Thrylos

I think that reporting depends on the player. There is always muscle tightness, that's why some people ice it after it has been used. Warming up helps loosen muscles up. Now if warming up does not loosen muscles up, you better report it, because you risk tears and damage. Burdi said that he did not experience pain. Also, soreness and tightness are core muscle issues (like if you do twenty squats your legs would feel tight at a particular point) and are repetitive and you know where is "should be" tight (like in the meaty part of your forearm.) Now if it hurts around your elbow, or you feel something "pop" over there, is more of a ligament issue. Got to check to see if Burdi was playing around with a splitter, because that grip can cause forearm stiffness..

here. (in English) Well worthwhile, talks about his adjustments and how he fits in the clubhouse etc, and also about the other Koreans MLB-hopefulls this season

Hope the best. And I suppose that they will do an MRI at some point to see what is going on there...

we know 1 and 2 above. That's about it. The rest are opinions and not facts, and some of those opinions (e.g whether Sano is "in shape") are contradicted by his performance this Spring. He spoke on the field. Also: For anyone who is blaming him about "hanging around with his friends" when he did not have to be at work, I'd love to see them put their money where their mouth is and go to work this weekend, even if they don't have to and even if they will not get paid extra for doing so.

Wright had injury issues, not under-performance. He never had an OPS+ less than 101. Last season (albeit shortened by injury) he hit .289/.379/.434 with 128 OPS+ . I'd love it if Plouffe even approaches those numbers... The Panda on the other hand is a different story...

As far as who else is trending here are 2 names: Check out what Danny Santana has done since he was ensured of a roster spot. Seems to have 2-3 hits daily with SB left and right. Hope he gets that going into the season. Lots of us wanted him to be traded, but he arguably had the best ST of any Twins' hitter, with a ridiculous .370/.412/.674 slash line, lots of timely hits, and just 1 GDP: Trevor Plouffe.

Big fan of Palka, and already in my Top 20 (18 actually) but he is not the only one who offers it from the left side. Vargas does as a switch hitter, so does Minier (as another switch) hitter, and so does Lewin Diaz who also is a lefty who looks like he gained 2-3 inches in height and 20 lbs this off-season. Blackenhorn is a lefty too and his power is up there as well Palka is a great trade return for Chris Herrmann and will likely make the Twins sooner than later. His power/speed combination is pretty unique in the organization, but his power from the left side is not.

Interesting to see Joe Maloney reassigned from C to OF. He just could not cut it at C. There will be 10 or so more releases soon, i suspect and a few more DL assignments.

That is correct, unless Ruesse relapses again.

Barry Bonds would beg to disagree with the above statement.

Sano will walk a whole bunch this season. .310/.463/.571 this spring, which is probably his ceiling (other than SLG) for 2016. .300/.400/.607(*) with 50(*) HRs and AL MVP. (and Reusse eating crow) (*) Twins' individual season records, both held by Killebrew now (at -1 of those numbers)

When was the last time that Terry Ryan ate $25 million? The most he (Black)burned was $5.5M. Huge difference. Most likely, and if they have a ready replacement, they trade him to the NL for an equally bad contract.

