Neshek Out for '09

The fears of Twins fans were confirmed today when the Twins announced that Pat Neshek will miss the 2009 season due to a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. The only good thing about the timing is that the Twins now know entering free agency that they won't get anything out of Neshek, which means there is plenty of time to design the bullpen without him. Clearly, I'd rather have Neshek available, because when pitching well he's capable of being a phenomenal setup man for the team. I wish him the best of luck in his recovery, and hope he's ready to bounce onto the field when the new stadium opens up in 2010.

Guess That "Maybe" Was Apt . . .

So when I wrote about Adam Everett being cut earlier today, I used the title "Bye Bye Adam Everett . . . Maybe". I did it solely because Everett was given the option by the Twins of accepting a minor league assignment -- so there was a limited chance that he would still be in the organization. Tonight, Joe Christensen is reporting that Everett isn't just sticking around -- he's rejoining the Twins.

The reason is incredibly unfortunate -- Alexi Casilla, one of the Twins spark plugs this season, has a torn thumb ligament and may be out for the rest of the year. With Matt Tolbert not yet ready to return, that left the Twins with a legitimate need for Everett's services. We'll see how he performs now that he's back, but it's fairly clear that the Twins would be much better off with Casilla on the roster.

Bye Bye Adam Everett . . . Maybe

As most of you have probably seen by now, the Twins have cut Adam Everett. They had to make some sort of decision on what to do with him, as his 20-day rehab stint was up. I don't think there's a big need to go into much analysis on this issue -- Everett was dead weight ever since being signed, and I doubt there are many fans out there who are upset with this decision.

The Twins supposedly would like Everett to accept a demotion to AAA, but I doubt that he'll do so. He has 72 hours, and I personally hope he decides to search for greener pastures. There had been some discussion that the Dodgers might be interested (Buster Olney suggested just this morning that a trade was possible), but at this point the market for him is likely to be so small that anyone seriously interested will probably just wait to see if he ends up on the open market. Any returns in a trade would probably not be worth much, in any case.

Of significantly more concern is the fact that Alexi Casilla is off to get an MRI on his thumb. As much as I've been touting the recent solid performance of Nick Punto, I certainly don't want to see him getting playing time because Casilla is hurt. Hopefully this will turn into a "couple of days" thing instead of a nagging injury that necessitates a trip to the DL.

Now, let's hope the Twins can follow up last night's excellent game with another win to guarantee at worst a series split. Go Twins!

Punto Back to the DL

Joe Christensen is reporting that Nick Punto is heading back to the DL, and Matt Macri is back with the team after having spent all of a few hours on optional assignment. Since Macri hadn't yet flown out of the Twin Cities, he'll be able to rejoin the team immediately. I see this as bad news for the Twins -- with only three bench players, Punto could have been an integral player because of his flexibility. Macri doesn't have the flexibility or big league experience to fill that kind of role for the team. I'll be curious to see if this changes the team's mind about sticking with 13 pitchers.

Nightly Notes: Game #47

It's sort of frustrating when momentum turns and it feels like you're going to win a ballgame that you by all rights should lose, only to see the momentum switch back again and deny you the unexpected victory. That's exactly what happened to the Twins today, and it's frustrating. You can't really blame the bullpen, though -- this was mostly on Livan. Here are some notes:

1.) As Joe C. reported this morning, Adam Everett is heading back to the disabled list with a right shoulder strain. In his place the Twins are calling up Matt Macri, who you may recall was acquired from the Colorado Rockies last August in exchange for Ramon Ortiz. To think that the Twins were able to spin Ortiz not just into a player that they felt comfortable adding to the 40-man roster, but someone who is actually going to make it to the big leagues, is rather remarkable.

The Twins didn't have a lot of other choices that were desirable. I've been advocating for Brian Buscher to get called back up, but with both Nick Punto and Matt Tolbert out, that wouldn't really work -- the Twins would have only Alexi Casilla and Brendan Harris to legitimately play in the middle infield, and that's just not feasible. Chris Basak could have been added to the roster can called up, but he's more roster filler than a guy with a legit shot at being used in the big leagues. Same for Sergio Santos. A lot of people were pushing for either Luke Hughes or Trevor Plouffe to be called up from AA, and there was even some breathless speculation that since Plouffe wasn't in the Rock Cats lineup today and Hughes was, Plouffe was getting the call. As it turns out, sometimes a day off is just a day off. While I think Hughes deserves a promotion to AAA and Plouffe is having a very nice offensive season, I didn't want to see either of them in the big leagues right now, because the jump from AA to AAA just seems to be too much. Adding in the fact that Macri was already on the 40-man roster, and his callup was pretty much inevitable.

