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I am excited to see Chris Parmelee this year. I look forward to seeing Joe Benson and Brian Dozier. I want to see how Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere progress. I also know they are not ready. At some point this season someone will have written, they called him up to soon because they weren't ready. The reality is that very few are ready. Most cannot get ready for the majors without struggle at the level first. So expect the struggle. Be patient. The plate appearances invested this year will lik
Back when I was in college, I was a huge Golden Gopher hockey fan (well, still am; can't wait to see the boys battle Boston College on Thursday). Since I was majoring in journalism and had an acute interest in sportswriting, I figured it would be wise to seek an opportunity to cover the team for a media outlet. I ended up landing in a volunteer position with the school radio station. The gig consisted of watching Friday night games from the press box, calling in to give live on-air updates bet
[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] To say that it's a big year for Francisco Liriano is an understatement. He's coming off an awful 2011 (except for that no-hitter), he's trying to prove that he can stay healthy for an entire season, and he's pitching for a contract, whether it's from the Twins, or any of the other teams in baseball that might be interested in a lefty with a nasty slider. Earlier this winter, I made my case for trying to extend Liriano before Spring Training even st
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment: I cannot believe that Spring Training is over tomorrow and that the season begins this Friday. Orioles' Jake Arrieta (of the 5 some ERA and 1.5some WHIP in 2011) was named opening day starter agaist the Twins. Hope that the Twins' bats beat him up pretty nicely. Last November we heard that Plouffe was finally just an outfielder/DH. Unfortunately, Mr Gardenhire decided that "Plouffey" is the backup shorts
With Opening Day later in the week, it is time for my annual predictions for the 2012 baseball season. It is always fun to sort through all of the teams, players, and divisions to find out who will be the best of the best in the coming year. There are always going to be surprises along the way like the Diamondbacks were in 2011. The edition of the new wild card spots in each league will also add some spice to the race for the playoffs in the 2012 season. Over the course of the week, I will re
Everyone knows to follow the progress of Miguel Sano, Eddie Rosario, Oswaldo Arcia, Levi Michael, Hudson Boyd, Madison Boer and other top 20-25 prospects in the Twins system. There are many others, however, who with strong seasons could jump up into that top 20 range. Here are 10 of them (and thanks to Seth Stohs for roster information): JD Williams, OF (Age: 21.4, SH): Williams will start with Beloit this year after a fantastic showing at Elizabethon. Three words: Dude is fast. Last year's li
I was thinking today that it's possible that the Twins could be better or at least as good at every position this year compared to last. So I started thinking it over and tried to come up with some rough estimates and comparisons to see if it really was possible. Starting Pitchers: Carl Pavano becomes Carl Pavano. Pretty much steady Eddie. Can we assume he'll perform this year about the same as last? Difference: -0 wins. Scott Baker becomes Scott Baker. He performed great last year, but got
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog The Twins 25-man roster has been set, and I'm pretty excited about it. However, there are some surprises (at least for me) on it. Namely: There are only two catchers on the roster and neither of them are named Drew Butera. We all know that Gardy loves having three catchers on hand in the miniscule chance that one of them gets hurt while the other one is the DH, or something like that. But no more of that. Joe Mauer needs to stay healthy and R
The regular season is so close you can taste it, and we Peanuts are back from our long hibernation with our season preview posts. Later in this week we'll post our preview of the Twins season (the optimistic, pessimistic, and realistic points of view) and predictions for the year ahead from the smartest analysts we know. But first, the reason for the prolonged delay between posts. It turns out that it's easier to post about things when you don't have a full time job to attend to. With Stinky in
Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- 'Tis the time of the year for the season predictions. I took a (unpublished) cut on these right at the beginning of Spring Training and then I finalized them today. I actually had to make a few changes based on events that happened in Spring Training and even teams' performances in Spring Training. Here are my predictions for the 2012 Major League Baseball season, including standing for each division, who will win the wild card and who w
[Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] As I scanned down the list of position players on the Twins' 25 man roster, and saw names like Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Denard Span as starters, and guys like Luke Hughes and Sean Burroughs off the bench, something came to mind: there shouldn't be an awful hitter on this team in 2012. If you've followed the Twins for the past several seasons, there is always at least one hitter that can barely hit his weight, yet makes his w
With Opening Day later in the week, it is time for my annual predictions for the 2012 baseball season. It is always fun to sort through all of the teams, players, and divisions to find out who will be the best of the best in the coming year. There are always going to be surprises along the way like the Diamondbacks were in 2011. The addition of the new wild card spots in each league will also add some spice to the race for the playoffs in the 2012 season. Over the course of the week, I will r
I know the Twins still have five days until they get to play the Orioles, but I can’t wait. The roster is set. There are a couple more meaningless games against the Rays, because you can’t play enough meaningless games against the Rays. And then a game versus the Miracle? Really? I’ll be damned if I’m not going to look forward to Friday. Orioles By The Numbers Overall 69.5 – The over/under Vegas set for Orioles wins this year. Which means if they go 70-92, they would still exceed expectati
[TABLE=class: tr-caption-container, width: 1, align: center] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cPfM-ie6Qx4/T3itwHKTDFI/AAAAAAAAAPk/O5oJ76ltO2Q/s320/dozier.jpg [TD=class: tr-caption]source: mlb.com[/TD] [/TABLE] 9. Brian Dozier, Shortstop, 24 years old 2011 stats: .320/.399/.491 with 9 HRs and 24 stolen bases in 35 attempts for Fort Myers & New Britain. Last Year's Rank: NA Acquired: Drafted by the Twins in the 8th round of the draft out of Southern Mississippi in 2009. Dozier had a quite a y
Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- FORT MYERS FL. A bit before the seventh inning stretch of today's game with the Boston Red Sox, Twins' manager Rod Gardenhire went to the visitor's clubhouse at the Jet Blue Park and decided to have an impromptu press conference. He announced that, since last Saturday when Drew Butera was optioned to Rochester, Gardenhire has been having severe symptoms of separation anxiety including indigestion, night terrors, flu-like symptoms and other un
On Sunday morning, Brian Dozier, JR Towles, Brian Dinkelman and Casey Fien were all re-assigned to minor league camp. The moves have mean that the Twins roster is essentially set. Dozier came into camp hoping to make a strong impression and it would be an understatement to say he did. He displayed strong defense that appears to give the Twins coaches and front office confidence that he can be an every day shortstop. He hit well, including three spring home runs. It's safe to say that he'll he
[h=3]originally posted at ontheroadwithshawn and TwinsTarget.[/h] [TABLE=class: tr-caption-container, width: 1, align: center] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o3o85_Qz0fg/T3fGsI1DsRI/AAAAAAAAAPY/juduo-YYLQo/s320/parmelee.jpg [TD=class: tr-caption]source: twinkietown[/TD] [/TABLE] 10. Chris Parmelee, First Base/Outfield, 24 years old 2011 stats: .287/.366/.436 with 13 HRs for New Britain. Last Year's Rank: #18 Acquired: Drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (20th overall) out of Chino Hills, CA
Jose Rodriguez was the Twins Daily short-season minor-league hitter of the year. He is at the Dominican facilities for spring training now but will likely join Extended Spring Training in Fort Myers.
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?