Cuddyer day-to-day with finger injury
Posted on June 28th, 2008 – 2:54 PMBy Joe Christensen
The Twins will try for their 11th win in a row tonight.
Joe Mauer is back in the lineup, but Alexi Casilla won’t start, and Michael Cuddyer is getting a break.
Updates to come…
Update (4:15 p.m.): Cuddyer has an injured left index finger. He will see team orthopedist Dan Buss before tonight’s game but is not taking batting practice and not expected to play.
Cuddyer said he has been dealing with the injury for two weeks, though this is the worst the finger has felt. The training staff believes he has an inflamed tendon.
This is not the same finger that Cuddyer injured in April. That was his right index finger.
Cuddyer’s pain was evident in his final at-bat Friday, though he did deliver a single.
* Casilla said he hoped to play tonight but woke up with more swelling in his injured finger than he expected.
“I know I’m going to play [Sunday],” Casilla said.
Update (4:30 p.m.): I hope to have a better update after Dr. Buss gets done checking on Cuddyer. For now, Cuddyer isn’t sure if he’ll have an MRI.
He said the finger hurts, even when he’s not bending it. But he can bend it, and he noted that he wouldn’t be able to bend the finger if the tendon was torn. So it could just be inflammation.
“I’ve definitely been dealing with it the past couple weeks, but it never was as bad as it was today,” Cuddyer said. “It’s just been sore. Today, I can’t play with it.”
Update (4:55 p.m.): Manager Ron Gardenhire said: “[Cuddyer] can’t swing. Tried some swings, and he keeps flying off all the time. So that’s not good news. The way I understand it right now, it’s day-to-day.
“That’s what they think it is, an inflamed tendon in his index finger that runs right down through the middle of his hand. He can’t grip the bat, so that doesn’t bode well for playing baseball.”
Update (6:10 p.m.): Dr. Dan Buss diagnosed Cuddyer with a strained tendon in the left index finger, and Cuddyer will be re-evaluated on Sunday. For now, there are no plans for an MRI exam. Cuddyer is still day-to-day.
Brewers (43-36)
1. Rickie Weeks, 2B
2. J.J. Hardy, SS
3. Ryan Braun, LF
4. Prince Fielder, DH
5. Corey Hart, RF
6. Russell Branyan, 1B
7. Bill Hall, 3B
8. Mike Cameron, CF
9. Jason Kendall, C
Starting pitcher: LH Manny Parra
Twins (44-36)
1. Carlos Gomez, CF
2. Nick Punto, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Craig Monroe, DH
6. Jason Kubel, RF
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Brian Buscher, 3B
9. Brendan Harris, SS
Starting pitcher: RH Livan Hernandez
Metrodome. First pitch: 6:10 p.m.
111 Responses to "Cuddyer day-to-day with finger injury"
If Monroe is going to be effective then he’ll need occasional at bats. Plus Cuddy doesn’t get many nights off so hopefully this is a good move.
Go for 11 baby!
Joe. How long until Boof is released and Liriano is promoted?
Boof wont be getting released. Traded? I guess it’s possible, but not imminent.
Interesting that Cuddyer gets “rested” vs a LHP. Maybe he’ll be giving away the little Cuddyer “walker” toys that are tonight’s promotional item.
No way they’d even think about releasing Boof, he’s got the stuff to be a #2/#3 starter….and sooner or later he’s bound to put it together, similar to what Lohse is doing this year. If anyone is released to make room for Liriano it’ll be Bass.
Nobody is getting released to make room for anybody. Liriano will stay at AAA until one of the current staff goes on the DL.
No one is going to get released.
If the starters with options remaining don’t falter, Liriano is going to have to force the Twins hands to make a trade but he’s going to have to earn his spot. It’s a good place to be.
That move to the bullpen for Boof hasn’t exactly been going good. His era is something like 10 since it happened. I don’t think it would hurt Liriano to be the long reliever/spot starter. We are in a pennant race. We need our best pitchers on the 25 man roster.
I don’t think they’ll trade Boof when his value’s so low, and I definitely don’t think they’ll release him. You don’t cut a guy that young with his kind of talent. He’s done everything the organization has asked and had a great attitude about it. He lost 30 pounds this offseason, and hasn’t complained about his move to the bullpen. He’s taken everything in stride, and I imagine that Rick Anderson is trying like hell to get Boof back on track.