I look forward to seeing Macri make his big league debut, and am very interested to see what kinds of lineups Gardy puts together over the next 10 days or so while Nick Punto gets healthy.

2.) Ten hits and two walks in 5.1 innings for Livan today. That's much worse even than 2007 Livan! I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this -- as has already been established, Livan will have days like this. We just have to deal with it, and at least the lineup was able to bail him out by tying the game up late.

3.) Matt Guerrier wasn't very good today, giving up 2 hits and 3 walks in 1.2 innings. I'm also not going to belabor this point, but Guerrier really needs to step up. With Juan Rincon firmly out of contention for a role of any importance and no one else really stepping up (well, except for Bobby Korecky!), the Twins need Guerrier to take on a leadership role. On the plus side, the Twins got a good inning of work out of Jesse Crain, who needed just 11 pitches to get through the 8th. Maybe he'll be able to settle into a groove. Someone, anyone, has to step up and start acting like a setup man.

4.) Carlos Gomez is good. I remember prior to the Santana trade I said that the Twins needed to acquire a center fielder who could immediately step in and make a difference. The only way they could get a player like that was to trade Johan, and that's one of the reasons I was strongly in favor of a trade. I really, really doubted whether Carlos Gomez could fill that role and immediately make an impact for this team, but nearly two months into the season I don't think there's any question that he's been a huge catalyst for this team and is one of the biggest reasons (along with Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau) that this team is hovering around .500. What I really appreciate is that, while Gomez still occasionally looks very raw, he's improved dramatically since the start of the season. It seems (although the sample size is small) that he's learning quickly and well. I'm incredibly excited about his future.

5.) With Alexi Casilla once again playing regularly at 2B is whether or not he'll end up staying there or whether this is a short-term thing until Nick Punto gets back. I know the Twins like him at shortstop, but I wonder whether or not his ticket to staying in the big leagues might not still be at second base. We'll see whether he keeps playing reasonably well -- if he can't keep the batting average above .250 (and it's at .278 now, so all is good for the moment), then it won't be a question the team needs to worry about. If he plays well, though, mightn't he be left in place as the Twins starting second baseman?

6.) Cuddyer needed a good game, and he responded with a 2-for-4 performance and a couple of walks. It's a nice start, but he has a lot of work to do if he's going to dig himself out of the giant hole he's in with his batting average.

7.) Anybody else feel heartbroken after the Lakers comeback last night? I don't particularly like the Spurs, but I've never liked the Lakers and I want so badly for them to not make it to the NBA Finals. I actually (somewhat surprisingly) find myself rooting for the Celtics overall this year -- I say surprisingly because the city of Boston has had way too much sporting success over the last five years or so, and yet here I am rooting for the Celtics. I guess I'd just like to see KG get a ring. I have to admit, incidentally, that a Lakers-Celtics finals would be awfully interesting -- so long as Boston won.

8.) Go Pens! Also, who in the NHL was responsible for scheduling the finals directly against the NBA's Eastern Conference finals? I heard Tirico and Van Pelt talking about this either yesterday or the day before on ESPN Radio, and they too were incredulous. You would think something could have been moved around when it became clear that two Detroit teams were going to be involved in this thing.

Recent Transaction Thoughts

In what may be an impending sign of the apocalypse, the Twins were forced to purchase the contract of veteran Howie Clark from Rochester yesterday after Matt Tolbert went on the 15-day DL with a torn left thumb ligament. As La Velle Neal put it in his Strib column, "the pickings [in Rochester] were slim" since Alexi Casilla was already up and Matt Macri is on the minor league DL.

I don't completely disagree with La Velle -- the pickings are indeed slim in the Rochester infield -- but I think that, for the reasons I've mentioned previously, the Twins didn't necessarily need a middle infielder. Brian Buscher could have been called up if the Twins had decided to go in that direction. I don't think that Clark gives them all that much more flexibility than Busher would have. Tolbert, of course, is flexible enough to play 2B, 3B, or SS as needed. Clark is pretty much a 2B/3B guy, while Buscher is known more as a 1B/3B. With Alexi Casilla on the roster and able to play 2B or SS as needed, however, I wouldn't be all that worried about having yet another 2B on the team.

