Post by The Vermont Bombers on Aug 11, 2015 11:42:47 GMT -5
Addition by Subtraction
Law injury leads to Score for Twins
August 15th –
The Twins tough July went from bad to worse with a speed that almost defies any sense of logic. On July 30th the Twins lost staff ace Milt “Gimpy” Pappas to season ending bone chips in his pitching shoulder. Both the team and the fans groaned in distress at this. Everyone knew how hard it would be to replace the 23 game winner on the team, even with their deep farm system and pitching depth. Thankfully for them, they had options in the Major Leagues in the form of Harley Grossman and in AAA in the form of Dave Morehead and Jim Lonborg. Management declared that Pappas’ replacement in the rotation would be the veteran Grossman because they wanted to get both Morehead and Lonborg more experience.
The Twins soldiered on. Some of the games were good and some of them weren’t. Although things didn’t go as they wanted it to, the team still remained on the right side of a .500 record. No one expected the team to fall apart once Pappas was on the shelf. Most teams, even good ones, take a little while to adjust to the situation after such a terrible thing happens. It would have been pretty hard to get angry at them if they had back slid to .500 after they lost Pappas. They didn’t backslide. They kept moving forward, which is the sign of a team with character.
“Losing ‘Gimpy’ stunk.” Veteran Dick Gray said afterward. “You don’t replace a talent like him easily. Thankfully for us we have a really good group of guys in this clubhouse and a great manager and coaching staff, so we knew that we would keep going forward. We dedicated this season to Milt. We made something good out of something terrible and I think that was a great moment for this group.”
Then fate, in her always arbitrary and sometimes capricious way, decided to strike another blow at the Twins. That blow came on August 8th in Los Angeles as the Twins were facing the Angels. Veteran right hander Vern “Deacon” Law was on the mound for the Twins that day opposing Angels starter, right hander Jerry Walker. It hadn’t been a great day for Law on the mound. He’d managed to keep the score tied at zero through three innings and although he hadn’t been sharp, he’d managed to come through when he needed to. That ended in the fourth inning at the end of the bat of 24 year old Catcher Jimmy French.
Law had gotten away with two fastballs to French that could easily have been clubbed into the seats. They were of the down the middle and flat type and French had been just a few seconds behind them, fouling one off and swinging over the top of the other one. Then Law let loose with his splitter, a pitch that he’d inducted a number of his 800 plus career strikeouts with. The second he let it go it was easy to tell two things. The first was that it was a splitter that was going to get hit and hit hard. It wasn’t a matter of when it came down, it was more a matter of if it came down on the field side of the outfield wall or out in the stands. The second was that something wasn’t right with Law’s elbow as he immediately grabbed for it.
At that second the breath of every Twins fan in attendance stopped.
Catcher Tom Haller ran out to the mound. So did Third Baseman Harmon Killebrew and veteran Shortstop Bobby Prescott. Pitching coach Greg Bragan darted from the dugout while Manager Cookie Lavagetto looked on from the top step. Even GM Adam Costa could be seen with a look of concern on his face and his arms folded across his chest in his usual way up in the box that’s been designated for the opposing team’s Management. After a short conversation on the mound, Law threw a few practice pitches and nodded that he was good to go. Bragan nodded on the mound and patted him once on the shoulder while Lavagetto nodded once from the dugout before moving from the top step to the dugout railing. The Twins ended the inning and the three run home-run that had resulted from the splitter that hadn’t split seemed to be of immediately lesser important. After all, the Twins had come back from worse.
The Angels kept the Twins off of the board in the top of the fifth. Law looked to return the favor in the bottom of the frame and keep his team in the game. He managed to get two more outs. They would end up being the last two outs that he’d record for the next five weeks as he threw one splitter too many and crumpled to the mound in pain. Five minutes later he walked off of the field with Trainer Ron McTierney and Lavagetto as the Los Angeles fans applauded him. His last gesture before disappearing into the dugout was to appreciatively tip his cap to them.
