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The starting catcher’s job is almost a forgone conclusion that the position belongs to Kurt Suzuki to start the year. Josmil Pinto, with his impressive September campaign, will be in the passenger’s seat when the season begins on March 31 in Chicago. 1500ESPN.com’s Phil Mackey outlines a few of the reasons why the Twins are going that route: What’s interesting about Suzuki is the emphasis on his ability to handle pitchers, particularly his game-calling abilities. Last year, while splitting
This off-season has been a lucrative one for back end of the bullpen pitchers. Former Twins closer Joe Nathan signed with the Detroit Tigers for 2-years and around $20 million. That's good money for a man closing in on age 40 that had Tommy John surgery not that long ago. The Braves also locked up their ninth inning man, Craig Kimbrel, to a 4-year, $42 million contact that will see him be one of the highest paid closers by the end of the deal. It's safe to say it's a decent time to be a closer.
I have been in Fort Myers since last Tuesday. I have seen four Twins games and a large amount of minor league games plus a full allotment of drills and BP. Today was the first day when the weather was subpar, and coming from the frozen north, the sunshine and warmth were much appreciated. The major league talent held few surprises. The Twins will field a team of position players who, as a group, are weak-hitting, lack power and speed, and aren't that good defensively. The pitching staff would
I recently started responding to a forum post, realized my post was growing ever-larger and mostly revolved around the topic of, "I think this guy will be better, but this guy, not so much...", and realized I was heading down the exact same path which caused me to create a questionable blog last year. And what's the best thing to do with questionable blogs? Pile on more, of course, making it into a "yearly" questionable blog topic (which assumes I may remember in future years). As with last
Bummed Darin Mastroianni got sent to minor league camp. My unpleasant mood has nothing to do with strategy or intellect. I am bummed because my friends who got autographs from him said he was a great guy. Mostly, I am bummed because I liked to pretend he was secretly a stubbly private investigator in a lesser known horror film directed by Dario Argento. Baseball, appreciated from the keen and reasoned eye of a scientific scholar, moves like a beautiful piece of clockwork machinery. I admire t
Aaron and John talk about Glen Perkins' contract extension, St. Patrick's Day craziness, what the plan is for Josmil Pinto and Aaron Hicks, unwanted apartment guests, drinking and eating at Mason's downtown, Ricky Nolasco starting Opening Day, running into KFAN producer Ryan Donaldson and his crew, waitresses in short shorts, out-of-options Twins, and getting too excited about spring training stats. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it atGleemanAndTheGeek.com.
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Today it was Minnesota Day at Hammond Stadium, which apparently means that a whole bunch of people get early at the ballpark to tailgate at the parking lot and is a pain to find parking spots. I arrived just in time for the two intrasquad games (AAA vs AA) and (A+ vs A) at Fields number 2 and 3. Aaron Hicks was hitting for the AA team and Pedro Florimon was playing for the AAA team, so that is where I exclusively spent my time befor
First I will say AGAIN, Deduno is the best starter on this team. Nolasco might be as good, Hughes certainly isnt, what the Twins really should do, is dump Correia, can a Diamond, Gibson, Gilmartin, Johnson choice be worse than Correia? I highly doubt it...yes there would be uncertainty but you prefer an automatic loss?
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- The (big) boys were out of town today and this left only the two A-level squads in action at the Lee County Sports Complex fields playing the A and Advanced A level Orioles' squads. One of the things that need to be noted, is that these squads do not see each other in regular season competition. The Twins' Advanced A team, the Fort Myers Miracle, is in the Florida State League, whereas the Orioles' Advance A team, the Frederick Keys,
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Second day of live coverage of the Twins Spring training from Fort Myers. Today there was mainly major league action and some minor league drills before the Miracle and Kernels games, with the Red Wings and Rock Cats squads traveling. As a reminder, you can find all Spring Training coverage here. On the single A Beloit side of things, there was a lot of fielding practice going on, including a lot of serious work with the pitchers.
ESPN's Sweetspot blog posted an interesting entry earlier today looking at the top teams in relation to their "core five" players. They took the top five men from each roster and compiled their Baseball Reference WAR totals to come up with a top ten list. Obviously the better players you have, the more likely you are to be a very good team. Out of their top ten list, eight of the teams qualified for the postseason last year. There's no surprise that Minnesota didn't crack the top ten list. Howev
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- I am on site at Fort Myers and this will be the first in a series of reports regarding the Twins' major and minor leaguers from the Lee County sports complex grounds. As a reminder, you can find all Spring Training coverage here. Miguel Sulbaran came to the Twins from the Dodgers in the Drew Butera trade last season and started four games for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Twins single A affiliate. Sulbaran did not make it to my to
For years, the Twins were a money ball team that had a very good track record. Payroll fluctuated in the $50-60M range, yet the team made the playoffs in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, and 2010. That was about the ceiling, as the team made the second round just once in the six appearances. The villain that kept this team from advancing was always the metrodome. If the Twins had a stadium, payroll could go up and we could compete and make a serious run. Or so the through process went. Target Fie
The Detroit Tigers look to be the best team in the division, and it's not close. They're offense will beat you into submission and their pitching will have you doing all you can to scratch and claw a measly run or two across the plate. They are the team the Twins wish they were. This week on the podcast we are joined by Bryan Craves (@DisplacedTgrFan) to recap what's been happening in Motown since the Tigers were bounced out of the playoffs last season. You can download the new Talk to Contact (
http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400_9354951.jpg The Detroit Tigers look to be the best team in the division, and it's not close. They're offense will beat you into submission and their pitching will have you doing all you can to scratch and claw a measly run or two across the plate. They are the team the Twins wish they were. This week on the podcast we are joined by Bryan Craves (@DisplacedTgrFan) to recap what's been happening in Motown since the Tigers were bounced ou
Some of the buzz of the Twitter world yesterday was surrounding the Twins and who should be the lead-off hitter when the team heads north from spring training. Ron Gardenhire would like one of the center field candidates to run away with thelead-off job but he had a surprise name as a back-up plan. With the ways things are starting to take shape, the team might have to get crafty with men near the top of the order. Here is a look at some of the candidates for the lead-off spot. Some of the men
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- One of the most contested spots for the Twins, on paper, this Spring Training was going to be that of the 5th starter. The newly signed (or re-signed) Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey, in addition to holdover veteran Kevin Correia, had four spots, while the three out of option guys (Samuel Deduno, Scott Diamond and Vance Worley, in alphabetical order) were to battle for that fifth spot, maybe with the addition of first round d
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- One of the most contested spots for the Twins, on paper, this Spring Training was going to be that of the 5th starter. The newly signed (or re-signed) Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey, in addition to holdover veteran Kevin Correia, had four spots, while the three out of option guys (Samuel Deduno, Scott Diamond and Vance Worley, in alphabetical order) were to battle for that fifth spot, maybe with the addition of first round d
On Saturday, Tait went 2-for-4 with a walk and his 17th double. The 19-year-old is hitting .219 with 17 doubles and 15 home runs at High-A Cedar Rapids.
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