Pitchers and Catchers Report in 30 Days!

[softball guy]

Love this time of year for baseball chat. New players, new uniforms, renewed hope!

[weimy froob]

looking forward to the baseball season no matter what. mentioned to hornets to let me know when the pitchers and catchers report in the january rain thread. now i know.

[Tommy_Hawk]

What pitchers?

[weimy froob]

a month away from the first spring training game.

[softball guy]

I'll be at the game at JetBlu on March 23rd!

[weimy froob]

[Hornets]

I am getting psyched for the season Weimy...how bout you??

[weimy froob]

I am getting psyched for the season Weimy...how bout you??

yep. enjoy the grind of the baseball season and hope springs eternal in february/march as well.

[Hornets]

I am getting psyched for the season Weimy...how bout you??

yep. enjoy the grind of the baseball season and hope springs eternal in february/march as well.

If this Twins squad somehow stays relatively healthy I think it will be a fun season!

[Hornets]

I am getting psyched for the season Weimy...how bout you??

yep. enjoy the grind of the baseball season and hope springs eternal in february/march as well.

If this Twins squad somehow stays relatively healthy I think it will be a fun season!

[weimy froob]

Twins pitcher Randy Dobnak seeks to salvage career after freak finger injuries
Dobnak didn't pitch in the majors last season after suffering the second of two finger injuries that aren't all that unusual — if you're a rock-climber.

FORT MYERS, FLA. — Randy Dobnak has a clear memory of the most recent Twins game in which he was engaged. It was last April against the Rays in St. Petersburg.

"My wife and I and some friends drove up and sat in the stands," the 28-year-old righthander said. "We got tickets near the bullpen, and I was chirping at all the guys out there. It was fun."

Just not as much fun as actually pitching, something Dobnak has done in a Twins uniform only once in the past 20 months. But it's something he believes will happen again this season, once he proves he's healthy and effective again.

"I have all the confidence in the world. I know what I'm capable of," Dobnak said. "Just having the opportunity again kind of fuels me."

His once-promising career — "Just two springs ago, he broke camp throwing the ball about as well as anybody we had," recalls Derek Falvey, the Twins president of baseball operations — has been derailed by the tiniest of injuries, to the point where Dobnak isn't even on the 40-man roster anymore.

Two minuscule ligaments called pulleys in his right middle finger, the tissue that anchors the tendons close to the bone, have ruptured over the past two years, an injury common among rock climbers, but exceedingly rare in ballplayers. The result was a sharp pain when he put pressure on that finger — for instance, when throwing a baseball.

"I've watched rock climbers online have it happen, and it sounds like a rubber band snapping," Dobnak said. "Mine didn't do that, but it just started hurting worse and worse."

He couldn't throw his heavy sinker, his best pitch, as effectively in 2021, and finally couldn't pitch at all. Last spring, after a winter of rehabbing the injury, he showed up at spring training camp feeling healthy, "and on the first day, it started hurting in a different spot. We got an MRI on it, it showed nothing wrong, and I was like, 'Damn, they'll think I'm lying,' " Dobnak said. "I played catch again and said, yeah, it does not feel right. We got another MRI, and it was completely ruptured. 'Oh, now it's completely gone.'"

That cost him another entire season, though the pain eased enough by mid-August for him to make 11 appearances in the minors, though with significant control problems. And his finger, though not as flexible or strong as it once was, has been pain-free all winter.

"I think we're way over the hump now. I've been down here for a month. I threw live Friday, that was probably my 10th bullpen," Dobnak said. "I've been slinging it fine."

He's learning to compensate for the damaged finger, and has found a way, for instance, to create more horizontal break on a slider than before, which could be useful. His sinker "is still a work in progress," he said, "but the numbers show it's coming along."

The Twins like those numbers, Falvey said, and expect Dobnak to start the season in St. Paul, re-establishing himself as a viable option for the Twins.

"We're cautiously optimistic that this is a real opportunity for him to get it going again. Right now, the goal is less about getting back to the big leagues right away, and just getting healthy, getting his pitches to do what they did before."

Until then, Dobnak lives with the irony of avoiding common pitching injuries — but succumbing to a rare one.

"At first, I told myself, 'good thing it's not my elbow or shoulder.' But now I wish it was my elbow — [doctors] know how to treat Tommy John [injuries]," he mused. "Maybe I'll get back and they'll name this one after me. 'That guy's hurt, he got the Dobnak last year.'"

[Tommy_Hawk]

Well our season is saved if Uber is coming of the IL.

[weimy froob]

[Tommy_Hawk]

Is Kenta active? Any word on his status?

[feekdogg]

First injury in the books as Jordan Balazovic got his jaw broken in an off-site "altercation".

[Tommy_Hawk]

First injury in the books as Jordan Balazovic got his jaw broken in an off-site "altercation".

Did he get into a fight over a girl with his new catcher (player to be named later)?

[DMB]

First injury in the books as Jordan Balazovic got his jaw broken in an off-site "altercation".

He seems like a wuss to get clocked and not fight back.

[Hoop Dreams]

[Hoop Dreams]

[feekdogg]

Split squad to kick off Spring ball. Nick Gordon lead off triple against Baltimore, Austin Martin sac fly for a one-run lead.

Maeda gave up a leadoff double vs. Tampa, but retired the next three.

Championship incoming!

[Hoop Dreams]

Joey Gallo - 2 for 2 today!!

[Bob Wiley]

Love this time of year for baseball chat. New players, new uniforms, renewed hope!

Will the twins have a major league level pitching staff this year?

[weimy froob]

i'll just put this here because there is a pitcher and catcher in the vid.

[weimy froob]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

the other side of the coin.

[jffl_commish]

It's comical that it's come to this, but it's the players own damn fault that it has.

[Tommy_Hawk]

It's comical that it's come to this, but it's the players own damn fault that it has.

Yankees–Red Sox rivaly in the 2000's has a lot to do with this. Every game was nationally televised and after every pitch, the batters left the box to adjust their cup. All the guys playing now grew up watching them and began to mimic their dumb idiosyncrasies.

[Ask Not]

It's comical that it's come to this, but it's the players own damn fault that it has.

Agreed. There were plenty of .300 hitters and 40 hr guys back when they never stepped out of the box during an at bat. Get up there to see ball, hit ball. They go slow because the game moved that way, not because it's necessary.

[feekdogg]

3 games in the books. Twins have given up 10 runs in 2 of 3.

[Hornets]

3 games in the books. Twins have given up 10 runs in 2 of 3.

Emergency call to Wes Johnson in play?

[weimy froob]

Joey Gallo can't escape the shift, even after MLB's ban
The Twins outfielder still had to hit against a shift in spring training