Thrylos

And if anyone is interested to know who that young man pictured is, it is.... Brandon Boggs

What I like is this (emphasis below : ) So Mr Hingle needs to mandatorily get credit for Pavano's transformation

I'd like to see Plouffe stick at third. The parallels with Cuddyer are not even funny for the ones who watched the Cuddyer saga since it started (when he was moved all over the infield and at the end ended up at RF) The interesting part in the comparison is that at the same age, Cuddyer did not even have half of Plouffe's power. Will be fun to see his development

Interesting stuff, but this does not add up: with 33 more HRs than 2012, I hope at least 50 more RBI and 50 more Rs... If they score fewer runs in 2013 than the did in 2012, they will have big issues...

Interesting talk about Hicks and what the best strategy of delaying arbitration is; please compare that to the Angels' worries and action about delaying arbitration for Mike Trout and the Nats' issues with delaying arbitration for Bryce Harper and you will have a glimpse into part of the problems in the Twins' organization, and their fans' expectations. Frankly, I expect the Twins to bring the best 25 up north. Period. Like winning organizations do. I do not care about arbitration. I care about the Twins winning. Should not be an issue for an organization that made Drew a super 2 (heck, that rhymes.)

Thanks for this. Got to love the nuggets these references contain: Thus is my biggest issue with the people who run the Twins (to the ground.) They are happy for mediocrity and would like to get back to "that". Better than .500?; win the division? If your manager is not setting the goal where is should be: Back to THAT (1991 and 1987), there is no wonder that THAT will never happen with those people as leaders. You have to set your sights up high, otherwise you will never get there.

Signing another mediocre pitcher or 2 (who the average person who buys tickets does not know from Adam) would not have helped the Twins' attendance... What would have helped? (and they have money to burn allegedly this season) : - Trade with the Mets for the last season of Johan Santana under contract (let them eat half of his salary and just give them a marginal prospect back - The Twins would have to pay as much as they gave Correia guaranteed) - Sign Jim Thome (still a free agent) and keep him on the bench instead of Butera. - Make sure that you showcase and let some of the kids who are the future of your organization (Meyer, Gibson, Hicks) play instead of so-so veterans. People will pay and put their butts on TF seats for that. Not to watch Correia and Mastroianni (but also not for Sanders and Marcum...) If Harden is healthy, people will pay to watch him pitch. And if you do not believe me with the above assessment, go back in history and see what happened when the Twins signed the ghost of Lefty Carlton's past, as far as attendance went in games he pitched....

This is really interesting. And I am glad that it looks really good. This is really encouraging On another note, just adding to what I said earlier about the baseball experience of most of the Twins' beat writers these days, here is this quote from the article: . Clearly, this must have been some sort of circulating rumor among the press, which contadicts the following image (also in the same article) of Pelfrey throwing BP today : http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site569/2013/0218/20130218__twinsspringtraining_mikepelfrey.jpg I'd love to hear more about Pelfrey's four-seamer (which is the pitch he is throwing in the picture, btw )

My favorite quote of this writeup: Emphasis, mine. And I just hope I am not the only one who sees a disconnect between Correia's "proven track record" and "knowing how to pitch".

^^^^^ This, which is also accentuated by the fact that the Twins regularly have an one-person plus Butera bench because they have so many injured guys day to day to week before they do anyting.

Thanks Seth, this is good stuff. Interesting that Jeff Smith was clueless, since he managed Benson in Fort Myers as well... Not sure how long he would last in the organization, esp after his record season with the Rock Cats last year...

mustache is non-existent

But this requires pretty intimate knowledge of baseball Frankly, other than the 2 beat reporters in the biggest Twin Cities daily, the other beat reporters are either learning (and some of them in an admirably good pace - e.g the two of the 2 certain TV networks) or are thrown in even though they are football people and cannot tell a slider from a screwball (e.g. the two of a certain radio station.) Frankly, for these guys is a job and for the ones who are good, it does not end when they go home (like everyone who is good with their jobs no matter what that job is.)

