ashbury

2017 was the season Twins fans have been waiting for. Although 2015 did offer a bit of a respite from several dreary seasons, it didn't feel as sustainable as last year's performance did. There are many reasons to think that the Twins may be on the road to a prolonged run at the playoffs. Our regular lineup has an excellent mix of productive veterans as well as young players establishing themselves, ranking right up there with the productive teams of the early 2000's. With this year's free agent signings, the bullpen has significant depth. This should allow them to bring up youngsters when they are ready rather than forcing them in due to need as we saw at times last year. The rotation has the potential to be solid, with the caveat that the Twins sign or trade for someone at least of the Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn ilk. There is great reason for hope in Twins Territory.
 
With that in mind, I want to take a stab at something I attempted prior to the 2013 season. 2012 saw the Twins finish 66-96 and there was going to be plenty of opportunity for players to come up from the minors in 2013. I made an attempt to predict which players were most likely to come up the the big leagues that season. It was my spin on a Top 10 Prospect list, but focused on who could most help in 2013.
 
http://twinsdaily.com/blog/324/entry-2284-prospects-for-2013/
 
Jump ahead to 2018 and this becomes a much more challenging task. The 2018 Twins have significantly fewer holes that the 2013 squad. It was a challenge to come up with ten players who have a chance to debut and rank them according to their potential to help this year's team. All players on this list would be making their big league debut.
 
#10) DJ Baxendale - RP - Not a sexy pick to contribute to a deep bullpen, but posted sub-3.00 ERA seasons the past two years. I could see the Twins bringing him up as a long reliever during a stretch where the bullpen is overworked. The Twins used 21 pitchers as only relievers last year.
 
#9) Mason Melotakis - RP - Could this be the year he finally breaks through? Melotakis will be 27 this year and while he continues to have relatively high K rates he needs to step up soon or he will be passed up. He is already well down the list of LH options.
 
#8) Zack Littell - SP - Littell makes the list only because the Twins used 15 different starters last year. If it happens again, Littell likely makes his debut. He doesn't have the ceiling that some other prospects in the organization may have, but he has shown continued improvement as he's worked his way through the minors. In 2017 he went 19-1, stuck out 142 in 157 IP and had a 2.12 ERA. He only reached AA for the second half on the season, so a debut would most likely occur after the All-Star Break.
 
#7) LaMonte Wade - OF - Wade is the first non-pitcher on the list, mainly because of the youth and strength of the Twins lineup. I just don't anticipate much opportunity for players to move up this year. If the Twins were to need an OF, Wade would likely be the first option among players who would be making their MLB debut. I could see it happening in the second half of the season. Wade appears to be a similar player to Zach Granite, albeit with more upside.
 
6) Tyler Kinley - RP - This comes with the assumption that the Twins either decide to keep him on the 25 man roster (doubtful) or are able to work out a trade to keep him. He assumes the position Josh Bard may have had if still with the Twins. I still don't quite get exposing Bard when it is believed Kinley has similar velocity but with less command.
 
5) Tyler Jay - RP - Jay would most likely be higher on this list, but health has limited his progression through the system. Jay is the first person on this list that I think is likely to get a callup this year.
 
4) Jake Reed - RP - Reed is my highest rated reliever on the list. He posted a 2.13 ERA in 37 IP between AA and AAA last year. Given the current makeup of the bullpen, I think he would be next in line after Busenitz, Curtis and Chargois (all have already debuted) to get a promotion to the Twins in 2018. Given Chargois' health history, he may only be behind Busenitz and Curtis.
 
3) Nick Gordon - Infield - Gordon is the only other non-pitcher on the list and would likely fill any needs for an infielder at Target Field. The only other option I could see making a debut this season is Levi Michael and I think we all know what the chances of that are. Gordon has not lit the world on fire thus far in the minors, nor has he been terrible. He just continues to climb up the ranks, spending his entire age-21 season at AA posting a .749 OPS.
 
2) Fernando Romero - SP - Romero has possibly the highest upside of starters in AA and AAA in the organization. He went 11-9 with a 3.53 ERA and 120 K in 125 IP this past year at Chattanooga. Health seems to be the only thing holding him back. He could use some seasoning a AAA before his debut sometime this season.
 
1) Stephen Gonsalves - SP - Gonsalves has the most experience of all the prospect starting pitchers and arguably the best production. He has a career ERA of 2.39 and has maintained high K rates throughout the his ascent through the minors. He got a taste of AAA this past season and will likely start there in 2018. He could be the first option for a callup, but might have to wait in line behind Trevor May, Aaron Slegers or Felix Jorge before debuting sometime after June 1. He is also the most likely player on this list to open the season with the Twins if they don't sign another starting pitcher.

With Justin Morneau returning to Minnesota it just seems to fulfill destiny. The Canadians have only two teams – Toronto (officially) and that offshoot of Ontario called Minnesota with the Twins (Jumeaux). Canada should celebrate both and we should take pride in straddling the border with both temperature and hockey to welcome our northern kin.
 
Morneau was a natural and Colorado was just a blip on his resume. Now he is coming back home. Welcome Justin – you can let your o’s get longer and slip in an Eh! Or two.
 
While baseball in Canada does not get the same respect as Venezuela or the Dominican Republic or a few other slightly warmer places, it is still a viable location for our favorite sport. In fact, they have a Baseball Hall of Fame - http://baseballhalloffame.ca/
 
Since we have had such a great success with Justin I thought I should give it some additional perspective – who else has come from Canada to be Twins? We might have made MLB history when we replaced one Canadian pitcher – Scott Diamond with another Canadian call up – Andrew Albers. Add in Jesse Crain and we had a plethora of Canadian arms.
 
On February 4, 2015 Cordel Leonard (Corey) Koskie was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame! I suspect that Morneau will join him soon. Most surprising to me was Corey’s real name. For some reason I do not think I ever heard it.
 
Koskie had 936 hits 124 Hrs, and a career 825 OPS. http://m.mlb.com/player/136731/corey-koskie He was a good player! Justin Morneau 1603 hits, 281 BA, 247 hrs, and 828 OPS. Damn good player. Imagine Justin and Joe without concussions!
 
Not all our Canadians were stars – remember Rene Tosoni? I was rooting for him. And, of course, we crossed the border the other way too – Paul Molitor was a star for Toronto in the World Series.
 
We were not the only destination for Canadians, but we came out near the top. George Selkirk, a Yankee who played with Gehrig, DiMaggio, and Dickey is considered the greatest of Canadian Players, but maybe they will reconsider. I would put Ferguson Jenkins up for that honor and Joey Votto is moving up the list and Larry Walker is the most under rated.
 
And should you still need some Canadian love – look up Tip, The Woodstock Wonder, O’Neill, the Canadian Babe Ruth!
 
All I can say is Bienvenue (welcome back). By the way is a translation needed: jumeaux = twins.

On Monday, Rhett Bollinger of MLB wrote that the Minnesota Twins are still more likely to upgrade their pitching rotation for 2018 through free agency than by trade.
 
And on Tuesday, MLB Trade Rumors reported off of a 1500 ESPN tweet that pitchers’ agents were getting the sense that the Twins (i.e., Derek Falvey and Thad Levine) were putting off talks until Yu Darvish announces his decision to sign.
 
Reading between the lines, one can interpret these reports to mean that the Twins have not been in much communication with free agent pitchers waiting to sign contracts this offseason.
 
But does an absence of communication mean that the Twins are failing to communicate?
 
A story Thursday in the New York Times (h/t dougd) suggests that Levine is one of the more skilled baseball executives in using alternative means to communicate (such as text messaging) with players, agents, or other major league personnel.

"...today, we negotiate hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts and make massive trades without ever picking up the phone and speaking directly with one another, let alone meeting face to face,” Levine said. “You kind of learn the personalities of guys—who needs a phone call, who can do it on text, who prefers emails, who likes to be lighthearted.
 
"The art of the negotiation has almost been trumped by the art of communication."  
This makes the news that the Twins have not met in person with Darvish much easier to take.
 
Meanwhile, back in December, the Twins were reportedly offered Gerrit Cole in exchange for prospects Nick Gordon, Zack Granite, and Tyler Jay, according to the news site Pirates Breakdown.
 
https://twitter.com/pbcbreakdown/status/940390540998250497
 
Many Twins fans, including myself, liked this trade idea. (See here, here, here, or here —and the proposals offered by Twins fans in these threads were actually not far off the mark in terms of value.)
 
The stat we know as WAR is not how we evaluate pitchers during the season, but it can be a good, broad gauge of general value.
 
In terms of fWAR, the two sides of a Cole/Gordon/Granite trade match up well. Fangraphs projects Cole to provide 3.8 fWAR in 2018; let's add 3.8 fWAR more for 2019. That makes 7.6 fWAR for the final two team-controlled seasons of Cole coming from Pittsburgh. How much fWAR will the Twins prospects provide? The 2017 midseason KATOH+ projections estimate that Granite will contribute 6.8 fWAR through his six team-controlled MLB seasons, while Gordon will accumulate 6.3 worth of fWAR across his six seasons. Throw in a generous 2.0 fWAR for Jay as a relief pitcher, and the total contribution of the prospects coming from the Twins is 15.1 fWAR.
 
In such a Gerrit Cole trade as proposed above, the Twins would trade away a future 15.1 fWAR in exchange for Cole’s 7.6 fWAR as a starter for the next two seasons.
 
That looks unequal, but posters on the Dozier trade discussion threads last winter found that MLB-for-prospect trades often lean heavily to one side in this way. A risk premium on the speculative nature of unpredictable prospects, perhaps.
 
In any case, the barstool argument in favor of the trade may be more effective than the mathematical or financial analysis. Gordon and Granite are good players, but their production can be replaced. The Twins have Jermaine Palacios and Royce Lewis playing shortstop in the minors behind Nick Gordon, and have Jorge Polanco and other capable shortstops on the Major League team already. As for Granite, I would not count on him getting enough playing time to contribute much fWAR anyway, the maturing young Twins outfield being what it is. And the bottom line is the Twins badly need starting pitching in 2018.
 
Now compare Cole to Darvish. Fangraphs projects Cole for 3.8 fWAR in 2018, while Darvish is projected only for 3.6 fWAR in 2018. Consider that Darvish’s contract will fetch more than $20 million per season for each of the next five or six seasons; Cole will not earn $20 million over the next two seasons together. Moreover, Cole might be motivated to pitch his best in order to increase his value in free agency following 2019.
 
Through the quiet offseason to this point, and assuming Pittsburgh is still interested in a trade, Cole has looked like a solid alternative to Yu Darvish, maybe even better. Cole is younger and will not tie up salary beyond 2019, and might even present a July trade opportunity for the Twins if the 2019 season goes sideways.
 
Beyond 2018 and 2019, the success of the Twins will depend on their ability to develop their own starting pitching. Darvish might help win some games in future seasons, but those wins will cost a lot of money, and possibly at the expense of extending one or two of the Twins young outfielders.
 
Levine’s "negotiation" with Darvish this winter has put me at ease somewhat. Levine's knowledge of Darvish from their days in Texas suggests to me that the Twins are not concerned about Darvish’s health, nor his motivation to pitch after he signs this nine-figure deal. And a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow; figure on that annual salary at the end of Darvish’s contract to not look so bad as it does now, once those latter years finally arrive.
 
I still prefer a trade for Cole, combined perhaps with a signing of Alex Cobb. But if the Twins really do sign Darvish — and my gut gives them a better than 50/50 chance at it — I imagine I will be amazed, thrilled, and fired up for the 2018 season. Such a signing will instantly put Minnesota almost on par with most other teams in the American League, and will give them a dependable arm for the next several seasons.
 
But it's Darvish’s decision to make. If Levine has misjudged Darvish and Darvish chooses to sign with another team, and other subsequent options fail to break for the Twins, the Twins would find themselves going into 2018 without the addition of a single starting pitcher. For a young, talented team that made a strong run in 2017, this would be quite a blow. To borrow a great metaphor from another TwinsDaily poster in another thread, the Twins are playing a game of musical chairs, and if Darvish signs with another team, the Twins might find themselves without a chair when the music stops.
 
