Blackjack

Yikes!!! Grim report!! Instead of extra practice for the offenders, how about wind sprints or laps for the whole team?? Gardy needs to make them all realize that he's serious!!

Glad they didn't sign him, I'd rather remember Johan as the stud he was rather than some broken down war horse.

As I read thru this thread I took a few notes - "snobiness", "laziness", "priorities", "lack of caring" are what I wrote down. Then I wondered if 'snobiness' was even a word, typed it into Google, no definition, so I typed in 'snob' and this came up - "One who affects an offensive air of self-satisfied superiority in matters of taste or intellect." Enough said about snobiness. I think spelling and grammar boil down to priorities. A LOT of the posters here are aspiring writers and it’s important to them. I wouldn’t be surprised someday to see credits at the bottom of a post listing magazine, books, blogs, etc. that the poster has written. Quite a few others, myself included (should that be 'me or myself' -- I don't really care), are just here for some in-depth baseball info and will post a quick question or comment on occasion. If I see a misspelling in my post and can't figure it out, I will copy/paste the word into a spellchecker but grammar is a tougher nut to crack, spell checker won't always catch that. Same way with misspelled player’s names, I could go look them up, so yes I guess its laziness when I don’t, but to me it’s not a priority. The content of posts is my priority. Whether I type Parmalee or Parmelee, the readers will get the point. I've participated in a lot of other forums concerning hunting, fishing, home improvement, etc. and this is the only one I've seen that gets so hung up on spelling and grammar vs. content of the posts. I do realize that grammar and spelling reflect on other posters view of you and your posts but not everyone is perfect and/or has had extensive training in English grammar. Yes, I copied this post into a spellchecker and I see that snobiness is not a word but it does a fine job of conveying my point.

This concerns me also. Anthony is right in line to step in for Ryan and though he might not be an accountant he also hasn't been a scout, who says he'll be any better than Smith??

That would be sweet if Arcia could hit 35 but don't think it will happen, the minute he goes into a slump Gardy will give him some pine time, not sure that Arcia has the psych to handle that, plus all the other competiors for playing time at DH and corner outfield will cut down on his at bats. My vote is Plouffe at 28 HR's. Willingham will hit more but some of them will be with another team.

There are a lot of variables to consider before resigning Willingham. What if Plouffe really starts slugging the ball?? Then he'd be could be kept around as the DH and bench bat. Same for Parmalee. Can Willingham rebound? What kind of prospect would the Twins be able to get for him at the trade deadline? Can he become an elder statesman and bench bat like Thome was for a year or two? My guess is that there is less than a 10% chance that Willingham is with the club next year, he'll either be traded or they'll let him walk.

After the goose egg he laid last season I think he has to have a spring as good or better than last year AND Pressley would need to play poorly or get hurt if order for Hicks to be the starting centerfielder on opening day. Let the natural progression take place. Let him go down to AAA and prove that he's ready, get some confidence, someone on the big league club will get hurt by May 15, bring him up then. Or by June 1 Parmalee or Ploufe or Willingham will prove that they have trade value or should be dumped, do it, and then bring Hicks up. When he does come up, keep him out of the leadoff spot in the lineup, let him bat eighth, get some confidence that he CAN hit big league pitching. He proved last year that it’s a big jump to the big leagues, bring him along slower, let him get some confidence.

Good defense and good pitching at least will keep you in games. Until a 30 HR guy that plays good defense comes along, Hicks will work.

I don't understand why people think that a good defensive corner outfielder is bad?? Until a better outfielder with better offense and adequate defense comes along, play him at corner. Two good defenders, Buxton and Hicks, could cover a lot of ground, covering for a poor defender like Arcia. The only way he ups his value is by playing, either in center or one of the corner spots.

Make Pinto earn the starting job, if he can't outplay a journeyman catcher, then too bad so sad, here is your ticket to AAA son.

