Teflon

Luke was one of the better spring training mashers. Maybe he'd be a good fit with the Marlins where he could play all season in Florida.

To me, it looked like Liriano was trying to pitch with an injured right leg last night. He would extend it stiffly and not use it as part of his drive-through. I wondered how he was still able to get up over 90 mph throwing like that.

Liriano needs to pitch out of the bullpen even if that means spot starts for Duensing until Blackburn is game-ready. With Perkins questionable, I don't think the Twins can afford to send a pitcher down. Having nabbed the lefty-hitting Clete Thomas from waivers, Sean Burroughs seems a likely candidate to send down.

If you select the home game feed for any of the games shown on MLB.com, you have the option of listening to an announcer-less game with just the sounds from the ballpark. With all of the apps that run side-by-side with the game on the website, a viewer is at no loss for statistics and in-game information - and, even better, gets to choose when they want to see it. It is "refreshing" - to borrow an oft-used Bremerism - to follow your own train of thought as the game unfolds instead of being subjected to the blather that constitutes the majority of a TV broadcast. Too bad live feeds of in-market games are still blacked out. I can't convince the MLB subscription people that I really live in San Diego or Pittsburgh despite what my Ip address and phone number indicate.

The acquisition of Jamey Carroll keeps alive the long-standing Twins tradition of signing members of the last Expos team to take the field in 2004. An interesting book could probably be written about that team and season - as they were run by the league and split their home schedule between Montreal and Puerto Rico. For the record, here are players who donned the Twins pinstripes after playing for the 2004 Expos: Jamey Carroll Orlando Cabrera Tony Batista Brendan Harris Livan Hernandez Luis Ayala Jon Rauch

Assuming Scott Baker's surgery and recovery goes well, which choice should the Twins make regarding his contract in 2013? [*=1]Pick up his option ($9.25 million) [*=1]Decline his option, attempt to sign him to a smaller 1-year deal [*=1]Decline his option, let him sign elsewhere

That's got to be the all-time record for ads fit into right field.

Thomas sounded like a fan favorite on Tiger blogs. They describe him as fast, strong-armed outfielder who always hustled. Not the greatest contact guy at the plate, however, and some history of injuries. He will give the Twins a better backup option defensively in the outfield corners.

The Twins used to play "Slow Ride" by Foghat when Kevin Slowey threw his warmup pitches on the mound... Wonder if they're doing that for him at Columbus this year?

I think it's actually one of Delmon's better plays as he actually got close enough to make a fielding attempt.

I wonder how this topic coexists with Torii Hunter's accusation from a couple of seasons ago that MLB teams would rather sign Latin players than African-American players because they cost less. ('Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?' was Torii's famous quote) One argument would seem to invalidate the other. Everyone looks at a thing and tends to imprint upon it their own beliefs. It's much easier to rationalize your situation when you're a victim of some greater conspiracy as opposed to just on the unfortunate side of an outcome. Terry Ryan is the same GM who went out and signed Shannon Stewart to bolster the Twins outfield in 2003. Stewart was in the final year of his contact. The Twins resigned him for a pretty significant chunk of change for them at that time - 3 years, 18 million dollars.

What establishments near Target Field do you frequent before or after Twins games? Please feel free to comment on the food, drinks, ambiance, service, etc!

Imagine now the luxury of being able to have Willingham at DH.

I find it funny that Torii Hunter, who chose to leave Minnesota for more money, gets ovations when he comes to town and A.J. Pierzynski, who got shipped off to make room for the wunderkind, gets booed. Well not really funny. Kind of sad, actually.

Exactly. A better question for Borzi might be whether the 2000 Twins had "heart." A lot of the same players as 2002 - but a W-L record comparable to the 2011 team. It looks like "heart" might be more a by-product of winning than winning is of "heart."

I enjoy reading your minor league recaps, Seth. Thanks for the reports!

Well said. I heard Gardy say this morning that he'll be reluctant to sub for Doumit defensively in-game in RF because then he loses his back-up catcher. Great strategy, huh?