Let's hope the personal relationship and commitment Thad Levine and Yu Darvish have together is real. My gut tells me it is.

Ah, New Years, time for resolutions that will last a week or two. Let’s lose all our extra pounds, work out more, be smarter, be more beautiful… Well it is a time of reflection which is good and it is a time for hope. And no sport is better situated to take advantage of hope than baseball. Hockey and basketball are in the middle of their never-ending seasons and football just eliminated hope for over half their teams with the playoffs about to begin. But baseball is in the smoky haze of the hot stove. It is a time to reflect, speculate, lie, and hope. We are all equal, we can all sign the big star, we know the next great player is about to be called up from the minors, and we are all undefeated. So, until Spring training ends, I nominate the Twins as the 2018 World Series champions. I can revisit that prediction many times in the next few months and like most New Years resolutions and predictions it will be hard to remember anyway.
 
But there are some interesting stories in MLB that revolve around that eternal hope. In 90 years baseball had no team go from worst to first! Not one. Then over the next two dozen years we had 11 teams do it. That doesn’t happen in football – sorry Cleveland – but baseball is a resilient sport. Remember 1991? The Twins and the Braves both went worst to first and the greatest world series of all times took place that year. I am still excited remembering those games and walking down the street after each victory.
 
Then we cheat – instead of 2 leagues there are three divisions in each of the leagues giving six chances for worst to first. But if you won, who cares! Imagine the year 2000 and how impossible it would have seemed to have both the Red Sox and the Cubs win the World Series – both with the same GM! That is really worst to first.
Even the seven teams that have never won a World Series: the Seattle Mariners, the Texas Rangers, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Washington Nationals, the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres can look ahead and hope. Seattle and Washington can hope to get to their first world series ever. It is all possible – probably not likely – but possible.
 
For teams that have been to the World Series, but have not won for a long, long time we always have hope – for the last two years Cleveland hoped to join the Red Sox/Cubs bandwagon, but now have a drought of 69 years since they won a championship. The Pirates are the National League team with the longest drought since winning. I remember the WE ARE FAMILY teams of Clemente and Stargell; well it has been 38 years since they won.
 
Perhaps the most difficult drought for me to accept is in Baltimore where we had all those great Earl Weaver teams with perennial 20 game winners throughout the rotation and the Robinsons at bat and in the field. But they have 34 years since their last greatness. And the list goes on with the Tigers, Mets, Dodgers, etc. But all have hope today. Today everyone is a winner.
 
In 2003 the Florida Marlins won a world series with Dontrelle Willis and Josh Beckett! I think that is the same team that just got rid of their MVP, all world slugger and anyone else that can lift a baseball bat, but maybe they can find the magic anyway (I doubt it). In 2003 they had Ivan Rodriguez, Derek Lee and Mike Lowell – not all studs, but they won! One of the worst world series champions, but who cares – there are no asterisks in the champion list and of course they then got rid of their best players – sounds familiar?
 
Or the unlikely 1987 Minnesota Twins. I remember watching the Hrbek wrestling match on first base while sitting in a bar in Arizona. The bar went crazy and I had one of the best laughs ever. Do you remember who pitched besides Viola and Blyleven? Good luck.
 
And if we are remembering worst to first we should also look back on the Florida Marlins again for some perspective. In 1997 the won the World Series and in 1998 their record was 54 – 108. What kind of ownership does this? Jeter was not around in those years.
 
The same potential lies in every player. Mickey Vernon hit 275 before going in to the service. Then he came out to win the batting title beating teammate Ted Williams. Going back to a more natural average he hit 251 until he was 35 and suddenly won his second title – yes, every year is a clean slate. I remember the shock of Detroit Slugger Norm Cash winning the batting title win a 361 average. For 17 years he was known for home runs and not average (he was also known for corking his bat), but that year he set the league on fire.
 
Who will be our surprise of the new year? Who will come out of no where to be the next Mark (Big Bird) Fidrych? The bird was as famous for his mound presence as he was for pitching, but a 19 – 4 record with a 2.34 era and a 1.08 Whip is hard to ignore.
 
I remember well the 1957 seasons when the Milwaukee braves called up Bob Hazle who went crazy and was the star of the team – that included Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Red Schoendienst, Warren Spahn. He hit 403 in 41 games and was probably the world series winners MVP.
 
We all know Bill James for his Sabremetrics (Aside – I am not big on Marvin Miller, GMs, owners, umps, etc in HOF but I would put in Bill) however this is about the big surprises that carry the year and the Bill James that makes that list was a pitcher who was known as Seattle Bill. He completed 30 of 37 starts with a 1.90 era! He was outstanding in the WS as well with 11 scoreless innings for the 1914 Braves and then he faded – fast!
Joe Charboneau was a Cleveland star who was going to bring back the team glory. A slugger with charisma – he even got his own song - https://www.bing.com/videos/search?
 
q=joe+charboneau+song&view=detail&mid=C0A94198CFAADC3B4FF9C0A94198CFAADC3B4FF9&FORM=VIRE he was famous for opening beer bottles with his eyelids - Great story – short career! But how fun for Cleveland that one year.
There was Brady Anderson who hit 12 – 15 homeruns a year for the Baltimore Orioles, but in 1996 he hit 50! Some stars like Bob Grim who won 20 games as a Yankee Rookie, but was devastated by a line drive are a much sadder remembrances of how things can change.
 
Baseball is filled with stories and promise. So Happy New Year and congratulations to the 2018 World Series Champion Minnesota Twins (so far).

This was an article/idea that I wrote back originally back in 2013. I've updated it to include the changes MLB have already implemented, like removing the significance of the All-Star in the World Series Home Field Advantage.
 
Back in 2013, I had been listening to the baseball commentators, reading ESPN, SI and MLB.com about the uneven schedules pertaining to having inter-league play everyday and how people don't seem to like it. Personally, I am not a fan of the inter-league play and would prefer having a balanced schedule between the leagues.
 
Here is my proposed adjustment to the current league structure: I'm a big fan of having the pitcher hit for themselves (it makes the managers actually manage the game) but lets get real, it's time for the universal DH in both leagues.
 
Here is my realignment of the divisions: 6 divisions of 5 teams is moved to 4 divisions of 8 teams. The alignment of teams would increase geographic rivalries (to a certain extent), hopefully making travel to opposing ballparks more appealing, increase attendance, decrease team travel and increasing bottom lines (since this is what the owners want in the end).
 
The Divisions:
 
"American League"
 
North: Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies
 
West: San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, LA Dodgers, Anaheim Angels, Oakland A's, Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, and Vancouver BC (Proposed new team)
 
"National League"
 
South: Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, San Juan, Puerto Rico (Tampa Bay moves), and San Antonio, TX (Proposed new team)
 
East: Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Toronto Blue Jays
 
This alignment also expands the coverage of baseball more into Canada, which has a big baseball following, along with adding a team in Puerto Rico, a baseball rich area.
 
I chose San Juan, Vancouver and San Antonio because of the the size of their markets and location need within the proposed league. These locations are all currently larger than the following MLB Markets: Milwaukee, Cleveland, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
 
The Playoffs:
 
Playoffs would include the Top 2 teams from each division. The #1 (home) team (North) would play the opposing divisions #2 (away) team (West) and visa versa in a 5-game series (this would be the current "Wild Card Round").
 
The winners of their respective series would move onto the "AL or NL Championship Series Round." This series would include a 7-game series with teams playing for the American or National League Pennant along with a trip to the World Series.
 
The World Series would remain the same, a 7-game series, as it currently is stands. With the team with the best overall regular season record determining the home-field advantage.
 
This would be a big shake up to the current format of baseball but I believe this would have its advantages that fans, players and owners would enjoy. I understand that it currently eliminates the 2nd wild card team but lets not water down the playoffs with additional teams.
 
In regards on how this proposed realignment would affect the Twins, I would say that it would not be in the best interest for them. Soley based on the 2017 results, this is where the Twins would have ended up to finish the season...not in the playoffs:
 
Cleveland Indians - 102 Wins
Chicago Cubs - 92 Wins
Colorado Rockies - 87 Wins
Milwaukee Brewers - 86 Wins
Minnesota Twins - 85 Wins
Cincinnati Reds - 68 Wins
Chicago White Sox - 67 Wins
Detroit Tigers - 64 Wins
 
When we look at the payrolls for each of these organizations (Numbers from 2017 Opening Day) - we continue to fall towards the middle of the pack. Interesting to note that the team with the largest payroll also had the worst record in 2017. If the Twins were to raise their annual payroll to about $125 Million - would that help us climb this proposed standing?
 
Detroit Tigers - $199 Million
Chicago Cubs - $172 Million
Colorado Rockies - $130 Million
Cleveland Indians - $124 Million
Minnesota Twins - $108 Million
Chicago White Sox - $99 Million
Cincinnati Reds - $93 Million
Milwaukee Brewers - $63 Million
 
The idea was to create discussion and have a little fun with hypotheticals. Would be interesting to see how the addition of the DH to the former national league teams would affect their overall record and if that would be a positive or negative to the Twins playoff hopes.
 
Any thoughts or ideas to add?

Happy Holidays to everyone and welcome to my first Blog Entry here on Twins Daily. I am new to the writing/blogging scene (probably several years behind the curve) but I am not new to either baseball and the Minnesota Twins.
 
My background in baseball includes a playing career in both High School and College along with coaching in the collegiate ranks here in the Midwest. I currently expand my baseball background my reading about Owners, Sportswriters, Broadcasters, Managers and Individual Players that all contribute to the great game of baseball. I do it old school too - Hard Cover Books - none of this lightweight Kindle reading. I am also a current member of the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and will be attending this year's convention in Indianapolis, IN next week.
 
For my first entry, I kicked around the idea of a Minnesota Twins/Moneyball approach. It derives from my constant perusing around the Twins Daily comments section and seeing that fans (the majority of which) are unhappy with the current off-season direction we have gone. Coming off a playoff appearance, fans believed we were only a few pieces away from contending deep into the postseason. A strong off season and free agency were going to put us over the top. Unfortunately, the Twins haven't made a 'flashy' signing yet and lots of people have called the off season an utter disappointment.
 
I would like to try and bring people back down to realty in what the Twins are currently doing. I am not an insider to the Twins organization and can only speculate to the "Strategy".
 
I will say that I am a fan of the Duke, Pineda and Rodney signings so far. They aren't big and flashy, but they serve a purpose. Pineda - coming back from injury, once a highly touted pitching prospect that has flashed great promise is a great buy low signing. Rodney - has age against him but has proven to be a solid back of the bullpen arm and it's only on a one year deal. Duke - wasn't exactly the greatest when he came back from Tommy John surgery last season but again he is another buy low signing. With Duke, at the least, he is a stop gap till mid-season when Tyler Jay should hopefully be ready to join the Major League club.
 
These 3 signings are what Twins fans need to realize will continue to be the norm, it does not matter who the General Manager or Director of Baseball Operations is. All the wishing for us to sign Ohtani from Japan, was a pipe dream and was basically never going to happen. I've heard constant chatter about wanting the Twins to sign a big FA Power Relief Pitcher, that isn't going to happen either - plus it's not a financially sound decision to commit multiple years and big dollars to a relief pitcher...unless his name is Rivera or Hoffman. The Twins best chance to improve the Major League Club with Major League Talent is via a Trade. I was a big fan of going after Gerritt Cole, I thought we wouldn't have to give up as much in comparison to what a trade for Chris Archer would fetch. I'm still on the record for believing a trade will happen this off-season - just don't know when and for whom. I'm with the majority that believes it needs to be a Front Line Starter with multiple years of team control.
 
Fans tend to forget that the Minnesota Twins are in the bottom 3rd of Major League payrolls and we really have never deviated from that. Even if we were to commit an additional 30 million in payroll, we would still be in the bottom half of all Major League Baseball. Would that extra cash help us FINALLY beat the Yankees (in the playoffs) and their 200 Million Dollar payroll??? (Hard to say it would).
 
