John Bonnes

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There is also the marketability factor, which I think is why Strassburg is starting. The Twins may be looking for a splash like that too. Or (and this seems even more likely) since the Twins often begin the season on the road (outdoor baseball, you know) they have someone else start opening day but save Gibson for the home opener.

It's certainly a fair question. Fort Myers (and the league it is in) is known for holding down offensive numbers, right? I wonder if they just want to get him into a different environment, maybe a little more offensive and maybe facing pitchers with a little better control to see if they can get him to swing more. But I think you're right that it doesn't looks like he's earned anything yet.

It's not the same accountability, to be sure. But to say there is no accountability is silly. It's definitely more long-term - occasional mistakes are tolerated whereas they might be smacked down by a corporate overseer. But I would submit that longer leash has been earned because the indy writer built it. The same thing happens for a radio host or corporate writer, too. If they greatly increase their following, their audience (and boss) are a lot more forgiving of missteps. I'd also suggest that if the only audience that follows a writer are the crazies, it doesn't matter if the audience is big - that viewpoint is still going to be viewed as suspect by the mainstream. It might annoying, but it isn't threatening.

I haven't seen him in the A box scores for the last four days. Are there any reports from him pitching in B games?

It looks like, other than Capps, Duensing, Swarzak, Perkins, Burton and Maloney, the guy that is getting the quality innings is Jeff Gray. What do we think - does he have the inside track? He's out of options, too, right?

Maybe I'm missing something, but looking at the box scores, I see: Today vs. Philly - Mauer started and Butera came in as a very late sub Yesterday vs Blt - Towles started and played the whole game Monday vs TB - Mauer started and Butera came in as a sub Sunday vs STL - Doumit started It doesn't look like Gardy is letting Butera face any of the opposing team's starting pitchers. I wonder if he hasn't falled behind Towles. Am I missing something?

I can't imagine anyone - Zumaya, his agent, other agents - not expecting this. It's the nature of a incentive-laden deal. It's not personally, Sonny - it's business.

:-) Usually, we don't bite. And David is right - it would be very helpful to us to see what the questions are. It's easy, after writing for years, to not want to revisit explanations made months ago, because you assume everyone is reading everything you have written. Obviously, that's a big mistake on our part.

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"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.

"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.

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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. 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.

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. 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.

I love the idea of the brew pub crawl and podcast. And Seth, you've sat in on one of these. You know it's in good fun. (Mostly.)

Luke Hughes is all of 13 days younger than Casilla. I think he has a role on a major league team, and it might even include some time starting in the same way that Jamey Carroll has had a role that includes some time starting. I hope Hughes can eventually replicate his 759 career OPS in AAA, and I'm hopeful they'll find some good moments for him to get at-bats, but I don't bench Casilla for him. ON the other hand, I don't have any problem with him stepping in if there's an injury.

Am I wrong, or are some of these names a little surprising? I know they have Mastoianni, but I'm surprised Martin was released. And wasn't Pearce highly thought of? We're remarked how Rochester was looking awfully crowded this year. It looks like some folks are falling victim to that. Best of luck guys. I hope your career continues elsewhere.

That's an interesting thought.

From what I've seen of the E-Town ballpark, it looks beautiful. It's in the middle of a very scenic area.

Thanks for jumping on this Seth. Well, I was wrong about Manship. I really thought he was going to grab that last spot. I think it's a mistake, but if they keep him in the bullpen in Rochester, I'm hopeful he'll rectify that mistake later this season.