I think if any starter is shipped off, it’d be Hernandez, but you know how Gardy loves his “veteran presence” in the rotation. I agree that the younger pitchers can learn things from him, but eventually, Bill Smith has to take notice of the fact that this team is a legit contender and give them the best chance to win every single game. Livan Hernandez just flat out doesn’t do that. His last two starts have been good, but they’ve come against two pitiful offenses. He’s leading the majors in hits allowed, his ERA is up over 5; he just plain doesn’t have the stuff to help this team win.
You can toss out whatever numbers you want about the percentage of his starts that the Twins have won, but does anyone think he really has much to do with that? The offense has bailed Livan out numerous times after he’s surrendered a 6-spot through or 5 innings to go along with double-digit hits. I don’t care if he’s got the most wins. He’s also got the highest ERA of anyone in our rotation by about a full run. I can’t imagine that anyone’s comfortable with Livan being on the hill tonight against an offense like Milwaukee.
We have given Boof three plus years. He will tease you with a few good games and then return to his below average form for long stretches. Take out his strikeout numbers and his stats are pretty bad.
Three plus years? Two years ago he had just made his Major League debut.
We gave Baker a long leash, and look how that panned out. He was terrible for awhile.
Boof has about 350 career innings. Not even close to “three plus years.”
My mistake but Boof still isn’t getting done and I predict that Liriano will come up in the next couple of weeks or early August. Somebody has to go.
I think Bass has been better than Boof and Livan is too much of a playoff tested vet to trade.
2B Rickie Weeks
SS JJ Hardy
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
RF Corey Hart
1B Russell Branyan
3B Bill Hall
CF Mike Cameron
C Jason Kendall
http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/06/28/prince-dh-branyan-to-1b.aspx
sorry,
Prince is the DH
Russell the muscle at first.
interesting
So you want to toss out meaningless numbers like win-loss? I don’t recall MLB letting teams into the postseason by ERA. Cry all you want about hits or ERA, but Hernandez keeps putting up the innings and giving the bullpen a rest. He is a contact pitcher and gets out of many jams. Perhaps that gives our offense confidence that they have the whole 9 innings to get back into a game and therefore they never give up and we just plain outscore the opponent when Hernandez pitches. No matter the reason, if the team won as many games with the other starters in there we would be cruising to a division title. And I am confident with Livan on the hill against power hitting Milwaukee, because Milwaukee swings for the fences with pitches around the plate. Livan will mix and match pitches all night and keep the Brewers off balance. It’s called “pitching”, and it’s what Livan does best. He does better against a team like this rather than a team that settles for many, many singles against him.
boof won’t get released. He has got great stuff, costs nothing. makes little over minimum. you don’t release cheap pitching.. look at silva’s numbers at 48 million.. perry learn something about baseball. pitching is most important, you never can have enough. same reason boof won’t get traded.. be like giving away. rincon different he was making 2.5 mil compared to 400 thousand. You don’t just look for this pennant race but for the future 5 years.
I agree that you wait until a pitcher goes on the DL, then bring up Liriano. Pitchers are always getting tweaked here and there, it won’t be long. Way to early to think about just releasing Boof. And I also agree about the good attitude and doing what you’ve been asked thing. A positive attitude and “team first” attitude go a long ways in this business.
If we keep Boof, that still doesn’t solve how to get Liriano up here for the pennant run. Liriano seems to have gotten things figured out.
Teams on a 10 game winning streak and we’re looking for ways to get a guy up from the minors because he’s gotten things figured out. God, this is such a great problem to be talking about. They team has exceeded my expectations for the first half of the year that’s for sure. You obviously don’t make a move right now anyway with the all star break coming. And when a team is winning as much as we are lately some deserving guys in the minors are just going to have to wait their turn or for another injury on the major league squad. Chemistry on the team is finally just right. And when chemistry is going well the boys are happy. And happy players equals loose players. And loose players equals good players. You can’t discount the pressure and nerviousness moving from AAA to the majors. I think I’m ok with standing pat for the next couple weeks anyway.
So Perry you say that Liriano has it figured out and we need him up here for the pennant run? Earlier you said we should bring him up and have him as a long reliever/spot starter. Thank god your not our GM. If Liriano is ready which he is not as of right now he is going to the front of the rotation. You don’t have a pithcer with the best stuff on your staff as a long reliever. Those roles are for the Brian Bass and Boof Bonsers of the world.