It is advantageous for the Twins to continue to find value in players that other teams don't see. We do not have the luxury (Time and/or Money) to throw at any and all Free Agents like the Yankees/Dodgers do. We've seen what other clubs have done, the Miami Marlins, seemingly finally putting down some money on players and then not seeing a return on their investment via wins or attendance. They preferred to then scrap the team and go back to their bare bones approach. Who is to say their approach is wrong...the Marlins have won 2 World Series since the last Twins World Series Victory.
 
In all of my rambling and banter - I believe the Twins, for 2018, have signed some bounce back players in preparation for the 2019 season. 2018 will be an additional year of development for the young core of Twins players. Cleveland will be the team to beat in the AL Central with the Wild Card being no gimme. From a Wins and Loss standpoint, I believe 2018 will be either a standstill or step backwards and most Twins fans will find that unacceptable coming off a playoff year.

What if the Twins had drafted Mark Prior or Mark Teixeira instead of Joe Mauer?
Key Players Affected by Alternate Draft Choices
2002 Prior WAR: 2.6 ERA 3.32 FIP 3.16 xFIP 3.04
2003 Prior WAR: 7.5 ERA 2.43 FIP 2.47 xFIP 2.92
2004 Prior WAR: 2.7 ERA 4.02 FIP 3.53 xFIP 3.64
2005 Prior WAR: 2.8 ERA 3.67 FIP 3.85 xFIP 3.38
2006 Prior awful
2002 Mauer xxx
2003 Mauer xxx
2004 Mauer WAR 1.2 .308/.369/.570 wRC+ 139
2005 Mauer WAR 3.4 .294/.372/.411 wRC+ 108
2006 Mauer WAR 6.2 .347/.429/.507 wRC+ 141
2007 Mauer WAR 3.1 .293/.382/.426 wRC+ 114
2008 Mauer WAR 5.9 .328/.413/.451 wRC+ 133
2009 Mauer WAR 7.7 .365/.444/.587 wRC+ 170
2010 Mauer WAR 5.3 .327/.402/.469 wRC+ 136
2010 Ramos WAR .3 .278/.305/.405 wRC+ 91
2004 Pierzynski WAR 1.1 .272/.319/.410 wRC+ 88
2005 Pierzynski WAR 1.8 .257/.308/.420 wRC+ 88
2006 Pierzynski WAR 2.0 .295/.333/.436 wRC+ 93
2004 Nathan WAR 3.2 ERA 1.62 FIP 2.16 xFIP 3.24
2005 Nathan WAR 2.7 ERA 2.70 FIP 2.21 xFIP 2.81
2006 Nathan WAR 3.2 ERA 1.58 FIP 1.68 xFIP 2.39
2007 Nathan WAR 2.1 ERA 1.88 FIP 2.65 xFIP 3.17
2008 Nathan WAR 2.0 ERA 1.33 FIP 2.79 xFIP 2.90
2009 Nathan WAR 2.0 ERA 2.40 FIP 2.88 xFIP 2.95
2006 Liriano WAR 3.8 ERA 2.16 FIP 2.55 xFIP 2.38
2007 Liriano xxx
2008 Liriano WAR 1.5 ERA 3.91 FIP 3.87 xFIP 4.25
2009 Liriano WAR 1.0 ERA 5.80 FIP 4.87 xFIP 4.48
2010 Liriano WAR 5.7 ERA 3.62 FIP 2.66 xFIP 2.95
2004 Blanco WAR 0.4 .206/.260/.368 wRC+59
2006 Bonser WAR 1.3 ERA 4.22 FIP 4.55 xFIP 4.08
2007 Bonser WAR 1.4 ERA 5.10 FIP 4.91 xFIP 4.40
2008 Bonser WAR 1.2 ERA 5.93 FIP 4.19 xFIP 4.13
2002 Lohse WAR 1.8 ERA 4.23 FIP 4.77 xFIP 4.72
2003 Rogers WAR 3.1 ERA 4.57 FIP 4.25 xFIP 4.38
2003 Teixeira WAR 1.9 .259/.331/.480 wRC+105
2004 Teixeira WAR 4.0 .281./370/.560 wRC+129
2005 Teixeira WAR 5.9 .301/.379/.575 wRC+147
2006 Teixeira WAR 3.2 .282/.371/.514 wRC+ 121
TOTAL 2002 +1.7 (subtract half from Lohse)
TOTAL 2003 +4.6
TOTAL 2004 -1 (starts to get speculative as we'd have had to have had someone closing Guardado .2 Hawkins 1.2 Crain becomes the closer we envisioned when we drafted him). AJ stays instead of Blanco/Mauer
TOTAL 2005 -1.5 (again we'd have had someone closing for us) Crain effective despite terrifying peripherals, Guardado .2 Hawkins .8
TOTAL 2006 -12.9
TOTAL 2007 -6.6
TOTAL 2008 -9.1
TOTAL 2009 -9.7
TOTAL 2010 -11
If the Twins drafted Mark Prior:
Retro-GMing:
2002: Jones lf Guzman ss Koskie 3b Ortiz dh Hunter cf Mientkiewcz 1b Kielty/Mohr rf Pierzynski c Rivas 2b
Radke, Milton, Reed, Prior, Lohse/Mays CL: Guardado
2003: Stewart lf Rivas 2b Mientkiewciz 1b LeCroy dh Hunter cf Koskie 3b Jones rf Pierzynski c Guzman ss
Prior, Radke, Reed, Lohse, Mays/Santana CL: Guardado
2004: Stewart lf Jones rf Koskie 3b Morneau 1b Hunter cf LeCroy dh Pieryznski c Guzman ss Rivas 2b
Prior, Santana, Radke, Silva, Lohse CL: Guardado/Hawkins/Crain
2005: Stewart lf Bartlett ss Hunter cf Morneau 1b Cuddyer 3b LeCroy dh Pierzynski c Jones rf Punto 2b
Prior, Santana, Radke, Silva, Lohse CL: Guardado/Hawkins/Crain
2006: Castillo 2b, Punto 3b, Cuddyer rf Morneau 1b Hunter cf Pierzynski c White dh Tyner lf Bartlett ss
Santana, Radke, Silva, Lohse, Baker CL: Who knows? Crain?
2007-2010 would have obviously been terrible without Mauer and Nathan (also Liriano in 2010)
Silver lineing Ramos trade unlikely
Prior career 2.31 postseason ERA
Side note: Gardy would not have taxed Prior so hard so it's possible that Prior doesn't flame out. Then again it's quite possible that he does and we get less usage out of him. Also I am terrified that Gardy would use Prior out of the bullpen in 2002, meaning we'd have Johan and Prior as mop up men. Also quite likely Prior would have toiled away in AA and not been called up until 2004.
If the Twins drafted Mark Teixeira:
2003: Stewart lf Guzman ss Teixeira 3b LeCroy dh Hunter cf Mientkiewciz 1b Jones rf Pierzynski c Rivas 2b
Radke, Reed, Lohse, Rogers, Mays/Santana CL: Guardado
-option of trading Koskie or Doug to fill holes
2004: Stewart lf Jones rf Teixeira 3b Morneau 1b Hunter cf LeCroy dh Pierzynski c Guzman ss Rivas 2b
Santana, Radke, Silva, Lohse CL: Guardado/Hawkins/Crain
2005: Stewart lf Bartlett ss Teixeira 3b Morneau 1b Hunter cf Cuddyer rf LeCroy dh Pierzynski c Punto 2b
Santana, Radke, Silva, Lohse, 5th CL: Guardado/Hawkins/Crain
2006: Castillo 2b, Tyner lf Teixeira 3b Cuddyer rf Morneau 1b Hunter cf White lf Pierzynski c Bartlett ss
Santana, Radke, Silva, Lohse, Baker CL : Who knows? Crain?
TOTAL 2002 wash
TOTAL 2003 -3 if trade Koskie -1.7 if trade Mientkiewicz
TOTAL 2004 -1.4 if trade Koskie .3 if trade Mientkiewicz
TOTAL 2005 -.2 if trade Koskie 1.6 if trade Mientkiewicz
TOTAL 2006 -9.3 if trade Koskie -9.3 if trade Mientkiewicz
Teixeira would have had to stick at third base if we traded Koskie.
Predictions: 2002 If Prior starts that means Joe Mays doesn't. Mays won the only game against Anaheim so we likely still lose series 4-1. Better guess is Prior isn't even on the roster, toiling away at AA or AAA. Same results.
-Teixeira does not play. Wash.
2003: Terry is excited at not having to sign Kenny Rogers when Milton goes down in spring training. The season is a success because of that. Santana injured himself in Game 1 of ALDS but would likely have been able to make next start. Prior and Santana give Twins 2-0 lead, Santana/Prior closes out Game 5. Run into Boston team that was loaded offensively. Would have been a great series but gut is that Boston would have won in 6 or 7. Pedro would have tossed Wayne Hattaway to the ground and we'd all hate Pedro. Or would Corey Koskie have become the Aaron Boone of the Twins?
-Teixeira is called up mid-season when Ryan trades either Koskie or Doug. If Teixeira plays first we have a pretty potent lineup but it's not enough to beat Yankees. If Ryan trades Koskie, could it have been to the Yankees??? Reds didn't get anything of note for Boone. Who knows what would have happened but I'd have been pissed at trading with the Yankees again, especially with us in the middle of a pennant race. Hopefully we traded Doug and kept Teixeira at third.
2004: Twins barely edge out Chicago/Cleveland- get swept by Yankees
-Teixeira is enough to help Twins make playoffs. If playing first base, Morneau moves to DH. Twins and Yankees go 5. Anything can happen. A.J. Strikes out and runs to first, the aura of A.J. Is enough to keep Koskie's double in play. A.J. Somehow motors around to score game winning run. Nathan doesn't blow save. Twins go up 2-0.
2005: Twins do not come close to .500- let the rebuilding begin
-Teixeira shining light on a horrible team
2006: Depending on who was signed during FA (and we saw how White and Batista turned out) this would have been an awful team. Twins started 25-33 in real life and it would have just been a downward spiral from there. Likely would not have traded for Castillo before season. Scott Tyler and “what's his name” play key roles for team.
-Punto never becomes a Piranha as he has no place to play.... unless Gardy decides he'd rather DH Morneau. Then Tyner never becomes a piranha. Team is still awful without a key offensive contributor, half season ace, and closer.
2007: more awfulness- Santana and Hunter get traded during the season
-Teixeira is traded. Who knows who Ryan would have targeted from Atlanta. My gut (based on nothing but my own contempt for Ryan) is that we acquire Francouer, Salty, and Joey Devine.
2008: way to far out in the future and much depends on who we ended up with at catcher and closer
2009: same
2010: same
In conclusion, the Twins would have been slightly better in 2002, quite a bit better in 2003, and similar in 2004 depending on who we settled on at closer. From 2005 through 2010 we are much, much worse had they selected Prior instead of Mauer.
-Teixeira, no change in 2002, 2003 depends if we trade Koskie or Mientkewicz. If Koskie the same, if Doug better. 2004 would have been helpful depending on closer situation. 2005 would have been wasting his talent. 2006 would have been awful without Liriano, Nathan, Mauer.
2007 trade Teixeira for prospects. Rinse, wash, repeat.
In retrospect, it is obvious the Twins made the correct choice to select Mauer in the 2001 MLB draft. A different choice would have given the Twins a marginally better chance to win in 2002-2004 but post-2004 would have been disastrous. Kudos to Mr. Ryan for making the correct choice!

I offer a brief writeup for the final game of my three-game Arizona Fall League visit, which the host Surprise Saguaros lost to the Peoria Javelinas 11-10 in disappointing fashion Saturday night.
 
The headline from the game of course would be Lamont Wade's concussion injury from a collision in right-center field. I posted a few photos in reply to that thread, found here. He was injured in the top of the second inning, before having a turn at bat.
 
