Hmmmm.

That's all I've got.

Time will tell, guys.

I'm just excited for opening day... it may be spent watching the Yanks in the Bronx. (I'll wear something Twins related to the game)

I'll chant Mor-neau when #2 steps to the plate. hehe

Way to go, Shelley. That's the spirit.

You know, I'm going to give the Opening Day setup a shot. Really. Clean slate and all that. (Not that I'm buying a Ponson jersey anytime soon or anything.)

But I think I'll start making 'FREE GARZA!' T-shirts right now, just in case.

If Chris Heintz is the first answer, I don't even want a second guess.

Seriously, Garza is sent down. Silva stays, and we round out out 25 man roster with a THIRD STRING CATCHER???

WTF???

My guess? Terry Ryan is currently in a double-secret coma and Gardy is making personnel decisions....

Or Carl is (yikes!)

Hello, fourth place!

Hmmm. I'm suprised to see Heintz heading north with all the extra days off in April...

Should Silva continue to give up meatballs, here's hoping Garza's called up by early to mid-May. Go Twinkies!

Silva throws 5 scoreless, 2 hits, 2 K, no BB.

anyone scratching their heads over the decision to keep Silva over Garza shoud read Souhan's article: http://www.startribune.com/150/story/1086456.html

I have to guess that Heintz's presence is intended to free up NBP for use at DH. Just sayin'.

-ex

I know it's good to give Silva a chance, especially after he pitched probably the best he has all spring tonight, but I'm just not a huge fan. And if he really is the fifth starter I get to see him down here in Chicago his first start of the season.
I want to see Boof. :(

We shall see,
thanks for the update infield.

Heintz is there to allow Mauer to DH often (what with the kid-glove treatment of Mauer's stress reaction), and have NBP catch those days with Heintz as a back-up.

I don't have any strong objections to the roster. It's not the best team we could put out on the field, but it might make the most sense long-term.

That being said, Silva better be on a VERY short leash this season.

I'd be more worried about Ponson and Ortiz than Silva. At least he was sort of good a shorter time ago.

My guess is that Heintz's presence on the roster has to do with that little stress reaction. Yeah, just saw that Trivicon already suggested that. So I second it.

The Heintz move is good. I think Dr. T is right. It allows Mauer to DH every few days without Gardy have to freak out about "what if something happens to Redmond and we have no other catcher options?!"

And between Silva, Ortiz, and Ponson, ONE of them has to be okay, right? (Right? ...guys?) Who knows which one it might be. My guess is the coaches and TR are afraid they'd send down the wrong guy for Garza, and then they'd be left with Santana, Boof, Garza, and two sucky pitchers. This way, at least they know in May that they're sending down the suckiest of the three. They might end up with Santana, Boof, Garza, a lucky (no longer totally sucky) vet, and only one truly sucky starter.

I don't necessarily like it that we have to start the season with 3 uncertain starters in the rotation, but I can see what might have been behind the decision. Let's hope they're right...

p.s. I chatted with Ponson yesterday briefly before the game against Boston. He seemed pretty down-to-earth, polite, and gracious. Very friendly to the fans, and appreciative of their support. Now I can't help but pull for him. Who would have ever thought I would say that...

Looking forward to this year, yes, indeed, but REALLY looking at next year...

Santana, Liriano, Bonser, Garza, and whoever.

Now that's a rotation!!!

Souhan had a pretty astute take on the Garza/Silva controversy. Makes sense in April to keep Garza working while Silva has to stew every eight days to try and prove himself. Garza needs to show some maturity and accept this - or end up another Kyle Looser or however you spell his name.

I'm not normally a fan of have 3 catchers but the logic presented here for it makes a lot of sense.

Tomorrow morning I'm signing up for MLB.tv start of the season, very exciting.

Plus I'm getting married on the first day of the world series, a game I won't be watching no matter who's playing

After five scoreless last night, one must ask:

Has the ghost of Kyle/Lyle infected Silva?

And the corollary: What doppelgangeresque nickname can we come up with that rhymes with 'Carlos'?

Sadly, we already know the answer to the other logical question: Which Carlos will show up for his first start up north. The bad one.

Hmmm...

