tellis205

I was down last week. Hermsen pulled a rib cage muscle and had to come out after one inning last week. Interested to see if he's recovered. Watched Sano quite a bit. Noticed he just doesn't seem to take the fielding drills as seriously as he does when he steps into the cage for his cuts. I came to the conclusion that Vargas is at a tipping point as far as his weight. Thanks for the report.

I think we should wait until the final cuts are made by all the teams. There may be a bargain that might pop up. There's gotta be a few guys that are out of options that are worth taking a chance on. I'm specifically looking in the reliever area as a possible way to upgrade.

When the Twins signed Willingham, I'm sure there was a commitment to him to play LF and occasionally DH although it probably wasn't in writing. At the time, the Twins truly believed that they were going to rebound. If they didn't think that, they wouldn't have given him 21 million dollars for 3 years. The Twins have a reputation of keeping their word. I'm sure Willingham will continue to play LF and occasionally DH however when June/July comes around I can see a scenario where he's asked as to whether he would like to get traded to a contender. (although they don't need his permission) All players want to get to the World Series and at his age I'm sure he realizes that it's not gonna happen with the Twins since he's up in age already. My hope at the time is that he's having a great year and he can bring a good pitcher or two. Keeping Willingham and shelling out the remaining 10 or 11 million dollars doesn't make sense at this point in time since it's painfully obvious that we're in a rebuilding mode here. I'm am fairly sure that Mr. Arcia is going to be up at some point this year. He's ready. He was just coming off injury before getting sent down and he didn't have his timing down yet. They knew he wasn't gonna make the team out of ST so they moved him so he can get regular at bats every day now instead of playing every other day in big league camp. Once the regular minor league season starts I'm expecting him to pick up right where he left off at AA.

I was down there all of last week and I saw Mr. Ryan quite a bit standing between the fields during games. He greeted and spoke with quite a few fans down there. I did not talk to him personally but I did talk to someone who did. He repeated a few impressions that Mr. Ryan gave in regards to a couple players. Nothing earth shattering or anything. I didn't bring it up because I didn't talk to him personally. So when someone says they talked to him personally down at Spring Training, I don't doubt that one bit.

Pelfrey is getting too much respect here. I don't believe that he's suddenly going to be able to locate consistently just because the season starts in 2 weeks. He needs to go down for a month at least. He's just gonna dig himself into a hole early and it'll be a struggle from there on out. PJ Walters is capable of giving a handful of good starts just like he did last year and he'd be a good bandaid until Pelfrey is ready. I realize that Walters isn't on the 40 man but there's a few boys that should be coming off that roster anyway.

OK guys I'm gonna go out on a limb here a little bit. Just got back from Ft. Myers and the 2nd most impressive guy I watched down there was Stephen Wicken. He's talented and driven. He's got an air about him. I know he just turned 24. I never really heard anything about him before seeing him down there. I could see them pushing him this year. I think he'll start in CR and end at FM. He stuck out amongst alot of the kids in the CR work group. He had some nice hits in the games I watched. Just sayin. Anyone else agree with me?

I just spent the past week watching all the prospects down in Ft. Myers. The one who impressed me the most was Mr. Kepler. I remember him from 4 years ago when he arrived as a tall skinny kid who I laughed at when he made some futile attempts at bunting a baseball down there. However, even back then, he had some impressive raw power. When I saw him this year he was all filled out and raking. During the first game that I saw him play, he hit a ball up the middle about a foot to the left of the pitcher. I kid you not, if that ball was straight on at the pitcher there is no chance in hades that he would have been able to react. The kid would have been in a world of hurt. It appears to me that the outfield in Cedar Rapids will be Kepler, Buxton, Walker. I was also impressed by his speed and now he bunts real well. However I don't think you'll see him bunt much. Very interested to see how he fares this year.

I just spent the past week down in Ft. Myers and watched quite a few practices and minor league games. I saw Byron hit a triple to the left field gap. He was passing second base when the center fielder was picking up the ball. He cruised into 3rd and could have just as well been standing up. He was flying. I also saw Byron strike out some also. Bear in mind that they were just starting to play games so he's still trying to get his timing down. I was told he hit a HR the day before (Monday the 11th) but I wasn't there. Byron definitely needs to fill out a little bit but he's still very young. Even though he needs to fill out, he still possesses above average power. He's a great kid. Everyone seemed to be watching Byron when he was up to bat including Mr. Ryan who was a regular out there standing between the fields every day.

I just got back from spending the whole week down there. Defensively, there is no question Hicks isready to contribute at the major league level. Offensively he's dropping off now in the 2nd half of ST now that he's starting to see more veteran pitching. Gardenhire still talks about Mastro being the 4th outfielder which means he still thinks Hicks is the main guy. I personally don't believe that he's ready to contribute productively consistently offensively. Especially in the leadoff spot. Mastro could do it for a month or so but he's not an every day player in my opinion either. By the way, I was quite impressed by Mastro this week. If it was up to me, I'd start out with Mastro for a month and bring Hicks up later. I just don't see any upside to having Hicks hit .179 in April, then get sent down. Just my opinion.