I haven't talked too much about the other teams, but in this game Ronald Acuna launched 2 home runs for Peoria. The guy hasn't turned 20 yet - he's a huge prospect for Atlanta. Here he is:
 

 
One thing about Acuna: he doesn't cheat himself when he swings.
 
Chris Paul had a nice game. He went 2-for-4 including a triple, scoring both times and driving in 4. He was part of the big 7-run fourth inning, in which he was driven in by Nicky Lopez's grand slam.
 

 
The Twins' other batter on the roster, Sean Miller, did not appear in this game.
 
Given the 20-man pitching staff, it was questionable whether we would see any Twins pitchers, either, given that they all had pitched on Thursday. But Andrew Vasquez did come in, in the eighth, and unfortunately the results were not good. You'd think the big inning for Surprise would have put away the game, but no, pitchers for both teams were giving up rockets all over the place, and the bases were loaded with only a two-run lead by that point. Vasquez earned himself a Blown Save by surrendering a walk and then a hit batsman before getting that third out on strikes. The lefty was brought in to face a lefty - a classic LOOGY situation - so had he done his job the lead would have been protected. Very disappointing that he wouldn't throw strikes. A rude fan was heard saying "you had one job. ONE JOB!" Wait, that fan was me.
 
Peoria pushed across another run in the top of the ninth, and Surprise went quietly with three strikeouts to end the game. A downer of an outcome. I still found the short vacation very satisfying - beautiful weather, and it's baseball! I close with a post-game photo of Chris Paul visiting with (apparently) a relative or family friend.
 

I offer a brief writeup for the final game of my three-game Arizona Fall League visit, which the host Surprise Saguaros lost to the Peoria Javelinas 11-10 in disappointing fashion Saturday night.
 
The headline from the game of course would be Lamont Wade's concussion injury from a collision in right-center field. I posted a few photos in reply to that thread, found here. He was injured in the top of the second inning, before having a turn at bat.
 
I haven't talked too much about the other teams, but in this game Ronald Acuna launched 2 home runs for Peoria. The guy hasn't turned 20 yet - he's a huge prospect for Atlanta. Here he is:
 

 
One thing about Acuna: he doesn't cheat himself when he swings.
 
Chris Paul had a nice game. He went 2-for-4 including a triple, scoring both times and driving in 4. He was part of the big 7-run fourth inning, in which he was driven in by Nicky Lopez's grand slam.
 

 
The Twins' other batter on the roster, Sean Miller, did not appear in this game.
 
Given the 20-man pitching staff, it was questionable whether we would see any Twins pitchers, either, given that they all had pitched on Thursday. But Andrew Vasquez did come in, in the eighth, and unfortunately the results were not good. You'd think the big inning for Surprise would have put away the game, but no, pitchers for both teams were giving up rockets all over the place, and the bases were loaded with only a two-run lead by that point. Vasquez earned himself a Blown Save by surrendering a walk and then a hit batsman before getting that third out on strikes. The lefty was brought in to face a lefty - a classic LOOGY situation - so had he done his job the lead would have been protected. Very disappointing that he wouldn't throw strikes. A rude fan was heard saying "you had one job. ONE JOB!" Wait, that fan was me.
 
Peoria pushed across another run in the top of the ninth, and Surprise went quietly with three strikeouts to end the game. A downer of an outcome. I still found the short vacation very satisfying - beautiful weather, and it's baseball! I close with a post-game photo of Chris Paul visiting with (apparently) a relative or family friend.
 

Not to take away from Steve Lein's excellent AFL summaries, but USAFChief and I (plus special guest ashburydavid) were in attendance at Surprise Stadium this afternoon, and we got to see several of our Twins prospects appear in the 6-2 loss to the Glendale Desert Dogs, so I thought I'd write something up, given all this Twins game action. Chief might chime in with his own perspectives, if he ever gets free of rush-hour traffic to his hotel.
 
Basically, nobody really impressed me, I'm sorry to say.
 
On the hitting side, only Lamont Wade appeared, playing the full game in RF.
 

 
At bat...
 

 
... he grounded out to second in the second inning...
 

 
... struck out (looking) in the fourth, walked in the sixth, and was hit by a pitch in the eighth. Good selectivity, I suppose, but not good enough contact. On defense, he made a couple of routine putouts, and couldn't quite get to a couple of foul balls that a faster player might have reached. Short-sample grade: Incomplete. I want to see more.
 
As for the pitchers, we saw each of the Twins contingent on this team, all in relief. First in was Ryan Eades, who came in with two outs in the third, and then pitched the fourth.
 

 
He gave up his first earned run of the AFL season, on a no-doubter home run to left field by leadoff hitter D.J. Peters of the Dodgers, who happened to lead off the fourth. A couple of other hard hit balls also were in play, one a gift double thanks to subpar ball-tracking by left-fielder Luis La O (sic), a Rangers prospect. Basically, Eades came across to me as just another pitcher, with a fastball in the low 90s.
 
In the sixth, Tyler Jay came on. Here he is during bullpen warmups. Side note: did you know that one of the jobs of the bullpen catcher is Physical Therapist and Trainer? Seriously, Jay's sidekick in the bullpen was working a kink out of the pitcher's shoulder when I watched him start to warm up.
 

 
Surprise Stadium offers the fan a nice view of the bullpen if you feel like taking a little stroll down the left field line:
 

 
Anyway, as for the game appearance, Jay likewise resided in the low 90s with his fastball; somehow I was hoping for more.
 

 
He didn't give up any hits and he struck out two, but he also walked two. He seemed aggressive against lefties but tentative versus right-handed batters. Dare I say, he nibbled.
 
He was followed in the seventh by Thomas Hackimer. (Somehow I wound up with no usable photos of him.) A side-arm righty of not very tall stature, his hit batsman resulted in a warning to both teams.* A wild pitch among the two walks and the HBP meant loaded bases, but he managed to get out of the inning without a run being scored, via a couple of earlier groundouts and a closing strikeout looking. Like Jay before him, Hackimer seemed to me overly cautious when facing batters of the opposite hand. The innings frankly dragged while our guys were messing around on the mound.
 
In the eighth inning lanky Andrew Vasquez completed the Twins farmhand effort for the day.
 

 
In fairness, he was not aided by a grounder that ate up third-baseman Kevin Padlo of Tampa for an error, but he also gave up a clean single to right. He did notch two strikeouts, but like his fellow Twins pitchers did not display a blazing fastball that I crave to see from our prospects.

 
Sad to say, it was probably the best performance among the group, earning maybe a C+.
 
All in all, no one stepped up this afternoon to make a case for being any kind of a darkhorse candidate for an early promotion to the big club as soon as mid-season 2018. IMO of course.
 
* The HBP warning seemed premature to both managers, and seemed to lapse later in the game when Wade was hit in the eighth with no resultant ejections. I really like the plate umpire's name though: J.J. January, a much better "baseball name" than Luis La O.
 
 
 
Source: Surprise Saguaros game, Thursday Nov 9

Not that anyone asked, but in the past day or so I posted in these Twins Daily threads...
Who, besides Robbie Grossman himself, deserves credit for Grossman's improved defensive stats in the outfield, as well as improvement in the eye-test according to yours truly? My general recollection has been less wandering about in search of fly balls. If Jeff Pickler is in charge of coaching the outfielders, kudos to him. Now, about Buxton banging repeatedly into center field walls...
On a post-season broadcast, Matt Vasgersian reportedly opined that managers should not be allowed to add check-swings as another call that can be appealed. I agree. When the automated strike zone becomes a reality, the cameras presumably will be able to track the bat head's progress (or lack) across the plate area. Until that day, stopping the game for such appeals is not a good investment of time.
Sheesh, Jacque Jones. That's how you treat someone you were close to? To paraphrase another's wisdom, can't we all just get along?
If surgery is needed for Sano's aching leg, I'd vote for proceeding ASAP. While caution is medically advisable, it's also likely that his conditioning regimen is suffering at present.

I stumbled into a free ticket to the Red Sox game against the Pirates on Thursday. It was a makeup game and a guy seated near me also said he'd gotten his tickets free from someone. (He also insisted that Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City is new, so our conversation was not illuminating for me. Only USAFChief is entitled to consider Kauffman "new".)
 
I anticipated that attendance might be sparse - April games tend to be attended in the low 30,000s rather than the high 30,000s anyway, and a makeup game had to give many people problems. Here is a view toward the rightfield bleachers minutes before 2 pm game time:
 

 
But here are those bleachers later in the game, so I guess people did finally show up on this sunny but seasonable (50 degree) April afternoon:
 

 
My seats were not in the bleachers as I had been told, but rather the first base grandstand high in the lower deck, meaning it was shady, as you can tell, and therefore cold. Here's Tessie the Green Monster, said to be the little sister of Wally the Green Monster, posing with a young fan or three:
 

 
The game itself wasn't very dramatic until the 8th - a walk and a homer in the top of the first off of starter Eduardo Rodriguez was a downer...

 
... while Pirates starter Chad Kuhl pitched mostly effectively:
 

 
The Red Sox' first run in the second was fairly routine, arising from a pair of clean doubles leading to no chance for defensive prowess - if the triple is said to be the most exciting play in baseball, doubles can be among the least interesting ways to score a run. The Pirates got an insurance run in the sixth, again started by a double but this time with a less routine end-result due to a throwing error by the catcher to third base on an ensuing strikeout-and-steal.
 
Still, it was a quiet game, one that had me wondering if I would stick it out for all 9 innings. However, for the 8th inning I finally moved over to the RF seats which were starting to empty again, to get some sun, and that coincided with Sweet Caroline and then the rally against the Pirates bullpen that erased the 3-1 deficit. I am not a big fan of Hanley Ramirez
 

 
but I have to admit the guy is money at the plate and the bases were loaded for him when he (notice a trend?) doubled. (Not on the above pitch. ) This cleared the bases, but not in the way the fans hoped, as the runner from first, Mookie Betts, almost made it home safely but was called out via replay. So the score was only tied. But that merely meant that, after an instant walk to Mitch Moreland to try to set up a double play, Bogaerts could single home Ramirez (who had advanced on the earlier throw) for the eventual game-winner. Closer Craig Kimbrel allowed a leadoff single, but a flyout, caught-stealing, and groundout snuffed that small threat, and the Fenway Faithful went home happy.
 
So, this was a game with a very slow leadup, which my non-American or non-baseball friends probably would not appreciate, to a brief but highly satisfying resolution, to which I'm sure those same friends would say "that's it???" I'm glad I got to go.

I stumbled into a free ticket to the Red Sox game against the Pirates on Thursday. It was a makeup game and a guy seated near me also said he'd gotten his tickets free from someone. (He also insisted that Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City is new, so our conversation was not illuminating for me. Only USAFChief is entitled to consider Kauffman "new".)
 
I anticipated that attendance might be sparse - April games tend to be attended in the low 30,000s rather than the high 30,000s anyway, and a makeup game had to give many people problems. Here is a view toward the rightfield bleachers minutes before 2 pm game time:
 

 
But here are those bleachers later in the game, so I guess people did finally show up on this sunny but seasonable (50 degree) April afternoon:
 

 
My seats were not in the bleachers as I had been told, but rather the first base grandstand high in the lower deck, meaning it was shady, as you can tell, and therefore cold. Here's Tessie the Green Monster, said to be the little sister of Wally the Green Monster, posing with a young fan or three:
 

 
The game itself wasn't very dramatic until the 8th - a walk and a homer in the top of the first off of starter Eduardo Rodriguez was a downer...

 
... while Pirates starter Chad Kuhl pitched mostly effectively:
 

 
The Red Sox' first run in the second was fairly routine, arising from a pair of clean doubles leading to no chance for defensive prowess - if the triple is said to be the most exciting play in baseball, doubles can be among the least interesting ways to score a run. The Pirates got an insurance run in the sixth, again started by a double but this time with a less routine end-result due to a throwing error by the catcher to third base on an ensuing strikeout-and-steal.
 