Clark is a perfectly serviceable minor league backup, I suppose -- he's a career .262 big league hitter -- so I probably shouldn't complain so much. Buscher, after all, isn't a major prospect who is somehow being harmed by spending time in the minors. I'm just not all that excited about the possibility of a Mike Lamb/Adam Everett/Howie Clark infield. That said, I hope he performs well while he's with the team, and until Tolbert knows the extent of his injury, who knows how long that will be?

Finally, La Velle also noted that the Twins recently claimed Sergio Santos off waivers from the Blue Jays. My first reaction is "why," and my second reaction is "holy crap, the roster is back to 40 guys!". As to the "why," Santos is a career .249 hitter in the minor leagues, and I'm not so sure he's ever going to improve on that. He also doesn't appear to have any real speed -- he's been getting about 2 steals in 400+ AB's the last few years -- so he's not an asset there. His fielding percentages don't appear to be all that outstanding, but I'm sure many of you are aware of how difficult it is to actually measure fielding, so I'll leave that one alone. This just seems like a perplexing waiver claim, on par with the claim of Chris Basak from the Yankees last year. While Basak is still in the organization, he's playing poorly in Rochester and is unlikely ever to really contribute. It seems the Twins higher-ups are of the opinion that the team is lacking infield depth, and is grabbing players like Santos to try to remedy that. It should also be noted (for those of you who care) that this is Santos' third option year. He was originally added to the D'Backs 40-man roster in November 2005, and was then traded to the Blue Jays in December of that year. He has subsequently been optioned in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

As to the roster, it's been a bit surprising that the Twins have gone for weeks with just 38 guys on the 40-man roster. That is no longer the case, with Clark and Santos being added. As has been pointed out elsewhere, however, that doesn't mean the Twins don't have some flexibility if needed -- Pat Neshek can be placed on the 60-Day DL whenever (and if ever) the team needs to open up another roster spot.

Twins Players Dropping Like Flies: UPDATED

For the last few days, Nick Punto has been nursing a hamstring issue and has been unable to play. Now, we find out from Joe Christensen at the Strib that Punto is headed to the DL since the injury isn't getting any better. With Brendan Harris also nursing a leg injury, the Twins will be rather short-handed again tonight.

I know that many Twins fans completely gave up on Punto after last year's debacle. As has almost certainly been apparent to those of you who read this blog on a semi-regular occasion, I am not amongst that group. While I long ago conceded that he shouldn't be starting every day, I think his versatility and strength defensively is an asset to the team, as is his speed and (as unquantifiable as this is) his energy and heart. In my mind, he belongs on the roster to fill exactly the role that he has filled this season, and I'm disappointed to see him get hurt.

The Twins have not yet announced who will be called up from Rochester to replace Punto on the roster, but it seems pretty likely that it will be Brian Buscher, who of course was just with the team during Adam Everett's stint on the DL. If the Twins didn't have Matt Tolbert on the roster, they might have to consider calling up a player who could more naturally play at shortstop. Tolbert obviates that need, however, and Buscher seems like the logical choice because of relative big league experience and his success in AAA so far this season. As much as some fans might like to see Alexi Casilla at the big league level again, he's having a terrible year at the plate, and it seems to make a lot more sense to keep him playing every day in AAA. We should find out during or after the game what move the Twins have actually made. If it's in any way surprising, I'll comment further.

UPDATE: Joe C. is reporting that Alexi Casilla was scratched from his scheduled start for the Red Wings tonight, making him the likely callup. I confess to being a bit underwhelmed by this decision -- as I mentioned earlier, Casilla has not played well for the Red Wings. On the other hand, Casilla is more like Nick Punto than Brian Buscher is, and Buscher hasn't been playing so well that he had to be called up in this kind of situation. Best case scenario, I suppose, is that Casilla gets some playing time and plays well enough to get his confidence up and to regain his status as a top prospect in the organization. It felt throughout the spring like he kept taking steps backward, and for the most part that seems to have continued in Rochester. Maybe this will be a chance to turn things around.