Carlos the Jackal vs. Carlos the Jackass
Silva vs. Tin
(I wish it were Silva vs. Gould)
Silva vs. Coppa?
Carlos vs. Car-lose?

Sarlos Cilva?

Nope, I've got it: Carlos vs. Carlohse.

"Santana, Liriano, Bonser, Garza, and whoever...Now that's a rotation!!!"

If whoever = Perkins/Slowey .... NOT Baker *g*

I did read Souhan's piece and think he covers it pretty completely. Makes it make sense because I feel he came at from the same perspective some of the fans had. You know, the WTF??!?!?!? one.

Seriously I'm so proud of Boof and the way that he's responded to all this. He went from up and down and up and down to the #2 starter behind the Cy Young Award winner. Kudos!

Hey in keeping with the spirit I am going to the opening game at the Dome and call out Yankees chants while the Twins are batting...

...exactly what spirit would I be keeping with?

Anyway, that little irksome bit aside, my curiosity is seriously peaked with the Durbin move. I really thought he was "real deal" enough to at least foster a trade and to get something in return. With premium pitching a hot enough commodity (check out some of the salaries being paid to mediocre pitchers... for Gwynn's sake, Carl Pavano is the Yanks' opening day starter!!!) I call this move a head-scratcher. Nonetheless, Terry Ryan's moves, while puzzling, are usually grounded in logic and often work out for the best.

Gonna be an interesting season, what with the "experts" leaving your team out of the playoffs again. Silly "experts."

Best of luck for the upcoming season, I wish you all the best, until our teams meet in the first round, that is...

Warm-heartedly,
YankeeFan

My brain hurts from all this spring training (practice) banter. I can only imagine if my job depended on making these roster decisions. Ya gotta feel for the management this time of year a little bit anyway. Not that I wouldn't trade professions with TR in a second. Let's play ball... for REAL. (raising imaginary beer)Here's to monday against the O's and El Presidente' strolling to the mound in front of a sold out crazy noisy loud fabulous ...dome.. win twins!!

Yankee Fan;

We wont meet in the first round--we will meet in the ALCS.

As to Heintz being kept--remember he can also be backup 3B in case LNP has to be moved to SS for a game or two.

DAM

OHMYGOD! Opening Day is just three days away. What am I going to wear?

No alarms and no surprises.

I don't see the big deal of having Mauer DH if Redmond is catching and vis-versa. The worst thing that happens is we lose the DH for what, 4 at-bats? Of course with the injury, the third catcher does make sense; I'm just saying in general.

I think it is ok for the rotation to start this way. However, if after 3-4 runs through the rotation someone hasn't gotten the job done, then the team has to recognize that we have other options. Not all of those guys are capable of bouncing back like Radke did last year.

[ Nope, I've got it: Carlos vs. Carlohse. ]

Utterly.
Brilliant.

:: bowing to Sacky ::

DAM - we can agree to disagree, but the way I see things, the yanks and twins will battle in the alds for the right to battle the angels (after the angels sweep toronto in their first round matchup). cheers!

YankeeFan, is your curiosity "peaked" or "piqued"? I'm curious...

As swell a guy as you are, YF, you have to grasp the delicious irony of a Twins fan chanting Morneau's name when that fellow wearing the NY on his helmet and uniform number 2 strides to the plate. Considering the fact that there were undoubtedly many Yankees fans who couldn't have picked Justin Morneau out of a police lineup before he "stole" the MVP from Captain Fragrance, and that even more Yankees fans felt that Morneau's selection was a travesty (it's one thing to favor Jeter, it's a completely different thing to suggest Morneau didn't even deserve consideration), taunting those same fans a bit is understandable and well-deserved, I'd say. When you're as arrogant as Yankees fans tend to be, present company excepted, you can't get too upset when it's thrown back in your face.

And Sacky, if your analogy didn't hurt so much, it'd be hilarious. (It's still pretty darn funny, though.)

Re: "Nope, I've got it: Carlos vs. Carlohse." - sacky

OMG - that's PERFECT!!

So uh, what about Venafro? I haven't seen anything on him. Kinda disappointed they didn't try to swing any sort of deal to at least get some prospect or SOMETHING for Durbin.