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I've been tossing this idea around in my head a bit as I start getting excited for the upcoming season. We have lots of highly rated prospects, lots of depth, lots of unknowns. I sat back a little and tried to figure out who I was actually most interested in seeing how they performed this year. This isn't a Top 10 prospects list, smarter people than me have already done those. I'm assuming Buxton will dominate. I'm interested in that, certainly. But he's not the guy I'm most interested in fin
After reaching Detroit's AAA Toledo team as a 21-year-old, Hoffman spent his third full year with them last year as a 24-year-old. But the left-handed reliever's stats showed a change. Last year, Hoffman struck out 35 batters in 35 innings. He had never come close to that rate previously. He thinks he knows why. "The pitching coach, who is now the coordinator of Detroit, AJ Sager, told me I needed to learn to throw my slider for a strike," says Hoffman. You don't really think about using it a
Is it wrong that most of the articles I completely skip nowadays and just go straight into commenting like I read the whole thing? No? Whew, that was a load off my shoulders. It must be hard for the regular bloggers to think of stuff (correction... baseball related stuff) to blog about. Usually when I feel the need for a blog it has nothing to do about baseball, not really anyway. Its time for a revolution. We as members need to take over the blogs and articles section from current incumbents
In today's 6-3 loss to the Tampa Rays, the Twins pitchers didn't have a great day. Starting was Ricky Nolasco, whose prefix is already slowly turning from "Mr." into "Most Expensive Free Agent the Twins Ever Signed." (MEFATES?) Anyway, Mr. Nolasco threw two scoreless innings, but five of the seven opposing batters hit the ball hard. Fortunately, the last of those hard hits was right at first baseman Chris Colabello to turn a nifty double-play. I'm not saying there should be any concern. It'
I walked outside to grab the mail and a little girl came whizzing by on a bike. She stopped when she saw me. I knelt down and introduced myself, "I'm AJ," I shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Olivia," she responded. She told me she was 6 years old, later I met her twin 4 year old siblings, Alexis and Ray. They were all so full of life. I saw them the next day, and the next. Pretty soon they were ringing the doorbell everyday to ask if I could come out and play. Now, each day at 4:30, we hang out. We wal
I walked outside to grab the mail and a little girl came whizzing by on a bike. She stopped when she saw me. I knelt down and introduced myself, "I'm AJ," I shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Olivia," she responded. She told me she was 6 years old, later I met her twin 4 year old siblings, Alexis and Ray. They were all so full of life. I saw them the next day, and the next. Pretty soon they were ringing the doorbell everyday to ask if I could come out and play. Now, each day at 4:30, we hang out. We wal
"Then the boy saw all— Since he was old enough to know, big boy Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart—" - Robert Frost Got the Sano news via phone notification as I got out of bed, and the grayness hung in the air like it saw this one coming. Flesh fails us all, but it is not supposed to crap out on a young physical wonder standing in the wings, moments away from his MLB debut. In January, Sano drew long lines of fans at Twinsfest. Now he begins a long road toward rebuilding his body
What are pitchers focusing on in the first couple of spring training games? It's pretty basic, but requires some balance. Yesterday's starting pitcher, Scott Diamond, explained "At this point right now, first outing, I'm trying to attack the zone. My focus right now is working down." Closer Glen Perkins, who pitched a scoreless fifth inning, echoed that sentiment. "I just wanna command the ball. I want to throw strikes. I want to get ahead of hitters and keep the ball down, which after [Grady] S
What was the fan reaction in Hammond Stadium following the gut-punching news about Miguel Sano? Honestly, it was smiles. Basking, wondrous smiles expressed with the eyes and shoulders moreso than the lips. Or at least that what I saw as I walked up to the Hammond Stadium gates. Yes, the Twins had received the worst possible news for one of their cornerstone prospects. But it was still a home opener, still 80 degrees and sunny, still a record-sized crowd watching a baseball game. The first c
Originally posted at Ligaments are stupid. The 12 people who follow me on Twitter already know that I feel this way. It's childish perhaps and it certainly ignores their important function in the human body, but I don't care; ligaments suck. A report came out this morning that super prospect and ultimate swagger-haver Miguel Sano needs Tommy John surgery, a surgery performed to replace the ulnar collateral ligament in an elbow. In this case, it's the right elbow of one of the more exciting
Originally published at http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/the-bench-is-the-biggest-question-mark-heading-into-spring-training/ In looking at the Twins roster picture, the bench seems to be the biggest question mark. Who makes the 25 man roster coming out of spring training on the bench will be based upon several scenarios. Recently, my dad and I did a half hour show where we discuss the roster at length. If you missed it, you can listen to it at the following link. http://www
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Today the Minnesota Twins unofficially had their first game of the Spring Training, which was an intrasquad contest. Here are some of my thoughts from what happened in this game: Pitchers seem to be well ahead of hitters: Phil Hughes pitched 2 scoreless innings throwing 21 out of 27 strikes, striking out 4 (including Buxton and Sano) and his FB was 91/92 mph Kevin Correia also pitched 2 run-free innings with 14/26 strikes, a K and a
The Arizona Diamondbacks will be dealing with a problem this spring that many other organizations would love to have to deal with. There are two shortstops on their roster who look to be ready to be everyday players at the big league level. Incumbent Didi Gregorius will be battling with top prospect Chris Owings for the starting spot over the next few weeks. Owings, a 21-year, won the Pacific Coast League MVP last season by hitting .330/.359/.482 with 51 extra-base hits. He is-clearly a better
You can put it on the board... YES! This week we are joined by lifelong Chicago White Sox fan Tom Flynn (@Mighty_Flynn) to check in on what's been happening on the South Side of Chicago since the season came to a close. You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here. http://puckettspond.com/files/2014/02/the-hawk-wants-you-300x600.jpg We check in on just about every relevant ex-Twin, including Johan Santana, who threw off a mound for several team
http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400_9309126.gif You can put it on the board... YES! This week we are joined by lifelong Chicago White Sox fan Tom Flynn (@Mighty_Flynn) to check in on what's been happening on the South Side of Chicago since the season came to a close. We check in on just about every relevant ex-Twin, including Johan Santana who threw off a mound for several teams and Matt Garza signing with the Brewers. Eric takes the gang through a quick round of pepper
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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