John Bonnes

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]

"My gawd - THEY are afraid of US? Really?" That's the thought that went through my head last night when a flame war broke out on Twitter between two local groups that had established a uneasy truce in recent years: corporate media and independent writers, commonly labeled bloggers. The critical topic? Baseball. Or rather, that’s the subject matter about which the involved parties write. The topic was the power of independent writers and the checks and balances from which they are seemingly immune. Concern 1: Independent writers are just fans who benefit from having a very large platform. It's true. Some independent writers have very big platforms from which they can distribute their messages. In fact, yesterday, Twins Daily, a site that hosts independent baseball writers, announced they have drawn 34,000 unique visitors to view half a million pages since they launched five weeks ago. So yeah, they have a hell of a big soap box. But that platform was not handed to them by a media entity established decades before by writers who built up an audience. Rather, the independent writer IS the person who built up the audience. They find themselves free to do with it what they want. Concern 2: Independent writers don't have the same accountability of corporate journalists. It's true. Journalists can be fired for their mistakes, but not independent writers. Know why? Because independent writers never asked to be hired. They are not dependent on pleasing anyone other than their audience. Their livelihood likely isn't even dependent on that. Their audience decides how accountable they need to be, not their corporate masters. Like any writer, if they screw up, they can publicly mocked and condemned. I wonder if they'll be able to handle that? Concern 3: Independent writers don't appreciate the value of Access and the accuracy it brings. It's true. Access can increase accuracy, provided those being interviewed feel like telling the truth. But one cannot have that Access without accepting compromises, whether it be trying to steer clear of a public relations doberman or hesitating to criticize a player whom one personally admires. Indeed, navigating these challenges is the art of journalism. Since the independent writers don't have that Access, they've taught themselves how to live without it and still find compelling content and an audience. In fact, most who have achieved a certain level don't want that Access. They'll trade any accuracy it includes for objectivity, thanks very much. (Incidentally, the people who want the independent writers to appreciate that Access are precisely the same groups that work so hard to deny it: the baseball teams and the journalists.) The bad news is that the concerns are real. The media is damn astute to be nervous about the power the independent writers wield right now. They're popular, they don't give a crap about Access and they're beholden to no one. The worse news is that they helped create them. But I do have some good news for concerned corporate journalists who want to enjoy all those same benefits. It's one easy step away. Just quit your jobs. After you find other income, devise compelling stories which are not fed to you by player or coach quotes, and write independently for several years with no compensation, you might just establish an audience. Then you too can be criticized by the corporate journalists. And feared.

Five weeks. Just five weeks. Here's what you magnificent people have been doing in the five weeks since pitchers and catchers reported: We’re up to 1100 registered members, and nearly 500 of them have contributed to the community. The forum holds 500 discussion threads that have generated over 5000 individual posts, or about 100/1000 per week. 321 individual blog posts by our members on 62 blogs, or about nine every day. Those have been read by 34,765 unique visitors who have stopped by 134,000 times. Last Thursday we had 621 people visiting the site all at the same time. And finally, the benchmark that drove us to do this research: over half a million page views. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]The goal of this site was to make it easier for Twins fans to find great independent Twins writers and thinkers. But having 35,000 people discover posts and blogs of hundreds of our members over half a million times in a little over a month? I’m pinching my PC screen. This can’t be real. So again THANK YOU all for coming together and doing this. PLEASE: read, join, post, write and share with your friends. You have something to give. We’ll do our best to make sure we do our best to help people find it. Time for a couple of important notes… Ads You’re going to start seeing ads on TwinsDaily. Believe it or not, this is a good thing. For a community to thrive, it needs to be able to pay for itself, and all this activity (not to mention the initial investment in the web site) costs money. Ads are the last cornerstone to keep this community self-sufficient. It also reflects how thriving this community is - nobody advertises where there aren’t people. We’ll try and keep them from being overwhelming and hope you’ll support them the way they’re supporting all of us. By the way, the implementation of those ads might not be totally seamless. We’re feeling our way through this thing. As always, let us know if you think we’re screwing up. Spam The spambots have found us. Every morning Nick, Seth, Parker and I scour the site trying to stay on top of them, but it’s mostly reactive. So if you see one we’ve missed or haven’t found, please click on “Report” and we’ll get on it (and ban the user) as soon as we can. Play Nice Communities do a lot better when people show each other a level of respect. So we’re enforcing no vulgarity and no personal attacks. If you find a post that you think violates that, rather than lash out yourself, report it to us. Avatars Finally, let’s all get avatars, ok? Here’s how: When you’re logged in, click on “Settings” in the upper right hand corner (or here.) Click on Edit Avatar on the left-hand side. Thanks again everyone. As always, let us know your thoughts below or in the Questions About Twins Daily Forum. I don’t know exactly how the Twins season is going to go, but I’m sure glad we found each other and can share it together.

Big roster announcements prompt a debate about the Twins making decisions based on spring training performances. 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).

