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Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Today the Twins were playing against the Philadelphia Phillies at Clearwater, so it was a back field day at Fort Myers, to have a better look at the Twins' prospects. Blustery and overcast day, which rained up in Clearwater enough to delay the Twins-Phillies start time and later in Fort Myers to wash everything out in the back fields at around the 8th inning. But there was some great action: At field three, the AAA players were playing agai
Here is a photo of Stephen Wickens warming up this morning. Are you sad to see this? I'm not, and you shouldn't be either: Why? Because: No One Mourns The Wickens. Hey, we went to Miami the other night to see Wicked, and I had to get this groaner out of my system once and for all. (Really??? He leads off with THIS?) So. After missing a couple of days of spring training Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday's minor league activities cancelled for a well earned day off, I was back at the fi
The minor league intra-squad games for Sunday were cancelled, giving the young players their first day off on quite awhile. The fans at the complex were able to watch the left-behind major leaguers do PFP and for the hitters to take BP. Among the players left behind were Hicks, Hunter, Robinson, Suzuki, Mauer, Dozier, Nunez and Escobar. A couple notes about BP. Dozier hit the most balls over the fence, but Kelly (who ran the PFP) really encouraged Dozier every time he hit the ball up the middl
With all the TD regulars around, there isn't much to add about baseball. I haven't seen Halsey, Thrylos, or John, but all are indicating they will be watching the minor league intra-squad game today. Look forward to meeting and meeting up with you guys! I believe Ash could be there as well. A couple of positives: Graham looked very good yesterday and Mauer got three hits, including a gapper to right-center. Pinto got beat up by Adam Jones's follow through (not good). That's all for now. Hope t
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----The Twins has a couple split squad games today, against the Rays at Port Charlotte and at the Hammond Stadium against the Orioles. Here are my notes from the home game: After Alex Meyers' demotion yesterday, there are only 3 pitchers left in the battle for the 5th rotation spot: Mike Pelfrey, Tommy Milone and Trevor May. The last 2 started the respective games today, with Milone taking the node for the home game. While May ended up pitching
Short note today. Watched infield practice run by Tom Kelly. TK looked great running drills and hitting grounders. The headline is that Trevor Plouffe took grounders at first base. Went to the Twins game and exchanged tickets from the outfield handicapped seats to third deck first base side. Great exchange! Gibson looked good, hit 95 on the gun, except two pitches to Cervelli and some control issues which seemed to appear and disappear without warning.
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ------------- Today the Minnesota Twins hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates at Hammond Stadium. As usual, before the game I trotted by the minor league fields that today were hosting a celebrity from the baseball world: A dad watching his kid pitch a bullpen: And then walk with him after he was done: Interesting enough, not many fans had an idea of who the dad was. And he was about as humble as a baseball superstar as I have seen. He
You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DuaIeGg9d5A/VQyEijK-oOI/AAAAAAAALMo/6zAC1F0zG6E/s1600/tribe%2Bbaseball.jpg This week’s Talk to Contact podcast is filled with rampant speculation. Can Eddie Rosario win the CF job this spring? How long will uber prospects Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton spend in AA? Can either Alex Mey
Day 3 in Fort Myers yielded similar weather and the start of a pattern before heading to the ball fields. The morning ritual would be "bathroom, blog, breakfast". The minor league activity yesterday was well covered by Thrylos and Ashbury John. I will add only a couple things: when Perkins pitched, standing behind the screen with us common folk, were Strib writers Lavelle E Neale and Patrick Reusse. I shook Patrick's hand and chatted with him for a moment. The scribes left when Perk did. W
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- Today the Minnesota Twins played against the Rays at Fort Charlotte, which meant minor league side by side double-header action of Rochester and Chattanooga against the Red Sox' AAA and AA squads at fields 4 and 5 of the Complex. The much anticipated moment today was the return of Glen Perkins who got the first inning with the AAA club against the PawSox. Based on reports from people who were at Fort Charlotte, he did not feel any pa
http://publicradio1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/newscut/files/legacy/content_images/indians_fans_sign.jpg This week’s Talk to Contact podcast is filled with rampant speculation. Can Eddie Rosario win the CF job this spring? How long will uber prospects Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton spend in AA? Can either Alex Meyer or Trevor May do anything to make the opening day roster? Can Danny Santana be a legitimate leadoff hitter and avoid the “sophomore slump”? All these questions answered and more. We f
