Notes, quotes and comment

At least Friday night's loss in Seattle was a quick one: 2:14, the fastest game in the majors this year.

The other day the Twins were 1-1 in the eighth inning, and the game was almost three hours in. Pace of play, man.

This just in: James Paxson is a pretty good pitcher. Fernando Romero ain't bad either, but the business of walking somebody with two outs, wild-pitching him to second and then giving up a hit against the shift -- that's emblematic of the 2018 Twins as we hit Memorial Day weekend. That's giving the Mariners a run, and that run gave them the game.

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Worth reading department: This story from USA Today about protective cups. Plenty of Twins (Eddie Rosario, Brian Dozier, Torii Hunter and Paul Molitor) quoted in it, but my favorite line is the explanation by former Giants and White Sox infielder Juan Uribe of why he didn't wear one.

This piece from Fangraphs' Jay Jaffe on Phil Hughes, DFA'ed earlier this week by the Twins, and thoractic outlet syndrome.

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The Red Sox on Friday DFA'd veteran slugger Hanley Ramirez to reactivate Dustin Pedroia from the disabled list, and there was immediate speculation from MLB Radio's Jim Bowden that the Twins might be a landing place for the first baseman-DH.

I assume that the Twins came to mind because the acquisition earlier this week of Chris Carter signaled an interest by Minnesota in that ilk of player. Ramirez still has a better hit tool than the swing-and-miss addicted Carter, but they are both right-right first basemen who are relatively inept in the field. Ramirez was hitting .330 through April and .163 this month.

I know this: The Twins aren't taking on Ramirez' contract. No team is. He will clear waivers, the Sawx will release him, and he'll get to pick from his suitors, who will pay the pro-rated minimum while Boston pays him the rest.

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Finally, relationship advice from veteran reliever John Axford via Twitter:

Dear couple that clearly broke up while standing near our bullpen in the 5th inning today,

Lovely entertainment for a few minutes, but we hope you’re ok. Feel free to come back tomorrow and discuss with us. We can provide the third party point of view!

Love,

The Jays bullpen!

— John Axford (@JohnAxford) May 26, 2018

Pic of the Week

Hanley Ramirez plays a fly ball into a double in
the ninth inning on Thursday.

I wrote a lot this week about the virtues of outfield defense. It is my belief that the Twins are consciously emphasizing fielding prowess in the outfield, even at the expense of offense, and that they are benefiting from that.

Many teams do not take that approach. The Red Sox chose this winter to sign free-agent shortstop Hanley Ramirez, an outstanding hitter but an indifferent shortstop, and shift him to left field. Now, if there is a team and position where it makes sense to sacrifice defense for offense, it's left field in Boston. There's simply not much room there for the left fielder to cover,

And yet Ramirez has been little short of a disaster in left. A third of the way into the season, he's already cost the Red Sox 11 runs compared to an average left fielder. Imagine how bad it would be if he had to cover actual acreage in his home games.

The speculation in the Boston Globe this week has Ramirez moving to first base next year (Mike Napoli is a free agent after this season). Or taking over DH for the aging David Ortiz.

Do the hustle

By now you've probably seen the Hanley Ramirez embarrassment — how the Florida Marlins' superstar shortstop kicked a ball into the left field corner during Monday's loss to Arizona and did a slow trot after it. If you haven't, click on the link.

The embarrassment isn't the error. It's the sloth. I guarantee you, there will be people running faster in the Mankato Marathon this summer than Ramirez was going after that ball.

Ramirez then heightened the crisis by complaining that manager Fredi Gonzalez doesn't respect him, and added, by way of indictment: He never played in the major leagues.

Nothing good is going to come of this. Ramirez is a supremely talented and productive player, but no manager can tolerate that lack of effort. Gonzalez had to pull him, and has to bench him.

But ultimately, Gonzalez is going to get the ax over this. He's not particularly beloved by owner Jeffery Loria anyway — Loria, perhaps spoiled by the 2003 Fish's surprise World Series win, thinks the Marlins, flawed and low-budget as they are, should be a playoff team — and if this continues to be a superstar vs. manager power struggle, Ramirez will win. Loria needs Ramirez more than he needs Gonzalez.

And if Gonzalez doesn't have the respect and support of his best player, maybe he should go. There's a story about Joe McCarthy, the great manager, who had been hired to skipper the Boston Red Sox. McCarthy had a dress code with the Yankees; Ted Williams notoriously hated to wear ties. Friction was anticipated. And McCarthy diffused it immediately by showing up at spring training tieless. A manager who can't get along with a .400 hitter, he explained, isn't much of a manager.

Of course, dress codes are one thing and loafing on the field another.

I remember some 30 years ago a young, egocentric superstar shortstop who one day decided it would be a good idea to jog to first base on a grounder. The fans booed; he gave them the bird — and his manager ran onto the field, grabbed him and dragged him into the dugout. That winter, the young superstar was traded for a good field, no-hit shortstop. It looked like horridly one-sided trade. It turned out so.

The manager was Whitey Herzog. The superstar was Garry Templeton. The lesser talent was Ozzie Smith.

Two of those three are in the Hall of Fame today. Templeton is not.