Fueled by interviews with assistant GM Rob Antony and manager Ron Gardenhire, yesterday became the best day of the year for Twins spring training news. The result? Almost every projected lineup you saw this offseason was probably wrong. Instead, you’ll like see a whole lot of Josh Willingham playing left field, Ryan Doumit playing right field, Justin Morneau as the designated hitter and Chris Parmelee playing first base. The shakeup happens twelve days before the regular season starts and about a week before the Twins break camp. Like any reorg, it resulted in some good days and bad days: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Good Day: Parmelee Not only does it look like Parmelee made the major league team, it looks like he is in position to be a regular without ever having played a game at AAA. That speaks highly of the organization’s confidence in him, confidence which is fueled by his second half in New Britain, a tremendous September call-up and a spring training where he has continued to show power. But make no mistake, this plan hinges on Parmelee being a productive major league player. That is an open question. Parmelee has averaged just twelve home runs and a .266 batting average over his six years in he minors. That’s not nearly enough production for a first base prospect. If he falls flat, this plan looks a hell of a lot worse than any of those offseason projections. That’s because this next guy is suddenly a guy without a position. Bad Day: Ben Revere When Gardenhire announced yesterday that Willingham was going to be his everyday left fielder and Span his everyday center fielder, Revere was left without a position. Revere’s defensive strength is his range and his weakness is his arm. In Target Field that makes him a fantastic left fielder and a decent center fielder. But putting him in Target Field’s tiny right field negates his biggest strength and exposes his biggest weakness. The Twins say he’s competing for right field, but were he to win it, Gardenhire would look borderline insane. They also say he’s competing for a roster spot, but without him on the roster, there isn’t a backup center fielder, unless the Twins decide to go with Darin Mastroianni. I almost hope they do, because I think Revere needs to get everyday at-bats if he’s going to develop into the water bug he could become. Good Day: Gardenhire Though He may not feel like it, because filling out the lineup sheet just got a lot more complicated. But provided PFOHF (Parmelee doesn’t fall on his face), Gardy’s roster has a ton of flexibility and offensive options to protect his two biggest guns, Morneau and Joe Mauer. With Doumit on the roster, Mauer can play less at catcher, but still be in the lineup at first or DH. Morneau can take the spot that Mauer doesn’t and Parmelee can add his offense in right field. If Morneau needs a day off, Parmelee or Doumit can DH and Trevor Plouffe can play first base and punish a southpaw or two. Gardenhire also essentially replaces a bottom of the order bat (Revere) with a middle-of-the-order bat (Parmelee) for most games. My best guess on the lineup now looks like this: Span (LH) Jamey Carroll (RH) Mauer (LH) Morneau (LH) Willingham (RH) Parmelee/Doumit (LH) Danny Valencia (RH) Doumit/Parmelee (LH) Alexi Casilla (SH) If Doumit or Parmelee is hitting eighth, that’s a deep lineup. Congrats, Ron. Bad Day: The Pitching Staff The Twins offense just went from one of the better defensive outfields in the majors to one of the worst. That’s how big of an impact Revere’s range could have had. And if PFOHF then there is a real mess. Either Gardenhire has to move Willingham back to right field or the staff has to deal with a bad outfield AND know that it has been designed in almost the worst possible way. Bad Day: Nearly everyone hoping for a bench spot For a four-man bench, it appears three spots are taken: Luke Hughes & Plouffe (both of whom are useful and out of options) and Revere. That leaves one spot for either another catcher or a utility guy. Both could be classified as luxuries. The third catcher position doesn’t seem to be as critical now that we know Morneau will likely be seeing most of the at-bats at DH. If Doumit was the DH, and Mauer got hurt during a game, then they Twins would have had to have the pitcher bat if Doumit moved to catcher. That seems less likely now. And the utility infielder role was mostly about backing up the shortstop, but the Twins do have two other players, Plouffe and Casilla, who can play shortstop. If Casilla plays short then Hughes, who is having a monster spring, could play second base. And while the Twins claim they want Plouffe to stay away from the middle infield, Parmelee’s emergence likely means less platoon opportunities for Plouffe. Maybe he needs to be looking at a super-utility role.

When the Twins sent Tsuyoshi Nishioka down, they admitted that they might need to replace him with a guy from another team’s roster. They’re right. Looking at the guys that remain in camp, there isn’t another really good option, at least not one that can play shortstop. Fortunately, this is the right time to find just such a player. At the end of spring training, teams make all kinds of guys available: players without options, Rule 5 draft picks or just guys that are dropped from the 40-man roster to make room for someone else. In fact, the Twins took advantage of that just two years ago. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]They were faced with a similar problem – they didn’t have a great option to be the backup center fielder. Towards the end of spring training, the Dodgers released Jason Repko. A week later, the Twins signed him and he played here for the last two years. So let’s get a jump start on some names that you might see on the Twins roster in a couple of weeks, even if they’re with other teams now. All have their warts – we are talking about utility players after all - but some intriguing traits, too. Wilson Valdez – He’s the kind of guy you might expect the Twins to seek for this position. He’s old (33), has a good defensive rep, is on the Reds (who the Twins love to scavenge) and is full of veteran nougaty goodness. He’s also out of options, but is a long shot to be available. On the one hand, the Reds traded for him just a couple of months ago. On the other, it looks like they could have some similar, slightly younger options. If he is available, I gotta imagine the Twins will swoop in. Emmanuel Burriss – He’s just 27, he’s a switch-hitter and he has stolen as many as 68 bases in a year in the minors. He’s also out of options and batting for a bench spot with the Giants. However, he’s struggled to get on base in the majors with just a .311 OBP. More unfortunately, he’s having a fantastic spring and probably winning that last bench spot. Chris Nelson – This 26-year-old has struggled to find playing time with the Rockies and hasn’t done much (.254 BA/.284 OBP) when he has. However, he’s torn up AAA to the tune of .321/.371/.518 in 608 plate appearances. He’s out of options, and had only a mediocre spring so far, but a recent neck injury to Casey Blake might mean the Rockies will have room for him on the roster. Stay tuned. Donnie Murphy – He’s 29 years old (which is relatively old) and has only hit .202 in limited time over six years with three different teams. He also was hurt part of last year. Finally, he’s having a miserable spring with the Marlins and is out of options. He’ll likely be available. He’s intriguing because he represents a rarity – a middle infielder with some pop. His right-handed bat hit double-digit home runs in several minor league stops, and he has a .500+ slugging percentage at AAA. This is just a few of the guys, obviously, but they probably represent some of the more likely options. If you’ve got any other ideas, I’d love to hear them below.