He was rushed to the hospital for x-rays. Those x-rays revealed the same thing in his elbow that had ended Milt Pappas’ season a few weeks before, bone chips. Thankfully, if one can use such a word in this situation, the injury wasn’t as severe as Pappas’ was and Law was told that he’d only miss five weeks. Unfortunately five weeks was enough time to take him out for the rest of August and at least one start in September, if not two. Those were all starts that the Twins could not afford to lose him for. When asked about it later, Law smiled slightly and shrugged.
“What can I do ?” He asked rhetorically. “I’m not going to sit here and cry about it, that’s for damned sure. I’m going to heal, I’m going to rehab and I’m going to get out there and do whatever I can for my team at the end of the season. There’s no other option.”
For those of you asking why Lavagetto didn’t pull Law in the fourth inning when the issue first showed itself, especially for those screaming for him to be fired right now, I’m going to throw a little cold water on you so that you can cool you off. It’s true that Lavagetto could have pulled Law out after the fourth inning and gone to the bullpen. You could even argue that that is exactly what he should have done. The problem is simply that it’s easy to “Monday Morning” manage after the fact. It’s not so easy to make that decision in the moment.
“Sure I could have taken ‘Deacon’ out after the fourth.” Manager Cookie Lavagetto said in the visiting Manager’s office after the game. “Part of me wanted to. With that said, ‘Deacon’ has been pitching in this league for a long time. He’s survived a major back injury that almost everyone thought would end his career and he came back strong from it. If he tells my Pitching Coach, a man that I trust, that he’s good to go, I’m going to go with that ninety-nine times out of one hundred and feel good about it. This was that one time that I shouldn’t have, although it’s a lot easier to say that in retrospect.”
When asked if he felt responsible for the injury, he shook his head ‘no’.
“Of course not.” He replies. “I’m not happy about it and I feel bad for ‘Deacon’, but I don’t feel ‘responsible’ for it. This is a tough and often unfair game and injuries happen. I talked to ‘Deacon’ about it afterward and he was in good spirts and told me not to worry about it because he’d be back. Why should I feel responsible for it when ‘Deacon’ himself doesn’t hold me responsible for it ? He understands how this game is.”
Law and GM Costa were quick to agree.
“No ‘Skip’ isn’t responsible.” Law replied when asked the same question. “Injuries happen, they’re a part of the game that you can’t predict. I appreciate that ‘Skip’ respects me enough to have left me in the game when I told him that I wanted to stay in. The fact that I got hurt in the next innings doesn’t change that.”
GM Costa had this to say;
“Do I hold Cookie responsible for what happened to ‘Deacon’ ? Of course not.” He answered. “He trusted his veteran and his Pitching Coach and it didn’t work out. I’m sorry that Vern is hurt and I’ve told him that already, but I don’t hold Cookie responsible for it at all. It’s the crappy part of the game that we all have to deal with and it’s my job to deal with it. I’ve already spoken to ‘Deacon’ and Cookie about it and they know how I feel. I have nothing more to say about this.”
As if that injury wasn’t enough when coupled with the Pappas injury, their other veteran starter and the current team leader in wins, Ken Johnson, went down with a sore elbow a few days later on the 12th. Thankfully for the Twins it would only keep him out for a week. Conversely, that would cause them to lose a start from their most consistent starter after Pappas and put them down by three starters instead of two. As injuries went for this season it was a small one. As a symbol it was something far bigger.
“Sometimes it’s hard not to feel like we’re a little snake bit.” Second year First Baseman Don Mincher explained with a weary smile. “Deep down you know how silly that thought is, but when you see one teammate after another miss time due to injury you begin to wonder if someone, somewhere doesn’t have a room full of Minnesota Twins voodoo dolls.”
He paused for a second, after which his smile changed from weary to sly.
“If someone does, I wish they’d leave it alone.”
All joking aside, the Twins still had a very real issue to deal with. They were still down three starting pitchers. Once again the conversation about Dave Morehead and Jim Lonborg started, and once again Twins Management said that neither would get promoted. It was becoming clear that either Harley Grossman or Stan “Big Daddy” Williams was going into the starting rotation, although they had been very clear that they preferred him as their primary long man, Williams out of the Bullpen.
