Thrylos

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- This is the second of the three 2013 Spring Training Guides to Fort Myers that will appear here. The first one was a guide on the logistics of how to get there and where to stay etc., including some ways to get there as inexpensively as possible, if that is a consideration. The Logistics Guide can be found here. The next guide will be about food and this one is about the reason people go to Fort Myers: Spring Training baseball. The Twins' Spring Training Complex: Here is a satellite image of the Lee County Sports Complex (all images are screenshots from Bing Maps) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6870615187_617fab61b1_b.jpg The complex is accessible via the Miracle on 34th St, either from Ben C Pratt Pkwy or from Plantation Rd. The best was to go is via the Parkway, esp. if it is busy. Miracle on 34th St divides the Twins' part of the complex from the four county softball field. Hammond Stadium, the site of the Twins Spring Training home games and the home of the Fort Myers Miracle (the Twins' high A, Florida State League affiliate) is on the Northeast corner of the Complex. Those parallel lines is the parking lot that can fit about 2000 cars. The stadium seats about 8000 people, so parking can be tight. In addition to Hammond Stadium, there are four full size practice fields and two infield practice fields. You can find Twins' major and minor league players working out in those fields throughout the day, so it might make sense to explore the whole complex or even catch (a free, other than parking) minor league game or two. Some Hotels offer free shuttle service to the Complex, so make sure you explore this option if available During Twins' home games you have to pay for parking, however when the Twins are away, you can come into the complex and park for free and watch the Twins' minor leagues (you can do that on game days in the morning as well.) The minor leaguers are using the 3 full fields further away from the Ballpark and the inflied half field right next to the clubhouse (the tin building). The practice field next to the ballpark is exclusively used by the MLB team. There are 2 different camps take place there (the MLB and MiLB camp) but there is not a "dividing line" that folks who are cut from the big camp have to cross to get "down to the minor league" camp. As you can see, all the fields are next to each other. Often, non-travelling major leaguers (I saw Casilla and Carroll do that last season) play in Minor League games. So do rehabing major leaguers. The best way to watch the minor leaguers is to drive and park close to the clubhouse (there are not too many cars on non-game days, about as many as they are in the picture) and go between the 3 large fields. Usually AAA plays on the North West most field and AA next to it. With a little bit of imagination, one can sit between both fields and watch 2 games. There are bleachers in the area (metal). Bathrooms and a water fountain are in the south of the clubhouse building. Bringing water is a must here because there are no concessions. A lot of lower level or non-playing minor leaguers are around and on the stands watching the AAA and AA games. Actually pitchers are relegated to radar charting duty in tables in the common area behind the home plates and the fence, and standing around there is a good place to look at the radar readings. You can also find Twin Cities Sports Celebrities on the stands: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6881930842_2aaba33f03_o.jpg The "dugouts" and "bullpens" are just fenced in areas so you can get a great look of the Twins' minor leaguers. All minor league games are free. The new Twins' lease will provide for a dorm to be build in the area, but I am not certain on its wearabouts, but likely South of the fields and just west of the county softball fields. Hammond Stadium: Hammond Stadium (and the Lee County Complex) was officially opened in the Spring of 1991. (The year of the Twins' last World Championship.) It is the home of Fort Myers Miracle, a franchise that has Jimmy Buffett and Bill Murray as part-owners. It has been recently renovated and is one of the largest Ball Parks in FSL, sitting up to 8500 people. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/6870615335_f8962df2e6_z.jpg As with most minor league stadiums, most sitting is on the infield between the two dugouts. Hammonds Stadium has a nose bleed 2xx level as well and a small grassy field on short right field for fans to sit picnic style. Spring training tickets cost from $45 to $10 or so, depending on the opponent and the seating. As far as tickets go, there are ticket outlets just outside the Park. You can preorder tickets over the web, or you can frequently obtain them from locals in the parking lot who are not interesting in attending the game. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7053/6873268706_ed1c6493c8_b.jpg One thing that you MUST note: bottled water in unopened containers is permitted in the stadium, as are bags up to 16x16x8 (think reusable grocery bags), so please take advantage of that. That said, the stadium has one of the best selections of beers, including more than 20 mainstream, import and microbrew beers and ales. The best variety of beer, including beer sold only for Twins' and Miracle's games there, is at the bar at the far left (third base) end of the outside concourse, right before the bullpen They only sell Pepsi products as far as soft drinks go. I will have a food guide within a week, but I have to mention that there is an interesting variety of food, including pizza, sweet potato fries, fish tacos, deep fried nachos on a stick, and two artery clogging specialties: the Carolina Dog, a hot dog topped with pulled pork, baked beans and coleslaw and the Richard Simmons burger a behemoth featuring a 1/4 lb burger, a 1/4 lb chicken, a 1/4 lb brat, held together by 3 slices of cheese and six strips of bacon and contains more calories that the average developing world person eats in a week. There is an annual concession guide, for the stadium that yet has to be published. Here is the seating guide from the Miracle web site. Also, this is a great article about Hammonds Stadium with a lot of detail about the ball park. Also, here is a must see panoramic view of the seating are a from last year's Spring Training. The Twins' dugout is on the third base side and the bullpen on the end of the bleachers in short left. The new lease provides for major renovations to the Ballpark including a catwalk area at the Outfield. Not sure when this will start and whether it will be around for the 2013 Spring Training. Other things: Last but not least, the Twins do not play home games every day. So what to do in an off day? I would chose from one of the following two things: Either drive to the Complex trying to catch minor leaguers (my favorite choice) and non-traveling major leaguers in action in one (or more) of the fields, or drive to watch the Twins in an away game. Here is a map of Florida that shows all the Grapefruit League home team locations: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7044/6870615789_e450be9574_b.jpg The Rays play their home games about half an hour away and the Pirates and Orioles about an hour away or so. The Red Sox play in Fort Myers. Those are the most convenient ball parks to visit. Next: The Food Guide.

