here.

“He prepares very well, but we all have to learn to say no. He’s trying to do all the right things for the community and his family. There’s a lot of stress that comes with being the hometown guy, and he probably puts a little more pressure on himself, too.”

If there is a quantifiable reason, some piece of baseball logic, to explain the difference in Mauer at the Metrodome and Mauer everywhere else, the man who could find it is Bill James, the sabermetrician extraordinaire who can explain almost everything in baseball with numbers, equations and statistics.

Just not this.

“I couldn’t explain it. Maybe he puts pressure on himself to succeed in front of the home crowds,” James wrote in an e-mail. “Maybe it’s become a mental block for him. I really don’t know.”

AP: Ex-Twin Koskie stops at Dome, still fighting concussion symptoms

[Corey Koskie]’s able to play catch and goof around with his three very active sons, ages 7, 5, and 3, and drive them to and from school in their suburban community in the Twin Cities area.

But visual stimuli still give him trouble. When he walks from a confined space to a large, open area, he often feels wobbly. Actual baseball activities are currently out of the question.

“I want to get to the point where I can go run and exercise and not think about it,” said Koskie…
...
Koskie has learned to pull back on a particular activity—like watching hockey on TV—when the nausea and dizziness develop. He’s found that he recovers much faster than before; three months ago he said the symptoms would stay for two or three days, and a year ago they would linger for a month.

“It might be something I have to deal with the rest of my life,” Koskie said. “I don’t know, but I want to get to the point where I’m symptom-free.”

If he does, then he said he’ll try to play baseball again. At his age, there’s no guarantee any team will give him a chance again.

Star-Tribune: Souhan: Carlos Gomez: Unique, in a charming sort of way

Can’t seem to find that Souhan Souhan/Carlos the Jackal connection in Assassinology Vol-4 or even Bloodletters and Badmen. Damn.

Carlos Gomez has already proclaimed himself the Twins’ future No. 3 hitter, promised to increase the RBI total of “the catcher and Morneau” and prompted scouts to call him the fastest man in baseball.

He swings like he’s trying to fell a redwood, runs like Nancy Grace is chasing him and boasts like he inherited Muhammad Ali’s self-promotional DNA. The moment he takes center field tonight, Gomez will become a unique player in Twins’ history, even though we have no idea whether he’ll stay in the lineup through April of 2008 or 2018.

“I put pressure on the other team,” Gomez said. “They do not want to put me on base, and when I steal a base, they’ll make a good throw, and the guy will ask, ‘How did you steal that base?’ The next time the pitcher will be too quick because of me, and he’ll be messed up.

...Gomez is not a postmodern leadoff hitter. He will not work the count, ponder handfuls of pitches and obsess over his on-base percentage. He alternates violent hacks with Charmin-soft bunts and tries to inspire more trepidation than the IRS.

Newsday: Jack Morris to Santana: Ease up on changeup

LKF: Jack Morris had more wins during the 80’s than any other nudnik interviewed on XM Satellite Radio.

“It’s my opinion that his changeup is definitely not a strikeout pitch,” Morris said of Santana this past week in a telephone interview. “He has fallen in love with it. I don’t like what I see, because I love his slider and his 95-mph fastball. His go-to pitch is what I consider his third pitch.”

Morris continued: “History says that he’ll pitch better in the National League. But it would be my guess that if he has any problems, it’ll be because of that changeup. It won’t be because he’s throwing a nasty slider.”

According to “Bill James Online,” the new Web site by the godfather of modern-day statistical analysis, Santana has become increasingly reliant on his changeup. In 2003, his first full season in the big leagues, he threw 63 percent fastballs, 16 percent sliders and 15 percent changeups. By 2005, that evolved to 53 percent fastballs, 22 percent changeups and 15 percent sliders. And last year, Santana threw 58 percent fastballs, 29 percent changeups and 11 percent sliders.

“If you look at last year, compared to the rest of his years with the Twins, he gave up a lot more home runs [33, topping his high of 24 set in 2004 and 2006],” Morris said. “The majority of those home runs were changeups over the plate. If the AL is catching up to his pattern, if baseball is catching up to him, then he’s going to have to reinvent the wheel. If the NL doesn’t understand him, or doesn’t scout him properly, he’ll succeed. But if they get his pattern right away, Johan is going to have to adjust, not the hitters.”

Wall Street Journal rates Gardenhire top manager in baseball

While the results are interesting (Atlanta’s Bobby Cox and St. Louis’ Tony La Russa were tied for ninth, for example) it raises the question of whether there’s a way, beyond wins and losses, to evaluate the effect a manager has on a team.

“The expectations are always going to be thrown out there and you’re never going to be good enough for everybody,’’ Gardenhire said. “People are going to grade you different ways.

“Criteria? I don’t know how you rate managers. They love you. They hate you. It just depends which inning.’’

And then you have John Gibbons on being told about the study...

But the Toronto manager was obviously pretty pleased at the ranking, which saw him way ahead of the Terry Francona’s and Joe Torre’s of the world.