Still, it was a quiet game, one that had me wondering if I would stick it out for all 9 innings. However, for the 8th inning I finally moved over to the RF seats which were starting to empty again, to get some sun, and that coincided with Sweet Caroline and then the rally against the Pirates bullpen that erased the 3-1 deficit. I am not a big fan of Hanley Ramirez
 

 
but I have to admit the guy is money at the plate and the bases were loaded for him when he (notice a trend?) doubled. (Not on the above pitch. ) This cleared the bases, but not in the way the fans hoped, as the runner from first, Mookie Betts, almost made it home safely but was called out via replay. So the score was only tied. But that merely meant that, after an instant walk to Mitch Moreland to try to set up a double play, Bogaerts could single home Ramirez (who had advanced on the earlier throw) for the eventual game-winner. Closer Craig Kimbrel allowed a leadoff single, but a flyout, caught-stealing, and groundout snuffed that small threat, and the Fenway Faithful went home happy.
 
So, this was a game with a very slow leadup, which my non-American or non-baseball friends probably would not appreciate, to a brief but highly satisfying resolution, to which I'm sure those same friends would say "that's it???" I'm glad I got to go.

I stumbled into a free ticket to the Red Sox game against the Pirates on Thursday. It was a makeup game and a guy seated near me also said he'd gotten his tickets free from someone. (He also insisted that Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City is new, so our conversation was not illuminating for me. Only USAFChief is entitled to consider Kauffman "new".)
 
I anticipated that attendance might be sparse - April games tend to be attended in the low 30,000s rather than the high 30,000s anyway, and a makeup game had to give many people problems. Here is a view toward the rightfield bleachers minutes before 2 pm game time:
 

 
But here are those bleachers later in the game, so I guess people did finally show up on this sunny but seasonable (50 degree) April afternoon:
 

 
My seats were not in the bleachers as I had been told, but rather the first base grandstand high in the lower deck, meaning it was shady, as you can tell, and therefore cold. Here's Tessie the Green Monster, said to be the little sister of Wally the Green Monster, posing with a young fan or three:
 

 
The game itself wasn't very dramatic until the 8th - a walk and a homer in the top of the first off of starter Eduardo Rodriguez was a downer...

 
... while Pirates starter Chad Kuhl pitched mostly effectively:
 

 
The Red Sox' first run in the second was fairly routine, arising from a pair of clean doubles leading to no chance for defensive prowess - if the triple is said to be the most exciting play in baseball, doubles can be among the least interesting ways to score a run. The Pirates got an insurance run in the sixth, again started by a double but this time with a less routine end-result due to a throwing error by the catcher to third base on an ensuing strikeout-and-steal.
 
Still, it was a quiet game, one that had me wondering if I would stick it out for all 9 innings. However, for the 8th inning I finally moved over to the RF seats which were starting to empty again, to get some sun, and that coincided with Sweet Caroline and then the rally against the Pirates bullpen that erased the 3-1 deficit. I am not a big fan of Hanley Ramirez
 

 
but I have to admit the guy is money at the plate and the bases were loaded for him when he (notice a trend?) doubled. (Not on the above pitch. ) This cleared the bases, but not in the way the fans hoped, as the runner from first, Mookie Betts, almost made it home safely but was called out via replay. So the score was only tied. But that merely meant that, after an instant walk to Mitch Moreland to try to set up a double play, Bogaerts could single home Ramirez (who had advanced on the earlier throw) for the eventual game-winner. Closer Craig Kimbrel allowed a leadoff single, but a flyout, caught-stealing, and groundout snuffed that small threat, and the Fenway Faithful went home happy.
 
So, this was a game with a very slow leadup, which my non-American or non-baseball friends probably would not appreciate, to a brief but highly satisfying resolution, to which I'm sure those same friends would say "that's it???" I'm glad I got to go.

Byungho Park reassigned to the minors? 13 pitchers?


 
The Minnesota Twins have made their final roster decisions for Opening Day 2017, which is on April 3rd and only 3 days away. They:
assigned 1B/DH Byungho Park to minor-league campalong with OF JB Shuck, 3B Matt Hague, INF Benji Gonzalez, 1B/DH Ben Paulsen, and C Eddy Rodriguez

[*]named LHP Adalberto Mejia their 5th starter
[*]RHP Tyler Duffey will join the bullpen
[*]will add C Chris Gimenez to the 40-man roster
[*]optioned C John Ryan Murphy to AAA Rochester


 
So that means the 25-man Opening Day roster, for now, is:
Hitters/Fielders – 12
C – Jason Castro
1B – Joe Mauer
2B – Brian Dozier
3B – Miguel Sano
SS – Jorge Polanco
LF – Eddie Rosario
CF – Byron Buxton
RF – Max Kepler
DH – Robbie Grossman
Bench – C Chris Gimenez, INF Eduardo Escobar, UTIL Danny Santana
 
Starting Pitchers – 5
RHP Ervin Santana
LHP Hector Santiago
RHP Kyle Gibson
RHP Phil Hughes
LHP Adalberto Mejia
 
Relief Pitchers – 8
RHP Brandon Kintzler
RHP Matt Belisle
RHP Ryan Pressly
LHP Taylor Rogers
LHP Craig Breslow
RHP Michael Tonkin
RHP Justin Haley
RHP Tyler Duffey
 
On Disabled List
LHP Glen Perkins (?), LHP Ryan O’Rourke, INF Ehire Adrianza, 1B/DH Kennys Vargas (?)
 
 

Why “for now?”


Because, obviously, everyone is most likely wondering how Byungho Park did not make the team after a great Spring Training where he hit 2 doubles, 6 HRs and had 13 RBIs among 19 hits with 6 walks and 15 strikeouts in 51 at-bats for a .353 average and a .414 on-base percentage. He showed that he’s worked on his swing and is taking better at-bats.There might be a few reasons.
 
First off, he’s not on the 40-man roster and the Twins already have to add backup catcher Chris Gimenez to the 40-man roster. Assuming they’re taking Buddy Boshers off the roster for that spot, who else can you take off of it to find a spot for Byungho Park? Ryan O’Rourke? He’s on the 10-Day DL so he can’t be removed unless they move him to the 60-Day DL and he won’t be out that long. They could move Glen Perkins to the 60-Day DL and they still might but I believe he has to agree to that and he probably doesn’t want to be out until near the end of May if he can get back before that. There may be other players you could take off the 40-man roster but, obviously, the front office and the coaches like those players or they wouldn’t be on the roster.
 
Second, yes, Park’s stats are impressive but, they’re also from Spring Training, which is hard to take seriously so, maybe the front office would like to see him continue that same type of consistent hitting and good at-bats in AAA. If he keeps mashing the ball like he did in Spring Training, he’ll most likely get called up to the big club. Or if Robbie Grossman or a reliever or someone else struggles early, they could make a move to recall him?
 
Third, and this might be the biggest one, maybe Derek Falvey and Thad Levine are looking to acquire and/or move a player to make room for Mr. Park. By reassigning him to minor-league camp, some other teams might show some interest. We expect them to be looking for every possible way to improve this team.
 
 

Why 13 pitchers?


That seems unusual but, again, that doesn’t mean they’ll stay with 13 pitchers for the whole season or even a month of the season. The Minnesota Twins biggest problem (and need) has been pitching since the losing started 6 seasons ago. So, having 13 pitchers shows how bad it’s been. They might need that many to get through a week. If the starters are pitching bad, that bullpen can get overworked quickly.
 
So, they might want to get a look at these guys in real games when it counts rather than just evaluate them in spring training. Some, if not all, pitchers are working on new mechanics, new pitches, and/or new grips on pitches, trying to get used to those new tweaks to their deliveries or adding a new pitch. They aren’t that concerned if they get hit hard during a game.
 
Plus, having 13 pitchers could mean they are going to go with this starting lineup for awhile and let them play. They’re going to let Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sano figure out if they can stay at shortstop and 3rd base. The bench of Eduardo Escobar, Chris Gimenez, and Danny Santana gives them the flexibility to replace every position as Gimenez has played some 1st base, Escobar and Santana can play 2nd, 3rd or short and Santana can play in the outfield, too. Sano could play some 1st base and in the outfiel…uhh…no, let’s not go back to that. Anyways, this lineup does have some flexibility even if there are only 12 players.
 
So, basically, let’s wait and see how it goes for the next 3 days before Opening Day. If they’re still the same after that, let’s give them some time to play it out for awhile and see what happens. It might not be as bad as you think.
 
Thanks for reading our TwinsTakes. We’d love to hear your TwinsTakes. That’s why it’s…
 

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I have some cousins that live in a house with a large unfinished basement. They moved to this house from one that was considerably larger, not so much in an effort to downsize, but more to find a residence that was more affordable. The problem with this was my Aunt is a longtime suffer of “I might still need that syndrome.” She will fully deny it, but it is a debilitating illness that has hampered the functionality of said basement, and more obscurely, her lifestyle in general. She attaches fond memories with items that were once a mainstay in her life, and because of those memories, has an intense affinity with holding on to them. I fear that my Aunt and the Pohlads suffer from the same affliction.
 
When Terry Ryan was fired last season many of us hoped for the “clean house” take when rebuilding the front office. We hoped that names like Rob Antony, Deron Johnson, and (maybe this one is just me) Jack Goin would be sending resumes to other organizations or maybe jumping into a different line of work all together. We hoped that with the hiring of Derek Falvey and Thad Lavine would come a new era of analytics in Twins baseball that would return us to glory days of being hated by the White Sox for our piranha-esk qualities and our “right way” idealistic of how a baseball team should be run. Many of us were disappointed.
 
But what I failed to see at the time is that the Pohlads have this pack-rat nature that was not quite blatantly obvious. Like my aunt, they have fond memories associated with some of these people and hold to the ideas that what we once found so useful could be just as useful once again. With a younger and more Beane-like view on baseball, I find this shortsighted.
 
Personally, I am not a pack-rat. I throw things away hoping that they will never be needed again, sometimes to my down fall. I risk that chance because I am a firm believer that the future holds greater value than the past, and to fully harness that value, we need to embrace it. Enter, the duo that some of us affectionately call, Falvine.
Falvine is like showing your aunt a Property Brothers-esk rendering of what her basement could be like. They are the people that will hopefully update this franchise to its full potential, restoring it to the glory days that the Pohlads are so desperately holding on to. But the two different factions disagree with how to do that.
 
The most effective way to clean out my begrudgingly stubborn aunt’s basement is to send her on a week’s vacation and make executive decisions on what to keep and what to sentence to the landfill (or send her away for two weeks and find out how to properly recycle everything…). Falvine does not have this option available to them.
The other way to clean the basement is to introduce new things, to slowly change the functionality, until my aunt realizes that her old items are no longer useful and the pipedream of them once again becoming mainstays in her life is unrealistic. This is what Falvine is doing.
 
Many of us were disheartened by the roster that the Twins appear to be headed north with. Danny Santana on the bench, Mauer (love the guy to death by the way and will always be my favorite player) appearing to be slated for 162 starts. Hughes and Santiago in the rotation. 13 pitchers because of the mortal fear that the aforementioned starters will have a hard time completing more than 3 1/3 innings. I believe that these are all carefully calculated decisions that Falvine has made to show the Pohlads that the way the Twins of a decade ago were so successful is no longer sustainable. It is their way to slowly normalize to the Pohlads that Falvine’s way of doing things is the way of the future.
 
None of us realistically expected this team to compete for a championship, a pennant, a division title or heck, even a winning record, this season. To me that makes this way of doing things justified. Because in a few short years, many of us hope to be talking about who will be the pinch runner when we get a man on first in a tied game 3 of the ALCS. And when we have that conversation, I want Carl Pohlad’s opinion as far from the realm of consideration as possible.

After my most recent blog entry from Ft. Myers, my wife arrived to take part in the fun in the sun. Unsurprisingly, time spent at the keyboard diminished to near-zero until I got home. This post represents a condensed and abbreviated review of the rest of my stay in Florida.
 
