Bodie

If he stays on the roster, the question isn't if he breaks the record, but if he does it by the all-star break...

Anything that shuts up the Hawk deserves mega-bonus points!

Anything that shuts up the Hawk deserves mega-bonus points!

Anything that shuts up the Hawk deserves mega-bonus points!

Anything that shuts up the Hawk deserves mega-bonus points!

Anything that shuts up the Hawk deserves mega-bonus points!

Anything that shuts up the Hawk deserves mega-bonus points!

If he stays on the roster, the question isn't if he breaks the record, but if he does it by the all-star break...

If he stays on the roster, the question isn't if he breaks the record, but if he does it by the all-star break...

the timing of this article and Gallo finally remembering you have to hit the ball for it go over the fence is fantastic

Anything that shuts up the Hawk deserves mega-bonus points!

Harmon's homer just before the All-Star break was a real changing of the guard. Another regular season homer to consider was Thome's blast against a White Sox lefty during the first year at Target Field. Harrelson's wordless response is pure gold.

Terrific post.  I have no argument, but oldtimers (even more “oldtimer” that me) talk about a mid season home run that Harmon Killebrew hit against the Yankees in 1965.  It meant that the 1965 team was for real.  And besides, you do want to include a Killer home run on this list.  

How can you NOT compete with possibly the two best everyday players - one of whom is also a legit ace starter???

The Angels plan to compete every year but they don't know how to do it.

The biggest thing in spring training is to develop reads. The guys who will be on the mound pitching, where the balls hit are hit, how you all in the field learn to lineup for throws and cutoffs. Plus, it is a time to also work out lineup kinks. I always felt some batetrs work well if they consistently know who is hitting before and after them in the order.
You worry about pitchers working on certain pitches in a game that might result in an injury. 
But, yes, am amazed at the amount of "non-Twins" that are getting innings as well as time in the line-up, compared to the 25 coming north.
Sure, there are enough guys in camp that you can have short mini-games, especially between major and minor league guys, to get the swings in, work out the muscle kinks and such, in a playful and non-competitive way. 
The pitchers have to work up to 75-80 or even 100 pitches by April 1. The batters need to get back into the swing of things. You can have all sorts of fielding drills. The players do work in spring training, at least four hours, if not 6 to even 8 (counting strength/conditioning time) at the minimum.
I'm all for players on the main roster only playing half a game, if need be.
But at some point the starting nine have to work together.

I guess I care about him being healthy in September and October a LOT more than I do in early/mid march.
I'll worry a week to 10 days from now if the number is still zero for him, if that makes sense.

Woke up early this morning to the Korea/Japan game (??? Korea vs. somebody, it was either very late, very early or both...) and who was batting but a "B H Park".  Yep, our very own Byung-Ho.
His stats from last season in one of the Asian leagues would never gotten him noticed by MLB scouts.  How did his career go off track?  It didn't- he is what he is, and whatever that may be, it isn't a quality (MLB) pro ball player.

I think the biggest factor that brought down Park as a major league player was age. he was 29 when he first came to MLB, not 24. he'd been a star in his home country, but the pitching in the Korean league isn't up to MLB standard and he struggled with the sharper and faster breaking stuff. I think it's a lot harder to adjust when you're older, and when you're also trying to adjust to a foreign country in a place where there's not a huge Korean immigrant population, it's probably even harder.
It's also important to remember that Park struck out a lot in Korea as well, it's not just that his K rate in MLB was was high: he rang up a lot of them in Korea against worse pitching. Throw in some injuries and just ok performance in AAA and he didn't make it back.
i thought it was a good move at the time and I was excited to see the Twins taking some risks in the international market, but it didn't work out. I'm guessing the Twins have a lot better feel for evaluating Korean baseball now?