Off-season Surgery Paper Doll Parade

In an effort to be ready for off-season conditioning, three Twins underwent surgery on Friday to address some lingering issues. Just because the season is over doesn't mean the paper doll production is.

Ben Revere had minor surgery on his left knee to remove some loose cartilage. I hope this isn't the same procedure that Joe Mauer had last off-season...or, if it is, I hope the outcome is better.

Ben gave his Twitter followers updates every step of the way. With a picture.

He also asked, numerous times, for someone to come take care of him. He didn't indicate where he was.

I would've offered, but that probably would've been creepy. I'm old enough to be his ... well, let's just say that I'm old enough that if he were ever to meet me in real life, he'd call me ma'am. Not the kind of care he's looking for, I'm sure.

~~~

When Justin Morneau got his knee and foot surgery a couple of weeks ago (after his neck surgery a couple months ago), he must've received a coupon for a free procedure on his next visit.

He had a small, benign cyst removed from his left knee and some cleanup on his right foot on September 19.

Now on Friday, he had a stabilization procedure on the wrist that's been bothering him most of the season. He's still experiencing numbness in his hand.

He's supposed to be in a cast for six weeks.

~~~

Nick Blackburn has been diagnosed with radial tunnel syndrome and had surgery Friday to treat it. I have a little experience with this one; I was diagnosed with the same condition three years ago (I never had surgery, but I still have some lingering effects -- it's a good thing I'm not a Major League pitcher).

Any kind of tunnel syndrome is a compression of nerves. We've all heard of carpal tunnel syndrome; this is similar, but it involves a different nerve. Instead of running along the carpus bones of the hand, the radial tunnel runs along the radius of the forearm.

Blackie's surgery was to decompress those nerves. I hope he's not still feeling it three years from now.

2012 Wish List, Part VI: Take the Bullpen Seriously

Remember a year ago when one of the biggest gripes certain Twins fans could come up with was calling Jesse Crain "Crainwreck"? Remember a year ago when certain Twins fans were so fed up with Matt Guerrier they couldn't be bothered with pronouncing his name correctly?

Yeah...I wonder what those certain fans think about those guys now?

I miss them too.

I have to admit that the old cliche of you don't know what you've got until it's gone applies to me regarding the Twins bullpen of yesteryear. And as much I would love to have either one or both of those guys back, it's too late to rue the decisions of the past.

Too bad the present isn't much fun.

The current bullpen owns the worst cumulative ERA in all of baseball (4.53). The front office can't expect to win very many games when they can't trust the men at the back end of the game to preserve leads or, at the very least, keep the team close. Unfortunately, however, the front office has shown over the last few years that it doesn't worry too much about the state of the bullpen. Fans have been fed lines that everything will be ok with the guys we have for a while now.

We can't have Crain or Guerrier back (well, I suppose we could, but I doubt it). But that doesn't mean we have to be stuck with what we have.

Here's the plan I wish for:

Bring Nathan back. The Twins have a $12 million option to keep him one more year. That's pretty spendy; I don't see Bill Smith willing to pony up that kind of money. And frankly, that's too much for a relief pitcher. However, I would like the Twins to let him test the free agent market and then actively pursue him for less money. He turns 37 this off-season; his next multi-year contract will likely be his last. I can see him taking the security of more years and still make it affordable for the Twins.

Tender Glen Perkins another contract. I used to kind of hate him as a starter. I really like him as a set up man.

Find a new home for Kevin Slowey. His, um, philosophical differences with the team are simply too chaotic to overcome. He'll probably succeed elsewhere; he just doesn't fit with the Twins.

Put Anthony Swarzak and Brian Duensing back to the bullpen and keep them as middle-inning and long relievers.

Say good-bye to Phil Dumatrait, Jose Mijares, and Matt Capps. They simply don't pitch well enough and have proven that they can't be trusted. Maybe send Alex Burnett on his way as well.

Then, find good, reliable replacements. I like the promise that Lester Oliveros has shown, though I'm not sure he's really ready for the big leagues yet. He's only 23; let him earn a spot in spring training. Otherwise, make some trades and sign some new guys.

