Notes, quotes and comments

First, let's clean up the fifth Name that Twin: It's Toby Gardenhire, the manager's son.

Toby was a late addition to the non-roster invitee list; he was included, it appears, because Jose Morales had his late wrist surgery and that meant they needed another catcher to share the strain of the bullpen sessions. Same thing as last spring, when it was Joe Mauer on the shelf.

Young Gardy is an infielder who has made his way to Double A despite not hitting well at any level. Last spring the word was that he was adding catching to his resume in hopes of parlaying that added versatility into a rise to prospect status and (ultimately) a major-league utility job.

So I figured he probably caught a couple dozen times in the minors last season. Nope. Two games. And since he's had just one putout (catchers are credited with the putout on strikeouts), it's a good guess he didn't start either game.

He got his first at-bat of the Grapefruit League "season" on Monday. It should be his last.

---

I had been musing about the notion of Glen Perkins (above) as closer. I'll set that idea aside after Sunday's fiasco, in which he yielded four runs, three earned, in one sloppy inning. He hit a batter, walked a batter, and (according to the radio boys) got hit in the back by the first baseman's throw while "covering" first.

I'm not sure how you pull that one off.

---

The incumbent closer isn't conceding yet that the Twins need an alternative. Joe Nathan plans to try to air it out Saturday.

After which I expect he'll amble off to a surgical room in Birmingham, Ala., and the Twins will get on with the search for a ninth-inning guy.

---

I'm a bit late in noting this, but Joe Posnanski last week posted a piece celebrating Ron Gardenhire and wondering why Gardy seems unappreciated:

... it seems to me that the guy has managed the Twins to five division titles in his eight years, or, to put it another way, THE GUY HAS MANAGED THE TWINS TO FIVE DIVISION TITLES IN HIS EIGHT YEARS. I mean, sure, you would expect a good manager to manage the Twins to at least six division titles in eight years, but, doesn’t he get SOME credit for this? He’s done this even though the Twins have never in those years had a payroll in baseball’s top half.

Which prompts me to provide this link to a December post: "The Ron Gardenhire Project" . There may be one or two readers who weren't around at the time, and I (perhaps immodestly) am fairly pleased with the thing.

Name that Twin, Part 5

Today's mystery Twin is to the left. (I'm about ready to quit this concept, by the way.)

Yesterday's was Danny Valencia, the latest third baseman of the future. How soon that future is going to be...

To read the reports earlier this spring, the big hang-up for him is deportment. He has a bit of a reputation as a crybaby/irritant, and Terry Ryan, former GM and now a big-dog advisor, urged him to be seen and not heard during training camp.

Not to dismiss the value of interpersonal interplay, but I'm more concerned about the way his walk rate disappeared when he moved up to Triple A last season.

Double A: 31 walks in 252 plate appearances. A "walk percentage," if you will, of .123.

Triple A: Eight walks in 282 plate appearances, walk percentage of .028.

He needs to regain control of the strike zone at least as much as he needs to play well with others.

Name that Twin, Part 4

The new mystery Twin is to the right.

Yesterday's was pitcher Loek Van Mil, the Dutch prospect most known for being the tallest man to play professional baseball (he's 7-foot-1.)

But of more immediate interest: He suffered a partial tear of his UCL in 2008 and has not undergone Tommy John surgery. He's rehabbed and pitched with it — which is what Joe Nathan hopes to do with his injury.

As I understand it — and any reader who knows more about orthopedics than I do is more than welcome to chime in — this is an option if the damage is close to the muscle, where the ligament is thicker and stronger.

That was the case with Van Mil. Pat Neshek, on the other hand, had his tear close to the bone. His attempt to rehab failed.

I have not seen any published information on where Nathan's tear is. To me, the fact that he's seeking second and third opinions hints that rehab is a realistic option. Or perhaps it's an act of desperation; Nathan is already at an advanced age for a pitcher, and recovering from ligament replacement surgery is not a hasty process.

Getting back to Van Mil: He's raw, he's barely pitched above A ball, and he's no real threat to make the major league roster in 2010, maybe not even 2011. A lot of talent — he's said to have a mid-90s fastball — but not a lot of innings, and coming out of Europe, he was notably inexperienced as an amateur. A real work in progress.

Name that Twin, Part 3

The third mystery Twin of this series is at left.

Mystery Twin No. 2, as Nick Nelson correctly surmised, was Ben Revere, the rather controversial first-rounder from the 2007 draft.

