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| Anthony Slama has pitched in 194 minor league games with a 1.95 ERA |
Throws: Right
Age: 27
Roster status: 40-man roster, two options remaining
Chances of making roster: Slim
Anthony Slama was a 39th-round draftee. He is generally described as having "average" stuff and his control record isn't good. He just gets outs -- or at least he has in the minors.
He's a test case for stat analysis of minor leaguers versus the traditionalist approach. The stats say he should have gotten a shot a couple years ago, much less now; the Twins, a bastion of traditional tools scouting, clearly doubt that his package of skills will translate in the majors.
Slama didn't do himself any favors on Monday when he gave up two runs on four hits and a walk. A bad outing on Feb. 28 shouldn't cripple his chances, but Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson have a lot of other possibilities to choose from.
He'll probably have to return to Rochester, get more outs there and wait for somebody with more impressive talent to fail or get hurt to get another call. It may not be fair, but it's reality.
MOREAU UPDATE:
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After being examined by a doctor yesterday Justin Morneau was not cleared for game action despite suffering a concussion eight months ago.
Morneau and the Twins continue to talk about the progress he’s made recently and from a quality of life standpoint it truly sounds like he’s significantly improved, but eight months after the concussion and with just one month until Opening Day the fact that he still can’t rejoin the lineup is very troubling.
Here’s what Morneau told Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN.com about his trip to the doctor:
''No game action, no activity where I could be in danger. There’s still a risk of injury. We said we were going to come down to spring training, see how it goes. Still progressing, everything is still going good. We’re going to continue what we’re doing. When we’re cleared for games, you’ll see me in the lineup. Until I’m cleared for games, there’s no timetable, no nothing. Test results, everything is still improving. I’m not all the way there yet, but it’s a lot closer than it was.
We’ll just see how things are going. If I feel like things are getting through every day symptom-free without any headaches, without any fogginess, without anything, when we have that more than one or two days in a row or whatever it is, we’ll go and hopefully get cleared. When that is, I can’t tell you. I don’t know. I have no idea.''
In other words, he’s still not totally symptom-free from a brain injury suffered on July 7, which is awfully scary.
Morneau has been taking batting practice and fielding ground balls for the past week–albeit while wearing a helmet and sunglasses–but at this point there’s obviously no guarantee that he’ll be ready to play in just four weeks when more than 30 weeks of rest hasn’t been enough for doctors to clear him.