And maybe just make a quick phone call to Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier.

~~~

Since I mentioned Matt Capps, here's his paper doll:

If I remember correctly, he was unavailable for a few games mid-season because he had some forearm soreness. Or was it shoulder? Elbow? I guess I can't remember correctly.

Anyway, he's the last one of the guys who were on the Opening Day roster.

C'mon! Enough Already! (Injury and Illness Update)

Good grief! I don't know what the Twins did to piss off the injury and illness demons, but they had better figure it out and correct it really quickly before things get any more serious.

Let's take inventory, shall we:

We already know that Nick Blackburn's season is over.

Joe Mauer's season is over. He has been diagnosed with "mild" pneumonia, and he needs to rest for two weeks -- which will take up the rest of the season. Mild pneumonia, often called "walking" pneumonia, is the least serious of the pneumonia infections, and it usually doesn't require hospitalization. This is not to say that Joe's not miserable. Pneumonia of any strain is an infection of the lungs. He can probably walk around and do some light activity, but he's got a bad cough and probably has a hard time catching his breath when he runs.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka's season is over. He has a nagging oblique strain that just doesn't seem to be getting better, so the Twins shut him down. According to LaVelle E. Neal of the Star Tribune, the Twins have sent him on his way with instructions for an off-season workout program.

Justin Morneau's season is most likely over. He's still fighting concussion symptoms and now he's got the flu. The concussion symptoms are quite worrisome because they reappeared after he made a somewhat routine play attempt at first base. This article by Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports explains just how scary and frustrating Justin's situation is.

Jason Kubel's season is most likely over. The foot injury he suffered earlier in the season has flared up again, and he's in quite a bit of pain. He'll have it looked at more during the off-season.

Denard Span's season might be over. He also can't shake off the concussion symptoms and migraines.

Scott Baker is still on the DL with a forearm strain. He hopes to be able to pitch out of the bullpen soon.

Alexi Casilla is still on the DL with a hamstring strain. He hope to be able to play before the end of the season.

Danny Valencia has the flu.

Ben Revere just got over having the flu.

Brian Duensing just got over having the flu.

Fransico Liriano pitched two innings out of the bullpen on Saturday. So that's good news.

~~~

Since we're talking about injuries and whatnot, here's Michael Cuddyer's paper doll:


Michael Cuddyer missed several games in August due to a sore neck. Then when he came back from that, he was promptly hit in the wrist by a pitch.

He played the day after he was hit by the pitch after verifying with medical staff that playing wouldn't damage it further and all he needed to do would be manage the pain.

This, of course, riled up columnist Jim Souhan, who praised Cuddyer's toughness (kind of omitting the fact that he missed time from the neck the week before) and used him as an example to prove that Joe Mauer is soft. Cuddyer, of course, wasn't able to play particularly well with the sore wrist.

Of course, all that put some bloggers and fans into a small snit (Souhan puts people into snits pretty regularly). A lot of folks (not wrongly so) kind of used him as an example that playing hurt is not necessarily a good option.

Once rosters expanded, Cuddyer missed some time to get the wrist feeling better.

I don't think it mattered too much either way whether he played hurt or not. He played when the team despirately needed warm bodies, and it wasn't like his poor play blocked anyone else from getting a chance. Then, when there were warm bodies, he sat. No problem.

2012 Wish List, Part III: Couples Counseling for Gardy and Danny

About three weeks ago, Ron Gardenhire and Danny Valencia had a bit of a tiff. A quarrel. A misunderstanding. And the they should do something about it before things blow up.

Gardy says that Danny stands up too straight when going for balls on his to his left and that he needs to get better jumps.

Danny says that he know that he needs to work on his defense, but also adds that you can't win any games when the team doesn't score any runs.

Danny was benched the next day.

Ok, so this little spat doesn't seem like much of anything. However, over the course of this whole season, the relationship between the two seems weird -- and unlike Gardy's relationships with the other players.

It's true that Danny hasn't lived up to everything he showed us last year. But, really, who on the team has? It's odd however, with as deep as this team is in fault, Gardy seems to single Danny out more than the rest of them (except for maybe Kevin Slowey, but he wasn't with the team enough to have to endure too much). And what's odder is that it's not really Gardy's style to call out guys to the media.

Guys like Nishioka, Young, and even Cuddyer have laid out some defensive miscues (don't even get me started on the pitching miscues) without a peep, but Gardy seems to keep his magnifying glass on Danny.

Now, Gardy's expectations of Danny might be a little higher than they are for others, and rightly so. Last year, we all saw the quality of player Danny can be, and Gardy wants him to build on that. So Gardy's probably trying to handle Danny with a little tough love to encourage some more drive. But it doesn't seem like Danny's getting that message.

It's no secret that Danny's a confident guy. But his willingness to refute Gardy's observations, also to the media, makes it seem like he's not listening.

I have no doubt that Danny has the desire to improve, and I also have no doubt that Danny knows what he needs to work on. So, he just needs to figure it out and get better, and Gardy will be happy.

And Gardy needs to give Danny some slack and remember to air out his beefs privately, and Danny will be happy.

And while a happy third-baseman probably won't fix all the Twins problems, it is one that's pretty easy.

~~~

Speaking of Danny, here's his paper doll.

For the most part, Danny has been pretty durable. He's had a few games off here and there, usually just as a break.

He sat out Sunday's game with a sore shoulder. After an off-day on Monday, he was able to return to action on Tuesday.