This is totally inaccurate, unless you mean access to Hammond Stadium. Last ST I was able to go to the Lee County Sports Complex the days the Twins were not playing any home games, park for free and have access to pretty much everything (including the Hammond Stadium gift shop) but the "observation tower" and the small outdoor "club house". All the players, the managers and the coaches were there. I don't understand what the issue is here. Even the field next to Hammond, which is exclusively used by major leaguers had total access. As far as the "same day charge" the Braves have ($5) : I never had been to a Braves' game, but try to get to a Twins' game and attempt to get same day reserve tickets They are all sold. I usually do end up paying the same day charge (around $5 so the $43 and $46 tickets are $50) in the parking lot before games anyways. If there is an issue it should be that. Not allowing multiple pre-sales but at least the scalper prices are low enough.

The best catching prospect in the Twins organization is probably Josmil Pinto at this point...

I thought that your really meant something different with the title (Team control and hicks) which would have been more intriguing than this my take has always been to take the best 25 up North. It makes for happy players (i.e. the best players are paid MLB $ vs AAA $ and you build a merit based system) and happy fans (they see the best players in the organization.) That said, the hicks who gave Butera a $700K scholarship have other motives in mind.

please do me a favor and look at Liriano's numbers in 2011 when Butera caught him vs when Rivera caught him

I like that (and Herrmann saw MLB time too ). But what this would mean that the Twins cannot carry 3-4 MIFs, Butera, and the guy-who-would-push-Plouffe to be named later. The manager wants that and he is the root cause of the problem...

But that would mean moving him to second base or short stop, no? Isn't it illegal to not have a middle infielder in the second spot?

