John Bonnes

Aaron and John discuss the impact of Jorge Polanco's suspension, preview the 2018 Minnesota Twins season, review John's brush with Olympic curling greatness, bet on the rest of the AL Central and revel in Aaron's new life as a book distributor. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Sponsored by Pick and Shovel, Seatgeek, RxBar & Brady Mason Click here to view the article

We are happy to announce that Tom Froemming has agreed to become Twins Daily’s first editor. The whole community already knows Tom from his extensive Twins Daily writing which included last year’s great game recap series. We hope you’ll all congratulate him as he works with both established and new writers to keep Twins Daily’s front page the pride of Twins junkies.The decision to formally establish this role was a result of concerns we expressed in a story back on December 26th. To help ensure the long term viability of Twins Daily, we understand that we both need to formalize some of our part-time roles and to reach out to and compensate new writers. Tom will be doing both and we are planning additional announcements and activities to strengthen our community soon. We’re thrilled Tom agreed to take on this responsibility. He’s talented, organized, creative, tireless and incredibly passionate. He’s exactly the writer for which Twins Daily was established. But he’s certainly not alone in that regard; just look at the names on our front page, our blogs and our forums. You’ll find many others who help the community thrive and would’ve made great candidates. Maybe you’re one of them? If you would like to try writing for Twins Daily, we encourage you to set up a blog and reach out to Tom. We compensate each independent writer for all gross revenues the views from their stories generate. They will also get help editing and honing their writing, both from other writers and from the community. And of course, you get to reach the thousands of Twins fans who stop by Twins Daily each day. We are determined to continue to grow Twins Daily and expose new voices and great writing to as many passionate Twins fans as we can reach. We think Tom will be an important part of that, and we think you will be too. I hope you’ll join us in rallying around Tom in his new role and continuing to support Twins Daily, Gratefully, Brock, Seth, Nick, Parker & John Click here to view the article

Seth gives the conveys the nightly wrap from spring training, including interviews with Jorge Polanco and Twins GM Derek Falvey and (of course) minor league notes. You can listen to it here, or better yet, subscribe to it on your smartphone using the directions below.To add this podcast to your iPhone podcast app, do the following: 1. Open up this page in your iphone and copy this link: http://twinsdaily.libsyn.com/rss 2. Go into your iPhone podcast app and click on the "Library" tab at the bottom and then click on "Edit" in the upper right-hand corner: 3. Click on "Add a Podcast by URL..." 4. Paste the link you just copied into the dialog box and click on 'Subscribe'. Now you'll get every episode delivered to your phone to listen to whenever you want Click here to view the article

Aaron and John review the Minnesota Twins latest spring training roster moves and then preview the AL East and AL West using Las Vegas' over/under numbers. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link. Sponsored by Sota Stick, Away Travel and Casper Mattresses. http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

Aaron and John reunite to discuss the Minnesota Twins signing of Lance Lynn and John's trip to spring training. Sponsored by Bombfell and Seatgeek. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