All baseball and no beach makes Ash a dull boy, at least in certain people's eyes. At left, you'll see circumstantial evidence that Friday morning was devoted to Ft. Myers Beach. Also, below, someone there went to the trouble of constructing a lavish sand castle - but parts of it have a suburban pre-fab cookie-cutter look, I think. Call it a Sand McMansion With Moat.
 

 
Back to the back fields with Mrs Ash, for the afternoon games. Jason Wheeler was the starting pitcher for the AAA team, while major-league closer Brandon Kintzler dropped down a couple of notches to pitch the first couple of innings in the AA game. I peeked at the radar gun for Wheeler and he was sitting at 88-89 for his fastball, with off-speed pitches in the low 80s - same ol' Jason, and I wish him well but the current mindset in baseball doesn't give him much hope for even a cup of coffee in the majors by this point.
 

 
Alex Muren was one of my TD Adopt-A-Prospects when I was pretty new to the site, so for sentimental reasons I still am rooting for him to make it past some recent physical ailments and get over the AA hurdle. Here he is, warming up to relieve in the AA game, possibly touching 92-93 with his fastball:
 

 
Dan Rohlfing hit a long home run in the AAA game. I could show you a photo of his home run trot heading toward home, but you kind of know what that looks like already, right? Ahead of him, Engelb Vielma managed to get on base by a fielder's choice, stole second...
 

 
...and made it to third base on an error before the big blast. If he scores a lot of runs this year for Rochester it may be in this style, because I still don't see enough from him to indicate his bat is ready for the majors.
 
Here, during the traditional mid-game milling-about period (the back fields' answer to the Seventh Inning Stretch?), Todd van Steensel rocks the full-beard look:
 

 
Van Steensel lugged that heavy beard out to the AAA mound and seemed to be throwing gas this day, hitting 94 mph several times that I noticed, with off-speed stuff in the mid-80s. Trevor Hildenberger, next, threw at most 89 mph with his sidearm delivery, but at least one of his mix of pitches was down at 74, for quite a range of speeds to be looking out for.
 
On the AA side, Eduardo del Rosario was also in 94 mph territory, with breaking pitches in the 84-87 range. He did well.
 
The major leaguers played a night game against the Orioles, and I attended along with Mrs Ash and a couple of other TDers. Pictured below, outside Hammond Stadium before the game, TC Bear terrorizes a child with his cold lifeless eyes, while older fans flee in panic:
 

 
Just before the game, there was an appearance by the famous Clydesdales, sponsored by a brand of carbonated water I believe. These are really magnificent critters:
 

 
Oh, and as for the game? It was a bad one, as far as I was concerned. Ervin Santana pitched well, and gave up only one run, but he deserved better because the defense behind him was atrocious. There were errors, or poor plays not counted as such, two by Rosario, one each by Sano, Dozier, and Hague. The home team had a big inning with 5 runs, but late in the game when both teams had the minor leaguers in they gave the runs back courtesy of Tonkin and non-roster hopeful Drew Rucinski (who probably lost a fair percentage of his remaining hope), and it was 5-5 after nine. Naturally, they didn't even bother with a tenth inning. Can you see why I, in return, don't bother coming to (and paying for) very many of the big league games in Florida? Here's my one visual highlight from the game: Buxton going first-to-third on a single to right. Even on a fairly routine play, he's a blur, right? It's certainly not due to any inexpertise by the camera operator, I will assure you.
 

 
Saturday. I spent the morning at the back fields, while Mrs Ash shopped. I discovered after snapping a few photos that I had neglected to put the memory card back into the camera, so there are no pictures to share for that part of the trip. The morning was hardly a total loss, as I still enjoyed the A and high-A games, and I got to meet TD luminary Bob Sacamento.
 
After lunch, we rode with Chief and Diehard to Sarasota to see the big league club take on the Orioles. Here are pictures of Ed Smith Stadium - it's a much nicer facility than I was expecting. The press box:
 

 
... and the view of the neighborhood from inside the park:
 

 
... and the capacity crowd:
 

 
The park was so full because it was fireworks night - the only available tickets were Standing Room, but because we arrived early we had good "seats" nearly behind home plate as you can see, and mid-game a kindly usher located four vacant seats for us pretty near the field.
 
The game itself was crummy again (the Twins brought their scrubbeenies, and never put up much of a fight after Santiago gave up a pair of long HRs), and the biggest lowlight for me was when Niko Goodrum, after having impressed me every time I watched him on the back fields, made a putrid play as a late-inning sub at second base. But hey, the fireworks were good, and so was the conversation, so the night was still a Win in my book.
 
Sunday. It was a day off for the minor leaguers, and we'd had our fill of the big club. So, back to the Gulf of Mexico, this time at nearby Bonita Beach. After a morning of sun and sand, Mrs Ash and I moseyed further south to Naples (be sure to ask Chief about renting Segways online there), and spent some pleasant hours at the Botanical Garden there. They have a nice butterfly cage you can walk through
 

 
and an exhibition of sculptures inspired by origami dotting the landscape
 

 
One should believe the several signs informing you that all the wetlands on the site are inviting habitats for alligators. Here is a fine specimen basking in the afternoon sun:
 

 
Dinner was back in Ft Myers at Fancy's, a southern cuisine restaurant where we shared an order of chicken-and-waffles, plus frogs legs and black-eyed peas and collard greens - it's near Hammond and I highly recommend it. After that, we hustled over to the Bell Tower cinema to see "Get Out".
 
For a totally non-baseball day, it was all right, I guess.
 
Monday. My last morning was spent much as the rest of the trip, on the back fields, chatting with Halsey and ChiTown. I snapped some photos of morning calisthenics
 

 

 
You might assume the above were wind sprints, but they were pretty leisurely. After this, morning drills and skills were the focus. Here's catcher Mitchell Kranson receiving a pitch:
 

 
When it was nearly time to go, I wandered up toward the front of the CenturyLink Sports Complex, and thereupon discovered it was Truck Day. Well, not really. Truck Day is an actual thing in Boston - it's the day, early each February, that the trucks are loaded up at Fenway for the drive down to Spring Training - an event that is usually attended by several hundred Red Sox fans, and for which the team puts together a little parade down Van Ness Street complete with Wally the mascot and various other dignitaries. In the throes of never-ending Winter, it's a confident sign that Spring Is On Its Way. Well, this was different. It was the day the players' cars are loaded onto half a dozen or more trucks, for transport up to the Twin Cities. A confident sign that The Regular Season Is On Its Way. Not as catchy, and not made to be a thing for fans particularly, but still pretty cool:
 

 
And with this, I said my goodbyes and took one last look at the fountains, and headed to the airport with Mrs Ash to face rain and snow for a few more weeks in New England. I hope this little series encourages some of you to give Spring Training a try one year.
 

After my most recent blog entry from Ft. Myers, my wife arrived to take part in the fun in the sun. Unsurprisingly, time spent at the keyboard diminished to near-zero until I got home. This post represents a condensed and abbreviated review of the rest of my stay in Florida.
 
All baseball and no beach makes Ash a dull boy, at least in certain people's eyes. At left, you'll see circumstantial evidence that Friday morning was devoted to Ft. Myers Beach. Also, below, someone there went to the trouble of constructing a lavish sand castle - but parts of it have a suburban pre-fab cookie-cutter look, I think. Call it a Sand McMansion With Moat.
 

 
Back to the back fields with Mrs Ash, for the afternoon games. Jason Wheeler was the starting pitcher for the AAA team, while major-league closer Brandon Kintzler dropped down a couple of notches to pitch the first couple of innings in the AA game. I peeked at the radar gun for Wheeler and he was sitting at 88-89 for his fastball, with off-speed pitches in the low 80s - same ol' Jason, and I wish him well but the current mindset in baseball doesn't give him much hope for even a cup of coffee in the majors by this point.
 

 
Alex Muren was one of my TD Adopt-A-Prospects when I was pretty new to the site, so for sentimental reasons I still am rooting for him to make it past some recent physical ailments and get over the AA hurdle. Here he is, warming up to relieve in the AA game, possibly touching 92-93 with his fastball:
 

 
Dan Rohlfing hit a long home run in the AAA game. I could show you a photo of his home run trot heading toward home, but you kind of know what that looks like already, right? Ahead of him, Engelb Vielma managed to get on base by a fielder's choice, stole second...
 

 
...and made it to third base on an error before the big blast. If he scores a lot of runs this year for Rochester it may be in this style, because I still don't see enough from him to indicate his bat is ready for the majors.
 
Here, during the traditional mid-game milling-about period (the back fields' answer to the Seventh Inning Stretch?), Todd van Steensel rocks the full-beard look:
 

 
Van Steensel lugged that heavy beard out to the AAA mound and seemed to be throwing gas this day, hitting 94 mph several times that I noticed, with off-speed stuff in the mid-80s. Trevor Hildenberger, next, threw at most 89 mph with his sidearm delivery, but at least one of his mix of pitches was down at 74, for quite a range of speeds to be looking out for.
 
On the AA side, Eduardo del Rosario was also in 94 mph territory, with breaking pitches in the 84-87 range. He did well.
 
The major leaguers played a night game against the Orioles, and I attended along with Mrs Ash and a couple of other TDers. Pictured below, outside Hammond Stadium before the game, TC Bear terrorizes a child with his cold lifeless eyes, while older fans flee in panic:
 

 
Just before the game, there was an appearance by the famous Clydesdales, sponsored by a brand of carbonated water I believe. These are really magnificent critters:
 

 
Oh, and as for the game? It was a bad one, as far as I was concerned. Ervin Santana pitched well, and gave up only one run, but he deserved better because the defense behind him was atrocious. There were errors, or poor plays not counted as such, two by Rosario, one each by Sano, Dozier, and Hague. The home team had a big inning with 5 runs, but late in the game when both teams had the minor leaguers in they gave the runs back courtesy of Tonkin and non-roster hopeful Drew Rucinski (who probably lost a fair percentage of his remaining hope), and it was 5-5 after nine. Naturally, they didn't even bother with a tenth inning. Can you see why I, in return, don't bother coming to (and paying for) very many of the big league games in Florida? Here's my one visual highlight from the game: Buxton going first-to-third on a single to right. Even on a fairly routine play, he's a blur, right? It's certainly not due to any inexpertise by the camera operator, I will assure you.
 

 
Saturday. I spent the morning at the back fields, while Mrs Ash shopped. I discovered after snapping a few photos that I had neglected to put the memory card back into the camera, so there are no pictures to share for that part of the trip. The morning was hardly a total loss, as I still enjoyed the A and high-A games, and I got to meet TD luminary Bob Sacamento.
 
After lunch, we rode with Chief and Diehard to Sarasota to see the big league club take on the Orioles. Here are pictures of Ed Smith Stadium - it's a much nicer facility than I was expecting. The press box:
 

 
... and the view of the neighborhood from inside the park:
 

 
... and the capacity crowd:
 

 
The park was so full because it was fireworks night - the only available tickets were Standing Room, but because we arrived early we had good "seats" nearly behind home plate as you can see, and mid-game a kindly usher located four vacant seats for us pretty near the field.
 
The game itself was crummy again (the Twins brought their scrubbeenies, and never put up much of a fight after Santiago gave up a pair of long HRs), and the biggest lowlight for me was when Niko Goodrum, after having impressed me every time I watched him on the back fields, made a putrid play as a late-inning sub at second base. But hey, the fireworks were good, and so was the conversation, so the night was still a Win in my book.
 
Sunday. It was a day off for the minor leaguers, and we'd had our fill of the big club. So, back to the Gulf of Mexico, this time at nearby Bonita Beach. After a morning of sun and sand, Mrs Ash and I moseyed further south to Naples (be sure to ask Chief about renting Segways online there), and spent some pleasant hours at the Botanical Garden there. They have a nice butterfly cage you can walk through
 

 
and an exhibition of sculptures inspired by origami dotting the landscape
 

 
One should believe the several signs informing you that all the wetlands on the site are inviting habitats for alligators. Here is a fine specimen basking in the afternoon sun:
 

 
Dinner was back in Ft Myers at Fancy's, a southern cuisine restaurant where we shared an order of chicken-and-waffles, plus frogs legs and black-eyed peas and collard greens - it's near Hammond and I highly recommend it. After that, we hustled over to the Bell Tower cinema to see "Get Out".
 