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Less than a month for Pitchers and Catchers to report to Fort Myers so it is about time for you to make your arrangements to go to Fort Myers (I made mine late last year) and it is about time for the second annual Fort Myers Guides. Last season there were two Spring Training Guides: the Spring Training Guide to Fort Myers and the Fort Myers Culinary Guide . This season there will be three guides and will be different than last year's. After I went to Spring Training in 2012 and about in the middle of the summer last year, the dice were rolled in such a way that I now go to the Central and South Central Florida area on a multiple times a month basis and I do have a list of additional tips on how and where best to get to Fort Myers. This will be the first guide: The Spring Training Logistics Guide, where the area is described and the best and least expensive ways of getting to the Twins' Spring Training home. Knowing what I know now last season, I could have saved at least a couple hundred dollars in airfare, at least that much in a hotel and about that much in a car rental, money better spent watching the Twins and buying Twins' (and Miracle) gear. As a bonus, I will list the official Twins' hotel, which is the place where a lot of Twins' people stay and a great place to rub elbows with Twins' players and staff. The second guide will be about what to do once you are there. And this is all about baseball. What is going on at the Training Complex, tips and tricks about watching the games at Hammond Stadium (based on my fresh experience from last year) and other ballparks you might want to visit. This with be the Spring Training Baseball Guide. The third guide will be a Food Guide to Fort Myers, but changed from last season's. Last season's it was cuisine-specific and I think that it is still a valuable resource. This season will be more restaurant-specific. As a bonus, I will list established hangouts of Twins' players. These guides are mainly from the Twins' perspective but useful for Red Sox' (and soon Nationals') fans How to get to Fort Myers: Unless you want to have a non-rental car with you (a good choice if you are a player or will be there for a month or so, or you live close to Fort Myers) flying is probably the best choice. There is a local airport (Southeast Florida International, code: RSW) served by a variety of airlines, but there are a total of about 75 flights a day into and out from there. Alternative airports are the larger Tampa International (TPA) and Miami International (MIA), about 2 and 2.5 hrs drive respectively as is the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) is slightly over an hour drive from Fort Myers and slightly larger airport than the Southwest Florida International at Fort Myers. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) is also an option, and a potentially fairly attractive one if your home airport has airlines like Frontier, Spirit and Allegient and you are willing to fly them, because they have inexpensive and relatively frequent flights there. Flying into Fort Myers is probably the most expensive option in the list but you do not have to drive far. Also, the TSA checkpoints in the return trip are a mess. Budget an extra hour to go through. My favorite option (and what I am doing this year?) Orlando. Orlando International (MCO) is about 3 hrs away from Fort Myers, but it offers the benefit of having the lowest airfare and lowest car rental prices in Florida, in combination to more that 60 mainstream carrier flights daily. Plus, as a bonus, if you have a family, you can spend a few days there with the kids, which will help them palate more 8+ hrs of baseball-related stuff that you would do once at Fort Myers. As far as airfare prices go and where to find the best ones, go to the ITA Matrix software portal, chose the "show a calendar of lowest fares" and play with it. This is the tool that travel agents are using. Once you find a flight, go online to the airline or an online travel agency and reserve it. My fares in and out of MCO have been in the $150-200 range from the North East, but YMMV depending on departing city. As far as rental cars go (and you do need one since the public transportation in Fort Myers is non-existent,) the best value in Florida is Dollar. And here is a trick: Go to the Dollar web site and register to be an express member for free. This way you will have the car waiting in a predetermined spot and you by-pass the counter. Next, make your reservation, by selecting view all car types and picking the least expensive option. Once you make your reservation, check it often and early and "modify" it to see if there are any lower prices posted. Dollar is notorious of dropping their car prices, especially close to the reservation dates. I usually rent cars at about $12-16 a day. But you have to check and change those prices a lot. Refuse the automatic toll machine ($8ish/day) and the GPS ($13ish a day) and deal with the insurance as you normally do (i.e. if you refuse because you are covered by your own car, refuse it.) If you want to drive down there, the fastest was to get there is via I-75 that goes through the town. From most points of the Midwest or Northwest, the best way is to catch I-75 around the Metro Atlanta area. From South and South West, I-10 hits I-75 in North Florida about an hour east of Jacksonville. From the East Coast, the best bet would be I-95 all the way to Daytona Beach, then I-4 through Orlando and catching I-75 at Tampa. If you live at the Twin Cities area, Minneapolis is about 1700 miles away from Fort Myers, which means about 3 days of 8 hours driving each, each way. Enjoy This is a map of South & Central Florida, to let you see where Fort Myers is situated in Florida (all maps and satellite images used in this post are screen shots from Bing maps) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/6870615689_9c49c11ca4_z.jpg The Metro Area and the City: Fort Myers (and, btw, it is not Ft. Myers) is the smallest of 3 cities in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral Metropolitan area. It has about 62,000 people, whereas the Metro has about 650,000 people most of them living in Cape Coral, a city planned and started in the late 50s as a huge retirement community. Interestingly enough the planners wanted to make every property close to water, so they created and extensive system of Canals. Cape Coral has more miles of navigable waterways than any city in the world, including Venice (Italy, not FL) and Amsterdam. About 400 miles of canals. Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island and Pine Island are popular beach front communities with a lot of beach-related tourism. Here is a photo of the Cape Coral- Fort Myers metro: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6870615619_08f2faa40c_z.jpg An important note, especially to people from northern climates: Average temperatures in March are 80 for high and 60 for low, so make sure that you pack sunscreen, hats, glasses, shorts, t-shirts and a swimsuit, if you are so inclined. And if you get sunburns, you will get a sunburn there, so please plan accordingly The city of Fort Myers itself is very easily navigated. Here is a map of the City with the Twins' Spring Training Headquarters noted with an orange Marker: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6870615475_684c7baa2a_z.jpg You can click here for a larger picture in a new window. Where to Stay: The Fort Myers Airport is about 6 miles due west from Hammonds Stadium and the Spring Training Complex. Daniels Parkway (that becomes Cypress Lake Dr in the City) will take you from the Airport to the town and the Twins' complex. If you are on a budget and looking for a hotel, the ones on Daniels Parkway and that area west of I-75 offer good bargains and are fairly close to the Twins' Spring Training Complex. Another area for reasonable accommodations is the S. Cleveland Avenue North of Page Field. Mostly everything can be found within a large triangle defined by S. Cleveland Ave to the West, Colonial Blvd to the North and the Ben C. Pratt Pkwy going Northeast to Southwest. The Twins' Spring training complex is on the South part of Ben C. Pratt Pkwy, just South of Daniels Pkwy. Traffic, other than when the games are over, is not an issue at Fort Myers. If you want to rub elbows with Twins' players and staff, the Twins' official/unofficial hotel in the Fort Myers' area is the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Myers (not the one by the airport, but the one "in town"). Alternatively you can stay at Naples (offers more things to do at night) or Port Charlotte (offers less expensive rooms and it is the Rays' Spring Training Home). Both are about half an hour easy drive away. The best bargains for Hotels (unless you are a frequent guest and can use points for free rooms) are either Hotwire or Hotels.com, but the establishments are sometimes name-less so it can be a gamble. On the other hand, if you stay pretty close to the ballpark and away from the downtown area, there are not any seedy places. This year I will be staying at Port Charlotte and will be watching some Twins' games there as visitors as well. The Twins' Spring Training Complex: Here is a satellite image of the Lee County Sports Complex: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6870615187_617fab61b1_b.jpg More about the complex, how and when to get there and all the things about the Twins' Spring Training home in the next guide.

