twinssporto

I like seeing Perez hit 95mph. 97 mph. Nice.

Somebody hold me down! This team looks like night and day from last year...

Go Turtle man!!!!!

I think I was at that game too. Usually it was just spitting on the kids for wearing the other teams jersey.

Tom - Thanks for doing these recaps!!! They are greatly appreciated.

Does anyone remember when KQRS used to play light happy music whenever the Twins were in first place back in the 80's? I feel like playing some right now. Fantastic game!

Eddie didn't have a very pretty at bat there. Looked like he was pitching a 9 iron in the back yard.

Whether Polanco got hit in the foot or didn't. He did.

Oh I love it when my favorite team plays like this!

96 wins this year for the Twins! Just like everyone was too optimistic last year (me included), I think this year people are too down on the team. There finally seems to be some chemistry and team unity I haven't seen for a long time now. Pitching might be a little weak but some of this takes a little luck too. Go big or go home.

I did not like seeing Pressly leave the Twins. However, I did read Patrick Reusse's article this morning in the StarTrib and it made me feel a little bit better about watching Pressly go.

Risk vs. Reward - A one or two year signing doesn't seem to be a huge risk. You get a HISTORICALLY reliable pitcher that can give you a lot of innings and some consistency. The potential payback for the Twins after two years looks to me like more risk than they need to take. I would prefer they stick with and nurture the young arms.

Quick update from Fort Myers... Stopped by the ballpark today around 9AM and watched a number of players taking batting practice under Hammond Stadium. If you've been here before you probably know the spot. You can stand right behind the chain link fence only a few feet away from the players while they hammer the ball in the batting cages. Stood directly behind Buxton for about 10 minutes. A couple of take aways: He does look stronger and bigger and he is not employing a leg kick...Also, Cuddyer walked up to Buxton and asked him how his hand was doing, Buxton replied just fine. I spoke a little bit with Dick Bremer too. I asked him why MLB insists on having the Twins start playing regular home games as soon as the end of March and he replied that no team wants to start the season on a two week road trip (regardless of crappy, cold weather). Watched Gibson throwing today as well. He looked more slimmed down than from previous seasons. Kepler went deep quite a few times today during BP and was really hitting the ball hard. The other guy that was just spraying the ball around the ENTIRE field was Austudillo. Really was fun watching him hit under the stadium and in the adjacent ball field. He has a lot of punch to his swing! Morneau was in the batting cages with a number of players working on their form along with Cuddyer. Spent some time with Tommy Watkins dad today as well. Asked him what his son thought about coaching under Rocco (Tommy is the 1st base coach). He said its been a lot of fun and really likes Rocco's approach to players and the game. They are really striving to create a close knit group and having some fun. His son thinks they have a much better team than is given credit for in the national media. That's my report from the Fort. Get down here if you can. Gotta fly back home to snowy Minneapolis tomorrow. Uggh.

The whole spring training experience is great! I've been fortunate over the last 15-20 years to make it there on a somewhat regular basis. Most of the time the players are very accommodating (especially if you have kids with you). Most will stop and talk or sign autographs. I remember about 8-9 years ago Joe Nathan coming back to the locker room from one of the back fields later in the day. My wife and 3 kids were standing near the gate John mentioned in his post. Joe stopped and signed everyone's ball and took photos with all my kids. We stood there and talked about the upcoming season for about 5 minutes. We've had similar stories with Mauer, T.K., Molitor, etc. I flew down to Tampa for work this week and was supposed to fly home tomorrow. After reading John's post it gave me the inspiration to head to Ft. Myers on Thursday and Friday instead of heading home...the 8+ inches of snow starting tonight through tomorrow helped sway the decision too. My wife will not be happy (prayers for her understanding are appreciated).

Nothing to see here. Move along...

Ozoria should just hang out with Sano. He'll have that weight up in no time!

You are correct. I was referring to the aggregate in my posted comment. The point I was trying articulate but failed in doing so was this. After you've seen 10 or more 30 year old 1B/DH types get big FA contracts and underperform or 10 CF type players aged 29 get big FA contracts and either under perform or get injured, etc. it causes some baseball people to hesitate before going the big FA route. Certainly Machado is an outlier to my above example. The way the FA market has dropped off a cliff for two years in a row makes me wonder if someone in the private equity, financial risk industry or some actuary type came up with a risk/reward model for the FA market and went around and sold it individually to the various teams...

If we lived in a perfect world for a baseball fan (insert your favorite baseball team name here). The correct answer would be to spend the money in the manner that would win the most games and bring home the most championships year in and year out. You're correct that Cano was a good signing (until the suspension) and the Mariners didn't do a great job building around him. However, there is a ton of data available that says these long term FA contracts either don't work out very well over time or laden with so much risk the return doesn't justify the means. Deciding how much money to risk in order to win now and in the future is a hard line to walk sometimes....Add in the additional issues such as: Owners want to make money not lose it, the current CBA is a mess, ticket sales don't matter as much to the teams bottom line as it used to (TV royalties, licensing agreements, etc.) and you've got a real mess to deal with in the near future.

I agree with this too. Unless there was some lights out FA reliever still sitting out there use your home grown arms to build the pen. Cycle the guys in the minors through the system and see what sticks. A lot of teams find gems like that all the time.

Thanks Seth! Great stuff!!

I like it. Almost the same age Tom Kelly was when he took over. Young manager with young talent. Good combo in my opinion. Yo Adrianne! Your husband Rocco just landed a managers job in Minnesota!

I miss Kirby...I miss the chemistry of those 1980"s Twins... The current team needs to build some chemistry and a clubhouse. That's what we need in a new manager and players.

The batting averages between Kepler and Buxton seem somewhat close to each other...220-240. Might as well keep them both and see what happens this year. "220, 221 whatever it takes...." Mr. Mom reference circa 1983?

How much longer do we need to keep talking about Duffey? Hopefully you are right and we have a 40 man crunch and dump him.

I think I spot a trend...So unfortunate for Sano and Twins. Ugh.