Neshek to the DL

If you're watching the game, you just heard the news about Pat Neshek -- and unfortunately it isn't good. Neshek apparently has a torn muscle (Ok, the TV guys lie -- I guess it's a partially torn UCL) in his arm and will miss at least a couple of months (make that an absolute minimum of 3 months and probably the rest of the season). This is kind of what I think most of us feared yesterday when we saw the injury, because when a pitcher winces and grabs his arm the way Neshek did the news usually isn't good.

While I haven't yet heard any plans about what the Twins will do to replace Neshek, I'll reiterate what I said last night -- for the immediate future, I would guess that Neshek will go on the DL after the game and Glen Perkins will be activated to make tomorrow's start. That would leave Bobby Korecky on the roster, and I would presume he'll stay there until (at a minimum) Scott Baker is activated.

At that point, if Perkins has pitched adequately in the couple of starts he's going to receive, my guess is that he'll replace Korecky in the bullpen. Of course, if the Twins decide that Perkins is more important as a starter they may return him to AAA so that he gets regular work. That would probably leave Korecky in the 'pen, although other AAA pitchers like Julio DePaula, Ricky Barrett, and Carmen Cali could potentially be considered I suppose.

The other question is how the Twins will structure the bullpen. Obviously, Joe Nathan is still the closer -- but who is his setup man? The most likely answer would seem to be Matt Guerrier, who has pitched reasonably well this year. That means Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain will usually be left to handle the 7th with a lead on the line -- although I think Gardy will be very flexible (as he should be) and use whoever makes sense in the circumstances at hand.

As I said yesterday, while I'm disappointed that Neshek is hurt, I don't think that this dooms the Twins. They've been winning despite the fact that most of the bullpen has been underperforming (Joe Nathan being the obvious exception), and I don't think that's going to change. Hopefully Guerrier, Crain, and Rincon can step up and handle the pressure of pitching in more intense situations. So long as the Twins offense performs, I think the team will be fine.

Best wishes to Pat as he recuperates.

Another One Bites the Dust . . .

It wasn't exactly unexpected, but Dennys Reyes went on the DL today, retroactive to May 21 (which means he'll be eligible to come off on June 5). To replace him in the bullpen, the Twins purchased the contract of lefty Jason Miller. In order to make room for him on the 40-man roster, the Twins transferred Alejandro Machado from the 15-Day DL to the 60-Day DL. If another player needs to be added to the roster anytime soon, Jesse Crain could also be transferred to the 60-Day DL. Before I go on to talk about Miller, let me just run through the list of players who are now with the Twins who started the season with Red Wings:

1 - Scott Baker
2 - Carmen Cali
3 - Julio DePaula
4 - Jason Miller
5 - Glen Perkins (DL)
6 - Josh Rabe (DL)

Chris Heintz is the honorary 7th member of that list, because while he broke camp with the Twins, he was in most respects a AAA guy who just happened to be in the right place at the right time to start the season with the Twins. That's really a remarkable list, because it speaks to just how desperate the Twins have been at times. Of course, this is unlikely to be the end of the call-ups for the season -- and if Jason Bartlett has to go on the DL, there could be another one very soon.

Now, back to Miller. Who is Jason Miller? Well, for starters he's a 24-year-old lefty who is now in his eighth season in the Twins organization. He was drafted out of Sarasota High School in 4th round of the 2000 draft, and has been making his way through the organization ever since. In fact, Miller has never taken a step backwards in the organization: he was with Elizabethton in 2000 and 2001 (except for 2 games in the GCL to start his career in 2000); moved up to Quad Cities in 2002 and the first part of 2003; earned a promotion to Ft. Myers during the 2003 season and stayed there for the first part of 2004; went to New Britain to finish that season and had a great start to 2005 there; and finally moved up in the second half of 2005 to Rochester where he's been ever since.

Miller has, for the most part, been a very solid Minor League ballplayer, putting up identical 3.81 ERA's in his 2 previous years with Rochester (although through many more innings in 2006). This season, he's posted a 2.84 ERA in 25.1 innings over 10 games. Somewhat troubling, however, is his weak 10-9 K-BB. This is somewhat uncharacteristic for Miller, who has a career K-BB split of 507-199; clearly, he's been more than a 1:1 K-BB guy over the course of his career. Hopefully he can get guys out at the big league level despite this troubling development.

