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Enlow's 3IP, 5K, 0 walks, 0 runs was encouraging.

BPro liked his statcast data back when he was in Florida State League (as well as Raya).

The Florida State League is one of two minor leagues that have public statcast data available (along with Triple A West). Jesse Roche wrote an article a couple days ago in BPro, and two of the four featured Florida State pitchers were Marco Raya: "precocious command of his fastball", an "advanced four pitch repertoire". The other is David Festa: post draft pop up prospect that now sits comfortably in the mid-90s and may sit higher as he fills out his 6 foot 6 frame. Hard power slider, above average secondaries, change up with 11 mph separation and good depth. Strong command of each pitch and confident usage. Among the notable watch list pitchers was Chase Petty.

Maybe they should call up Jake Cave to be player rep. He seems to be well-liked by the players, and is batting .500. Sorry, I gave up emojis for Lent.

I don't see where being "stretched out" equates to innings pitched in exhibition games, especially this year.

Baddoo and Wade were 26 and 27 at fangraphs at the end of November, 2019

Jeferson Morales was written up by Jeffrey Paternostro in BPro a couple months ago as a sleeper prospect for 2022 (Petty was named by someone else). Morales caught his eye with "an unusually pretty right-handed swing with above-average bat speed." Sneaky athletic, defense a work in progress but should stick at catcher.

BPro has an article today that claims "The Diamondbacks' new pitching coach could help Gallen take the next step." I sort of doubt he will be traded.

In other winter league news, Jermaine Palacios has an OPS of 1.01, is batting 2nd and mostly playing LF and 3B in Venezuala. Tomas Telis is 2nd in the league in OPS at 1.19. Aaron Whitefield is playing RF for Caguas in Puerto Rico, with an OPS of .753 in five games. There might be more who are not on the leaderboards or who I don't recognize.

Wallner had another homerun today and three hits; Bechtold at DH had two doubles; Sisk gave up 4 runs with no outs.

The 91 Twins started the season 2-9, and were being described as the worst team in the major leagues.

The corner OF that I believe (without any evidence) that Kirilloff is most comparable to is Michael Brantley, who continues to be valuable well past age 29. I think that by the end of spring training he will be viewed as a step above the alternatives the first month as well as at age 29. Even if Arreaz is the opening day LF, Kirilloff would play there often besides giving Kepler a day off and Buxton a day off with Kepler in CF. The goodwill argument for an extension in a couple years may be weak, but perhaps disregarding service time (if he is dominant in spring training) may help the Twins with other players.

Miranda seems to save his best for the playoffs. He had a three run HR yesterday as his team won the championship, batted 400.

There is a nice story in The Athletic, Sept 17 about Hendriks' early years in Australia and the US: "I'm on an adventure": Why Liam Hendriks left Australia to chase baseball dreams. Starts with: The dining options were limited for Liam Hendriks and the rest of the Gulf Coast League Twins in the summer of 2007. The players lived in a hotel in Fort Myers, Fla., that, according to Hendriks, “has now been demolished, because it was a cesspool.”

BPro (Dec 23) likes Canterino and Winder (7 and 11), claiming both have added velocity the past year, and Canterino has developed a good change-up.

Gleeman reported the same marijuana at customs issue.

He came to the USA last winter on a tourist visa. Was it to go ice-fishing in the great Minnesota northlands? No, it was to be part of Twins Fest. Did he get any compensation, such as room and board? If so, he violated immigration laws, and was subject to a 5 year ban. When he got to Atlanta on the way to spring training and was questioned, was he likely to lie about why he had come to Minnesota in January? When you read the comments on traderumours, it is mostly surmising about criminal conduct being the reason for the release. I don't know anything about Fernando Romero as a person, but I am much more inclined to blame ICE and the Twins than Fernando. Obviously, this opinion could be completely wrong, but I do know a fine young person who was even white that was banned for 5 five years for a similar offense.

Romero was added to the Gigantes Dominican team and has pitched twice. Didn't get anyone out the first game, and loaded the bases in a mop-up role in the 9th the other day, but threw 6 straight swinging strikes to escape.

Not quite on topic, sorry, but Celestino is the only Twin currently on a roster in the Dominican winter league. He plays for the Gigantes, batted leadoff in their last game. Gameday box scores as well as season stats can be found at mlb.stats.offseasonleagues. Some interesting players in the league, eg Wander Franco. No fans apparently. A bit surprised Romero isn't playing, although rosters can change dramatically.

A couple weeks ago I saw Gardner trying to bunt for a base hit with a 3-0 count.

Russell Carleton, in BPro August 19 and 26, found that: "in front of the shift, we actually see an increase in called balls and walks. The problem is that there are a lot of extra walks, more than the number of hits saved by the shift."

In has last three games, after coming off IL, McCullers has given up 0 ER, with 24-4 K to Walk ratio, in 18 innings. No wins since Houston didn't score any runs while he was pitching.

LeMahieu (no o) is batting .392 and needs just a couple more AB to qualify.

According to Betsy Helfand, the hope is that he will be available after a couple days of rest. bruised leg

And what is pretty well known about the Romero visa issue? He came to Minnesota on a tourist visa for the Twins Fest. Presumably he got room and board, and maybe some spending money. He returned to the DR, and got his presumably normal work visa. He flew to Atlanta with this visa in late February. https://www.twincities.com/2020/02/22/customs-issue-likely-to-keep-twins-fernando-romero-out-of-camp/ I don't think anything else has been revealed. My guess is that he got a five year expedited removal ban that the Twins are trying to fight. These have been increasingly common after after the “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements Policies” Policy Memorandums issued by President Trump in 2017 and again in 2019. These Policy Memorandums have called for the expansion of the use of expedited removals. They have been used against a Canadian after not having the proper work authorization to volunteer at an arts festival in Washington. In this case, the traveller was informed that he would be taking American jobs. I personally know someone who flew from Norway with his father this winter to see his friends and help out on a dog race. He apparently admitted previously picking up dog**** for room and board on a tourist visa. He spent 24 hours at the Seatle airport jail and was sent back to Norway with a 5 year ban. ICE is out of control. Hopefully I am wrong about this guess and it is just a normal five month snafu.