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Less than a month for Pitchers and Catchers to report to Fort Myers so it is about time for you to make your arrangements to go to Fort Myers (I made mine late last year) and it is about time for the second annual Fort Myers Guides. Last season there were two Spring Training Guides: the Spring Training Guide to Fort Myers and the Fort Myers Culinary Guide . This season there will be three guides and will be different than last year's. After I went to Spring Training in 2012 and about in the middle of the summer last year, the dice were rolled in such a way that I now go to the Central and South Central Florida area on a multiple times a month basis and I do have a list of additional tips on how and where best to get to Fort Myers. This will be the first guide: The Spring Training Logistics Guide, where the area is described and the best and least expensive ways of getting to the Twins' Spring Training home. Knowing what I know now last season, I could have saved at least a couple hundred dollars in airfare, at least that much in a hotel and about that much in a car rental, money better spent watching the Twins and buying Twins' (and Miracle) gear. As a bonus, I will list the official Twins' hotel, which is the place where a lot of Twins' people stay and a great place to rub elbows with Twins' players and staff. The second guide will be about what to do once you are there. And this is all about baseball. What is going on at the Training Complex, tips and tricks about watching the games at Hammond Stadium (based on my fresh experience from last year) and other ballparks you might want to visit. This with be the Spring Training Baseball Guide. The third guide will be a Food Guide to Fort Myers, but changed from last season's. Last season's it was cuisine-specific and I think that it is still a valuable resource. This season will be more restaurant-specific. As a bonus, I will list established hangouts of Twins' players. These guides are mainly from the Twins' perspective but useful for Red Sox' (and soon Nationals') fans How to get to Fort Myers: Unless you want to have a non-rental car with you (a good choice if you are a player or will be there for a month or so, or you live close to Fort Myers) flying is probably the best choice. There is a local airport (Southeast Florida International, code: RSW) served by a variety of airlines, but there are a total of about 75 flights a day into and out from there. Alternative airports are the larger Tampa International (TPA) and Miami International (MIA), about 2 and 2.5 hrs drive respectively as is the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) is slightly over an hour drive from Fort Myers and slightly larger airport than the Southwest Florida International at Fort Myers. Fort Lauderdale (FLL) is also an option, and a potentially fairly attractive one if your home airport has airlines like Frontier, Spirit and Allegient and you are willing to fly them, because they have inexpensive and relatively frequent flights there. Flying into Fort Myers is probably the most expensive option in the list but you do not have to drive far. Also, the TSA checkpoints in the return trip are a mess. Budget an extra hour to go through. My favorite option (and what I am doing this year?) Orlando. Orlando International (MCO) is about 3 hrs away from Fort Myers, but it offers the benefit of having the lowest airfare and lowest car rental prices in Florida, in combination to more that 60 mainstream carrier flights daily. Plus, as a bonus, if you have a family, you can spend a few days there with the kids, which will help them palate more 8+ hrs of baseball-related stuff that you would do once at Fort Myers. As far as airfare prices go and where to find the best ones, go to the ITA Matrix software portal, chose the "show a calendar of lowest fares" and play with it. This is the tool that travel agents are using. Once you find a flight, go online to the airline or an online travel agency and reserve it. My fares in and out of MCO have been in the $150-200 range from the North East, but YMMV depending on departing city. As far as rental cars go (and you do need one since the public transportation in Fort Myers is non-existent,) the best value in Florida is Dollar. And here is a trick: Go to the Dollar web site and register to be an express member for free. This way you will have the car waiting in a predetermined spot and you by-pass the counter. Next, make your reservation, by selecting view all car types and picking the least expensive option. Once you make your reservation, check it often and early and "modify" it to see if there are any lower prices posted. Dollar is notorious of dropping their car prices, especially