FT MYERS - Past administrations of the Twins would’ve signed Lance Lynn. In fact, they’ve done so repeatedly, except his name was Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolasco and Ervin Santana. These were all second-tier starting pitchers, capable of earning a “B” grade from fans and pundits. But what separates this move from those are all the “A” grades that surround it.“A” for Contract The most obvious difference between those players and this one is the contract the Twins offered. Most of the similar pitchers that the Twins signed received four-year deals, and Lynn probably expected as much for himself this year. In fact, MLBTradeRumors.com predicted a 4 year, $56 million contract at the beginning of the offseason, which would have been right in line with the Santana and Nolasco deals. But there was a historic adjustment in the free agent market this offseason that left a dozen top free agents unsigned as spring training started. The Twins got lucky in that way, but they also made their own luck, showing flexibility and being aggressive when the opportunity presented itself. Which they could do because they also get: “A” for Payroll I was as skeptical as anyone regarding the Twins willingness to upgrade their payroll this offseason, and up until this move, that seemed prudent. But as a result of this move, not only will the Twins have a payroll near $130 million, the largest payroll in their history, it’ll be up $25 million dollars from last year. It’s not totally clear that was the plan all along; just last week Twins Chief Baseball Officer claimed there was a “high likelihood” they were done spending. And $130M doesn’t put them among the biggest spenders in baseball, or probably even in the upper half. But it’s a big step in the right direction, and shows that the team is willing to spend when they need to. And they need to, because: “A” for Competitive Curve Despite all the Twins moves this winter, and their young and improving core, they are not one of the top tier teams in the American League. Prior to this move, Las Vegas had them listed as the sixth best team in the AL, which would mean they would just miss the postseason. Which makes this the time to spend. No longer can pundits excuse a passive attitude with a “they can’t compete anyway.” They are competing. And they needed a boost to help them get a half step closer to that first tier of teams. This move doesn’t guarantee anything – remember, Lynn is a “B” upgrade – but the Twins are in a position where half steps matter. And the Twins have made a lot of half-step moves this offseason: “A” for Overall Offseason Fans might be disappointed by not getting the “A” name this offseason, when ace pitcher Yu Darvish decided to sign with the Cubs. But if the Twins would’ve exited this offseason with Lynn and relievers Addison Reed and Fernando Rodney, it would’ve been good for an “A-“ grade. Not only did that, but they added another LH reliever (Zach Duke), a possible top-of-the-rotation pitcher for next year (Michael Pineda) and a middle rotation starting pitcher for this year (Jake Odorizzi). That is a team (and a management team) that is going for it this year. They get an overall “A” grade for doing so. Click here to view the article

Even if the Twins make it to the playoffs again this year, will their success be tainted by a weak AL Central? Just how weak is the Twins schedule? When the Twins were winning championships in the mid-2000s but being bounced out of the playoffs by the Yankees, one of the popular narratives was that their success was tainted because the AL Central was weak. With 76 games versus that division, and with several weak teams in that division, the Twins could rack up wins but fold against stronger competition.Yesterday, I did a quick analysis of how much it is worth to the Twins to be in the AL Central, where three teams appear to be only nominally competing this year. The answer was that it was worth about 2.5 wins, so the Twins baseline would be an 83-84 win team. But the rest of the American League (and some interleague foes) await and might affect that number. So let’s look at the Twins whole schedule today, again in a back-of-napkin kind of way. I promise you, you can do this with a spreadsheet and it takes no math more complicated than some long division. We’ll do the same thing as yesterday: 1. Find out the over/under for each team from Vegas and turn it into a win percentage. 2. Multiply that percentage times the number games the Twins play against each one of them. That will give the average number of times an opponent should win or lose versus them. Here are the final result: Download attachment: Twins Scheduled.PNG The Twins (as we suspected) face a weak schedule, but the weakness turns about 1.5 games from losses to wins. As a result, the Twins baseline seems to be about 82-83 wins, which is coincidentally exactly what Vegas is has for the Twins over/under number this year: 82.5. Funny how that works out. The back-of-the-napkin analysis suggests that the argument about weakness of schedule in the 2000s was itself a little weak. It’s hard to imagine a division being much weaker than this year’s AL Central. But it’s still just a 1.5 game downhill slope for a team lucky enough to be in it. On the other hand, It’s not nothing. By comparison, Eduardo Escobar last year was a 1.3 WAR player. Having him on the team last year was absolutely a benefit, especially when Sano was hurt. Or, if you want to go back to that era, in 2008, Christian Guzman had a 1.4 WAR in 2004, his last year with the Twins. It’s the difference between a useful player and a guy you get off the waiver wire. Any team will take an extra 1.5 wins, but that impact feels small in the larger view of the season. No, any success the Twins might have should not be tainted. For that matter, neither should the success they had a decade ago. (A lot more research could be done on this, and if you would like to do so, here is a head start. This is the spreadsheet I used. It’s view only, so you’ll need to download it or copy it to your own Google account to work with it, but if you find something interesting, feel free to share it in the comments below.) Click here to view the article

Last I saw, Vegas had given the Twins an over/under of 82.5, which would leave them just out of the second Wild Card spot, held by the Angels with an over/under of 84.5. This should close that gap. But the larger point is that the Twins are on the fringes of competitiveness, and that's when it makes sense to bite the bullet and spend a little extra money to help out that postseason appearance. This doesn't guarantee anything, but it helps it along. The Twins chances of another postseason appearance were helped quite a bit today.