Thanks guys for doing this top ten review - it was great reading!! With Stewart and Thorpe being so far away my only comment would be that we could use more pitching!!! You can never have too much pitching!! With injuries this list could shrink fast. If they make any trades of excess outfielders or second basemen I hope its for more young pitching.

Lets face it, theres a naturaly aging process for everyone, as a former marathon runner, I know!! Every year that they get out of him at third base is a bonus!! Sooner or later he will be at first base or DH or outfield.

Hopefully he can stay healthy, when I watch that catch video I cringe, that extra effort will also run you into walls. Kubel was never the same after his injury.

Hearing the word 'cancer' in your diagnosis is scary, I can feel Terry's pain, I was diagnosised with melanoma skin cancer at the age of 42. Hopefully early detection will help him like it did me - I'm now 56. Long sleeved shirts, hats, and sunscreen are a way of life now. Good luck Terry!!

How tall was Johan Santana?

Classic!!!! Well put!!! Thanks again to all the founders and moderators for their hard work!!! Onward!! Rumor has it that pitchers and catchers report in a couple of weeks!!

Bingo, we have a winner!! I'll bet if you surveyed the readers of this site that less than half would even know what 'Occam's Razor' meant. Even when I go look it up on Wikipedia I shake my head and go WTF?! And by referring to 'snobs' I really should have expanded it to say 'English Major snobs'. By that I mean the guys that are more concerned about correcting your phrases/spelling/punctuation/or being cute with catchy phrases then they are about addressing the content of your post. You don't see that on very many other forums. The one exception would be if someone uses all capital letters, people will frown on that. Like any other forum you learn which users/posters to pay attention to and which ones to skim thru their posts. There is a poster on here that was particularly unhappy even when the Twins were winning division titles he kept whining that they weren't getting to the World Series, now his rant is that they aren't spending enough money, after awhile you learn to ignore his posts. Just like people learn to ignore mine That being said this is a great site for information, you can moderate it anyway you want, if I or anyone else doesn't like it I can take my bat and ball to a different ballpark/website.

I agree with that!!! If I read one of the originals write 'Occam's razor' instead of explaining his argument, I'm going to puke, yet I'd be chastised if I called him a snob. 'Straw man' also falls in the same category. Easier to throw out some cute phrase than it is to explain why your post is wrong.

So is that 96.3 the 'official' Twins network station?? Will probably be lucky to pick it up in Delano, let alone Willmar.

Thats good news!!! I always liked listening to Jack's honest analysis and missed his Sunday show after the game was over. Now I would say the only question is whether to listen Jack or Sid but with the crappy Twins network I doubt that I'll be able to find him, any station that carries the Twins will probably be carrying church services instead!!!

Thanks Seth for doing these position reviews!!!! Very informative!!

People who are thrifty bargain basement shoppers don't turn over a new leaf because all of a sudden they have money to spend. My 84 year old mother who grew up during the depression just sold her house for $100,000, her out of pocket expenses per month are < $500, she'll never spend all her money, yet she'll run across town to the second grocery store to save 49 cents on soap. And it makes her happy to do it. Just because Terry Ryan has more money to spend doesn't mean he will, or should, spend it. He's always looked for good value and always will. If he doesn't think its a good baseball decision hes not going to spend the money. I'm ok with that. Throwing millions at a marginal upgrade player is not the way to build a longterm stable franchise. Maybe, just maybe, in 2015 he'll overspend to bring in an extra player or two to get the Twins over the hump - and he can justify it by the money he didn't spend in 2014.

Thats not all bad, Terry Ryan has shown a knack for trading Twins surplus into some useful players. More young starting pitching would be a plus!!!

Bite your tongue We're looking for Sano=Cabrera; Kepler=Hamilton; Meyer=Glavine; Buxton=Mays!!!! A person can always dream!!

With the big goose egg that Hicks laid last year he played himself into AAA to start the season regardless how well he does in spring training. Plus I think the Twins will want to see what they have in Presley.