You all care about this site. The next step is caring for it. We’re asking you to caretake this site so it can remain the premier Twins community on the internet.
Well, that was brutal. Instead, let's focus on something else: tonight marked the start of the Twins second turn through the rotation, and their seventh spring training game. The roles for players are clearer as are the spring training battles. So what do several Twins positional hopefuls need to do to make it to Chicago for Opening day? THE LINEUP Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Kurt Suzuki, Alex Presley What the need to do: Stay healthy. Pedro Florimon What he
This week on the podcast we struggle through a couple of technical difficulties, and lament the loss of Miguel Sano for the season. This week we take a look in on the Cleveland Indians. We are joined on the podcast by Jason Lukehart (@JasonLukehart) of Let's Go Tribe to discuss comings and goings for the Indians and what Twins fans can expect from the Tribe in 2014. You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here. http://puckettspond.com/files/201
http://assets.podomatic.net/ts/19/ad/da/paulpleiss/1400x1400_9333337.jpg This week on the podcast we struggle through a couple of technical difficulties, and lament the loss of Miguel Sano for the season. This week we take a look in on the Cleveland Indians. We are joined on the podcast by Jason Lukehart (@JasonLukehart) of Let's Go Tribe to discuss comings and goings for the Indians and what Twins fans can expect from the Tribe in 2014. In this week's Down on the Pond segment we take a closer l
Here's what you really need to know about this game: Jupiter, Florida, where the Marlins play, is a long three-plus hour bus trip from Fort Myers. The bus leaves at 7:30 in the morning. It gets back something like 8:00 that night. The Twins, like every other team, tries to protect their best (veteranish) players from this as best they can. (And in the Twins case, they had a split squad game yesterday, meaning that nearly every veteran also played yesterday.) There was even a question in
The Twins hosted another Fan Forum phone call on Tuesday night, this time featuring closer Glen Perkins and catcher Kurt Suzuki. I took some notes, and I thought I'd kind-of, sort-of transcribe them. My usual caveat: keep in mind, I'm a horrible transcriptionist, my notes are hard to read, my hand cramped up halfway through, and my dog needed to be let out in the middle of it. All the questions and answers written here are rough estimations of what was really said, and most likely somewhat abbre
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- As in the past few years I will use dashboards to keep track of the performance of the Twins' players during Spring Training in order to get a numerical and visual representation of who is doing what, of the players who are battling for a position on the 40-man roster. With few games in and the first cuts coming early next week, it might be a good time for the first one of these. To determine that, we need to figure out who are the "lo
Wilkin Ramirez has had to demonstrate a lot of patience in his career. The 28-year-old finally made his way onto an Opening Day roster last year, only to have his season shortened by a concussion and ended by a broken tibia. But the Twins were patient too, re-signing him this offseason. Maybe he could surprise them again, like last spring training. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise any more. Surrounded by Twins prospects in the late innings of a tie game with the Orioles, Ramirez delivered t
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
The 22-year-old went 2-for-5 on Friday night, his fourth straight multi-hit game. Heading into the week, he was hitting .246/.328/.404 (.732). Four games later, he is hitting .303/.361/.447 (.808).
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.
The Twins Daily Caretaker Fund
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
