Friday, September 24, 2010

Morneau likely out for playoffs

Justin Morneau hasn't
played since July 7.
Ron Gardenhire today on ESPN 1500 (the former KSTP-AM) about Justin Morneau returning for the playoffs: "I don't see how it can possibly happen."

Yeah. It would be one thing if he were already in Fort Myers, hacking away at pitches in the Florida Instructional League, and they could get him even three or two games in the regular season. That's not the case.

Beyond that, one has to wonder how Gardenhire would juggle the postseason lineup to fit Morneau in. There isn't room in the outfield corners, first base, third base and DH — five of the nine lineup slots — for Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Jim Thome, Danny Valencia and Delmon Young. The latter five have obviously been instrumental in the second-half surge. Morneau, if healthy, is obviously better than any of them, but they've earned the October playing time.

2 comments:

  1. Sad news, all right. But I wonder if anybody is yet thinking even sadder thoughts - is Morneau's career over? A similar thing happened to Koskie some years back, and he never played another major league game.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been wondering the same thing. There was an interesting story on concussions on NPR the other day. About a football player, but applicable nevertheless...
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130081779

    ReplyDelete