In Spring Training they thought Morneau would play first, Doumit would DH, Willingham would play RF, and some combination of Revere and Plouffe would play left. Once they decided Morneau would be the primary DH and Willingham would play left, however, RF became more of a question because of their reluctance to put Revere out there. By the way, there's no MLB rule against making trades in April or May. (I looked it up.) Not doing it because, well, it's just not done, is an argument without any actual justification. Same as saying that because the Diamondbacks are valuing Kubel's offense over Parra's glove, that's the way it should be. Arizona already has two other pretty good defenders in ther outfield in Upton and Young so can more afford to make room for a bat. They also have a pitching staff in Kennedy, Hudson, and Collmenter that misses a lot more bats than the Twins do.

This seems to be the tagline of the Twins training staff.

I really liked the song Rene Tosoni used last year. (I Love My Sex by Benny Benassi) Unfortunately that was usually followed by a Rene Tosoni at-bat. Operation Sports has a forum for walk-up music mods for the Video Game MLB12: The Show. There are different threads for different MLB teams. Users note the walk-up songs used by various players. http://www.operationsports.com/forums/sounds-show/

Perhaps I was spoiled by the soul patrol, but an outfield with enough range to cut off the ball in the gaps and to catch up to fly balls in foul territory helps turn non-serviceable pitchers into serviceable pitchers. (How else do you explain Carlos Silva?) The Twins dilema is they have propensity of players best suited for DH at-bats that now won't be happening because of Morneau's delicate cranium. I don't think you have to play the hand you're dealt. Isn't this where you try to address your needs by making a trade? I watched the Diamondbacks-Giants game last night and Arizona has put a pretty decent outfielder on the bench (Gerardo Parra) to give Jason Kubel at-bats. Parra would be a great addition. He's an elite defender and a decent-enough hitter to merit a spot in the lineup. Parra wouldn't block Benson's or Hicks' advancement because Willingham is not a long-term solution. (And Willingham can always DH once Justin recovers, can't he?) I'd be on the phone finding out what Arizona wants in trade.

It could be worse than Carl Pavano. (Bruce Chen is the opening day pitcher for the Royals.) I too was a little surprised to see Burroughs hack at the first pitch considering Lindstrom had started off both Valencia and Parmelee with balls.

I've been arguing in various posts that the Twins need better defenders in the outfield corners if they want to support their pitching staff. In today's season opener, we instead got a catcher put in right field and the result was a Nick Markakis drive at the fence getting misplayed into a into a run-scoring triple. Jim Palmer, doing color for the Orioles broadcast, said, "Cuddyer probably would have caught it, but he's in Colorado." I think most actual right fielders would have made the play, too. Yes, it had a fair degree of difficulty as it was a midday start and there was a bright sun, but that's why you play full-time outfielders in the outfield in games with this pitching staff, tough sun, etc. and not catchers. (Doumit's handled 112 chances as an outfielder in his 7-year big league career.) I like Doumit. I think he was a good signing by the Twins, but he looked as uncomfortable playing that position as I felt watching him. Joe Mauer, the best natural athlete Minnesota has ever produced, says he's uncomfortable trying to play right field.* It should be noted that Josh Willingham, an actual outfielder by trade - albeit a slower one, made a very nice fielding play on a Matt Wieters foul ball along the line in short left and a strong throw to the plate to double up Markakis who had tagged-up at third. Willingham doesn't have a rep as being strong-armed but made a quick accurate thow. Kudos, Josh. Nice play. * On second thought, maybe Dave Winfield is the best natural athlete Minnesota has produced since he could play right field.

Having this woman as your in-game reporter (Laura McKeeman- Tampa Bay Rays) instead of Robby Incmikowski would be a start. http://hall-fame.com/tampa_babe_rays.jpg

Thanks to the new MLB rule change that further emasculates the importance of the division races AND the top wild card spot, the Twins will now be competitive in the only regular season race that has a win or go home significance. - 5th best.