The players association would have to go along with regular day/night which won't happen. The players hate them. One of the reason's that day/night's happen is to make up for rainout's which would still happen. So if you have scheduled day nights plus day/nights to make up for rainout's, that could be alot of day/nights which put's a huge strain on the pitching staff.

You can drive into Hammond Stadium and right over to the Minor League fields. They usually come out around 9:30 am every morning. If it's a game day in the main stadium, you'll have to pay parking. Last time I was there it was $5.00. Probly more now. You can get up real close and walk easily between the minor league fields which are only feet apart. Once the minor leaguer's start playing games, they usually start at noon. Usually there will be a AAA game on one field and a AA game on the other field. Then the next day those two teams will be on the road and the A+ team and the low A team will be playing. They usually play games against Pittsburgh, Boston, and Baltimore to name a few. The rookie league team often plays games against local Minnesota college teams. The Twins have an office in the minor league complex. If you walk in there, there are roster's with uniform numbers assigned to the players. Most of the players have their name on the back of their jersey anyway. You can see Tony Oliva, Rod Carew drive by once in awhile on a golf cart. Paul Molitor coaches the minor leaguer's and it's usually a treat to stand there and listen to him talk to the minor leaguer's about hitting. When I go down I'm looking forward to seeing Buxton hit. If this is your first time, I would definitely recommend watching Miguel Sano. You might notice how the ball sounds differently coming off his bat. Most of these guys will sign autographs but when their walking between the fields to get to the drills they usually don't like to sign. I'd wait until practice is done and then their more willing. I'll be down there from the 11th - 18th. Can't wait.

They should start teaching him how to play 1B anyway. He'd be much more valuable if he could play both. We'll know things are in motion when TK starts working with him at 1st.

Last year the Twins told Plouffe to come to camp with an OF's glove. He did and that is where he was expecting to play primarily. He played there in addition to 2nd base before they suddenly need a 3rd baseman. Plouffe has played there a few games in the past. In the minor leagues I remember they had him there a little bit. They were always hoping he'd be their SS. But of course we all know what happened there. The good news here is that Plouffe is an excellent athlete. Excellent athlete's adapt. I'm sure he has spent the majority of his off season preparing to play 3rd base just like I'm sure he took alot of fly balls last year thinking he was gonna play RF. My personal opinion is his problem is not physical but mental (lack of focus). But I could be wrong (I'm often wrong). As far as his hitting goes, he's only had 749 MLB at bats. Most players need in excess of 1200 ab's before the light turns on. Of course there's plenty of exceptions to this rule. Let's wait and see on Plouffe. The jury is still out.

He was supposedly "playing around and wrestling". If that was the case, I'd sure like to see the other guy!

Arcia is a hitting machine, has a great arm and he's got average speed to play the outfield. I believe this is his 2nd year of big league spring training. My guess is he'll be up at some point in the year. If he does come up it won't be to sit on the bench. If he starts fast in AAA, they'll probably get him up especially if Morneau get's traded. However, I don't see Morneau getting traded until the deadline when he has max value and the Twins fan base has had a chance to get used to the idea of him being gone. Note: He's immensely popular within the Twins organization. With all the injuries we've had the past few years I would imagine that there will be some sort of injury to someone which will give Arcia and probably some other players a chance this year.

Does anyone know what date the minor leaguer's report this year. And more importantly, what date the minor league games start on the back fields?

Just bought the tickets today. This will be my 4th ST down there. Gonna stay in Ft. Myers Beach again. Love hanging out at the minor league complex watching all the practice and games. I realize their not gonna be good this year but getting out of Minnesota for a week in March combined with warm temps, mlb baseball, hanging out at the beach, drinking a few beers, etc. makes it all worthwhile. This year I'm gonna try to get over to the new Red Sox park and possibly drive up to Sarasota to watch the Twins play the Orioles.

This trade will look pretty good in 2 years when Meyer looks dominating in a Twins uniform and Span is on the 15 day DL which turns into 60 days with a sprained foot.

I was thinking more 3rd base than 2nd base. He could push Plouffe and play 2nd. He was pretty disgruntled in Seattle though. Maybe a change of scenery would help. All I remember is how much he kicked our but when he was with Anaheim.

Like I just commented on in Nick's column, Dave St. Peter got on Syd and Dave's show on Sunday and said "I wouldn't be surprised if we make a couple deals during the winter meetings". I don't think he'd leak that unless there was a good chance of it happening. And he'd be the one guy who would know what's going on. It's not a guarantee by any stretch but it gives a little hope.

Dave St. Peter was on Syd and Dave's show on Sunday and made the comment "I wouldn't be surprised if we make a couple deals during the Winter Meetings coming up". So let's wait a few weeks and see what happens.