Q: Any chance Bronson Arroyo could come up with a knuckleball to extend his career? — Mike, Akron
A: I asked him and he showed me his bitten-down fingernails and said, “Look at these. I could never throw a knuckler with these nails. I’ve never thrown one. Never tried. When I was with Boston I talked a lot about it with (knuckleballer) Tim Wakefield. Mike Leake can throw a good one, but not me.”

Q: Has there been consideration for making it mandatory for base umpires to wear helmets the way the third-base and firs-base coaches do for their safety? — Dave, Enon
A: No, not yet. As with most things, they’ll wait until Joe West takes a line drive off his noggin before they do anything. The home-plate umpire is all geared up and I’d think they’d want to protect at least the heads of the guys on the basepaths. Maybe they could give them miners’ helmets with the lights to help them make night-game calls on the bases.

Q: Which do you think will be higher for Drew Stubbs, his batting average or his strikeout total? — Rob, North Star
A: I’ll take the batting average because even if it is under the Mendoza Line at .199, Stubbs won’t strike out 199 times. Close maybe, but not 199. He is on pace to whiff about 160 times and I know he’ll hit higher than .160. Well, I’m pretty sure of that.