Notes from the weekend

We learned Sunday that Jose Berrios made the All-Star team; "Dos Eddies" -- Rosario and Escobar -- did not, although Rosario is among the "final five" candidates of online voting.

I can't bring myself to be riled up about the so-called snub. There will be enough guys dropping off the roster to get one or both of the Eddies on the roster, and the Twins really don't deserve two All-Stars anyway.

---

The Twins swept the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend, four games, and the O's are 24-65, an incredible 41 games under .500. I say that's incredible because the Birds, while flawed, have some significant talent (Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop).

And they have Buck Showalter as the manager, and I think he's really good at running a baseball team. The Orioles have been in contention in a difficult division more years than not since the (apparently uneasy) pairing of Dan Duquette and Showalter took over the operation. It's startling to see this team plummet so sharply to the bottom of the standings, especially since they are not among the tankers.

One problem for the Orioles going forward -- they have for some time made no real effort in the international market. It's not that they've tried and failed to make an impact in the Dominican, Venezuela and other hotbeds; they simply don't make any investment in that talent market and generally wind up trading away their international bonus allotment.

The good, the bad and the Nolasco

Ricky Nolasco might be the
worst starter in the American
League this season.

It seemed pretty obvious Sunday from Ron Gardenhire's postgame comments that Ricky Nolasco is coming out of the starting rotation.

This can't be much of a surprise to anybody. Nolasco's ERA, after surrendering six runs in two innings Sunday, is now an ugly 5.90, and he leads the league in hits allowed and runs allowed.

The Twins have made a heavy investment in him -- four years, $49 million -- and it is not paying off.

The manager couched a bullpen assignment in terms of something that will be discussed, and that how most of the beat writers were putting it in their tweets. But I agree with LaVelle Neal, who has covered the Twins since before Gardy became manager (and, I dare say, longer than all the rest of them put together:

Sometimes when Gardenhire makes statements like that, the decision has already been made.
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) July 6, 2014

So why not just say he's pulling Nolasco? Probably because there are discussions to be had -- not about if to do it, but how. Gardenhire would want to talk to Nolasco about it before telling reporters. He'd likely want to talk with Terry Ryan, and certainly with pitching coach Rick Anderson, about rotation alternatives. Shift Deduno to the rotation? OK, how does that affect the bullpen, especially after a pair of two-inning starts this weekend? Do the Twins need another arm?

Gardenhire denied Sunday that there are any physical issues with Nolasco, but I'm not completely buying that. Dan Gladden was talking on the radio about Nolasco's fastball velocity being down. Ron Darling and Cal Ripken, calling the game on TBS, speculated that Nolasco is injured based on the paucity of breaking balls.

Remember, as I wrote last winter after the Twins signed Nolasco, he doesn't throw his fastball nearly as often as most major league starters. If he's now relying heavily on the fastball -- and the fastball is of lower velocity than usual -- it does suggest that something is wrong physically.

---

OK, on to the good news.

*Byron Buxton played Sunday for the Fort Myers Miracle, going 0-for-2 and making, according to the Miracle's radio announcer's Twitter feed, a spectacular catch. He was only in the game for three innings, which was the plan.

* Kurt Suzuki and Glen Perkins were named to the American League All-Star team. Former Twin Carlos Gomez will start for the National League, and ex-Twin reliever and Minnesota native Pat Neshek, having a huge year with St. Louis, was named to the pitching staff.

* Justin Morneau is one of the "Final Five" up for a online fan vote between now and Thursday. Details at mlb.com. I normally don't care too much about such things, but I would love to hear the Target Field reaction to Morneau coming to the plate in the All-Star Game.

* J.O. Berrios, who has dominated the high A Florida State League, has been promoted to Double A New Britain. Berrios is to pitch for the World Team in the Futures Game at Target Field on July 11.

---

File this under the "bad": Neal also tweeted this Sunday:

And the Twins might have to pull Trevor May from the Futures Game because his right calf strain is not healing as hoped.
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) July 6, 2014

Sigh.

Joe Mauer, All Star

Joe Mauer bangs out another base hit, this time
wearing a Minneapolis Millers throwback uni.
I suspect he would rather the Twins
had gone with a St. Paul Saints throwback.

Of course Joe Mauer is the Twins' All-Star.

I generally have little interest in who makes the All-Star team; the selection system is sufficiently flawed and the player interest in the game sufficiently weak that I can't get emotionally connected to the game.

But as a purely practical matter,  making Mauer the lone Twins selection is the obvious choice.

First, let's deal with the "lone" bit. The Twins have had the worst record in the American League for most of the season. They're not getting multiple selectees. It's silly to see them talking about a fifth (or more) of the roster deserving to go. Mauer, Josh Willingham, Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Denard Span, Scott Diamond ... all have been, more or less seriously, cited as legitimate candidates.

It's a bad team. The won-lost record says so. Bad teams don't have five All-Stars.

This is different than last season, when Michael Cuddyer was a mercy selection. Mauer leads the league in on-base percentage, the single most important offensive statistic. Willingham is having a career season. Neither would be an obvious weak link on the roster.

But there are plenty of outfield candidates as good or better than Willingham. Catcher is a different story.

And, to be blunt about it, the people complaining Sunday on Twitter about Mauer's selection were simply willfully ignorant.

Notes, quotes and comments

This photo of Brandon Inge was from the 16-inning game Friday night, and it didn't make it into the paper, but I love it anyway.

* I'm not one to invest emotional capital in who does and doesn't make the All-Star team, but it seems a bit odd to me that this guy is out and this guy is on the Internet ballot to be the AL's 33rd man.

Speaking of which: 32 guys on the National League roster and not a healthy center fielder in the bunch.

* Joe Mauer's a rapper? Really?

*When Kevin Slowey connected his wrist pain to the line drive that hit him in his final start of 2008, I figured there was some sort of bone problem — a tiny unhealed crack that got worse with pitching, a bone chip, something of that ilk. Apparently not. If this word holds true, he should be back pretty quickly.

* The Twins over the weekend signed an outfielder out of Germany, a 16-year-old named Max Kepler. From Baseball America's subscription-only story:

"There have been some good players to come out of Europe, but I think the thing that Max has going for him is that he's 16, but he plays like he's older," said Georgia State coach Greg Frady, who has also coached the German national team the last six years. "His mechanics look like he's older. He's so fluid in the things that he does and he looks a lot more polished than the average 16-year-old in Europe."

The key word here is "Europe." He may be a athlete, but I'm not saving a spot for him on the big-league roster in five years.