close to the reservation dates. I usually rent cars at about $12-16 a day. But you have to check and change those prices a lot. Refuse the automatic toll machine ($8ish/day) and the GPS ($13ish a day) and deal with the insurance as you normally do (i.e. if you refuse because you are covered by your own car, refuse it.) If you want to drive down there, the fastest was to get there is via I-75 that goes through the town. From most points of the Midwest or Northwest, the best way is to catch I-75 around the Metro Atlanta area. From South and South West, I-10 hits I-75 in North Florida about an hour east of Jacksonville. From the East Coast, the best bet would be I-95 all the way to Daytona Beach, then I-4 through Orlando and catching I-75 at Tampa. If you live at the Twin Cities area, Minneapolis is about 1700 miles away from Fort Myers, which means about 3 days of 8 hours driving each, each way. Enjoy This is a map of South & Central Florida, to let you see where Fort Myers is situated in Florida (all maps and satellite images used in this post are screen shots from Bing maps) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/6870615689_9c49c11ca4_z.jpg The Metro Area and the City: Fort Myers (and, btw, it is not Ft. Myers) is the smallest of 3 cities in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral Metropolitan area. It has about 62,000 people, whereas the Metro has about 650,000 people most of them living in Cape Coral, a city planned and started in the late 50s as a huge retirement community. Interestingly enough the planners wanted to make every property close to water, so they created and extensive system of Canals. Cape Coral has more miles of navigable waterways than any city in the world, including Venice (Italy, not FL) and Amsterdam. About 400 miles of canals. Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island and Pine Island are popular beach front communities with a lot of beach-related tourism. Here is a photo of the Cape Coral- Fort Myers metro: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7041/6870615619_08f2faa40c_z.jpg An important note, especially to people from northern climates: Average temperatures in March are 80 for high and 60 for low, so make sure that you pack sunscreen, hats, glasses, shorts, t-shirts and a swimsuit, if you are so inclined. And if you get sunburns, you will get a sunburn there, so please plan accordingly The city of Fort Myers itself is very easily navigated. Here is a map of the City with the Twins' Spring Training Headquarters noted with an orange Marker: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6870615475_684c7baa2a_z.jpg You can click here for a larger picture in a new window. Where to Stay: The Fort Myers Airport is about 6 miles due west from Hammonds Stadium and the Spring Training Complex. Daniels Parkway (that becomes Cypress Lake Dr in the City) will take you from the Airport to the town and the Twins' complex. If you are on a budget and looking for a hotel, the ones on Daniels Parkway and that area west of I-75 offer good bargains and are fairly close to the Twins' Spring Training Complex. Another area for reasonable accommodations is the S. Cleveland Avenue North of Page Field. Mostly everything can be found within a large triangle defined by S. Cleveland Ave to the West, Colonial Blvd to the North and the Ben C. Pratt Pkwy going Northeast to Southwest. The Twins' Spring training complex is on the South part of Ben C. Pratt Pkwy, just South of Daniels Pkwy. Traffic, other than when the games are over, is not an issue at Fort Myers. If you want to rub elbows with Twins' players and staff, the Twins' official/unofficial hotel in the Fort Myers' area is the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Myers (not the one by the airport, but the one "in town"). Alternatively you can stay at Naples (offers more things to do at night) or Port Charlotte (offers less expensive rooms and it is the Rays' Spring Training Home). Both are about half an hour easy drive away. The best bargains for Hotels (unless you are a frequent guest and can use points for free rooms) are either Hotwire or Hotels.com, but the establishments are sometimes name-less so it can be a gamble. On the other hand, if you stay pretty close to the ballpark and away from the downtown area, there are not any seedy places. This year I will be staying at Port Charlotte and will be watching some Twins' games there as visitors as well. The Twins' Spring Training Complex: Here is a satellite image of the Lee County Sports Complex: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7062/6870615187_617fab61b1_b.jpg More about the complex, how and when to get there and all the things about the Twins' Spring Training home in the next guide.