FT MYERS - The question isn’t whether I’m purposely deluding myself. I am. The question is “How much am I deluding myself?” I’m about to find out, using some simple back-of-the-napkin math. I was asked this morning for the 22nd time how many games I think the Twins will win this year. I gave the same answer I've given 21 times:“Mid to high 80s. The AL Central is just so bad. Three teams – the Royals, Tigers and White Sox – are just phoning it in this year. You play each of those teams 19 times, so you figure you go 12-7 against them each and now you’re 15 games above .500 before you start playing the rest of the American League. Even if they give a few back against Cleveland, they’re already an 86 win team. ” It’s simple, but I know it doesn’t ring true. I’m almost surely overestimating, but let’s get an exact number. Just how much does being in the AL Central help the Twins? Let's do a little back-of-the-napkin figuring. Here’s how I’m going to figure it out (in case you want to play along at home): 1. I’m going to find out the over/under for each team from Vegas and turn it into a win percentage. 2. I’ll multiply that percentage times the 19 games the Twins play against each one of them. That will give me the average number of times the Twins will win versus the number of times the opponent wins. That seems pretty straight-forward. Here are the results: Download attachment: AL Central.PNG I’m not off by SO much. Vegas thinks it’s likely the Twins go about 11-8 versus the trio of downtrodden AL Central teams, ending up about eight games over .500 instead of 15. Then the Twins give back three versus Cleveland, leaving them about 5 games over .500, or on pace for 83-84 wins. Plus, this exercise assumes the Twins are about a .500 team, because that's what Vegas assumes. If they're better than that, then my numbers would be a few games better. Of course, that leaves the rest of the American League to consider, which still has at least three very good teams and fewer bad teams. So tomorrow we’ll look at the Twins overall strength of schedule, and see how well this natural advantage holds up. Click here to view the article

Oh, and I apologize for how loud Seth's audio is after the Molitor clip. I'll do better next time.

John reports on a spring training off day, answering audio questions about Phil Hughes' velocity, Paul Molitor's favorite player, Kennys Vargas' future and best places to eat. Listen here! Sorry! We posted this 15-minute download last night but forgot to link to it here. (We still had a ton of people download it because they are subscribing, which you can do using the instructions below.)To add this podcast to your iPhone podcast app, do the following: 1. Open up this page in your iphone and copy this link: http://twinsdaily.libsyn.com/rss 2. Go into your iPhone podcast app and click on the "Library" tab at the bottom and then click on "Edit" in the upper right-hand corner: 3. Click on "Add a Podcast by URL..." 4. Paste the link you just copied into the dialog box and click on 'Subscribe'. Now you'll get every episode delivered to your phone to listen to whenever you want Click here to view the article

FT. MYERS - You’re going to hate Fernando Rodney. You might also love him, but you are definitely going to hate him. He is going to drive you crazy. And he is OK with that. In Seattle they dubbed his appearances “The Fernando Rodney Experience.” It wasn’t that he wasn’t effective; in 2014 he saved 48 games for the Mariners versus just three blown saves. It was how he saved them.His saves were painful to watch. Men on base. Full counts. Long innings. Times when you’re sure he will never throw another strike. And then, somehow, victory, redemption, and 300 career saves. Which is great for him and for the team and the fans, provided your heart clung to life through the final out. It might help to know that Rodney wants all of this. He wants the drama. He might even need the drama. “I am very focused when the game is on the line,” he explains. “I like to live the moment. When the game is on the line, I feel like I’m more controlled. And I feel like I can control the game and that’s the place I like.” That control is also achieved by the agonizing pace he has on the mound. “I take my time. Every time, take my time,” says Rodney. We talked about how his mindset is similar to something that many fans have experienced: speaking in public. The speaker might find themselves rushing through their story and need to consciously tell himself or herself to slow down, to make the dramatic pause. “Exactly,” agrees Rodney. “That is exactly what I’m looking for. When I get there, I try to convince myself to move in slow motion and do (dramatic pause) the job (dramatic pause) slow.” Minnesota fans can take some solace in the same thing we seemingly always take solace in – other fans’ pain. Because if you think it’s painful to watch Rodney deliver a victory at home, imagine watching him wriggle out of a jam against your team on the road. Rodney seems to relish that, and the snail’s pace makes it all the more delicious. “I try to slow down. I feel like when you try to slow down, you control most of the things that happen in the game. Especially with the fans,” he says as he grins. “When you go to different cities, different towns, they try to yell at you. They say a lot of things to you. Well, that’s what I want to hear. That’s why I’m here.” So remember: it isn’t that Rodney necessarily wants you to suffer – it just might be what the Fernando Rodney Experience is. Fortunately Minnesota Twins fans might have a built-in advantage. Most of us are also Vikings fans, so how bad can the pain be, really? Click here to view the article

