John Bonnes

Aaron and John share some exciting news about the podcast and the unexciting news surrounding the Twins 0-4 start. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes (where you can also subscribe and leave reviews) our new sponsors: KFAN & Pickpointz.

92.5 – The “over/under” estimate from casinos on the number of games the Angels will win this year. That’s the highest number of any team in the AL West. 73 - The “over/under” estimate from casinos on the number of games the Twins will win this year. Offseason 317,500,000 – The dollars the Angels guaranteed to pitcher CJ Wilson and slugger Albert Pujols when they signed them this offseason. 154,000,000 – USAToday’s computation of the Angels payroll this year, 4th most in MLB. It is $61M more than the Twins. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] In The Dugout 12 – Years in which Mike Scioscia has managed the Angels. +188 – How far over .500 Scioscia has been as a coach in those 12 years. By comparison, Ron Gardenhire is +109 in 11 seasons. 9 – Years in which Scioscia has received at least one Manager of the Year vote. 75 – The least number of games a Scioscia team has ever won. That was back in 2001. On The Hill This Series 7th – Where Dan Haren, who is scheduled to pitch the 3rd game versus the Twins, finished in American League Cy Young voting last year. 6th - Where CJ Wilson, who is scheduled to pitch the 1st game versus the Twins, finished in American League Cy Young voting last year. 2nd - Where Jered Weaver, who is scheduled to pitch the 2nd game versus the Twins, finished in American League Cy Young voting last year. Phat Albert 11 – Seasons Albert Pujols has been in the majors. 10 – Seasons in which Pujols has been a top 5 finisher in MVP voting. In 2007, a year in which he hit a career low 32 home runs, he slipped to ninth. 7 – Seasons in which Pujuls has either won the MVP award or been the runner up.

More Twins talk on the radio! I’m pleased to announce that KFAN 100.3 and Pickpointz are teaming up to broadcast the Gleeman and the Geek show Sundays from 4-5 PM starting Sunday April 15th. Based on the record-breaking weekly podcast, hosts Aaron Gleeman and John “Twins Geek” Bonnes will dissect the minutia of the games, relate minor league news, evaluate front office decisions and prognosticate the results of the upcoming week for their Pickpointz competition. In addition, they’ll tack on an extra half-hour “unplugged” to the show’s podcast, which you’ll be able to download from KFAN.com or on iTunes. PLEASE tune into KFAN 100.3 FM Sunday from 4-5 and let us know what you think! [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

