John Bonnes

Willingham strikes again. Opposite field ground gets through the right side of the infield (kinda looked like he got sawed off) and Casilla scores from second ahead of the throw.

Oh, and then he struck out.

Nishi's year continues - he just hit a line drive off his own knee. They're taking a look at him. Maybe that's why Gardenhire batted him 2nd - more chances for injury.

INteresting to me that Casilla is batting 9th, behind Revere batting 8th and with Nishi batting 2nd. WT?

Marquis 2nd inning isn't going to look that good, but infield D is hurting him again. - 1st hit was a ground ball to Casilla's left. He had to range, dove, but overdove and the ball went off his wrist and into right field. - 2nd hit was a hard hit ground ball to Burroughs (at 3B) right. It would've been a good play, had he made it, but he did not. Odd that would happen with a runner on 3rd base. - 2nd run scored when Twins failed to turn a DP. It was a high bouncer to Casilla and to be fair I don't know of many IFs that could have turned it. So a mixture of bad luck and very average fielding.

Sorry, I mispoke. It was to left field. He pulled a couple of foul balls and then got a hold of one, might have been a changeup.

Phils announcers doing a lot of talking about the Twins, at least early. Wheeler is doing OK with background.

Willingham hits a bullet home run to right field. The only question about that one was whether it would begin it's descent before or after it reached the wall.

Chooch throws out Span by a mile trying to steal second. I'm still happy to see Denard run w a little abandon this spring. Chooch has a pretty good defensive rep.

ON the one hand, I want to turn down my MLB.TV, because I'm pretty sure the Phillies TV announcers are going to bet talking Phils about 90% of the time. But on the other, I kinda miss their coverage. We'll see how this goes.

Hi gang, I just finished making my AL team wins over/under picks with Aaron Gleeman. I thought I better record them somewhere for posterity. I'd love your reactions and picks. AL West Angels (92.5) - Both Aaron and I stayed away from this Rangers (91.5) - Both Aaron and I chose the over. Mariners (72) - I'm under, Aaron stayed neutral. A's (71.5) - We both stayed away from this. AL East Yankees (93.5) - We both like over. Red Sox (89.5) - Aaron likes the over. I kinda do, but stayed away. Devil Rays (87) - We both like the over on the Rays Blue Jays (81) - We both stayed away. Orioles (69.5) - I like the under. Aaron stayed away. AL Central Tigers (92.5) - Aaron takes the over, but I stayed neutral. Royals (80.5) - I like the under, Aaron is staying away. Indians (79) - I like the under. Aaron is staying away. White Sox (74.5) - I like the under. Aaron is staying away from this one, too. TWINS (73) - We both like the over on this one.

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You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?308-Gleeman-the-Geek-Ep-32-Perkins-and-Vegas

[ATTACH=CONFIG]304[/ATTACH]Aaron & the Twins Geek discuss Perkins' new contract, the Twins history of long-term contracts and then review Vegas' over-under predictions for the Twins and the rest of the AL. 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).

You can always count on Farnsworth to make things interesting.

I've never liked that contract and now it looks even worse. But I'm still optimistic Span will have a good 2012. His injuries last year were legitimate and it's not like he hasn't shown toughness in the past. I dont blame Span for his injuries; I blame the Twins for along term deal in which they got very little discount. Plus, it's spring & Span had looked very aggressive so far. Let's get him healthy.

So we're betting the house then? You're saying this is my big chance? That money in my kids' college 529 plan is just SITTING there, getting NOTHING....

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?305-More-Weekend-Stories

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?304-Five-Other-Twins-Stories-To-Watch

Let’s be clear: ultimately, it’s about the wins. I get into at least a half dozen debates per month where I feel the need to remind people that all this fun baseball stuff we analyze – coaching tactics, offseason pickups, roster changes, revenue tendencies, trades, minor league development – are not goals in and of themselves. They are the means to an end. And that end is wins. That said, even if the Twins somehow win the AL Central, 2012 will answer several questions that will seriously impact the rest of the decade for Twins fans. Besides the wins, let’s take a look at five other developments worth paying attention to if you’re a Twins fan. Can Sunk Money Stay Healthy? [ATTACH=CONFIG]295[/ATTACH]Between Joe Mauer ($138M), Justin Morneau ($14M), Denard Span($11.25M) and Nick Blackburn($5.5M), the Twins will end 2012 with $168.75 million dollars of future money ties to four guys that have had trouble staying healthy. If they can stay healthy and productive, then the team is likely competitive. But if not, the Twins may well want to consider creative ways of getting those salaries off the books, including trades that involve eating some salary or early retirement packages. Can Minor League Talent Fill Some Gaps? Much of this question will play out on a much smaller (and rundown) ballpark that is 315 miles southeast. In Beloit, Wisconsin, the Twins lower-A affiliate, the Beloit Snappers, may be fielding the Twins infield of the future, featuring consensus Twins number one prospect and third baseman Miguel Sano, top draft pick and shortstop Levi Michael and top prospect (and possible second baseman?) Eddie Rosario. The Twins should anticipate a lot of turnover over the next few years and will be looking for breakthrough years from those guys or players even closer to the majors, like outfielders Joe Benson and Ben Revere or first baseman Chris Parmelee. Every name above either is perceived to have a limited ceiling or is still pretty far from contributing to the majors. A big step forward by several of them completely changes the perceived future of this team. But if you look again, all of those names have something else in common too…. Where Will The Pitchers Come From? In the same way that the Twins lost most of their outfield (Delmon Young, Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer) this last year, they’ll likely lose most of their starting rotation before 2013’s Opening Day. Carl Pavano, Francisco Liriano and Jason Marquis are all free agents. Scott Baker has a $9.5M option which will be prohibitive if he can’t stay healthy. Only Nick Blackburn is a sure thing to return. Ooh, goody. Unfortunately, the Twins top prospects in the minors aren’t pitchers. Liam Hendricks was called up last year and might be able to fill a middle-of-the-rotation role. It’s possible Kyle Gibson could recover sufficiently from Tommy John surgery to contribute as a major league starter next year. And then you get to guys whose futures are more borderline. There’s a reason the Twins were so aggressive in adding waiver pickups who were pitchers this offseason, and it will be interesting to see if they’re active at the trade deadline in picking up some young arms. Or there is another mid-summer event they might leverage…. Can the Twins Take Advantage of a Historical Draft? There ain’t a lot of bright spots to a 99-loss year, but the second overall draft pick is one of them. That’s also the advantage of losing several high-performing free agents like Cuddyer and Kubel – the team gets extra draft picks back as compensation. Between that top pick and the quantity of top-75 picks the Twins have (and the new capped compensation they will pay these youngsters) the Twins have never had a draft loaded with this much opportunity, and likely won’t again for decades. It is the perfect chance for the organization to gas up a car that feels like it is running on fumes. Can Twins Revenues Continue Rising? Speaking of running out of gas, that’s exactly what it felt like to the scalpers last year. The lull and disinterest that set in caused the front office to put spending back into a lower gear. A less dismal season might reaffirm fans faith in the team and reaffirm ownership’s faith in its fans. A renewed financial strength will help this team plug holes over the next couple of seasons, perhaps offsetting the other transitions that seem likely to take place.