AT4MVP

Burroughs has two hits I believe, and none of the at bats I've seen him take have been good. He is overly aggressive. I know for a fact that one of hits was also an infield single. I attended the game when we were rallying against the Red Sox, and the Twins batted around in the inning we scored five runs. Everyone had hit the ball hard and had good at-bats. Burroughs meanwhile, accounted for ALL THREE OUTS. He led off the inning, and struck out swinging. Then he came up again that inning with the bases loaded, and grounded into a double play. I am not a huge Butera fan and would much rather have liked to see Jeff Gray get DFAd, but I don't think there's any reason to be scratching your heads over this move. I specifically remember Gardy saying after Burroughs made the team that he felt Burroughs "was a guy who could come off the bench and give him a big league, veteran at-bat." Well, sorry to tell you Gardy, I never saw that this year.

Ben Revere......

You might be right about Gardy not being part of the answer, but Terry Ryan definitely is. Who do you think got us out of the rut we were in in the late 90s? I would also argue that the multi year contracts for Blacky and Carroll should not be considered bad. Everyone knows we didn't get Carroll to hit home runs and drive in a ton of runs, but he does his job by getting on base, either via walks, singles, or doubles. And most importantly, he picks the ball up and gets it to first without too many issues. Blacky is making exactly what a typical 4th or 5th starter should make. He eats innings and is good when healthy (as we've seen so far this year). Look for the trade targets of the Twins to be Span, Willingham, Pavano, Liriano, Capps, and maybe Perkins. If Willingham keeps producing the way he has, his reasonable contract is likely to return some decent pieces. Same goes for Perkins. Recall the trade for Sergio Santos. The White Sox just signed him to a three year contract extension with three more options in the offseason, and Toronto was willing to part ways with some very valuable prospects for him. Pavano's expiring contract could entice a team down the stretch, as well as Capps (who likely won't get much in return). If there is anyone that isn't the answer, it's Bill Smith, and the Twins did the right thing by getting him out of the position he was in. He was overmatched and seemed underqualified for the job. I don't think any other GM out there would have let Mauer's agent take us to the whipping shed like he did in the contract extension. Nor would they have traded a proven position player for a pitcher in the Ramos/Capps trade (something you should never do). Nor would they have gotten basically nothing in return for Johan. Nor would they have botched the Delmon Young situation as poorly as he did. If anyone is to blame for the position the Twins are in, that's who you should be pointing your finger at.

Does anyone know what Morneau's Spring Training batting average was in 2010? The same season that he was on pace to get his second MVP award? Anyone? Bueller? .156. I know we are all worried about what's going on with Morneau (myself included), but seriously let's not read too much into the average yet. He has a couple more weeks to get back on track. Morneau is also a lot more upfront about everything that is going on with his body than pretty much every other major league player. And given the history of his injuries the past couple of years and the "trauma" that us fans have been put through, everyone is inclined to worry. I am encouraged that he has consistently played at least every other day like everyone else. I was happy to see that he chose to take the three hour bus ride the other day just to get his at-bats in as well. We all know if he really wasn't feeling that well, that wouldn't have happened. To answer the question contained in the title of this post, no I don't believe he will start the season on the DL.

No way Manship breaks camp with the team. He struggled last year, and no matter what his stats look like this spring, he'll be in AAA. I look for Maloney to be in the bullpen on Opening Day, because of his ability to make a spot start and have a long relief role, while being a lefty specialist at times. I would also expect Burnett to make the team because of his experience from the past couple years, likely meaning Waldrop will not be up just yet. As for the bench players, I "hope to Gardy" that he picks Towles over Butera. I am not expecting this though. I still consider Burroughs to be a toss up for making the club.

I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with this statement John. Here is a link to one of the articles I have read recently saying that Baker is actually an extremely underrated pitcher. http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/the-most-undervalued-pitchers/ He is also consistently in the top 10 in the league in K/BB, his K/9 has been over 7 since 2008 (not bad for someone considered a "flyball pitcher" to an extent), and besides them repeated trips to the DL last year that kept him at 134 innings, he has been at 170+ for three years prior to that. P.S. If someone could tell me how to quote what someone else said the proper way, that would be great!