On Saturday, Luke Hughes went 5-5 with two doubles, a home run and five RBI. On Sunday, he went 2-3 with another home run. That raised his spring training numbers to .385/.429/.795 (1.223) with four doubles, four home runs and 13 RBI. When the 2011 season ended, TwinsCentric released its Offseason GM Handbook. In my offseason blueprint, I suggested that Luke Hughes be the Twins second baseman in 2012 with Alexi Casilla moving back to the utility role. I targeted Clint Barmes for shortstop, ...
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog It's been a while since I've kept up with the Twins news. I figured I'd go back and see what I missed and file the info away as needed. File under: Recognizing a Good Thing While You Have It Glen Perkins signed a 3-year, $10.3 million extension with an option for 2016. Twins fans remember that things weren't ...
Likely Starter: Ryan Doumit 2011 Stats: .303/.353/.477, 8 HR, 30 RBI, 17 R, 0/1 SB Potential Backups: Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer No team has everything set in stone with two weeks left in spring training. For the Twins, with uncertainties surrounding several players, plenty is subject to change between now and Opening Day. For example, last week I profiled the three outfield spots, and over the weekend it was revealed that two of those ...
Originally posted at ontheroad & Twinstarget Source: minnesota.twins.mlb.com 13. Alex Wimmers, Right-handed Starter, 23 years old 2011 stats: 2-3 with a 4.20 ERA 39/22 K/BB in 40.2 innings for Fort Myers. Last year's rank: ...
Updated 03-25-2012 at 09:10 PM by shawntheroad
Fueled by interviews with assistant GM Rob Antony and manager Ron Gardenhire, yesterday became the best day of the year for Twins spring training news. The result? Almost every projected lineup you saw this offseason was probably wrong. Instead, you’ll like see a whole lot of Josh Willingham playing left field, Ryan Doumit playing right field, Justin Morneau as the designated hitter and Chris Parmelee playing first base. The shakeup happens twelve days before the regular season starts ...
I haven't really kept track of the final scores of every game I've been to, but I'm fairly certain 19 is the most I've seen the Twins score in person. Lots of smiles as they came in and out of the dugout during this one. http://www.flickr.com/photos/anellen...7629296856774/
Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Brought to you from Fort Myers FL. Performances include those in the last two games vs the Rays yesterday and the Cardinals earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position ...
After months of expecting Josh Willingham to move from left field, the outfield position he has played the most in his career, across the turf to right field, Ron Gardenhire has switched courses on that plan. Back in February, Gardenhire acknowledged that the experiment of moving Willingham to right field might not work but that they would be ready if he would be unable to adapt to the new position: "That's what we are going to do. We're going ...
Updated 03-25-2012 at 12:50 PM by Parker Hageman
A lot of key information has been coming out of Twins camp on Sunday morning. First, Assistant GM Rob Antony appeared as a guest of Sunday Morning Sports Talk on 1500espn with Tom Pelissero and Jim Souhan. He said many things that I found interesting, but these are the three that stood out most to me: 1.) Maloney and Burton have separated themselves, so it's down to Manship, Burnett, Fien and Waldrop for ONE bullpen spot. 2.) Parmelee has forced his way onto the roster, ...
When I was 8 years old, the Twins beat the Braves in the 1991 World Series, and my mom went absolutely nuts. I don't mean nuts in the literal sense – she didn't wind up heavily sedated or institutionalized; I only mean baseball crazy. This kind of crazy doesn't require medical attention or therapy, at least in most cases, but it can still be worrisome. It's the kind that makes you pace and sweat and swear at playoff-overachievers like Mark Lemke on the TV in front of your children. The kind that ...
I remember the first time I saw Bull Durham. It was 2004 and I was still living in mom and dad's basement. I was drinking cold bottles of Miller High Life with my buddy Al, and we were flipping channels when we stopped just in time to see Susan Sarandon – who was still in Vintage Babe Form back in the late 80s – walk out of her house and into a minor league ballpark. She delivered an A+ monologue to start the movie, and I was hooked as soon as she mentioned that there are 108 beads in a Catholic ...
Updated 03-23-2012 at 09:52 PM by Seth Stohs
One question not addressed by most writers is if first baseman Chris Parmelee will make the big league roster. It has just been assumed by everybody including myself, that Parmelee starts the year at Rochester for more at bats and experience. Obviously there was no rush to get Parmelee in Minnesota because Justin Morneau occupies his position at first base. However, things have changed a lot in the last couple weeks at spring training in Fort Myers, Florida. Morneau has not played a game in ...
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the latest update of the Twins' Bench Battle and the Bullpen Battle Dashboards, to track player performance to date this spring. Performances include those in the last game vs the Yankees earlier this afternoon. You can read the basic premise behind the Bench Battle Dashboard here and behind the Bullpen Battle Dashboard here. At this point, there are 11 position players fighting for 3 bench sports and 9 pitchers fighting ...
The past two weeks, I have attempted to project the Twins Opening Day roster. This week, we’ll try it again. I still believe that there are 20 “Givens” at this point, two weeks before Opening Day. I also believe that the five remaining positions are all pretty intriguing and could have several possibilities at this point, especially since there are some injury questions with Scott Baker and Justin Morneau. There are still 39 players in Twins big league camp which means 14 players need ...