If you follow Liriano’s progress at Rochester closely, you’ll find that while he has improved, he’s nowhere near what he was before the Tommy John surgery. They really don’t need to rush Liriano back when he could use more time learning how to pitch as opposed to just blowing past hitters like he did before. As for Livan, there have been some other points already made about why to keep him around so I’ll just tack on one more: the draft. At the end of the year, when some other team signs him, and they will (Ponson in NY anyone?), we get a supplemental first round pick for it.
It’s just fun to be in contention.
It’s doubtful Billy Smith would make any kind of meaningful trade to add veteran presence. Plus Pohlad is cheap.
So Liriano would basically be our player to add to boost our roster.
I can see my Bring-Up-Liriano/Get-Rid-of-Boof argument is none too popular on this board.
At least we are not cellar dwellers, left to complain about losing Santana and Hunter. Bringing up Liriano is at least a good argument to have.
Cubs take the lead 5-4.
Sweet! Go Cubs. I think we can overtake the ChiSox. It’s Detroit that still worries me. Just too much offense.
I like the idea of bringing him up but he is not ready. If he is we want him as a dominant starter. Come July if Liriano is ready I would love to have the rotation set up like this:
1.Baker
2.Liriano
3.Blackburn
4.Perkins
5.Slowey
Ouch, both Casilla and Cuddyer. Hope both make it back quickly. Hate to see this streak come to an end due to means beyond the team’s control.
“I can see my Bring-Up-Liriano/Get-Rid-of-Boof argument is none too popular on this board.”
Not if you mean “release” Boof. Vs. “trade” Boof.
“Plus Pohlad is cheap.”
Right. Which is why he extended the contracts of Morneau, Cuddyer, and Nathan in the offseason.
O O O O In here….
“Plus Pohlad is cheap.” Which is also why he’s paying for a lot of extra upgrades in the new ballpark. I agree with T - Perry, get an original line. Just what is it you are complaining about? Liriano in the minors, getting innings and confidence, is a good thing. Boof isn’t a problem while the starters are pitching well - we can use him when it makes sense.
Liriano can wait. He hasn’t absolutely dominated hitters down there so he still has room to improve. But once he gets to a point where he can’t get anything more out of being down there then he needs to be brought up and someone needs to be moved.
White Sox are already into there bullpen in the 5th. The jackass Fox commentators think the Sox have the best bullpen in baseball. I think we looked pretty damn good last night. Mark Grace is a pud!
I think Fukudome has the best name in baseball. He last name also states what I think of the Twins current stadium.
liriano has struggled his last 2 starts in rochester. he has been better the last month or so, but not what you want in terms of him ready to come back up to the bigs.
livan has been really good his last 2 starts at home (7 IP, 1 ER both times). you can argue the “weak offenses” all you want (arizona’s offense is not weak by any means by the way), but livan was not getting lucky. it’s not like livan was throwing the ball right over the plate and the other team just didn’t hit it hard, livan was hitting his spots and keeping guys off-balanced, which i think he will do against the free swinging brewers tonight. not to mention manny parra has stunk on the road. 11 in a row coming up.
666. That is a great line!!
Livan has been good in his last two starts because they are vs the NL. He’s a good NL starter and a piece of sh*t, bottom 5 AL starter.
Why is that so hard for you clueless dolts to understand?
Mostly because us clueless dolts are too busy looking at the won/loss record in Hernandez’s starts. Sometimes my vision gets blurred by all those wins. I said it once, I’ll say it again. You are only awarded a win or a loss in games, you are not awarded an ERA in the win/loss column.
erik- im sorry, but please tell me what a dolt is— sorry but i am clueless
Derek Lee is on fire today…
Erik, isn’t Milwaukee a NL team?
Dolt.
lets hope gomez is back on his game, with casilla out, i think its even more important for gomez to pick it up and start something for this club…hes due for a good game….
The bench is pretty thin today (that’s why 12-man pitching staff don’t make much sense esp. given that the probability of a day-to-day injury is higher for a position player than a pitcher)
Liriano will get called up in September when the rosters expand…
Sox win in the bubbling cauldron that is U.S. Cellular Field.
Someone I’ve never heard of is leading the women’s US Open.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd rocked on Thursday at the Cabooze.
The Twins are going for a 11 straight wins without Cuddyer and Casilla. If they pull this off it will be the win of the year.