I will credit the Twins for getting him from the Nationals. Same with May. The Twins are actually having a pretty exiting system now because of these trades, the better than expected return of Gibson from TJ surgery and the 2012 draft. (Gibson was 2009 but did not play until 2010, so that's when his pro debut was made; and the original list is for players who played in the Twins' system in 2008 and their 2009 destinations posted in April 2009, few months before Gibson was drafted - and btw, do you see Gibson in this ST 2012 photo? )

Hendriks was around and should probably be listed. The original list is a list of Twins' MiLB in 2008 and where there were assigned in 2009. Hendriks sat out in 2008. Darnell and Gibson came in 2010. The premise here was 3-fold: It is hard to compete (or even stronger - you are practically guaranteed to not compete) if: - your farm system has not produced any impact (read: top of the rotation pitchers) within 5 years (2008-2013) - you do not sign top of the rotation free agents - you do not trade for top of the rotation free agents (Pavano was never a top of the rotation free agent) Not sure what the rate is in other organizations, but if you look at the organizations that have been competing, they either have a lot of top of the rotation talent coming from the minors (Rays, As, Os) or they sign it (Yankees, Rangers, Phillies) or both (Red Sox, Cardinals) If you do not do one of the 3 you will not compete. And the last time the Twins did #2 and #3, McPhail was the GM (Morris and Smiley), so they do have to develop talent. If they don't they have no chance in competing. May, Meyer and Worley are bringing the Twins to a good place (and with Gibson, Hendriks and Wimmers and the lower level kids on the hold.) And to make my point, I checked and in 2008: The Rays had David Price, Jeff Niemann, Matt Moore, Jeremy Hellickson (and Wade Davis) in their organization and the A's had Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill, Dallas Braden (and Mickey Storey)