Revere is a non-roster invitee with little chance of making the big club. He's ticketed for Double A New Britain. But he's apparently made a strong impression on Ron Gardenhire, who recently made a vague comparison to Kirby Puckett and Torii Hunter:

"He reminds me of a few other guys that have come through that center field area out there, with big smiles on their faces and very confident that they can really hit and (are) not afraid of anything."

Double A to start the season — but if some disabling injury should happen to Denard Span in midseason, Revere may well get the call.

Revere is a small outfielder — listed at 5-foot-9 and 160-some pounds, which may be generous. Of the five scouting tools, he's got three, at least two of them in abundance. He can run — his foot speed is said to be comparable to Carlos Gomez. He can hit — his lowest batting average on three levels of the minors is .311. He can field.

Throwing and hitting for power — those are issues. Particularly the power. He had just 19 extra base hits last season (high A ball) in 517 at-bats. His isolated power — slugging percentage minus batting averages — was a mere .058. Fort Myers is a notably difficult place to hit for power, but that's not a good number.

The throwing arm is less of a concern. Johnny Damon and Mickey Rivers were/are notoriously weak throwers, and that didn't stop them from being quality center fielders on quality teams. I'm coming to the opinion that it might be better to have a weak arm and know it than to have a cannon and constantly try to prove it. Damon knows he's not throwing anybody out, so he hits the cutoff man and keeps the double play in order. Delmon Young repeatedly tries to throw out lead runners and surrenders bases to trail runners.

It's too soon to tell if Revere is a future star, regular or reserve. He does enough things well enough that he's going to play in the majors.

Name that Twin, Part 2

Today's mystery Twin is to the right. I've diddled with the photo name to keep the secret. (Still learning after all these years.)

Thursday's was indeed Wilson Ramos, a 22-year-old catcher generally regarded as the Twins No. 2 prospect. (No. 1 is Aaron Hicks, an outfielder who spent last season in low A ball and is not in major league camp.)

Ramos does pretty much everything well except run, draw walks and stay in the lineup. He had two injuries last season — a broken finger and a hamstring — and had just a bit more than 200 at-bats.

In winter ball (in his native Venezuela) Ramos hit .332/.397/.582 and led the league in RBIs and total bases, was second in slugging percentage and third in home runs. Baseball America named him Winter Player of the Year. Hard to argue with it.

All roads these days lead back to Joe Mauer and Joe Nathan. Should Mauer and the Twins part company, Ramos figures to be the Twins next catcher. If Mauer stays, Ramos figures to be more valuable as a trading chip than as a backup.

The notion of dealing Mauer for a closer is preposterous. The notion of dealing Ramos for a young gun — for example, Daniel Bard of the Red Sox — to take Nathan's place is not.

But first they have to cement Mauer into place.

Name that Twin, Part 1

The Associated Press this week supplied us with mug shots of pretty much everybody in the Twins training camp — 40-man roster, manager, coaches, non-roster guys. I spent some time this morning downloading, re-sizing in a Web-friendly format and organizing them, on the basis that if the Twins call up Anthony Slama, it will be handy to have an image to post with an explanation of what the hay he's doing here.

There are a lot of faces in that pile you haven't seen. There are faces in that pile you'll never see. Camp is loaded with extra catchers, because somebody's got to catch all those bullpen sessions, and the Twins aren't about to beat Joe Mauer's knees into submission in March.

So to get some use out of today's work, I herewith begin the "Name that Twin" contest. Each day I'll post the mug of an obscure player (or coach), and y'all can guess his identity in the comments. I'll name him the next day and post the next one. I'll do this until either (a) I get tired of doing it, (b) I run out of faces I don't recognize or (c) it becomes obvious that nobody else cares.

Winner gets free access to Baseball Outsider. Second place gets 50 percent off.

First photo is above.

---

Before I head off for what figures to be a difficult work shift, a few quick comments:

* The Washington Nationals today released old fave Eddie Guardado. I have to admit, for just a moment the notion of Everyday Eddie succeeding his successor as Twins closer crossed my mind. But that train left the station long ago.

* Jim Souhan is rapidly approaching Sid Hartman status — as in, any time spent reading him is lost forever. I'm not going to link to Souhan's latest moronity, but I will say I wish he'd been in one of my fantasy leagues over the years. Trade Mauer for a relief pitcher!

* A commenter on the Jamie Hoffmann post below points out that the player in the photo throws with his left arm, and Hoffmann is right-handed. D-oh! I should have noticed that myself.

AP identified the player in the image as Hoffmann, and I went with it. I have no idea who is shown, and I have trashed the image from my library. My apologies.