I know this comes as a shock to a lot of you, but I like to eat. And drink. And I like baseball. And especially outdoor baseball. So when I find out there is a Food Preview at my favorite outdoor baseball park, there is roughly a 3050% chance the I'm going to be there, with or without access. That's how yesterday played out, but I was conscientious enough to at least tweet about it and take a bunch of pictures. Let's roll through them and you can pick out for yourself what you're craving this year at the ballpark... [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Buckle up kids! Its time for #Twins #TweetNEat! First up: BUFFALO MAN N CHEESE! Talk about a leadoff hitter! This was the dish I was most excited about at the ballpark and it ended up being the first one served. I loved it, however, The Voice Of Reason thought it was too oniony. I agree, actually, but I love onions, so it still ranked near the top of my list. New Hrbeks Sloppy Joe = Chris Parmelee. Not high end, but surprisingly good, solid. It turns out is was a BACON Sloppy Joe and it was, hand down on both our lists, the best new item at the ballpark. I can only hope for as much from Parmelee. The next picture and tweet speak for themselves: Have you ever seen anything so beautiful in all your life? #Surly Yes, Surly will now be served at Target Field. So will Fulton's Sweet Child of Vine. I'm thrilled by this, but for the record, this is still only ranks as "a good start." The Twin Cities has half a dozen great micro-breweries, and I would LOVE for the Twins to be a bit of an ambassador for them. Considering the sponsorships that major breweries can produce, that's probably a bit pie-in-the-sky. But this is a huge step in the right direction. BTW, they had Cynic and Bender on tap when I was there. I don't know what they'll have on tap during game - I just forgot to ask. That's my bad, because they NEED Furious on tap. For when you want to walk. But you also want a taco. That was for the "Walk A Taco." What can I say? It was good. If you're looking for authentic Mexican, it's probably not what you're looking for. But if you're looking for authentic Mexican, why the hell are you ordering something called a "Walk A Taco?" I anticipate I will have these again before the year is over. Again, Have you ever seen anything so beautiful.... Yeah, these Garlic Fries alienate the poor people sitting next to you, but I, for one, am not going to care. These were awesome. As in, better-than-the-State-Fair awesome. My second favorite food. Baked potatoes the size of a beef football. #Twins #TweetNEat http://pic.twitter.com/UXXUO4XL Somehow, I lost this picture so I can't show it to you here, but you can click on the link. That's like a 20 oz cup next to them. Suffice to say, you will not be disappointed in the size of the baked potatoes. By the way, my view of baked potatoes is that they're nothing more than a vehicle for the stuff you put on them. And the Twins have four varieties that include all kinds of bad stuff for you. I'm not a pickle guy, but I'm getting a big thumbs up on the new fried pickles The Voice of Reason is a pickle person, and loved them. But at $7.50 per, she's not sure she's going to be able to justify them. Mini donuts this year are from SuperMoms? I'm not sure I approve. #IWantHotNGreasy #notaeuphamism #MaybeALittle If they're just rebranding the mini-donuts, fine. But if this means I'm getting my mini-donuts out of some pre-baked kitchen, I'm going to go all Bruce Banner on this decision. New Minneapolis Millers shirts! #Approved Also good news for Washburn kids! A) I love these shirts. Just as one of the Minneapolis Public High Schools is rising like a Phoenix from the ashes, they also accidentally get a line of designer shirts? Go Millers! I sure hope @anneursu / @batgirl is getting some royalties for these. If you don't get this tweet, I'm sorry. You missed it. It was like Camelot. And you missed it. Vegetarians will want to check out the @LeeAnn Asian wok. (Carnivores too.) If you're a fan of the Asian Wok that has been at Target Field, don't despair. It's still there. It appears that it was just rebranded. If you aren't, you should try it, especially if you're looking for a little spice to your food. It's been sort of a secret go-to food of mine for the last couple of years. A 10 oz meatball stuffed with cheese. #NeedISayMore? OK, I'll say more. They're baseball-sized, meatloaf consistency and have a golf-ball of cheese in the middle. You won't go home hungry if you have one of these. They were basically the grand finale of the concourse tour and I heard a lot of raves about them. I liked it a lot, but it didn't end up in my top 5. Now THAT'S a party favor. #Twins pubs are becoming the @2gingerswhiskey pubs. I'm not a whiskey guy. But if you are, I would think you would like hanging out at what used to be the Twins Pubs. And I approve of anyone that gives me free alchohol. @fultonbeer Sweet Child Of Vine will be served in Townball Pub! #TweetNEat #Twins http://pic.twitter.com/nV120xoa I raved about this beer in Twitter just a couple of weeks ago when I was fortunate enough to find it at the Auto Show. It's another step in the right direction. It's called Ice Cream Lava "for Two." And if the "two" are both 3rd world nations, they're right. I don't know that this picture does justice to just how large this thing is. It's about the size of a volleyball. I don't know if that's actually going to be the size that they serve, but if it is.... ...and I mean this as a compliment.... I don't think I'll be able to eat one by myself. Nothing says "ballpark food" like calamari and panko crusted zucchini. #Twins #TweetNEat I don't know what panko is, but from now on I want all my zucchini to be crusted with it. #Twins #TweetNEat Twitter was kind enough to inform me that panko are tiny Japanese bread crumbs. Whatever. If they can make a gourd vegetable taste like that, they need a lot better name. In summary, I think you're going to like a fair amount of the new food (and beer) that Target Field has to offer. The baseball might just become a secondary offer. But probably not.

Pioneer Press sports reporter Ben Goessling joins Aaron and John to talk about the Twins final roster decision and media access. Here are: the podcasts the rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes (where you can also subscribe and leave reviews).

I know the Twins still have five days until they get to play the Orioles, but I can’t wait. The roster is set. There are a couple more meaningless games against the Rays, because you can’t play enough meaningless games against the Rays. And then a game versus the Miracle? Really? I’ll be damned if I’m not going to look forward to Friday. Orioles By The Numbers Overall 69.5 – The over/under Vegas set for Orioles wins this year. Which means if they go 70-92, they would still exceed expectations. That’s the worst over/under in the American League. 103-116 – Manager Buck Showalter’s record with the Orioles. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] 2-6 – Twins record against the Orioles last year. Pitching 30 – Where the Orioles whole pitching staff ranked in ERA last year, one spot behind the Twins. 5.39 – The collective ERA of the Orioles starting rotation, worst in the major leagues. 0.57 – How much worse that ERA was than the second worst team. 3 – Days before the season opener that Showalter will be announcing his Opening Day starting pitcher and the rest of the Orioles rotation. That’s Tuesday. 13 – Combined number of wins the Opening Day starting pitching candidates, Jake Arrieta and Tommy Hunter, had last year. (Both are right-handers.) Offseason $3.25M – Biggest contract the Orioles paid to a free agent from MLB this offseason. That’s not per year - that’s total. $19.5M – Amount Orioles spent on a pair of Japanese starting pitchers, Wei-Yin Chen and Tsuyoshi Wada. .290 – The highest batting average of an Orioles everyday player last year. It belonged to Vladimir Guerrero, who was not signed during the offseason and is considering playing in Japan. Offense 14th – Where the Orioles offense ranked in runs scored last year in MLB. 196 – Number of times Orioles third baseman Mark Reynolds struck out last season while hitting .221. .806 – The highest OPS of any Oriole regular last year. It belonged to Mark Reynolds. 7/9 – The fraction of this year’s Orioles lineup that had an OPS of at least 750 last year. 0 - Percent chance JJ Hardy will not be ready for Opening Day, according to JJ Hardy. He’s been out for a week with discomfort in his right shoulder and received a cortisone shot for it on Thursday.