I'm excited for Miller's debut, which should come sometime over the weekend. As a minor-league veteran, he has finally made his way onto the 40-man roster and now can concentrate on trying to move forward into the next phase of his career. My expectations for Miller are not high -- but that should make them easy to exceed, and hopefully he will do so. Good luck, Jason!

Twins Call Up Cali

News came down today that the Twins have placed Glen Perkins on the 15-day DL with his muscle problem, and have replaced him by purchasing the contract of LHP Carmen Cali. The Twins 40-man roster was sitting at 39 after the release of Sidney Ponson, so Cali's addition brings the team back to having a full roster. If further additions to the roster are needed, both Jesse Crain and Alejandro Machado could be moved to the 60-day DL.

I'm a little surprised by the decision to call up Cali instead of Ricky Barrett, but the fact that Barrett has only pitched in 6 games since coming off of the disabled list and has no Major League experience probably were involved. Cali has been solid this season, posting a 2-0 record and a 2.70 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP in 16.2 innings. Of some note, however, is the fact that he has just 5 K's and 6 BB's this year, which is not only a bad ratio, it's simply not very strong in absolute number terms either.
Cali last pitched in the big leagues in 2005, when he made it into 6 games for the Cardinals. He pitched in 10 games for St. Louis in 2004. His career MLB numbers are not good -- 9.45 ERA, 2.63 WHIP, 13-12 K-BB. Hopefully, he'll be able to turn this around this time through, and maybe make things interesting for Julio DePaula when Glen Perkins comes back.

Finally, who would have guessed during Spring Training that Carmen Cali would end up playing for the Twins while Mike Venafro and Randy Choate, two veteran lefties, never did? Life can be funny that way. Good luck to Carmen, and hopefully the Twins can stem the tide of player injuries soon. One last note -- I haven't seen any news about it happening yet, but the Red Wings were carrying just 11 pitchers when Cali was called up, so they're short at least one guy in the bullpen. I would guess that another AA pitcher is about to get a promotion -- and that guy might be a member of the Twins 40-man roster, lefty Jose Mijares, who has a 3.20 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in 19.2 innings this season for the Rock Cats.

Mauer to the DL

It hasn't been made officially official yet, but it's as close as it can be -- Joe Mauer is headed to the Disabled List with a strained left quad, further depleting an offense that has been unable to put much of anything significant together. Chris Heintz will be rejoining the Twins, and should get a chance to start a few games while he's up. The Twins have to hope that Mauer recovers quickly and is able to return to the lineup when his 15 day are up, because removing him from the lineup (even in place of Redmond, who at least last year hit for a decent average) makes the Twins a significantly worse team.

The really interesting question will be what Gardy does with the lineup once Cuddyer comes back in (and all signs are that that will be on Tuesday). Torii Hunter fits in that 3rd spot well, in my opinion, and I would like to Justin Morneau slot into the cleanup spot, Michael Cuddyer in the five hole, and Jason Kubel in the 6 in order to give a solid R-L-R-L attack. Also, Morneau has been struggling -- so why not give him the protection of having Cuddyer hitting behind him? This makes a lot more sense to me than going R-R-L-L -- but we'll have to see what the Twins end up thinking.

Incidentally, while there's never a good time to lose a player like Mauer to the DL, this might be the worst possible time -- the Twins have a horrific schedule in May, and this is going to make it just that much harder to sneak by with a few good wins. It could be a long couple of weeks, with the Twins needing to rely even more than normal on their pitching.

Punto's OK

It appears that the MRI on Nick Punto's left ankle has indicated that he has nothing more serious than a swollen sprained ankle, and that he shouldn't need more than another game or two off to recover fully. The Twins are selling this as good news, and I tend to agree -- I think Punto is a much better hitter than his current .132 batting average would suggest. Even if you aren't a Punto fan, you have to admit that the options to replace him in the lineup were rather limited with Jeff Cirillo on the DL. For now, then, my post below discussing the Twins options should Punto need to go on the DL has been mooted, but I think it's a useful guide for what would happen if Punto should get injured again before Cirillo heals.

Multiple Roster Moves

I commented on this in the Nightly Notes post immediately below, but it's a big enough deal that I thought it deserved its own post as well. In case you hadn't yet heard, both Jeff Cirillo and Rondell White have been placed on the disabled list. These moves both needed to happen -- the Twins have been significantly limited over the last few days, and that just couldn't continue.