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- With Catchers and Pitchers reporting in less that one month for Spring Training 2013, I decided to get ready for my Spring Training Coverage (teaser: expect 3 new guides this month) so I was looking at the past coverage here. I stumbled upon this little piece from the end of the 2009 Spring Training. It looks really innocent. After all it is a list of all 97 pitchers in the Twins' minors in 2008 from DSL to AAA, who were still with the organization in 2009 along with the 2009 MiLB FAs and where they would potentially end up in 2009. Fairly innocent. Until you fast forward to 2013, where you see that only 11 of those 97 players are still in the Twins' organization in any level and nobody made any impact in the Twins' rotation. The best players in the list were swingmen and bullpen arms. Here is the list of the 11 who are still with the Twins (the original list of 97 is here ): Alex Burnett Cole Devries Brian Duensing Deolis Guerra B.J. Hermsen Bruce Pugh Tyler Robertson Adrian Salcedo Anthony Slama Tom Stuifbergen Anthony Swarzak So if your minor league system does not feed the major league team with impact starters for 4 years and you do not sign impact starters via free agency or acquire them via trades, how do you expect to compete? The writing for the mess that was 2011 and 2012 was on the wall for he Twins in 2009. They either just could not see it (by believing that their prospects were better than what they were) or they ignore it. Either way, it is equally bad. ' http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/7876436966_2b679cff54_z.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- With Catchers and Pitchers reporting in less that one month for Spring Training 2013, I decided to get ready for my Spring Training Coverage (teaser: expect 3 new guides this month) so I was looking at the past coverage here. I stumbled upon this little piece from the end of the 2009 Spring Training. It looks really innocent. After all it is a list of all 97 pitchers in the Twins' minors in 2008 from DSL to AAA, who were still with the organization in 2009 along with the 2009 MiLB FAs and where they would potentially end up in 2009. Fairly innocent. Until you fast forward to 2013, where you see that only 11 of those 97 players are still in the Twins' organization in any level and nobody made any impact in the Twins' rotation. The best players in the list were swingmen and bullpen arms. Here is the list of the 11 who are still with the Twins (the original list of 97 is here ): Alex Burnett Cole Devries Brian Duensing Deolis Guerra B.J. Hermsen Bruce Pugh Tyler Robertson Adrian Salcedo Anthony Slama Tom Stuifbergen Anthony Swarzak So if your minor league system does not feed the major league team with impact starters for 4 years and you do not sign impact starters via free agency or acquire them via trades, how do you expect to compete? The writing for the mess that was 2011 and 2012 was on the wall for he Twins in 2009. They either just could not see it (by believing that their prospects were better than what they were) or they ignore it. Either way, it is equally bad. ' http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/7876436966_2b679cff54_z.jpg

Harden pitched hurt in 2011 (with his shoulder hanging from a thread practically) and his velocity was higher than any Twins starter the last um few years and his performance was better than any Twins starter the last couple seasons. Check this video out of Harden pitching in 2011, if you want As far as TJ surgeries go: Gibson had his around September 2011 and he had a great latter part of 2012. Pelfrey had his around April of 2012 so I think that there is no reason to worry about 2013. He can be really good. The Correia contract should had not been. Not even a year. Just like the Butera contract.