Have fun writing up this one, Joe!
win of the year?? not sure what thats supposed to imply—-but it sure would be nice if they can extend this to 11…
Simple. The offensive stats after Alexi Casilla joined the team can’t be ignored.
Regardless how you feel about Cuddyer’s offense - and he’s been OK lately - you will miss him every time a ball is hit off the baggie or in the corner.
Livan is pitching against an American League-style team. The Brewers WILL score runs tonight.
So if the Twins craft another victory to make it 11 straight, there’s a horseshoe stuck up someone’s you-know-what….
I will say this: The strike zone is Livan-friendly tonight.
Wonderful
just so i understand this…if the twins win tonite, its all because of nothing more than horseshoes and pure luck….i guess thats one intelligent way of looking at it….i prefer to think that they might just be jelling into a damn good baseball team, but thats just my opinion……
If the Twins lose tonight, they still can be called a good team. There’s nothing wrong with Big Brown throwing a shoe and it landing in the Twins’ dugout….
And I must point out that a win last week was assisted by the Dome Gods…
I’ve never seen Parra pitch, he’s got good stuff.
If the Twins can win without Johan santana, they can win without Alexi Casilla,
Did that happen last year?
If the Twins lose tonight, it will be because Livan’s lack of effectiveness.
Well if we don’t score any runs it won’t matter who is pitching or how well they pitch.
Livan is just not that good. Period
Well, if Livan keeps pitching this way it won’t matter if Twins start scoring they will never catch up. LOL
This is going to be one of those games, that just becomes comical.
Lavelle -How long do you think the Twins will stick with Monroe? Other than a few flashes, he just hasn’t done what he was brought in to do.
Finally!
Well at least Livan kept the score close.
I hope.
Down five after 2 1/2 is still doable. Those last two outs were big. Let’s try to think positive and hope Gomez can get us started. I am tired already of listening to the Brewer fans celebrate.
nice to see the dome pretty full tonight
Ok Boof,
pretend this is your start. Need to hold the Brew Crew down here. If you do that and the Twins start hitting you can get the win that takes the Twins to 11 in a row.
Brewers fans are dumb.
Went to the dome once to the third game of a series with the Brew-ha’s. After they won a bunch of clowns walked around the entire concourse yelling “sweep, sweep, sweep.”
Azzclowns.
santana, according to the fox tv crew, is now 12-14 since last year’s all-star break.
ugh, Livan is still in
if boof WAS in, i hope he pretends it’s not his start!
he kinda sucked on his starts.
i know i know
lol..ya lets hope he pretends hes nolan ryan….that and our dome gods and horseshoes, hell we will be in baseball heaven….
His ERA as a starter is 5.97 and as a reliever it is 9.31 so lets hope he thinks of it as a start if he gets in.
Hopefully he completely loses it and lets us get a few here.
From Wikpedia:
“Boof Bonser (born John Paul Bonser on October 14, 1981 in St. Petersburg, Florida) is a right-handed reliever for the Minnesota Twins. He legally changed his name to Boof after the 2001 season. MLB.com listed Boof as the best current nickname in baseball.”
Perhaps they hadn’t heard of Gogomez, Cruddy and Cadaver.
Fielder was 0-18 before that four ptich walk by Livan last inning. Now a hit. Way to wake him up, Livan. One more start against CLE next week and, then how ’bout shipping him to SD. They need something to make them look like a member of the MLs and who knows. Get Boof in the weight room and maybe, just maybe? Am I asking too much?
I sure missed punto when he was gone
Mulvey is pitching 4+ shutout innings for Rochester
Nicky the ignitor!! Macri would sure look good somewhere in the line up tonight.
gomez doesn’t trust delmon to catch a fly either
way to cover second, nicky
the goofy look on punto’s face reminded me of robert deniro in one of his psyco movie roles
Punto is the only reason winning streak might end.
Mr. thrylos, If I haven’t said it before, thanks, along with Shaun from B., for all the great info, particularly, the Rochester updates. Much appreciated!!
now the bottom boys need to start “nibbling” away at the lead
JP,
The pecking order, if this streak ends, is Hernandez, Gardy, Punto
quit it JP, LMAO
How about putting Red dog in and saving Joe for Sheets manana?
