Thrylos

Look at the source: Souhan enough said?

The only differences between playing RF and LF are: - the spin of the ball of the bat (goes the other way, so you have to track fly balls differently) - the spin of the ball on your throw (either to a cut off man or to home) has to be different - the other outfielders communicate from your other side (that's why Cuddyer could not play LF, because his left ear is deaf) - throws to third are longer from RF that LF. that's about it. I do not see a real reason why Willingham cannot play RF either, unless he has some issues we all do not know with those things. (And Delmon did, when the Twins' unfortunately moved him to LF)

This was posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch and reposted here. This off-season I have been keeping track of former Twins who were signed by other teams. This is the final edition, since Spring Training has started. Here is the cumulative list of former Twins who are playing for new teams this season: Arizona Diamondbacks: C Henry Blanco (major league; free agent, November 2011) LHP Craig Brelsow (traded by the Oakland Athletics with Trevor Cahill for Jarrod Parker, Ryan Cook and Collin Cowgill, December 2011) OF Jason Kubel (major league; free agent, December 2011) Atlanta Braves: LHP Dusty Hughes (minor league; free agent, November 2011) Baltimore Orioles SS Steve Tolleson (minor league; free agent, November 2011) C Allan de San Miguel (minor league; free agent, January 2012) LHP Dennys Reyes (minor league; free agent, January 2012) RHP Pat Neshek (minor league; free agent, January 2012) RHP Luis Ayala (major league; free agent, January 2012) Boston Red Sox IF Nick Punto (major league; free agent, December 2011) RHP Carlos Silva (minor league; free agent, January 2012) OF Jason Repko (minor league; free agent, January 2012) Chicago Cubs: IF Matt Tolbert (minor league; free agent, January 2012) Chicago White Sox: - Cincinnati Reds: LHP Ron Mahay (minor league; free agent, January 2012) Cleveland Indians: RHP Kevin Slowey (traded by the Colorado Rockies for RHP Zach Putnam, January 2012) SS Cristian Guzman (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Colorado Rockies IF Casey Blake (major league; free agent, December 2011) IF/OF Michael Cuddyer (major league; free agent, December 2011) IF Brendan Harris (minor league; free agent, January 2012) OF Brandon Roberts (minor league; free agent, January 2012) RHP Kevin Slowey (traded by the Twins for RHP Dan Turpen, December 2011) Detroit Tigers: - Houston Astros: RHP Livan Hernandez (minor league; free agent, January 2012) C Jair Fernandez (minor league; free agent, January 2012) Kansas City Royals: LHP Jose Mijares (major league; free agent, December 2011) Los Angeles Angels: OF Doug Deeds (minor league; free agent, January 2012) RHP Juan Rincon (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Los Angeles Dodgers: IF Adam Kennedy (major league; free agent, November 2011) Miami Marlins: RHP Rob Delaney (minor league; free agent, January 2012) 3B Terry Tiffee (minor league; free agent, January 2012) 3B Chase Lambin (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Milwaukee Brewers: - New York Mets: LHP Chuck James (minor league; free agent, December 2011) RHP Jon Rauch (major league; free agent, December 2011) Oakland Athletics: OF Jason Pridie (minor league; free agent, November 2011) Philadelphia Phillies: 1B/PH Jim Thome (major league; free agent, November 2011) Pittsburgh Pirates: C Jose Morales (minor league; free agent, December 2011) San Fransisco Giants RHP Eric Hacker (minor league; free agent, December 2011) RHP Boof Bonser (minor league; free agent, December 2011) RHP Ramon Ortiz (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Seattle Mariners: RHP Matt Fox (minor league; free agent, November 2011) LHP Sean Henn (minor league; free agent, December 2011) SS Luis Rodriguez (minor league; free agent, November 2011) St. Louis Cardinals: RHP Shooter Hunt (drafted in the AAA portion of the Rule 5 draft, December 2011) LHP JC Romero (major league; free agent, December 2011) Texas Rangers: RHP Joe Nathan (major league; free agent, November 2011) IF/OF Yangervis Solarte (minor league; free agent, December 2011) LHP Joe Beimel (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Toronto Blue Jays: RHP Sergio Santos (traded by the Chicago White Sox for Nestor Molina, December 2011) RHP Jim Hoey (claimed off waivers, December 2011) Washington Nationals: - Other than the Tigers and the White Sox, the Brewers and Nationals are the only teams that have not signed any former Twins this off-season.