If you're in the mood to listen to some Twins talk, but want to use your ears and give your eyes a break, check out these links: Podcasts Seth does two weekly podcasts which you can download or listen to (and ask questions) live: Twins Minor League Weekly - Thursday Nights at 9 Twins Daily Weekly - Tuesday nights at 9 John sits down with Aaron Gleeman at their favorite watering hole and talks Twins once per week, usually posting the results on Tuesday. You can find Gleeman and the Geek here, or you can subscribe, or you can check it out on iTunes, where you can do both. Radio If you would rather listen to us the old-fashioned way, you can often find us on the radio. John sits down with the PowerTrip Morning Show guys on KFAN every Tuesday and Friday morning from 6 to 9. You can listen here or find their podcasts here. Seth makes regular appearances on a number of stations, including: Dizzo's Den on WDAY 970 (Fargo) - The Sports Buffet on ESPN 99.1 (Sioux Falls) Twins Talk on 1700 The Champ (Des Moines) WQPM Radio at 1300 am (Princeton, MN) Front Row Sports with Scott Miller on KFGO (Fargo)

According to Joe Christensen, Ron Gardenhire detailed the plan for the Twins early-season rotation in his post game talk. The Twins will start with a four-man rotation for their first four games and and then switch to a five-man rotation for the second cycle. The dark horse who will be added is Liam Hendriks, who will pitch the third game of the season in Baltimore following Carl Pavano and Francisco Liriano. Nick Blackburn will be scheduled to pitch for the Twins Home Opener. Next follows and off day, so the Twins will go back to Pavano on Wednesday. That second time through the rotation will include a fifth pitcher, who will face the Rangers at Target Field on April 15th. That fifth pitcher could be Scott Baker, who is coming back from tendinitis in his elbow, or Jason Marquis, who is out with a family emergency. If both return, it's possible that Liam Hendriks is returned to Rochester, but it's also possible that Hendriks stays in the rotation. If neither is available, the Twins might also consider turning to reliever/swingman Anthony Swarzak, who threw six innings today against the Pirates giving up one run.

(Editors note: Updated at 10:30 with additional information from Joe Christensen's blog.) The Twins announced via Twitter this morning that they had optioned backup catcher to Rochester, reassigned utility infielder Mike Hollimon and placed relief pitcher Kyle Waldrop on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 26th. Furthermore, Butera told Star-Tribune beat reporter Joe Christensen that the Twins told him they were only taking two catchers north, leading Joe to believe that Sean Burroughs has won the last spot on the Twins bench. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Butera has served as the primary backup catcher for the Twins the last two years, relying on stellar defensive skills, but struggling offensively to a historical degree. His demotion means that JR Towles, a minor league free agent who came to the Twins from Houston, is the lone remaining option who could be added as a 3rd catcher. However, it appears now the Twins are at least leaning toward carrying only Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit as catchers. If so (and provided Alexi Casilla's knee is ready in time), it appears that Sean Burroughs would win the last spot on the Twins roster. Burroughs was a top prospect with the Padres who fell out of the major league, struggled with substance abuse issues and returned to the majors last year with the Diamondbacks. He is a left-handed hitting 3rd baseman who would likely primarily be used as a pinch-hitting option. He was signed as a minor league free agent, so he would need to be added to the 40-man roster, but that doesn't appear to be a serious limitation. Hollimon was also a minor league free agent with little chance to come north with the team, but a tremendous spring performance kept him in the running for a utility infielder spot until this last weekend. Waldrop was in the race to make the Twins bullpen but has been out several days with elbow discomfort.

In case you didn't check out the blogs from today, you missed some good stuff... If Stephen Strassburg can pitch on Opening Day this year, can Kyle Gibson next year? Cristian Guzman was released and is taking his (injured) talents to the Dominican Republic. It sounds like former top prospect Aaron Hicks will start the season at AA-New Britain. But is he ready? Shane wonders why not promote the veterans and let the prospects play everyday in Rochester? And Shawn wonders if David Bromberg can bounce back. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]