For a totally non-baseball day, it was all right, I guess.
 
Monday. My last morning was spent much as the rest of the trip, on the back fields, chatting with Halsey and ChiTown. I snapped some photos of morning calisthenics
 

 

 
You might assume the above were wind sprints, but they were pretty leisurely. After this, morning drills and skills were the focus. Here's catcher Mitchell Kranson receiving a pitch:
 

 
When it was nearly time to go, I wandered up toward the front of the CenturyLink Sports Complex, and thereupon discovered it was Truck Day. Well, not really. Truck Day is an actual thing in Boston - it's the day, early each February, that the trucks are loaded up at Fenway for the drive down to Spring Training - an event that is usually attended by several hundred Red Sox fans, and for which the team puts together a little parade down Van Ness Street complete with Wally the mascot and various other dignitaries. In the throes of never-ending Winter, it's a confident sign that Spring Is On Its Way. Well, this was different. It was the day the players' cars are loaded onto half a dozen or more trucks, for transport up to the Twin Cities. A confident sign that The Regular Season Is On Its Way. Not as catchy, and not made to be a thing for fans particularly, but still pretty cool:
 

 
And with this, I said my goodbyes and took one last look at the fountains, and headed to the airport with Mrs Ash to face rain and snow for a few more weeks in New England. I hope this little series encourages some of you to give Spring Training a try one year.
 

Thursday morning in Fort Myers, I resolved to take some pictures for once. Arrival was a little after 9, in time again for calisthenics (shown, left). Either that, or the prospects were being put to work erecting a new fence.
 
Fellow TD moderator USAFChief arrived shortly after this, and we shared a great day soaking up all that Twins spring training offers at the back fields.
 
After the players were warmed up, instruction began. Sometimes they do a lot of standing and listening at spring training, in this case to coach Ivan Arteaga (only his white-clad shoulder is visible in this shot):
 

 
We moved to the fields in the far back. Fielding practice ...
 

 
... was followed by every position player's favorite activity, batting practice. This day, it was decided to divide the hitters into two teams for a bit of artificial competition. The players opted for Americanos ...
 

 
versus Latinos:
 

 
The hitters judged for each other, regarding "outs" and "hits", and there was more good-natured joshing than I recall at most Twins on-field activities. Good idea, it turns out. (I failed to notice which team won, sorry.)
 
Drills ended early because the two minor league games were scheduled for 11:00. Chief and I visited the team shop, both downstairs and up, and while inside Hammond we took a look at the upstairs environment. An interestingly different view of activities on the major league batting practice field was available from this vantage point:
 

 
We noticed that the minor league games had started, so we sauntered hustled over to the back fields again. When we got to the AA game, guess Hu had dropped in to pay a visit?
 

 
Yep, Chih-Wei Hu, traded in 2015 for ..., well, it will be less contentious and painful if I don't go into that again, here. Hu turned out not to get a very friendly welcome from Twins bats, as you will infer from how he is backing up home in the above photo. However, later in the game he did saw off the bat of Twins prospect Cristian Castro (who reached base anyway on the play):
 

 
I like this shot of Tom Belza taking a swing. Sometimes it must seem to the prospects that the major league field is only one long home run away.
 

 
Over on the AAA field, you Gotta love this Rays prospect, whose first name is Cade by the way:
 

 
And here, Daniel Palka demonstrates that he's not some punch-and-judy hitter, with that high kick. Reminds me of the old saying: "When you're going well, it's a timing mechanism. When you're in a slump, it's a hitch in your swing."
 

 
Here, Karim Kevin Garcia [thank you Seth] goes out to talk with Mason Melotakis, and Melo apparently gives HIM the encouragement.
 

 
And here, Reynaldo Rodriguez is checked at home plate by a trainer after taking a very painful shot to the lower leg on a foul ball. He did not look very steady as he was helped off the field, either. Owie.
 

Thursday morning in Fort Myers, I resolved to take some pictures for once. Arrival was a little after 9, in time again for calisthenics (shown, left). Either that, or the prospects were being put to work erecting a new fence.
 
Fellow TD moderator USAFChief arrived shortly after this, and we shared a great day soaking up all that Twins spring training offers at the back fields.
 
After the players were warmed up, instruction began. Sometimes they do a lot of standing and listening at spring training, in this case to coach Ivan Arteaga (only his white-clad shoulder is visible in this shot):
 

 
We moved to the fields in the far back. Fielding practice ...
 

 
... was followed by every position player's favorite activity, batting practice. This day, it was decided to divide the hitters into two teams for a bit of artificial competition. The players opted for Americanos ...
 

 
versus Latinos:
 

 
The hitters judged for each other, regarding "outs" and "hits", and there was more good-natured joshing than I recall at most Twins on-field activities. Good idea, it turns out. (I failed to notice which team won, sorry.)
 
Drills ended early because the two minor league games were scheduled for 11:00. Chief and I visited the team shop, both downstairs and up, and while inside Hammond we took a look at the upstairs environment. An interestingly different view of activities on the major league batting practice field was available from this vantage point:
 

 
We noticed that the minor league games had started, so we sauntered hustled over to the back fields again. When we got to the AA game, guess Hu had dropped in to pay a visit?
 

 
Yep, Chih-Wei Hu, traded in 2015 for ..., well, it will be less contentious and painful if I don't go into that again, here. Hu turned out not to get a very friendly welcome from Twins bats, as you will infer from how he is backing up home in the above photo. However, later in the game he did saw off the bat of Twins prospect Cristian Castro (who reached base anyway on the play):
 

 
I like this shot of Tom Belza taking a swing. Sometimes it must seem to the prospects that the major league field is only one long home run away.
 

 
Over on the AAA field, you Gotta love this Rays prospect, whose first name is Cade by the way:
 

 
And here, Daniel Palka demonstrates that he's not some punch-and-judy hitter, with that high kick. Reminds me of the old saying: "When you're going well, it's a timing mechanism. When you're in a slump, it's a hitch in your swing."
 

 
Here, Karim Kevin Garcia [thank you Seth] goes out to talk with Mason Melotakis, and Melo apparently gives HIM the encouragement.
 

 
And here, Reynaldo Rodriguez is checked at home plate by a trainer after taking a very painful shot to the lower leg on a foul ball. He did not look very steady as he was helped off the field, either. Owie.
 

Thursday morning in Fort Myers, I resolved to take some pictures for once. Arrival was a little after 9, in time again for calisthenics (shown, left). Either that, or the prospects were being put to work erecting a new fence.
 
Fellow TD moderator USAFChief arrived shortly after this, and we shared a great day soaking up all that Twins spring training offers at the back fields.
 
After the players were warmed up, instruction began. Sometimes they do a lot of standing and listening at spring training, in this case to coach Ivan Arteaga (only his white-clad shoulder is visible in this shot):
 

 
We moved to the fields in the far back. Fielding practice ...
 

 
... was followed by every position player's favorite activity, batting practice. This day, it was decided to divide the hitters into two teams for a bit of artificial competition. The players opted for Americanos ...
 

 
versus Latinos:
 

 
The hitters judged for each other, regarding "outs" and "hits", and there was more good-natured joshing than I recall at most Twins on-field activities. Good idea, it turns out. (I failed to notice which team won, sorry.)
 
Drills ended early because the two minor league games were scheduled for 11:00. Chief and I visited the team shop, both downstairs and up, and while inside Hammond we took a look at the upstairs environment. An interestingly different view of activities on the major league batting practice field was available from this vantage point:
 

 
We noticed that the minor league games had started, so we sauntered hustled over to the back fields again. When we got to the AA game, guess Hu had dropped in to pay a visit?
 

 
Yep, Chih-Wei Hu, traded in 2015 for ..., well, it will be less contentious and painful if I don't go into that again, here. Hu turned out not to get a very friendly welcome from Twins bats, as you will infer from how he is backing up home in the above photo. However, later in the game he did saw off the bat of Twins prospect Cristian Castro (who reached base anyway on the play):
 

 
I like this shot of Tom Belza taking a swing. Sometimes it must seem to the prospects that the major league field is only one long home run away.
 

 
Over on the AAA field, you Gotta love this Rays prospect, whose first name is Cade by the way:
 

 
And here, Daniel Palka demonstrates that he's not some punch-and-judy hitter, with that high kick. Reminds me of the old saying: "When you're going well, it's a timing mechanism. When you're in a slump, it's a hitch in your swing."
 

 
Here, Karim Kevin Garcia [thank you Seth] goes out to talk with Mason Melotakis, and Melo apparently gives HIM the encouragement.
 

 
And here, Reynaldo Rodriguez is checked at home plate by a trainer after taking a very painful shot to the lower leg on a foul ball. He did not look very steady as he was helped off the field, either. Owie.
 

Thursday morning in Fort Myers, I resolved to take some pictures for once. Arrival was a little after 9, in time again for calisthenics (shown, left). Either that, or the prospects were being put to work erecting a new fence.
 
Fellow TD moderator USAFChief arrived shortly after this, and we shared a great day soaking up all that Twins spring training offers at the back fields.
 
After the players were warmed up, instruction began. Sometimes they do a lot of standing and listening at spring training, in this case to coach Ivan Arteaga (only his white-clad shoulder is visible in this shot):
 

 
We moved to the fields in the far back. Fielding practice ...
 

 
... was followed by every position player's favorite activity, batting practice. This day, it was decided to divide the hitters into two teams for a bit of artificial competition. The players opted for Americanos ...
 

 
versus Latinos:
 

 
The hitters judged for each other, regarding "outs" and "hits", and there was more good-natured joshing than I recall at most Twins on-field activities. Good idea, it turns out. (I failed to notice which team won, sorry.)
 
Drills ended early because the two minor league games were scheduled for 11:00. Chief and I visited the team shop, both downstairs and up, and while inside Hammond we took a look at the upstairs environment. An interestingly different view of activities on the major league batting practice field was available from this vantage point:
 

 
We noticed that the minor league games had started, so we sauntered hustled over to the back fields again. When we got to the AA game, guess Hu had dropped in to pay a visit?
 

 
Yep, Chih-Wei Hu, traded in 2015 for ..., well, it will be less contentious and painful if I don't go into that again, here. Hu turned out not to get a very friendly welcome from Twins bats, as you will infer from how he is backing up home in the above photo. However, later in the game he did saw off the bat of Twins prospect Cristian Castro (who reached base anyway on the play):
 

 
I like this shot of Tom Belza taking a swing. Sometimes it must seem to the prospects that the major league field is only one long home run away.
 

 
Over on the AAA field, you Gotta love this Rays prospect, whose first name is Cade by the way:
 

 
And here, Daniel Palka demonstrates that he's not some punch-and-judy hitter, with that high kick. Reminds me of the old saying: "When you're going well, it's a timing mechanism. When you're in a slump, it's a hitch in your swing."
 

 
Here, Karim Kevin Garcia [thank you Seth] goes out to talk with Mason Melotakis, and Melo apparently gives HIM the encouragement.
 

 
And here, Reynaldo Rodriguez is checked at home plate by a trainer after taking a very painful shot to the lower leg on a foul ball. He did not look very steady as he was helped off the field, either. Owie.
 

Thursday morning in Fort Myers, I resolved to take some pictures for once. Arrival was a little after 9, in time again for calisthenics (shown, left). Either that, or the prospects were being put to work erecting a new fence.
 
Fellow TD moderator USAFChief arrived shortly after this, and we shared a great day soaking up all that Twins spring training offers at the back fields.
 
After the players were warmed up, instruction began. Sometimes they do a lot of standing and listening at spring training, in this case to coach Ivan Arteaga (only his white-clad shoulder is visible in this shot):
 

 
We moved to the fields in the far back. Fielding practice ...
 

