Original Post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It felt good to get back to a full week of Twins coverage here at NoDak Twins Fan and after my vacation in Arizona it was great to get caught up on all of the happenings across Twins Territory. We are only a few short weeks away from baseball being played under the sun at Target Field. It will be a welcome sight to see the hometown nine take the field for the first time and for the memories of an awful 2011 to go away. The NFL contin
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XZ4BnqAdoiU/T2qVBaec3DI/AAAAAAAABJA/pTpDj5rw4fI/s320/ux4BUKbr.jpg In recent years the Twins have struggled to produce quality middle infielders who could succeed at the big league level. There has been a steady stream of infielders to man second base and shortstop for the Twins during the last two seasons but no one has stood out above the crowd. During this offseason, the organization decided to try to create
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Of0x5M4xZHM/T2fmcN1mD5I/AAAAAAAABIo/vItElcCwrD0/s320/628x471.jpg As I touched on with my post from yesterday, I spent part of the last week in Arizona taking in some Cactus League action. One of the highlights for me during this trip was being able to watch Tim Lincecum take the mound for the Giants. It is rare to get to see a true ace especially one from the National League since the Twins don't face the NL on a consistent basis. The Star Tribune did a good write-up
My trip last week to Arizona allowed me to get a first hand view of the Cactus League for the first time. I have made a couple of trips to Florida to watch the Twins play in the Grapefruit League so it was nice to see how some of the other teams spend their time during spring training. I went into my trip to the Valley of the Sun with the mindset that the Cactus League and Grapefruit League would be very similar but that opinion would change during my week in the Phoenix area. I thought it wou
I made it home after some rest and relaxation in the Arizona sun. It was a great time in the Valley of the Sun but it does feel nice to get back into a normal routine. Plus the weather here in the Upper Midwest is about as hot as it was down there. It has been a strange winter for weather and it makes me want the start of the baseball season to come that much faster. Since I was gone for most of the week, it was fun to put together this week's version of Friday Links-N-Thinks. It allowed me to
It was a fun week for Twins fans as the first spring training games of the season were broadcast on television. This gave people their first view of the players who will comprise the roster of the 2012 version of the Twins. One of the fun things about spring training games is that a variety of fringe members for the 25-man roster are fighting for their chance to make it to the big leagues. Some players will succeed and others will fail but that is part of life as a professional baseball player.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v-gVcJXMUq8/T1giIhWkuAI/AAAAAAAABH4/9whIYbShsB4/s320/LirianoSpring.jpg When every team reports to spring training in Florida or Arizona, there is hope surrounding the beginning of a new season. Each team has a clean slate and only one team can call themselves champions from the previous year. Besides the St. Louis Cardinals, every other team left the field last year with an unfulfilled feeling inside and a bad taste in their mouth. Some of that taste has washed away in
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Kf17thJDns8/T1fbH2Wcj3I/AAAAAAAABHw/FdYu8SLXjT8/s320/Lucas-Giolito.jpg Maybe one of the only good things about suffering through a 99-loss season with the Twins in 2011 was the fact that the organization would have a very good pick in the 2012 amateur draft. The Twins "earned" the number two selection for the draft this June and this means there should be some very good talent to select from with only the Astros picking before them. Fans looking forward to the June
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xv6524k0fdo/T1dUA9oCeOI/AAAAAAAABHo/yvxKcDWQB6Y/s320/GardyBurroughs.jpg The Twins took a chance when they signed Joel Zumaya to an incentive-laden contract. That high-risk deal could have come with some great rewards but Zumaya's time with the Twins was over before it even started. Only 13 pitches into his first workout with the Twins, he walked off the mound with soreness in his right elbow. Now the often-injured flamethrower will go under the knife again but this tim
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FpKkyGDAhMo/T1TtwjjjYPI/AAAAAAAABHQ/jVPsfEuFQMg/s320/SkinnyMorneau.JPG When I opened to the front page of the Sunday sports section in the Star Tribune, there was one photo that stood out to me. Justin Morneau was shown taking a swing on a pitch (see photo above) and his size is noticeably different from previous years. This was only one photo from a spring training game but there have been other photos that have trickled out of Fort Myers that show more of the same; M