So what to do then ? As it turned out they ended up only needing one, although they traded for two. The team ended up moving both Grossman and Williams into the rotation, although Grossmman only stayed in it for one very good start and then went back to the bullpen. Williams on the other hand has now made two dominant starts where his stat line looks like this:
2 games started
15 IP
6 hits
2 runs
1 earned run
19 strikeouts
4 walks
2 victories.
Now it is only two starts and they were both against teams that appear to be in rebuilding phases. That point aside, if Williams can keep pitching like that he’ll ease the pain of losing Milt Pappas a lot. So the Twins found a seemingly strong in house option in Stan Williams and after his first two starts he deserves as long of a run in the rotation as he can earn for himself. That still leaves on spot to fill. The Twins went out and dealt for two arms to fill that one spot.
In a small waiver trade deal the Twins dealt 18 year old outfielder Joe Lis to the Yankees for 25 year old right handed starter Tony Cloninger. Cloninger seems like a strange choice for the Twins to make given the deep pitching in their minor league system. Cloninger is a pitcher who has been less than successful sense being called up by the Yankees. In his year and a half in the league, he’s pitched to a 5.99 ERA and displayed erratic control that has lead to him having more career walks than he does strikeouts. He doesn’t seem like the kind of move that a team that’s trying to push for the playoffs would make. GM Costa disagreed.
“On the surface Tony looks like a risky flier.” He replied when questioned. “In the short term context of this season he’s a depth move for us. He’s a young man that can start when he’s needed to do so, which hopefully we won’t have to because situations like that have come about this season due to injuries. We don’t want any more of those. In the long term we feel that Tony is someone that can grow into being a much stronger pitcher in the future. Keep in mind that he’s only 25 and hasn’t had much major league experience. We’ve had a good track record of developing pitchers and we feel that Tony is one that we can develop into a strong third or possibly second starter for our future rotations.”
Opinion is divided about that, but as a depth move it makes a bit of sense to take that risk by giving away a talented yet young player in Joe Lis.
The other move that the Twins made was made with the present in mind and it helped to address a hole that’s been in their rotation for the entire season. That trade was to acquire veteran left hander Herb Score from the Cubs in exchange for Triple A (since promoted to the Cubs) right handed Middle Relief pitcher Dave Guisti. Score came over from Chicago with an ERA over 4.00 and a WHIP over 1.40. Some fans weren’t pleased by the move, wishing that they had dealt for a left handed ace instead. Twins Manager Cookie Lavagetto thinks that Score is exactly what they needed.
“Herb is a great pitcher.” Lavagetto replied. “People focus on the fact that his control is inconsistent and that he can issue a lot of walks. What they choose to ignore in that is that he holds an ERA around four, is capable of dominating both good and lesser offenses and has won four of his first six starts with us. In addition, he gives our rotation a veteran example to follow, will strike out over two hundred this year and give us over two hundred innings, which keeps our bullpen rested. He’s a great acquisition and he’s signed for another two years after this season. I don’t see how any fan could see our getting Herb as a loss.”
It’s impossible to say if the addition of Score will help put the Twins in genuine contention. At the moment they’re 7 games behind and entering September, so the window is closing. Conversely they’re also riding a six game winning streak, the pitching staff has been rolling and the team has sky high confidence. Chicago may hold on and keep the division but if one thing about baseball is predictable it’s how unpredictable it is.
If this year is showing anything, it’s that Twins fans have a lot to look forward to in the near future. With the additions of Score, Howard and Prescott and the assumed impending departures of Vern Law, Frank Funk, Andy Carey, Dick Gray and Dick Smith to free agency this is a Twins team that is going to see another serious infusion of young talent in the near future. The Twins are a team on the rise that’s only going to get younger and stronger and it was pushed along by the additions of Elston Howard, Bobby Prescott and Herb Score because of the two serious losses of Vern Law and Milt Pappas.
Addition by subtraction.
