He hit the ball hard. This is good. He was heating up when he got injured the first time around, so if he can stay on the screws there might be something salvageable in this season.

Milone looked... crafty, I want to say. We'll have to hold our breath at putting him in a park which, while nice for pitchers, is no Oakland. And without their defense behind him either. But I think he'll be a nice look for our future rotation, and mixing in a lefty with those power righthanded arms (May, Meyer, Berrios, Stewart, etc.) could be a good thing.

Apparently Jordan Schafer is some kind of base-stealing savant. We went through this with Darin Mastroianni, but Schafer's lingering scent of top-prospect makes me hope there's something there - if only as a more useful 4th outfielder than Mastroianni.

And Byron Buxton got promoted. With all the stupid wrist things, this has been a lost season for him, though like Mauer, he was getting hot again before the last time he was hurt. I'm guessing the reasoning is that the team knew back in November that he was talented enough and polished enough to play in New Britain this season and so in the last month of 2014 we're left with him trying to get his timing back at a level we already knew he could handle *or* seeing a new level. Whether New Britain is the spot he gets going or it's just a matter of getting at-bats before 2015, I think this is the good move. There's nothing but upside since we can't really take anything bad from AA results.