 
... was followed by every position player's favorite activity, batting practice. This day, it was decided to divide the hitters into two teams for a bit of artificial competition. The players opted for Americanos ...
 

 
versus Latinos:
 

 
The hitters judged for each other, regarding "outs" and "hits", and there was more good-natured joshing than I recall at most Twins on-field activities. Good idea, it turns out. (I failed to notice which team won, sorry.)
 
Drills ended early because the two minor league games were scheduled for 11:00. Chief and I visited the team shop, both downstairs and up, and while inside Hammond we took a look at the upstairs environment. An interestingly different view of activities on the major league batting practice field was available from this vantage point:
 

 
We noticed that the minor league games had started, so we sauntered hustled over to the back fields again. When we got to the AA game, guess Hu had dropped in to pay a visit?
 

 
Yep, Chih-Wei Hu, traded in 2015 for ..., well, it will be less contentious and painful if I don't go into that again, here. Hu turned out not to get a very friendly welcome from Twins bats, as you will infer from how he is backing up home in the above photo. However, later in the game he did saw off the bat of Twins prospect Cristian Castro (who reached base anyway on the play):
 

 
I like this shot of Tom Belza taking a swing. Sometimes it must seem to the prospects that the major league field is only one long home run away.
 

 
Over on the AAA field, you Gotta love this Rays prospect, whose first name is Cade by the way:
 

 
And here, Daniel Palka demonstrates that he's not some punch-and-judy hitter, with that high kick. Reminds me of the old saying: "When you're going well, it's a timing mechanism. When you're in a slump, it's a hitch in your swing."
 

 
Here, Karim Kevin Garcia [thank you Seth] goes out to talk with Mason Melotakis, and Melo apparently gives HIM the encouragement.
 

 
And here, Reynaldo Rodriguez is checked at home plate by a trainer after taking a very painful shot to the lower leg on a foul ball. He did not look very steady as he was helped off the field, either. Owie.
 

Today the big league club was on the road, and I did not follow them, returning to my haunts at CenturyLink Sports Complex.
 
It was a bit of an abbreviated day on the back fields for me, as I didn't arrive until 11, and the players had already departed for their lunchtime break because the games were slated for noon. And then that noon start meant the game was over well before 3:00. Fellow TD moderator ChiTownTwinsFan joined me to watch the Cedar Rapids single-A squad (or at least the momentary roster bearing that designation - with Gentleman Tommy Watkins guiding them) play their counterparts from the Baltimore Orioles farm system. There was a high-A Fort Myers squad playing their game 30 or 40 yards to the west, but I never got around to even taking a look-see.
 
I failed to do my homework, and discovered as I strolled in that Stephen Gonsalves (no single-A player now, of course) was warming up and slated to start, making this to my knowledge his first "official" action since being sidelined with a bum shoulder March 8. I heard scuttlebutt as the game started that he would pitch only one inning, and that's exactly what played out. He struck out the first two batters, gave up a sharp double to right field, then got another strikeout for the third out. Some people call that striking out the side; I don't, sorry. But it was a satisfactory inning, I'm sure, and if he doesn't report pain then it will have been a very good start indeed.
 
Here, take a look at this photo: does anyone know what this grip is, with Stephen's pinky flared up like he's drinking tea with the Queen? Looks kind of like a circle change or a palm ball, but is the pinky important to that or not? It wasn't evident to me in real-time, but I did notice when I looked through the photos after dropping the film off at Walgreens and picking up the prints.*
 

 

 
The game moved fast, not solely because of the lack of TV advertising, but because it was a low-scoring affair until the very end. The Twins broke through in the bottom of the first inning with a run, and it stayed 1-0 until they tacked on an insurance run in the 8th. Unfortunately, they should have bought more insurance: 22-year old relief prospect Logan Lombana coughed up three or four runs in the top of the ninth, after beginning with two quiet putouts.
 
Three or four, you say? Yeah. A few years ago, I learned a new notation, when keeping a scoresheet of a game: "WW". Ever heard of that one? Have I mentioned it before? It stands for: Wasn't Watching. Well, there were several of those in my scoresheet today. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to keep the lineups straight, which meant that several times I looked at the field and asked "how'd he get on base?" and not every time did someone within earshot admit to knowing. I now know that in a Spring game, you can't even assume there will be 9-man batting orders. Unless I suddenly forgot how to count, I believe both teams cycled through 10 batters in this game. Even "better" for record-keeping, in that climactic ninth inning, I swear Baltimore skipped a batter. This way lies Madness! If I simply overlooked him, then he was part of the two-out parade on the bases and it's four runs; otherwise, three. We lost either 4-2 or 3-2, so either way no extra innings needed to be played (or, more probably, dispensed with because, you know, "Spring Training").
 
Yesterday I just jotted down impressions of the game I watched. I'm not sure my scoresheet today gives me any better picture of this one.
 
OK, here is something I am sure about: Ben Rortvedt is the real deal on defense. He gunned down two would-be base stealers. I'm too lazy a photographer to wait long enough to capture a shot of that, but here he is in typical posture to receive a strike - looks like good form, also making life easy for Blue behind him, to this untrained observer.
 

 
Contrast that with this somewhat less graceful and confident stance by Orioles counterpart Ronald Soto (sorry to pick on you, Ron, especially because it's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison):
 

 
On top of that, I would also venture to say Ben has the "good face" that old-school scouting mavens such as Terry Ryan prize:
 

 
As for other impressions of our young Twins: outfielders Aaron Whitefield and Casey Scoggins both showed good speed on the bases and in the field. I'm sorry to report that T.J. White bollixed a couple of plays at third base, although he did do well going back on a popup (and he did drive in that run in the first inning). On the pitching side of the ledger, Eduardo del Rosario (not to be mistaken for a similarly-named outfielder in the Twins' employ) pitched innings 2 through 6 and gave up a few baserunners but nothing too serious, as the shutout continued. Domenick Carlini wriggled out of trouble after allowing two baserunners to start the seventh, and Alex Robinson pitched a clean eighth. As mentioned, Lombana pitched an untidy ninth, unable to secure that final out quickly and allowing five (or six?) baserunners before he could finally shut the door. One overall impression was that Gentleman Tommy in the dugout had all the pitchers focusing on holding every second-base runner (which involves the catcher, of course).
 
As the game drew to a close, a few fans in the small grandstand were discussing housing arrangements for the Cedar Rapids players this summer. A relative of Caleb Hamilton, who plays infield, was collecting some phone numbers from CR folks in attendance who are involved in the hosting program. Very cool networking, although it's unfortunate if the players and families feel in the dark about what to expect, since the team goes through the same process every year and the players are the ones who are new at it.
 
As usual, the area cleared quickly once the game was over, with the fans shuffling to their cars and the visiting players walking briskly to their buses. The Twins players headed over to their training complex building. And me, I headed to Rib City nearby, for a belated lunch.
 
* Just kidding - I embraced the digital revolution in photography a few weeks or months ago, I forget exactly when.

Today the big league club was on the road, and I did not follow them, returning to my haunts at CenturyLink Sports Complex.
 
It was a bit of an abbreviated day on the back fields for me, as I didn't arrive until 11, and the players had already departed for their lunchtime break because the games were slated for noon. And then that noon start meant the game was over well before 3:00. Fellow TD moderator ChiTownTwinsFan joined me to watch the Cedar Rapids single-A squad (or at least the momentary roster bearing that designation - with Gentleman Tommy Watkins guiding them) play their counterparts from the Baltimore Orioles farm system. There was a high-A Fort Myers squad playing their game 30 or 40 yards to the west, but I never got around to even taking a look-see.
 
I failed to do my homework, and discovered as I strolled in that Stephen Gonsalves (no single-A player now, of course) was warming up and slated to start, making this to my knowledge his first "official" action since being sidelined with a bum shoulder March 8. I heard scuttlebutt as the game started that he would pitch only one inning, and that's exactly what played out. He struck out the first two batters, gave up a sharp double to right field, then got another strikeout for the third out. Some people call that striking out the side; I don't, sorry. But it was a satisfactory inning, I'm sure, and if he doesn't report pain then it will have been a very good start indeed.
 
Here, take a look at this photo: does anyone know what this grip is, with Stephen's pinky flared up like he's drinking tea with the Queen? Looks kind of like a circle change or a palm ball, but is the pinky important to that or not? It wasn't evident to me in real-time, but I did notice when I looked through the photos after dropping the film off at Walgreens and picking up the prints.*
 

 

 
The game moved fast, not solely because of the lack of TV advertising, but because it was a low-scoring affair until the very end. The Twins broke through in the bottom of the first inning with a run, and it stayed 1-0 until they tacked on an insurance run in the 8th. Unfortunately, they should have bought more insurance: 22-year old relief prospect Logan Lombana coughed up three or four runs in the top of the ninth, after beginning with two quiet putouts.
 
Three or four, you say? Yeah. A few years ago, I learned a new notation, when keeping a scoresheet of a game: "WW". Ever heard of that one? Have I mentioned it before? It stands for: Wasn't Watching. Well, there were several of those in my scoresheet today. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to keep the lineups straight, which meant that several times I looked at the field and asked "how'd he get on base?" and not every time did someone within earshot admit to knowing. I now know that in a Spring game, you can't even assume there will be 9-man batting orders. Unless I suddenly forgot how to count, I believe both teams cycled through 10 batters in this game. Even "better" for record-keeping, in that climactic ninth inning, I swear Baltimore skipped a batter. This way lies Madness! If I simply overlooked him, then he was part of the two-out parade on the bases and it's four runs; otherwise, three. We lost either 4-2 or 3-2, so either way no extra innings needed to be played (or, more probably, dispensed with because, you know, "Spring Training").
 
Yesterday I just jotted down impressions of the game I watched. I'm not sure my scoresheet today gives me any better picture of this one.
 
OK, here is something I am sure about: Ben Rortvedt is the real deal on defense. He gunned down two would-be base stealers. I'm too lazy a photographer to wait long enough to capture a shot of that, but here he is in typical posture to receive a strike - looks like good form, also making life easy for Blue behind him, to this untrained observer.
 

 
Contrast that with this somewhat less graceful and confident stance by Orioles counterpart Ronald Soto (sorry to pick on you, Ron, especially because it's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison):
 

 
On top of that, I would also venture to say Ben has the "good face" that old-school scouting mavens such as Terry Ryan prize:
 

 
As for other impressions of our young Twins: outfielders Aaron Whitefield and Casey Scoggins both showed good speed on the bases and in the field. I'm sorry to report that T.J. White bollixed a couple of plays at third base, although he did do well going back on a popup (and he did drive in that run in the first inning). On the pitching side of the ledger, Eduardo del Rosario (not to be mistaken for a similarly-named outfielder in the Twins' employ) pitched innings 2 through 6 and gave up a few baserunners but nothing too serious, as the shutout continued. Domenick Carlini wriggled out of trouble after allowing two baserunners to start the seventh, and Alex Robinson pitched a clean eighth. As mentioned, Lombana pitched an untidy ninth, unable to secure that final out quickly and allowing five (or six?) baserunners before he could finally shut the door. One overall impression was that Gentleman Tommy in the dugout had all the pitchers focusing on holding every second-base runner (which involves the catcher, of course).
 
As the game drew to a close, a few fans in the small grandstand were discussing housing arrangements for the Cedar Rapids players this summer. A relative of Caleb Hamilton, who plays infield, was collecting some phone numbers from CR folks in attendance who are involved in the hosting program. Very cool networking, although it's unfortunate if the players and families feel in the dark about what to expect, since the team goes through the same process every year and the players are the ones who are new at it.
 
As usual, the area cleared quickly once the game was over, with the fans shuffling to their cars and the visiting players walking briskly to their buses. The Twins players headed over to their training complex building. And me, I headed to Rib City nearby, for a belated lunch.
 
* Just kidding - I embraced the digital revolution in photography a few weeks or months ago, I forget exactly when.