Good afternoon from rainy Target Field. The game should be played at 12:30 pm, so not much delay. As always, it’s raining because I’m covering — I’m certain of it.
There was some chaos this morning. At the time they posted the lineup, many people pointed out on Twitter that Darin Mastroianni was not on it, and that Buddy Boshers had been called up.
Some speculated that Mastroianni had been sent down, but he has been placed on the 15-day disabled list. Glen Perkins, who last made an appearance on April 10, has been placed on the 60-day disabled list.
“Probably not an issue in terms of timing right now, especially with him being pushed back roughly a week, with the last having a little bit of a repercussion from some of his throwing,” said manager Paul Molitor. “I think that puts him around May 10th or 11th as potentially being available, which being only a couple of weeks away probably wasn’t too realistic anyways.”
Boshers called up
Boshers gets the call up. He’s a lefty from Huntsville, Ala. who pitched 15.1 innings with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2013. He opened up eyes in Spring Training this year.
“Well, we need pitching. And we’ve been talking about going to 13 for a while, and that was kind of expedited in terms of the decision needing to be made by our short starts the last couple of days,” said Molitor.
“Buddy came in, came over this winter. Had a good spring, competed right to the end. He’s just got a nice left-handed mix: He can attack, he gets lefties out — he has a nice breaking ball.
“He’s been doing pretty well down there overall, and he’s been stretched out somewhat, I think three innings in one outing at least. And he’s rested.”
Molitor says that Dan Runzler and Sean Burnett were considered, but Boshers was pretty much the clear-cut choice. He was stretched out and rested. J.T. Chargois was not mentioned.
“As I was looking to try to get through that game, I knew that today, possibly, could be an issue. Jack (Goin) was in touch with Terry (Ryan) and Rob (Antony), and came in here after and we talked about what we could do,” said Molitor.
“We had to incorporate Glen’s movement and Darin’s situation and all that stuff before we made the selection. I don’t think there were a lot of other viable options right now.”
Dozier and Molitor have a sit-down
Brian Dozier is hitting below the Mendoza line and has been sitting recently. Molitor says that Dozier was receptive to an extended break, and the two had a sit-down and it went well.
“It was big-picture stuff, a little bit about his career has evolved and where he’s at,” said Molitor.
“I think he was open-minded about a couple of days because I think … I know physically he feels fine, and his leg hasn’t been an issue. But to go through a somewhat extended period of more failure than this game normally throws at you, I think he was ready to take time to kinda digest that and commit to doing the work and kinda re-evaluation to being the hitter here.
“We might not see a huge change, but I think some of that stuff resonated and gave him a chance to kind of at least mull it over if nothing else and see where it takes him.”
Asked if hitting is the bottom line for players — if they can produce at the plate, teams will find a place to put them in the field — Molitor agreed.
“There’s no question that if you hit up here, more times than not they’re gonna find a way for you to play and get at-bats,” he said.
“Sometimes when you’re young, it doesn’t work out. Polanco looks like he’s almost ready to be a hitter up here, but it just doesn’t fit right now.
“Hitting’s generally gonna be the primary thing. You can look at positions and which ones you can give up some offense for the defensive player if you have enough offensive balance and all those kind of things.
“If you hit, you have a good chance to be a major league player in some capacity.”
Sympathy for Brunansky
Molitor himself was a great major league hitter, of course, but more importantly right now, he was a hitting coach. He knows what Tom Brunansky is going through right now, and gave him a vote of confidence.
“As a hitting coach, I do have that experience, and I know the difficulty of it when you’re dealing with 10-13 guys — all different, all require different methods of finding ways to to draw out their potential,” he said.
“It’s a challenging thing, but I watch him, I watch him work, and I know he’s very mindful about trying to find ways to do those types of things.
“The fact that it would be the same for Dozier as it is for Miguel right on down the line, he’s gotta find the right advice for each guy, which is tough. Whatever might have worked last September or in Spring Training might not work today. You’ve gotta have more than one plan.”
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