A much abbreviated version of my notes today. Arrived after lunch and watched the two games offered. Perkins was the "starter" in the AAA game versus the Bostons, and seemed to do well in his one inning. Here is a photo of him warming up. Tyler Duffey started in the AA game. Warmup photo alongside pitching coach Stu Cliburn: I forgot to mention that I caught a glimpse of Gardy when he attended the UW Stout game Tuesday against our younger players - son Toby coaches Stout. So here's a b
I meant to write up these notes last night and forgot. No deep insights here, just my jottings from a day under the sun at Hammond Field. I arrived at 9:10, too late to get free parking on a game day. Cheapskate fans of minor league spring ball, take note! I was approached by a reporter from a Naples newspaper, who was looking to interview average fans. I had initially mentioned my tenuous "affiliation" with TD (thinking he might be Nick Nelson), and apparently that made me way too official
Day two of my Fort Myers experience featured baseball. After a bit more room jangling, we got to Century Link hereafter known as Hammond or Twins Spring Training camp at 10 AM. We checked the minor league fields and watched pitcher's drills. The Rays were to be the opposition for the Twins farmhands on this warm spring day. Well before first pitch, we made the acquaintance of TD's own Ashbury John, who is in Fort Myers, living it up while his significant other slaves over a hot computer (I jes
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --------- Today was my first full day at Fort Myers and the Twins had a split squad duo of games, with the half of the team hosting the Orioles at Hammond Stadium and the other half a few miles away playing the Red Sox at Jet Blue Park. This was the second year in a row as far as renovations went for the facilities, and the Hammond Stadium looks really great. The front facade is extended to both broaden the concession place plaza and put a ro
"Why in the name of all things Holy did they send Miguel Sano to Chattanooga - AA?? Not only did Sano show his power, but he even stole a base! Sano did everything you could ask of him this spring, and he was rewarded by spending another season toiling in the minor leagues. What's the point of getting top prospects if you're not going to use them?! It's obvious that Terry Ryan has no idea what he's doing, and Paul Molitor is just another pawn in Ryan's game of saving the Pohlad's money. I thou
(Good morning everyone! Panda here with a post from my friend Ryan. You can find him on Twitter dot com [@ryan7997]. Let him know what you think. He's an aspiring broadcaster/sports writer type. I mean, who doesn't want to be like Bonnes and I?!) The Twins are fast approaching their 2015 season. They have a lot of work to do if they want to be atop the A.L Central. With an ERA of 4.57 and giving up on average 10 hits a game, the Twins pitching staff really has to work on pitching. There was
My journey to Fort Myers started with a phone call at 3 in the morning, notifying me that the shuttle would arrive at the Kwik Trip at 3:50 instead of the already too early 4:20. I arrived at "Terminal 2" at 5 AM for an 8:30 flight, but couldn't go through Security because I had arranged to help my brother when he arrived. The flight was fine-left on time, arrived on time--but still felt a bit like a sardine in the can. We upgraded our rental to an SUV and headed to our hotel on Sanibel. There
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- After the 18 recent cuts the Twins made (some of them unannounced yet) yesterday, the camp roster was trimmed to 43 players. I did provide a break down of those players by position yesterday, also mentioning whether they have options or whether they are on the 40-man roster. Based on these numbers, I am taking a preliminary look at the Twins' potential opening day roster, position by position: Position players (13) Catchers (2/3) Suzuki
1- Why were Buxton and Sano cut so early? I have to assume that they were that far behind. How did Sano look at 3rd considering his inflated weight? Actually the best thing for the Twins would probably be moving him to first, as I think our production there will remain less than stellar. 2-Can this team win without Escobar playing everyday? I would love to think they are that good but I don't believe it. I sure hope the Twins don't trade him...a young talented player that had a very goo
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- This is the third and last, but not least, segment in this series. You can find the first segment (fixing the bullpen) and the rationale for the series here, and the second segment (fixing the outfield) here. I think that the most important (and some times the hardest or the easiest) thing to fix for the Twins to win, is the team attitude. How do you measure attitude and how does attitude prevent some one to win, and what is that "attit
I had the pleasure of watching today's game in person at Hammond Stadium, versus the portion of the St Louis Cardinal roster they deemed worth putting on a bus (hint: no stars). This writeup ought to be pretty quick, because it's one of those rare games where the box score plus a little inference pretty much tells you all you need to know. But first, I'll mention that we didn't have tickets to start with, and didn't want to feed the scalpers - but a little bird had told us that tickets get fre
Deuces were wild for Mendez on Wednesday in Vegas. In his Triple-A debut, the 22-year-old slugger went 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored and two RBI.
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.
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hello Seth......you'll wanna correct the date in headline of today's minor league report. :-) Brad· 0 replies
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.· 1 reply