Based on recent reports from Fort Myers seems that Pelfrey will be ready. The magic words were said by Andy after his first bullpen: "The ball came out of his hand good" (sic); whereas Diamond will not be because he "did not like the way the ball came out of his hand". I kinda followed Pelfrey's career for a while (mainly because I like to listen to Sports Radio and the one available here is WFAN 660 out of NYC) and I think that he is one of those guys who pitch better than his peripherals and also one of those guys who had a hard time performing in NY and never really reached his potential. Will be interesting to see what he can do with the Twins in a zero pressure situation. I think that it was a very good signing for the Twins.

I don't know... Knowing the Twins, if Clint Frazier is still available at number 4, I just cannot see them pass... (of course it is still way too early to even think about draft. Give it a good 2-3 months for the High School and College seasons to start and for injuries to happen etc...)

A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period — When March is scarcely here -Emily Dickinson Spring Training time is one of my favorite baseball times during the season (or is it "off-season", or "pre-season"?)This is the time where all the teams have the same record and all 60 players or so who are invited in the Major League camp hope that they will be part of the major league roster. Some positions in the Twins' 25-man roster are chiseled in marble; however some are written in pensil, and some others are wide open for the taking. Last season, I used dashboards to quantify Spring Training performance of the combatands in both the position player and pitching battles. I am planning on doing the same this Spring training, but before starting quantifying, I'd like to qualify and see what potential battles there might this Spring. Position Players (13) The following six players (barring injuries and late trades) are locks to stay in the Twins' 25-man roster (all lists alphabetically) : Jamey Carroll Ryan Doumit Joe Mauer Justin Morneau Trevor Plouffe and Josh Willingham. Drew Butera Darin Mastroianni and Chris Parmelee are penciled in and only a horrible appearance might derail them coming up North, but they are not 100% locks (they are in the 80% range)so I will keep track of their performance. The potential battles in the Twins' 2013 Spring Training as far as position players go are for the following seven positions: 3 outfield positions, including a back up 2 infield positions, including a back up and one additional bench bat that would be a third Catcher (Mr Butera for example) or a bat off the bench/DH (like Chris Colabello) or an additional infielder or outfielder. Pitchers (12) I do assume that the Twins will take 13 position players and 12 pitchers; however, potentially they will forgo the bench bat or the third catcher and go with 13 pitchers. Time will tell. The following two starters and three relievers are pretty much locks: Kevin Correia Vance Worley Jared Burton Brian Duensing Glen Perkins The following two starters are locks, other than the fact that might not be ready: Scott Diamond Mike Pelfrey So there are battles from one to three starting positions and at least four bullpen spots. Potentially up to seven position player and seven pitcher spots on the 2013 Opening Day Twins 25-man roster will be decided this Spring, which is more than in the recent seasons, at least on paper... Interesting times indeed and sure to make this Spring more fun to watch closely. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6110/6869531954_7acab45c41_z.jpg

A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period — When March is scarcely here -Emily Dickinson Spring Training time is one of my favorite baseball times during the season (or is it "off-season", or "pre-season"?)This is the time where all the teams have the same record and all 60 players or so who are invited in the Major League camp hope that they will be part of the major league roster. Some positions in the Twins' 25-man roster are chiseled in marble; however some are written in pensil, and some others are wide open for the taking. Last season, I used dashboards to quantify Spring Training performance of the combatands in both the position player and pitching battles. I am planning on doing the same this Spring training, but before starting quantifying, I'd like to qualify and see what potential battles there might this Spring. Position Players (13) The following six players (barring injuries and late trades) are locks to stay in the Twins' 25-man roster (all lists alphabetically) : Jamey Carroll Ryan Doumit Joe Mauer Justin Morneau Trevor Plouffe and Josh Willingham. Drew Butera Darin Mastroianni and Chris Parmelee are penciled in and only a horrible appearance might derail them coming up North, but they are not 100% locks (they are in the 80% range)so I will keep track of their performance. The potential battles in the Twins' 2013 Spring Training as far as position players go are for the following seven positions: 3 outfield positions, including a back up 2 infield positions, including a back up and one additional bench bat that would be a third Catcher (Mr Butera for example) or a bat off the bench/DH (like Chris Colabello) or an additional infielder or outfielder. Pitchers (12) I do assume that the Twins will take 13 position players and 12 pitchers; however, potentially they will forgo the bench bat or the third catcher and go with 13 pitchers. Time will tell. The following two starters and three relievers are pretty much locks: Kevin Correia Vance Worley Jared Burton Brian Duensing Glen Perkins The following two starters are locks, other than the fact that might not be ready: Scott Diamond Mike Pelfrey So there are battles from one to three starting positions and at least four bullpen spots. Potentially up to seven position player and seven pitcher spots on the 2013 Opening Day Twins 25-man roster will be decided this Spring, which is more than in the recent seasons, at least on paper... Interesting times indeed and sure to make this Spring more fun to watch closely. http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6110/6869531954_7acab45c41_z.jpg