This was posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch and reposted here. This off-season I have been keeping track of former Twins who were signed by other teams. This is the final edition, since Spring Training has started. Here is the cumulative list of former Twins who are playing for new teams this season: Arizona Diamondbacks: C Henry Blanco (major league; free agent, November 2011) LHP Craig Brelsow (traded by the Oakland Athletics with Trevor Cahill for Jarrod Parker, Ryan Cook and Collin Cowgill, December 2011) OF Jason Kubel (major league; free agent, December 2011) Atlanta Braves: LHP Dusty Hughes (minor league; free agent, November 2011) Baltimore Orioles SS Steve Tolleson (minor league; free agent, November 2011) C Allan de San Miguel (minor league; free agent, January 2012) LHP Dennys Reyes (minor league; free agent, January 2012) RHP Pat Neshek (minor league; free agent, January 2012) RHP Luis Ayala (major league; free agent, January 2012) Boston Red Sox IF Nick Punto (major league; free agent, December 2011) RHP Carlos Silva (minor league; free agent, January 2012) OF Jason Repko (minor league; free agent, January 2012) Chicago Cubs: IF Matt Tolbert (minor league; free agent, January 2012) Chicago White Sox: - Cincinnati Reds: LHP Ron Mahay (minor league; free agent, January 2012) Cleveland Indians: RHP Kevin Slowey (traded by the Colorado Rockies for RHP Zach Putnam, January 2012) SS Cristian Guzman (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Colorado Rockies IF Casey Blake (major league; free agent, December 2011) IF/OF Michael Cuddyer (major league; free agent, December 2011) IF Brendan Harris (minor league; free agent, January 2012) OF Brandon Roberts (minor league; free agent, January 2012) RHP Kevin Slowey (traded by the Twins for RHP Dan Turpen, December 2011) Detroit Tigers: - Houston Astros: RHP Livan Hernandez (minor league; free agent, January 2012) C Jair Fernandez (minor league; free agent, January 2012) Kansas City Royals: LHP Jose Mijares (major league; free agent, December 2011) Los Angeles Angels: OF Doug Deeds (minor league; free agent, January 2012) RHP Juan Rincon (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Los Angeles Dodgers: IF Adam Kennedy (major league; free agent, November 2011) Miami Marlins: RHP Rob Delaney (minor league; free agent, January 2012) 3B Terry Tiffee (minor league; free agent, January 2012) 3B Chase Lambin (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Milwaukee Brewers: - New York Mets: LHP Chuck James (minor league; free agent, December 2011) RHP Jon Rauch (major league; free agent, December 2011) Oakland Athletics: OF Jason Pridie (minor league; free agent, November 2011) Philadelphia Phillies: 1B/PH Jim Thome (major league; free agent, November 2011) Pittsburgh Pirates: C Jose Morales (minor league; free agent, December 2011) San Fransisco Giants RHP Eric Hacker (minor league; free agent, December 2011) RHP Boof Bonser (minor league; free agent, December 2011) RHP Ramon Ortiz (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Seattle Mariners: RHP Matt Fox (minor league; free agent, November 2011) LHP Sean Henn (minor league; free agent, December 2011) SS Luis Rodriguez (minor league; free agent, November 2011) St. Louis Cardinals: RHP Shooter Hunt (drafted in the AAA portion of the Rule 5 draft, December 2011) LHP JC Romero (major league; free agent, December 2011) Texas Rangers: RHP Joe Nathan (major league; free agent, November 2011) IF/OF Yangervis Solarte (minor league; free agent, December 2011) LHP Joe Beimel (minor league; free agent, February 2012) Toronto Blue Jays: RHP Sergio Santos (traded by the Chicago White Sox for Nestor Molina, December 2011) RHP Jim Hoey (claimed off waivers, December 2011) Washington Nationals: - Other than the Tigers and the White Sox, the Brewers and Nationals are the only teams that have not signed any former Twins this off-season.