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MEN91q2weg0/T1OmFEAiBWI/AAAAAAAABHI/xWKOZXlzyBE/s320/SpanFall.png The Twins are only three games into their Grapefruit League schedule but Denard Span is making sure to put all of his concussion worries behind him. Over the course of the last handful of days, Span has been forced to make numerous plays on the ball that could be troublesome for a player who suffered a concussion last year. Even with all of these rough plays, Span has not suffered any major setbacks and
It's hard to believe that another week has gone by and the Twins are one step closer to beginning their 2012 season. The first Grapefruit League action for the Twins will take place on Saturday and it sounds like Joe Mauer, Denard Span, and Justin Morneau could all be available to play. Span ran into the center field wall during a simulated game on Thursday and as of right now he only had a cut lip to deal with. Fingers are crossed that he will show up to the facility on Friday without any linge
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--jvPqmEC0Vk/T07zkszcmtI/AAAAAAAABGw/2-kEtGFuqe0/s320/twins-yankees.jpg One of the downfalls of having an unbalanced schedule in MLB is that teams will end up facing a lot of competition from the other divisions in their league earlier in the year. For the Twins this means a healthy dose of the AL East and AL West to start the 2012 campaign. The AL East has three of the top teams in the entire American League and the AL West has put together two of the best rosters at t
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q9yTJA0HubY/T0u2kqT2SdI/AAAAAAAABGo/0my5j4SyCow/s320/Dozier+Twins.jpg One of the Twins biggest offseason investments was in the form of 38-year old middle infielder Jamey Carroll. The versatile free agent was brought to the organization to help solidify a middle infield that waffled through a gargantuan amount of issues in 2011. He seems to get better with age and the Twins are hoping their two-year investment in the elder statesman can continue to lead to success from
Well spring has sprung across the baseball world. Pitchers and catchers from MLB teams have reported for duty in Florida and Arizona. The position players for the Twins have also made their way to Ft. Myers and the team will begin full squad workouts in the coming days. It is a great time of year to be a fan of baseball. There is hope in the air and every team is on an even playing field. There can be surprises around every turn and no one knows who will take home the World Series Trophy at th
Last year I had fun writing a post about two of the things I am passionate about, the Twins and the Academy Awards. It was a fun post for me to compile and I got positive feedback from multiple sources after last year's post. With the Oscars around the corner and spring training already started in Florida, I figured it was time for another rendition of my "Twins headlines turned into Oscar movie plots." Below you will find all of the films nominated for Best Picture in this weekend's ceremony
Original post from http://nodaktwinsfan.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the hottest topics across the baseball universe as pitchers and catchers have reported is surrounding whether catchers should block the plate. The Giants suffered a major blow last season when their budding superstar Buster Posey was bowled over at home plate by outfielder Scott Cousins. As a result of the collision Posey suffered a broken leg and ligament damage that required multiple surgeries to repair the damage. The Giants
Original Post from http://nodaktwinsfan.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It seemed no one was safe from the plethora of injuries suffered by Twins players in 2011 as it seemed to hit every part of the roster. From position players to the pitching staff, there was hardly anyone who was safe from the injury bug. One of the players that missed a big chunk of the second half of the year was Nick Blackburn. In the midst of a multi-year contract extension, Blackburn was limited to 148.1 innings and 26 games on the
One year ago the Twins were working with a relief pitcher who wanted to show he had fully recovered from an elbow injury. Joe Nathan had spent the last year trying to recover from Tommy John surgery. He hadn't been on a mound in a major league regular season game since the playoffs in 2009. When pitchers and catchers reported to spring training, he was ready to show the team everything he had and he told the team that he didn't "want to be babied if I don't need it." Fast-forward to 2012 and
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?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
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?· 0 replies