I saw him in last years' ST and he was between 88-91 (with the radar gun staffed by Twins' pitchers just outside the ballpark, for probably a good 3 innings or so) The Hammond Stadium scoreboard radar gun is ridiculous. I kid you not. According to it, last Spring Brian Duensing hit 96 and Liriano 97 I would easily subtract 3 mph from that gun to get close to reality...

infield and third base coach

You know, it is about time that some of those Twins take some losses and bad happenings to the clubhouse wall, the gatorade tub, the chairs, the doors, something (just don't get hurt...) This has been one of the most apathetic teams I have seen in the dugouts the last couple seasons. Someone has to step up and get mad when they lose or when they do not perform the way they should, otherwise same things will happen. The attitude of "it's ok to lose if you give it all" should go away.

There are not many not-weight bearing parts of the knee Microfracture surgery is to repair worn cartilage usually on the meniscus. What they do is the make tiny fractures on the healty bone, which stimulates new cartilage production. Fairly painless outpatient procedure, done with a scope and takes an hour to an hour and a half or so. But. The pain is the aftermath. You got to keep the knee practically immobile (and not bearing any weight ) for about a month. And that is why there is about 50% failure rate. People are not in pain so they put weight in their knee... This is pretty common in Basketball not so in Baseball. Jeff Clement also had this done few years ago... Outside sports is a knee replacement alternative procedure, done usually to arthritic folks.

Let me put it this way: Benson is about as ready as Florimon, Dozier, Escobar are to make the team with his bat and readier than Dozier and Escobar to make the team with his glove. I think that likely 2 and possibly 3 of those infielders will make the team, so I think that Benson does have at least some hope to make the team.

Wimmers is a different pitcher than Gibson. He is a high 80s/low 90s sinkerballer who tops out at about 92. Think Hendriks/Blackburn/Walters/DeVries/Stuifberger/Hermsen etc. The keys to Wimmers will be control of his two seamer and development of his secondary pitches (change up and esp. curve - his change up is his out pitch and is already a plus pitch.) Unlike Salcedo and Boer in the list, who have stuff that can potentially translate to the 'pen, Wimmers doesn't, unless it will be something in a long reliever mop-up role, so he really has to make it in the rotation...

Here is the thing about Herrmann: In College he played C and 3B. (Despite what you might hear - and I doubled checked my 2009 draft logs - the Twins disregarded that and drafted him as an OF. And that's where he played exclusively in 2009 and mostly in 2010 (he caught some then) at 2011 it was about half C, half OF and in 2012 was mostly C. No 3B but he could play there too. He can and has hit better in any level than what's his face. As far as where he projects, hard to tell, but I think that Doumit light might be a fair analogy (but this comes from someone who remember the days when Doumit was projected to be the next catching stud.) So ceiling probably Doumit with probably little better fielding. (which is something that Drew cannot even dream to be.)

Probably a tiny detail in the big picture of things, but Rivera is a Padre. And his divorce from the Twins was not happy last September. Apparently someone from the Twins' brass promised him that he will get recalled in September but he did not (and Herrmann did instead.) At that point some stuff hit the fan... was interesting to follow Rivera's twitter at that time As far as that list goes, I think that Gibson (barring injury) will be with the Twins sometime this season. Also one of Benson/Hicks will have to be (and Benson has just another season before he is out of options I think, so the Twins might want to take a look) And there are probably 4 spots open in the pen now (with Swarzak not ready in April)