Here's one quote I didn't include in the story, but I wish I had. I didn't include it because it didn't really talk about the theme of the story, but I think his response gives some insight into his mindset about his health, his performance and how he prepares. I asked him about his goals for the upcoming season. "For me, it’s like every other year: just stay out on the field and give your team a chance to win. I’m feeling good. I’ve never really been a guy who says 'I want to hit this for an average or hit this many home runs or this whatever' I feel if I stay healthy and on the field, those things usually take care of themselves."

I have to agree.... ;-)

FT. MYERS — Joe Mauer doesn’t sound like a guy who is ready to retire. “There’s going to be a day where I won’t be able to come in here and put the uniform on,” Mauer reflected. “That’ll be a sad day for me. That’s kind of the mentality I have right now: just keep enjoying every day, enjoying going out there and competing, especially with this group that we have.”In the course of a five-minute conversation surrounding his future with the Twins, Mauer mentioned his love for “competing” three different times. Lest we forget, this is a guy who wanted to play point guard in basketball, quarterback in football and fought to stay at catcher in baseball. Those three positions in those three sports have something in common: they’re the position where the focus is on helping teammates, helping the team, win. Mauer is not fiery. He is not a good quote. He says “heck” non-ironically. In a state that is football-oriented, we might prefer a little more of a bloodthirsty demeanor. But if you think that calmness means he doesn’t want to beat you, you’re not paying attention. “Because once seven o’clock or one o’clock hits, that’s what it’s all about,” Mauer says. “Stepping in the box. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that feeling. Stepping in against a big league pitcher. Trying to help your team win that day.” This year will be the last year of Mauer’s mega-contract extension he signed with the Twins as they moved into their new ballpark in 2010. Mauer signed another extension before that, so this will be his first “contract year,” the year before a player becomes a free agent. It doesn’t sound like that lends itself any urgency. “I never really get too far ahead of myself," says Mauer. "Like any other year, I look forward to enjoying the heck out of this one.” There it is. That milquetoast demeanor is one of the reasons fans might expect Mauer to walk away from the game at the end of his contract. But it doesn’t sound like he’s in any hurry to walk despite all the changes he has been through. “I’m a much different person than I was seventeen years ago," he says. "I’ve got a family. I’ve got my girls. There’s a lot of things going on. But one thing that hasn’t changed is I still love going out there and competing.” Which is where the extra work comes in. It’s a pain, but you probably already know why he goes through all the “little things.” “Take care of yourself. Try to eat right. Try to get in there and be ready for the next day," he says. "Do a lot of stretching. A lot of lifting. Spend a lot of time in the training room and in the weight room to make sure my body is ready to go not just for that day, but for the days to come. Everybody in here has to do a little something. And our older guys seem to have to do a little bit more. It’s a process. But like I said, once seven o’clock and one o’clock hit, it’s all worth it.” Mauer is 34 years old and has spent his entire adult life with one organization. At the end of this season, he will be a free agent. He may return to the Twins or he may choose to go somewhere else. But don’t expect him to be happily riding into a sunset. “Coming in this spring, I drive in the first day and I was like ‘This is my seventeenth year of doing this, of coming to big league camp.’ You can think about it that way,” reflects Mauer. “But like I said, I just enjoy coming to the ballpark and competing and playing. I look forward to that every day.” Don't forget you can get lots more from spring training by listening to our 15-minute audio wrapup. You can even ask your own question for tomorrow's show here. Click here to view the article