Upon further review and the fact that Ryan handed Butera a $700K scholarship, B- is way too generous

Yeah but you got to balance things: small advantage (and I take that, over Mauer and Doumit, but not as much as advertised) in fielding but huge disadvantage with the bat. The guy is below AA replacement level. So, is it worth it for the Twins to carry and play Butera over someone who can hit the ball? Not in my book.

30 factual events are 6x the size of 5 hand-held stopwatch events, when they directly contradict each other. And it does not matter if a C can throw fast to second base if he overthrows the man who covers it and the ball ends up in CF. And Butera did that at least 3 times last season

3 words about the analysis: Small Sample Size. All 3 Twins' Catchers are withing the standard deviation for this thing, and much within the standard error of a hand held stopwatch Some real numbers: 2012 Butera: 23% Caught Stealing. League Average: 25%. Butera's alleged "fielding ability" is a suburban legend that hopefully will go away with Gardy and his crew. Horrible move for the Twins, paying a guy below replacement level twice the replacement level salary. Butera's scholarship got upped to $700K. Way to go Mr Ryan. The only good thing I can find in this move is that Gardy will give Butera 300-400 PAs and will cost him his job.

I think that B- is fair. The trades were close to A, the Correia signing was an F, and the Harden and Pelfrey signings (if they regain their form and can be flipped for useful parts or extended mid-season) have a lot of potential with little risk.

1. There are All-Stars and "All-Stars". Ron Coomer was an "All Star". There is high likelyhood that Morneau will be at that level. For the Twins to compete, he needs to be at the MVP level. 2. Perkins will handle it fine as long as he stops thinking too much 3. If his manager and general manager trust him and let him get his confidence up, Plouffe will be fine. 4. For the Twins to compete, they better get their best pitching from Harden, Pelfrey and Worley in that order. If Diamond is their "best" pitcher again, we are again in for a long summer.

I don't think that he is any better than Worley or Diamond right now. And I don't think that he is any better than a healthy Pelfrey. He is not better than a healthy Harden. And I don't think that he is any better than Meyer, Gibson, May or Hendriks once they got their act together. (and probably Gibson is better than him at this point) My point is that the Twins are not going anywhere this year. A #3 or #4 starter in a contender will not "save" them this season and very likely that 3 year contract will make him be like Blackburn was last season. I'd rather see them play the kids who do have a future. He will make the Twins a 75 from a 70 win team? Is that worth a 3 year contract and $24 M and blocking the kids? Not in my book. I'd rather see them save that money and spend it on someone who can take them over the top once they are competitive again.

That's why you have a crapload of AAAA pitchers along with some prospects. In case of injury. Look at the starters with MLB experience they already have this year (in no order) : Harden Pelfrey Worley Diamond Correia Hendriks Blackburn De Vries Deduno Walters Vasquez Elarton Martis Hernandez add some of the ones who signed as MiLB FAs this year (Jason Lane, Michael O'Connor, Bryan Augenstein, Virgil Vasquez) add the prospects Gibson, May and Meyer and you really need Sanders (who is about as good as Diamond - a #3-4 pitcher) in case of injury? For 3 years? That is enough to fill the rotations down to New Britain and beyond.

The way it is, with the likes of the Correia signing, Twins' prospects are not only blocked this season (I doubt that more than one of Hendriks or Gibson will see the majors this year with no injuries) but 2014 as well (Diamond, Correia, Worley, Gibson, Hendriks) . So Meyer and Mays and Wimmers and the rest will see action in 2015 unless people are traded/ineffective. Saunders' skills are no better or worse than Diamond's. And they are fine for a #3 or #4 pitcher in a contender. No thanks.

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I wish Butera filed for free agency