First, the good news: Josh Rabe, who I think is a heckuva ball player, is back on the 40-man roster and should get a chance to play quite a bit over the next couple of weeks. My hope is that Rabe hits a bunch and makes the Twins have to think a little bit about keeping Lew Ford on the roster when he gets healthy. He proved last year that he's capable of hitting at the big league level, so let's hope he can do it again.

Now, the somewhat baffling news. When the Twins sent Alexi Casilla to Rochester at the end of spring training, they justified the decision (rightfully so) by saying that Casilla needed to play every day. I'm not sure what changed over the last couple of weeks, but nonetheless, the Twins have called him up. I would have gone with Mike Venafro to add some pitching depth, but the Twins obviously thought it made sense to go in another direction.

While I'm opposed to the move generally, I don't think it's terrible. Two weeks on the bench (which is likely to be about all Casilla spends at the big league level on this stint) isn't going to hold back his development too much, and there is no question that he'll give the Twins more options off the bench with his speed. Somewhat surprisingly, then, I find myself not being as upset by this move as I thought I would be when I first read about it, at least so long as it doesn't drag out for a month with Casilla doing nothing more than pinch running every couple of games.

Joe Mauer

UPDATE: La Velle Neal is suggesting that the Twins believe that Mauer will be able to get back into the lineup by next week, and should be in the lineup for opening day. This is great news (so long as it holds up), and indicates that the injury was closer to a bone bruise or bone sprain than anything more serious. Good job by Mauer of alerting the training staff immediately. For posterity sake, I'll leave the original post up so you can see my initial thoughts on this injury.

Original Post

La Velle E. Neal of the Star Tribune is reporting that Joe Mauer has been diagnosed with a "stress reaction" in his left fibula. He is set to be re-evaluated on Sunday, and will be treated with a bone stimulator and physical therapy. So, what exactly is a stress reaction, and what is the significance of the injury? Keep in mind that I'm no doctor, and that any information I have is sheer speculation aided by some light google research.

For starters, stress reactions are a kind of bone injury that fall somewhere between bone strains (which are usually non-painful) and stress fractures (which are quite painful). Untreated, stress reactions will develop into stress fractures. The most important method of treatment for someone with a stress reaction of the fibula would be to keep that person off of his leg to allow it time to heal. The fact that this injury was caught fairly early, before it developed into a stress fracture, is significant.

Every bone injury is different, so there is no way to know how long Mauer will miss while this heals. However, because of the nature of the injury, the Twins will need to be very careful and be certain that the injury has healed before they allow him to return to his catching duties. Something he's been doing has been putting undue strain on the fibula, resulting in the stress reaction. Typically, these kinds of leg injuries are the result of running on hard ground with insufficient padding in the shoes. However, I imagine there are a number of people out there who are wondering if catching could be partly to blame. If so, the cries of people like my friend Marty Andrade, who has been calling for Mauer to move to third base for some time, may be more likely to be heard.

So how long will Mauer miss? It's impossible to tell, really, but there are some possible indications available. Actual stress fractures can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks to heal properly, so I think it's safe to say that 6 weeks is an absolute outside bound for Mauer's injury, since he has the less severe stress reaction. At the worst, then, we could probably expect to see Mauer miss all of April, and possibly be asked to rehab for a week or so to get back in the groove before returning sometime in early May.

But could he be back sooner? That depends on how bad the injury really is. Once again, these kinds of injuries lie on a continuum between mere bone bruises or bone sprains, which typically heal relatively quickly and probably wouldn't keep a player out for more than a week, to the very serious stress fractures, which take up to 12 weeks to heal. If Mauer's injury is closer to a bone bruise or bone sprain, then we could be talking just 2 or 3 weeks that he'd be out.

Bottom Line: I expect Mauer to miss the start of the season, being out for at least the first two weeks. And frankly, I want the Twins to be as cautious with him as possible. Take a month if you have to, just get him healthy before he returns. And if smart people in white coats tell you that this was caused by squatting down to catch (which may or may not even be possible, so let's not jump the gun here) . . . consider buying him a third baseman's glove. It also means that Mike Redmond will be getting the bulk of the catching duties at the start of the season, and that Chris Heintz is very likely to make the big league club as Redmond's early season backup.