Originally Published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----- With the Twins' Spring Training almost in the books and having spend about 10 days in Fort Myers following the Twins' closely (here are all my Spring Training articles in Chronological order,) I am ready to make a prediction for the 2016 Twins. This team has a few question marks left, but a lot of my concerns were answered: Miguel Sano will be a moster with the bat again this season, and regardless of his size, he will be at least as good an outfielder as Torii Hunter was last season, when it all said and done. Ervin Santana and Kyle Gibson are men on a mission in the Twins' rotation and might be the best 1-2 punch the Twins' had since Jack Morris and Scott Erickson in 1991. Phil Hughes is pitching better than last season and Ricky Nolasco is pitching like a man with something to prove, and he has to. The only question mark in the rotation is Tommy Milone, who could be easily replaced by the likes of Alex Meyer or Jose Berrios, or even Taylor Roger, if the need comes. Byung Ho Park is the real thing. And he does not have an attitude about it. In 2015 DH was the most productive position in the Twins' lineup, mainly because the promotion of Sano. The Twins got .251/.338/.421 with 21 HRs from the DH position in 2015. I expect this to be Park's baseline. Byron Buxton has shown signs of improvement with the bat, albeit small. His glove alone is worth +2 wins and much improved Danny Santana and Oswaldo Arcia (who is in tremendous shape btw,) can pick the slack if necessary. Kurt Suzuki also looks better and refreshed. Will a smaller workload keep them getting close to his 2014 numbers? I hope so. Joltin' Joe Mauer (sorry couldn't help myself) has an .802 OPS for the Spring, which beat his .756 and .667 OPS the last 2 Springs, sunglasses or not. More importantly this team looks like a team that wants to win, a team that wins and a team that has fun doing it. The biggest question mark is the bullpen, and especially the closer. If you find out that the out of shape closer, who fell apart the last 2 seasons, took up home brewing as a hobby in the off-season and his fastball and slider are a good 5 to 6 miles per hour below their peak, you have to be concerned. On the other hand, if Perkins falters, the Twins have good options at AA and AAA, including righties JT Chargois and Nick Burdi who can have a part in the Twins' pen today, and lefty Mason Melotakis, who is a few innings away from returning from TJ surgery as a dominant lefty. The pen was the Twins' biggest concern this off-season and it has not been addressed at all. The 2016 Twins will go as far as their pen lets them go. I hope that Ryan has a short leash on Perkins and does the right thing for the team when he has to. Because of this, and my lack of trust in the Twins' GM and the Twins' closer, I predict that the Twins will finish the 2016 season with an 87-75 record. 90 wins will not be out of reach, with a couple of early season pen investments...

I was there this Spring. His FB was 88-91 mph and Slider 79-83 mph. Proof or not. I know what the radar readings I read were. And some of them on the fast Hammond Stadium gun. Beer is fine. If you are not overweight and ineffective as a pro athlete and if you do not chronic back issues from being overweight as a pro athlete.

Amen. And he should ship a case of expensive bubbly at Reusse's house (a totally fitting present.)

I think that you got this 100%. When your out of shape "proven closer" takes home brewing as a new hobby during the off-season and loses 5-7 mph off his peak FB and SL velocity, the writing is on the wall...

Including a Freudian Slip:

So you think that he can learn RF in batting practice? or by someone tossing tennis balls? I'd love to find out that Right Field For Dummies book that promises to teach RF to someone who never played it before in 2 weeks... Must be one out there. The Twins dropped the ball here by not trading (or moving to RF) Plouffe. Period. And nobody can whine about Sano's dedication. He spoke enough on the field, unlike some other Twins' players who came out of shape and played horribly in the Spring. I'd love to hear about Perkins' dedication, weight and 90 mph fastball for example or Buxton's dedication to hitting or laying off the curveball. Where are the articles blaming Buxton for not spending enough time learning to hit the curveball in 2 weeks?

"Right now, Miguel Sano is far from the long-awaited, second coming of the Fat Kid. He’s simply the Big Kid, until he begins to take his shot at greatness more seriously."

Which was about the sample size of both Nolasco and Duffey in 2015 as well...

He does have a repeated flaw with leaning back and not following through his throws. Trajectory is also problematic (his arching them). Let's not forget that he was playing mostly 1B at High School and College and just a bit of OF in College.

trying to find video, but all there is there is his HRs... Not something he does all the time btw. Just something he does when he is not thinking about it and rushing to get the ball "in". The leaning back is more often.

Not really. He has issues with throwing. He plants the wrong foot down sometimes when he throws. Just want to describe that way of throwing from the wrong foot forward, he leans back instead of having a fluid motion, etc... His arm might be stronger than Revere's but his throws are not. Berardino wrote about it a bit here (albeit well concealed)

He is a DH at this point of his career. Sub-Revere arm at the OF and not much accuracy. Might become a first baseman in the future, but I just don't see him play much OF with the Twins.

Career Dozier MLB OPS+ = 99 Average OPS+ = 100 I'd say that Dozier has been an about average MLB hitter, won't you? "way above average" would be something like an 125-130 OPS+ I am not dismissing anything, it seems that you are "way above" overate him