Later, he called in Jays Assistant Manager and numbers guy Alex Anthopoulos to explain the statisical measurements to him.

“I’m renogiating,” Gibbons declared as he came out of his office. Then he pointed to Jeremy Sandler of the National Post and myself and said, “Now I hope you have the guts to print that in tomorrow’s paper.”

Bless You Boys: Former Tigers Coach Billy Consolo Passes Away

Bless you, indeed.  Billy Consolo.

Here’s some sad news for long-time Detroit Tigers fans.  Former coach Billy Consolo, who was a coach for the team from 1979 to 1992, and again in 1995, passed away yesterday from an apparent heart attack.  He was 73 years old.

In addition to his coaching career, Consolo played for 10 years in the major leagues.  The six teams he played for were the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels, and Kansas City Athletics.  He played at shortstop, second base, and third base throughout his career.

You know, Mike McClary and I were just talking about Consolo a couple of days ago.  I was telling him about the article in last Sunday’s Boston Globe, in which Joe Torre claims that he was the first to employ a bench coach when he asked Don Zimmer to join his New York Yankees coaching staff in 1996.

That couldn’t be, Mike said.  Consolo was Sparky Anderson’s bench coach, but maybe they just didn’t call that job “bench coach” back then.

AP: [Livan] Hernandez shows soccer skill in Twins’ 4-2 victory over Rays

Hernandez struck out five and pitched six innings of one-run ball for the Minnesota Twins, who beat James Shields and the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 on Wednesday.

But Hernandez really stole the show with his third-inning decision to kick a bunt attempt by Tampa Bay’s Elliot Johnson toward first base in a last-ditch attempt to get an out. The ball went directly into Justin Morneau’s glove, taking a hit away from Johnson.
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“When I’m on the mound, I’m thinking a lot about what I’ve got to do, the best way to get three outs,” said Hernandez, who recalled kicking a groundball to his first baseman last year during a regular-season game with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
...
“That was unbelievable. Too bad that wasn’t a regular-season game. You probably won’t ever see that again. But you never know,” Morneau said.

Shields was impressed, too. “When our whole team is giving the opposing pitcher a standing ovation in the dugout, you know it’s a pretty good play,” said Shields.

Strib: LEN3: Twins Extend Nathan Through 2011

Nathan gets paid Francisco Cordero money to do a better job.  Of course, he is also older and the Twins will not be competing for the playoffs this year.  Seems like a misuse of resources to me as many teams would have coveted him in a trade.  The Bill Smith Era continues to leave me more confused with each passing day.  It is disorienting as a Twins fan to realize the front office does not have a coherent plan.

The Twins and Joe Nathan have agreed to a contract extension through 2011 that includes an option for 2012…

According to a source with knowledge of negotiations, Nathan will make $47 million over four years. That’s $11.25 million a year from 2008-2011 with a $2 million buyout if the 2012 option isn’t picked up. (Don’t know if the 2012 option also is for $11.25 million or not).

Nathan also gets a limited no-trade clause - he can pick three teams he can’t be traded to. It’s the same clause that was in his previous deal.

MLB: Graig Nettles diagnosed with prostate cancer

When Graig Nettles learned he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, one of the first telephone calls he made was to former Yankees manager Joe Torre.

The current Dodgers skipper went through his own prostate cancer scare in 1999, diagnosed as part of a routine checkup. Torre underwent treatment and has had no related issues since, and the 63-year-old Nettles—awaiting surgery in early April—is keeping his spirits high. “He’s pretty upbeat about it after what he’s gone through,” Nettles said. “I hope I have the same fortune that he had.”

Nettles, a six-time All-Star third baseman, is scheduled to have surgery on April 8 at Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York. He was diagnosed the day before Thanksgiving last year, shortly after his brother, Jim, had also discovered his own prostate cancer.

Nettles said he was spurred to have his prostate checked by his brother, Jim, who informed the Gold Glover that cancer ran in the family. “They told me they got it early, and it’s curable and treatable,” Nettles said. “I’ve just got to think positive.”

Star-Tribune: Hartman: New-look Twins need old look from Liriano

Sid Hartman, Sid Hartman...it might take Dorelda Doremus to heal Francisco Liriano.

“If he makes our club out of spring training, that means he’s doing really, really good,” Gardenhire said of Liriano. “We’re asking him to just go out there and pitch and build up arm strength.”

Is there a chance Liriano will start the season in the minor leagues?

“No. We’re in a little different area here with him,” Gardenhire said. “We are trying to figure out where he’s at and what he’s doing. He missed early in spring training, so we are still trying to play a little catch-up.”

The truth of the matter is that the Liriano of 2007, when he was 12-3 before his arm went out, could halt a lot of the pessimism about the 2008 team. Without him, the pitching staff is going to have to make the most improvement of any Twins staff in a long time. And right now, the chances of Liriano winning some games early doesn’t appear too promising.