Post by The Vermont Bombers on Aug 5, 2015 20:43:31 GMT -5
Shouldered Aside
Pappas Injury Puts Season in Peril
By Craig SmoltzBloomington Times- Journal Senior Baseball Writer
Bloomington, Min-
For nearly six innings everything was going great in Detroit. The score was 8-0 in the Twins favor and Pappas was cruising. He’d struck out two, walked one and surrendered two hits in five and two thirds innings. It looked like Pappas was on the way to pitching another gem. His fastball was good, as it usually is, but not overpowering. Pappas fastball is not naturally overpowering, so that wasn’t an issue. Pappas kept Detroit’s potent offense looking thoroughly off balance as he weaved his off speed magic. He chained the fastball and changeup together well and kept them both potent with a sharp slider that kept Detroit’s bats guessing. His curveball had them flailing and lunging to the point where they almost fell into the opposite side batter’s box on a few occasions.
Then it all went south.
Detroit sent in Shortstop Steve Demeter to substitute for Left Fielder Tommy Harper. Pappas was at 74 pitches and appeared to be cruising to his eighth victory of the season. He went into his wind up, began it and then crumpled to the mound clutching at his throwing shoulder. Catcher Tom Haller immediately called for time, signaled to the bench and darted to the mound, where he was greeted by First Baseman Don Mincher and team Captain, Harmon Killebrew, who was already talking to his injured starter. When Manager Cookie Lavagetto reached the mound it took very little time for him to grasp the severity of the situation as his Ace quickly explained what he was feeling. Lavagetto patted him on his left shoulder for comfort and signaled for the medical team. Minutes later Pappas walked off of the field to an encouraging ovation from the Detroit crowd.
An hour later the new came in, and it was bad.
In fact it was terrible.
Pappas was done for the year due to bone chips in his shoulder. Team Manager Lavagetto issued a short statement afterward.
“Unfortunately for Milt and more so for us because of what he means to this team99, his season is over.” Lavagetto said. “I can assure you that the way this season has ended for him will only motivate him to come back stronger and better next season. We wants him back for the long term. His health is the most important thing here.”
It’s a terrible break for the 26 year old righty as he’s coming off of a breakthrough season in which he’d posted a record of 23-11 with a 2.88 ERA in 275.1 innings pitched with 190 strikeouts, which is a career high. Although Pappas had yet to get a winning streak going and had only seven wins this season, his ERA was still a very respectable 3.35 and he had 124 strikeouts in 180 innings pitched. While it was unlikely that Pappas wouldn’t have replicated his 23 win season, it’s entirely reasonable to postulate a 15 to 17 win season and a strong likelihood of 200 plus strikeouts.
When asked for a comment at the team hotel a couple of hours later, Pappas looked disappointed but determined.
“I feel bad that I let my teammates down this year.” He replied. “I’ll be back next year and I’ll make it up to them. I want to push my team to the World Series and I’m not going to let this keep me from doing that.”
While the Twins have to love that attitude out of their presumptive ace, it does beg the question of what their present options are. The Twins are in the middle of a division race and although they’re currently eight games behind the division powerhouse Chicago White Sox, this loss doesn’t necessarily leave them dead in the water. Truth be told, the team’s bigger issues this year have been general offensive under performance and an extremely volatile bullpen.
Offense has always been a bit of an issue for the team from the start of the franchise. If this team has one advantage, it is that it has a young core that’s only going to get better. Built around the explosive power of Harmon Killebrew, Tom Haller and Orlando Cepeda and the on base abilities of Don Mincher and rookie Second Baseman Rod Carew, the Twins have the potential for one of the most potent offenses in the league. With Shortstop Bert Campaneris close to ready at Triple A Vancouver, the Twins will soon have another speedy on base guy to pair with Carew to form one of the most dangerous speed combinations in the league. In his three years in Vancouver, “Campy” as his teammates call him, has stolen 48 bases and has only been caught 12 times. Combined with Carew, who has 19 stolen bases in 24 attempts through 82 games, American League Catchers are going to have a lot to worry about in the near future.
In terms of pitching, the Twins have a lot of options. They could call up MLB ready starters Jim Lonborg or Dave Morehead. Both have little, if anything to prove at Vancouver. Morehead got a “cup of coffee” when the season started and showed that he wasn’t quite ready. Since then he’s posted a bit of a pedestrian ERA of 4.29, but has struck out 102 in 63 innings while only walking 16. He looks ready and while he wouldn’t replace Pappas, he could fill his slot nicely.
One could make the same argument about Jim Lonborg. Lonborg is having a very good year in AAA with an ERA of 3.34 in 145.2 innings to go with a record of 11-8 and 123 strikeouts. While not an ace, Lonborg could slot in very nicely in the fifth spot in the rotation. Lonborg has shown himself to be a durable innings eater who can save the aforementioned volatile bullpen from having to appear.
“I don’t see us calling either Dave or Jim up from Vancouver.” GM Adam Costa replied when asked. “While we have absolute confidence that both will be excellent Major League starters in the future, there’s no reason to rush either of them. I’m confident that Dave will be up next season. Jim probably still has another year in Vancouver yet. You’ll see both of them, just not this season.”
Another option that the Twins have is to bump current relief pitcher and former Closer Harley Grossman back into the rotation while calling someone up from Vancouver. Grossman has been a solid, if unspectacular starter during his career. That said, he has experience and a reliable track record that would do nothing but help the team. Grossman last started in 1963 when he went 14-8 with a 3.56 ERA. While some consider the idea of putting a relief pitcher with an ERA of 5.40 into the rotation, it could be just what Grossman needs to get his rhythm back.
Regardless of what the Twins do, the fact remains that Pappas is unreplaceable and will be greatly missed by a Twins team that is having consecutive winning seasons for the first time in franchise history. The knee jerk reaction for them would be to make a trade for an ace, such as the Yankees Tex Clevenger. Team officials admit that the idea was considered, but that they considered the price to be too high. Whether the final addition or additions are from inside or outside of the organization remains to be seen. One thing that everyone knows is that Pappas is going to be sorely missed.
