Original Post from North Dakota Twins Fan

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It felt good to get back to a full week of Twins coverage here at NoDak Twins Fan and after my vacation in Arizona it was great to get caught up on all of the happenings across Twins Territory. We are only a few short weeks away from baseball being played under the sun at Target Field. It will be a welcome sight to see the hometown nine take the field for the first time and for the memories of an awful 2011 to go away.

The NFL continues to get all of the major headlines in the sports world but for fans of baseball there continues to be a ton of content to peruse through on a weekly basis. Here are a handful of the stories that I enjoyed from the last week with some fun stuff sprinkled in for a little spice.

• Twins Fan From Afar took a look at the Twins surplus of center fielders and which ones might be expendable in a trade. He even got a link on ESPN's Sweet Spot Blog.
  
• One of the biggest Twins stories of the week was the demotion of Tsuyoshi Nishioka to Triple-A.
  
• The NFL has the "Bounty-Gate" situation taking all the headlines and Seth Stohs wonders what the equivalent would be for MLB.
  
• Nick at Top of the First worked on some Twins roster analysis by examining the outfield situation.
  
• A Twins fan will be heading to NYC as part of the MLB Fan Cave. Lindsay Guentzel explained everything she went through to win the spot and thanked everyone who helped her.
  
• Baseball Reference released their Negro League database that covers 1903-1948. This is an awesome resource for an fan of the game.
  
• Forbes magazine ranked the Twins as the 14th most valuable franchise among MLB teams. The Houston Astros are one better so that's not a positive sign.
  
• It looks like former Twins shortstop JJ Hardy went skipping through the woods in his attempt to catch this ball.
  

• ESPN's SweetSpot Blog has been doing their "Over/Under" series in recent weeks and the good news is 65% of America thinks the Twins will win over 74 games.
  
• The Twins Armchair GM thinks the current crop of Twins players missed their World Series window but the next window could be right around the corner.
  
• With Nishioka being sent to Rochester, is there new life for Brian Dozier? Andrew at Off the Mark tackles this question.
  
• If you believe all of the rumors floating around at the trade deadline, Drew Storen almost became a Twin. He has a personalized Batmobile so that's pretty sweet.
  
• The Twins had the second pick in the Rule 5 Draft but Terry Doyle, the player they picked, was sent back to the White Sox this week. So much for that investment...
  
• Apparently I got out of Arizona right in the nick of time...
  
• On a more serious note, the Twins released six minor leaguers with a couple of surprises. It is part of the game but it is tough for guys that make their living playing baseball.
  

My Weekly Rundown

• Monday: Grapefruit League could learn from Cactus League
  
• Tuesday: Seeing Lincecum made me miss having an ace
  
• Wednesday: Should Butera follow Nishioka to Rochester?
  
• Thursday: Rosario's infield transition continues
  

Video of the Week: The Twins have another Mauer who plays a prominent role in the organization as the manager of the Fort Myers Miracle. Jake Mauer joined Brice Zimmerman to talk about the spring training experience for fans and the players with a focus on the minor leagues.

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