Halsey Hall

Wow, expensive! $40 for Sano and Buxton, but drops 5.00 with Oliva. Carew looks like the best buy at $35. Save your money and just come down to spring training and get the autographs in the warm weather for free. Vargas was here today. BTW.

I'd offer Plouffe, and if they didn't bite, I'd pass.

Plouffe easily could have been credited with a half dozen more errors last season. He's paying off the score keeper. I'm not buying any of the hype.

Seth, there's not a list as far as I know. Usually on the Fantasy Camp site they list the same players every year. It's not really up to date. I'll probably miss someone, but here's the former players off the top of my head: Gagne, Viola, Hrbek, Blyleven, Senior Smoke, Tony O, Steve Braun, Bruno, Larkin, Dick Stigman, Lee Stange, Laudner, Quilici, Mickey Hatcher, Juilo Bequier, Aggie, and Stu Cliburn and Milt Cuyler. Saw something strange today, as one of the morning games was tied at the end of regulation. Bert called the director and they were to play on, no ties in baseball. After another 2 or 3 innings it was still tied so they changed the rules a bit and the last batter last inning would start off on 2nd base, with the count 1-1 on the hitter. It took another 3 innings before the visitors scored 3 runs. The home team came back with 2, but it finally ended that way. After the morning games they all go have lunch. So all the other teams had eaten and were back out for the afternoon games, and had to wait for these two teams to end it. So two teams had to wait for these teams to go eat and then return for the afternoon game. Going to be a long day for some here. Sometimes you hear some great stories. Steve Braun told one this morning. Calvin signed him for $7000 his first year. He hit .250. Then next year he comes back and meets with Calvin and Calvin offers him a contract for $6000. Braun held out and continued with spring training for 2 weeks. Then Calvin called him back in and said sign it, or you'll never play in the majors again. Braun signed. That previous winter Steve said he made $4500 a month playing in Venezuela.

Fantasy camp this week. It was a great day for autographs today if one chose. I got Herbie, Viola and Gags.

I'd say never, but so many agree I'll throw out there July 11th.

LOL, Seths' love affair with New Britain has no end!

Not all, as Vargas looks to be mostly dh. Most prospects have a position if not more than one they can play. One thing is he can hit from both sides with a ton of power, so that's unique.

He's up to 280 now. If he can adjust to ML pitching he'll be fine. If not, destined to the minor leagues. He's going to show up in Ft Myers around the 19th, and then head north to Fest. Good guy, I'm pulling for him.

Who's the cream of the crop in the Central Division this year?

Nice list. I too expect a sleeper to emerge. Except maybe you, as it could be Stuart Turner.

Bill's ramrodding things down here, and warned me not to go where I shouldn't be, lol. The minor league ends looks just great! The minor league offices have moved across the street into a big complex that's beautifully landscaped next to the dorms. But Hammond is still under construction and you can't get near it. It looks wierd looking through into the stadium from the parking lot as that part has been finished. There are no offices done yet, and the gift shop, which is really looking big, is still under construction. The Miracle had control of the old gift shop and weren't allow to sell Twins merchandise after spring training. The Twins now have control and will make much moola off the merch. There's a new elevator with tower, just like the old one, on the right field side of the entrance. The construction is supposed to be done at the end of the month, but they'll have to hustle to meet that. No players here yet but the rehab players are supposed to be here on Monday, so something to watch anyway. It's hot, the grass is green, the birds are eating the grass seed and baseball is in the air.

Sano's manager and coaches opinions on his defense mean way more than the scouts. There's very good reports available to the Twins. As soon as he's ready, get something for Plouffe!

I like it all! Have to be optimistic this time of the year.

Hughes and maybe Perkins.

It's to bad the off subject posts had to be made in what is a good article. At 68 and counting, I have alot of autographed bats and balls, but all mostly from the last 10-15 years. Back at the Old Met I did have Early Wynn sign a piece of paper when he had 299 wins, Nellie Fox sign a paper and I had Mickey Mantle sign my pass at at golf tourney in the cities in the cities when I had a beer with him. Then nothing til I started coming down here, (got here yesterday). I had Sano sign his bat for me when he first got here. And I've had him sign 15-20 balls since. I also bought a bat off ebay he had signed. I looked at that bat about a month ago and it took awhile to figure out who signed it. His signatures are all over the place. The boughten bat the sig is a lot longer than the initial one. His signature on the balls are shorter too. I have an outlet for the balls and they do trickle out of the shop. I keep one of each player and that's it, except for Cuddyer whom I have his initial sig and then one after the talk with Harmon. When Sano does put up #300, PSA is going to have their hands full trying to determine which signatures are authentic and not. Collecting these is fun, especially when I'm over there daily, and the players stop and sign. Some really like the fact people want autographs. There are a few I need to get this spring, Hunter being at the top of the list, and Santana, FYI the last I sold a couple weeks ago, someone bought Meyers, Buxton, Roserio and Sano. Helped pay the gas money down here. The fun begins soon!

I liked the Gibson greeting the best. All pretty good though. Merry Christmas.

I don't know why anyone would want Plouffe to hold off Sano. Sano could be the best story of the season. But I am getting fired up for spring training!

I like the move. Shows Jim Pohlad and TR are getting aggressive and now the rotation is in very good shape. Seems like a shifting in goals for the future. Now the attention will shift to the position players, maybe not this year, but next for sure. The light at the end of the tunnel keeps getting brighter.

I can see Punto coaching for the Twins some day.

Put little Nicky at 3rd and go get something for Plouffe!

I still can't get the quote to work either. I have IE.

Pass, To much money for that gamble.

Nice swing, decent arm and quick feet. But with nothing to compare to I'll have to pass.

50 bucks on the Twins wouldn't be a bad bet. I had a friend in '87 put down a C note and hit big time. It can be done.