Well, I think that I jinxed Mulvey. He gave up a homer. His line is:
5IP 4H 1R 0BB 2K 1HR
On other Rochester notes, Macri is playing SS tonight (Plouffe at 2B and Watkins at 3B) and Ruiz is getting even hotter, batting 3-2 with one RBI (47 for the season)
(Daniel, you are welcome and I really enjoy looking at the minors)
booooooooooof
booooooooooof
I’m still waiting for T to show up and defend Punto. I’m glad you enjoy Mudcat. Can’t wait to see all the negativity after tonights loss.
My order of responsbility:
Bill Smith (for not moving Livan already)
Livan (for pitching like crap but you can’t be upset with a dolphin for being a dolphin –>pick you own analalogy)
Gardy (no need for further comment)
Punto (see livan comments)
anyone have the gameday link to the rochester game?
Hopefully I’m wrong but this game seems over. Anyway, I remember Charlie Boones comment back in ‘82 after the brand new Metrodome’s roof had collapsed prior to it’s official opening…”You can’t expect it to last forever.” Perhaps, that’s characteristic of our beloved win streak? Trivia question..Who got the first hit in a game played by major leaguers at the Dome?
Daniel,
wasn’t that Dave Engle’s HR against Seattle?
good job Gomez…. glad i am rocking the road jersey
Hey, my man Livan looked awesome tonight. Guess our Santana replacement must have wanted to spare Santana the embarrassment of being out-pitched by such an AWESOME pitcher.
Well, considering how this game has went, it didn’t really matter who started, since it is kinda hard to win a game without scoring a run.
Time to Fire Gardy and Vavra I guess.
Wait till those comments start flying.
Hi there BC/Fire. I am sure we will see your comments very, very soon.
Sorry Daniel I was 6. My earliest recollections as a Twins fan wasn’t until the 85 season, the biggest Tom Brunansky fan ever. I was number 24 in everything even basketball. I went to the 85 All Star game. Had probably the worst seats at the Dome. But I remember when Bruno came in the game as a defensive replacement in the 8th inning. Crowd went NUTS!!!!
thanks shawn
Mr. thrylos, Remember, I didn’t say the first official hit. I said the first hit by a major leaguer in a game played by ML teams at the dome.
needed MORE Kubel, but its better than nothing
Where are you now blogger Jason?
Kubel 1-2 HR and two BB.
my fav dome Twins moment was a non official game.
Last preseason game in 94 i beleiev was at the Dome vs. the Cubbies….
7th inning stretch, Harry didn’t sing, but he led the crowd on in its singing, it was neat.
Daniel,
then it would be by Mr Pete Rose….
cuddy ok, span in.
Mr. THRYLOS. You win the prize!! Well done!! One could earn a free beer or two with that one, eh?
that’s a good trivia question 
seven games over .500 and 1-1/2 out of first place at the halfway point. so far so good.
thrylos, Glad that you enjoyed it. Manana is a new day. Sorry for the delayed response but my bride had dinner waiting and any SMART MAN knows that you don’t keep your better-half of 30+ years waiting.
Mr. Shawn from B., Apologies for misspelling your name…I’m old but I’m slow! Sounds like your favorite moment was, indeed, a thrill! Memories are what keep us all, regardless of vintage, coming back, year after year, to this fine game.
Mr. MenTal, I agree! No true Twins fan, given this scenario, would argue that we are doing well with some sunny days ahead. Keep the faith, folks.
well, d66, even if this ends up being the high point, who coulda asked for more when the season began?
Just got back…was the strikezone as wild as it seemed from the stands?
Whatever the case, good showing by Kubes…1 for 2 (HR) w/ 2BB.
Rest of the lineup…pretty pitiful. Nice to see Hernandez go some more after getting pounded early in the game. Doesn’t force the Twins to burn the pen.
Great catch by Gomez late in a losing game. Always glad to see the defense not phoning it in once the game’s gotten “out of hand”.
12-2 in the last 14 games. Sheets tomorrow? The Twins have beaten better pitchers on this stretch. Put this behind them, get back out there tomorrow and play like they have been the last few weeks.
Argh!!!!!
Twins lose.
Punto!!!!!
Hee Hee
BTW, Rochester wins in extra innings on a walkoff homer by Macri (he had three hits). Gomez, Korecky, and Lackey actually allowed the opponents to take the lead but the Red Wings scored three in the bottom of the ninth to win 8-6.
Was tempted to leave the game early but glad I didn’t. Would have missed the catch by Gomez and the Kubel HR… pretty much the only things worth watching tonight (unless you count Dick Bremer winning a pregame HR contest vs TC Bear and the Brewer mascot). Not a good night.