Hold on to your horses (and chill a bit ) And this comes from someone who does not think much (and been fairly vocal about it for a long time) of Gardenhire, Anderson, Vavra, Scotty, Terry Ryan and the "Twins' way 2.0" But not signing another reliever (that you might know) other than Zumaya (and Capps - even though they overpaid for Capps) is not a bad thing... They signed a whole bunch of relievers in decent contracts, some veterans some not that veteran. And some on the relievers in the organization can step up. Hey I am not a "homer" (cannot even attempt to think about writting Illiad or Odessey,) but I am hopeful for the next season

yeah right

Actually the Metrodome was a great stadium and the Twins had a great home field advantage in the 80s and early 90s when the fans new when to shut up (like when your team is pitching) and when to be loud (like when your team is hitting.) Yeah the food was limited and the cow troughs in the bathrooms were awful but back then most fans cared about the game. These days, people go to the park and rarely sit down and watch... more of a social scene. So in that matter the Metrodome has been a failure recently...

That is an interesting move... After he was released by the Cardinals he played Independent ball and hit a respectable .267/.325/.385 Truth of the matter is the the Twins do not have much of OF depth in the lower minors (Arcia aside) now that Rosario is a second baseman. So a bit more OF depth doesn't hurt, but he is 24...

I really like the new Miracle logo: Not big on Mascots

No. But I expect the beat reporter with twitter accounts to tweet about the game (like the Red Sox' writers did) , the local sports radio station (who during the whole time of the game had a direct connection to Fort Myers to give scoring updates when runs scored). I did not talk about television, but better coverage from people who could actually do it and chose not to do it.

Lohse came from the Cubs in the Aguilera trade. Interestingly enough he was later traded from the Reds to the Phillies for current Twin Matt Maloney. The pitching to contact philosophy works with the following assumptions: - contact generated ground balls and not gopher balls or line drives - your infield defense is way above average to turn those ground balls into outs - pitchers who have the gift to miss bats (like Liriano and Santana) should be left alone and not turned into pitch to contact pitchers

I wouldn't bet a steak (because I don't eat that stuff) but I'd bet a nice thick lobster tail that the Twins will have a better record than the White Sox in 2012

Stuff happens. He probably just got uptight up there. On another note, I was really surprised when La Velle wrote that and posted it unedited last night. So surprised that I had to take a screen shot. Today that particular word is absent.

Gardenhire is the Manager of the Millennium (manager of the year and other post-season awards are worthless, btw, because the ones who vote for them see like 10-15 games a year max, while some of us see about 150+)

I used to have all 3 and haven't renewed my BP or BA subscription. Still have the ESPN insider one. They actually come with special deals once in a while (like $15 a year, including their magazine, which is a pretty good bargain in my book) The others are just getting kind of expensive these days.

My two local ones will probably top the list: majors - Citizens Bank Park (even though I really like Fenway, too for the history part) minors - Coca Cola Park , home of the AAA International League Lehigh Valley IronPigs, which is actually a good 15 minute drive for me I hear that Jet Blue Park is supposed to be really nice, so I will have to check that out later this month.

A couple of quick thoughts about this: - I fundamentally agree that the Twins will be better with Revere in Center - I disagree about Span being "iffy" to hurt his body out there, especially in light of the fact that today he crushed head-first on the chain link fence trying to catch a Plouffe HR (thankfully he just got a fat lip only and he is ok)

Captains in Baseball is an artificial thing that started by the Yankees and thankfully not many teams have adopted it. The only sports where captains are needed are in sports where a coin flip is involved and they need a player to call heads or tails... that is about it...

"Drew Butera - "The Show Goes On" by Lupe Fiasco" Oh the irony on this one... Starting from "the show goes on" despite how he bads and ending with the last name of the artist... Fiasco...

And he had 2 outs in between... information about the game keeps leaking slowly

amended because the beat writers are finally reporting on the game. Gutierrez went: walk, walk, double (2 R), walk

Aaron, way to mash that one out today. Looking for many more like that!

One thing I have to mention... I was utterly disappointed by the coverage of the game by the local media members who were there on their companies' cash to cover these games and report them back to the fans. And by a quick count there were at least 6 (the 5 beat writers -Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, ESPN1500, mlb.com, AP- and Souhan.) I think that they just do not get the excitement of the fans about the beginning of a new baseball season... Amazingly disappointed by at least a couple of them (I really have no hope from Souhan, to tell you the truth)

Despite the despicable coverage by the local media who were on the Stadium, to the best of my knowledge, Gutierrez' inning went something like: Double, Single, Home Run, Walk before it ended. So a combination of getting pelted and being wild.

If he gets picked 1st or 2nd, he will sign, because a. he cannot get paid much higher and make more money with the way the bonus system works. b. has a risk to get injured in college and really miss a nice chunk of cash...