The Twins hosted another Fan Forum phone call on Tuesday night, this time featuring closer Glen Perkins and catcher Kurt Suzuki. I took some notes, and I thought I'd kind-of, sort-of transcribe them. My usual caveat: keep in mind, I'm a horrible transcriptionist, my notes are hard to read, my hand cramped up halfway through, and my dog needed to be let out in the middle of it. All the questions and answers written here are rough estimations of what was really said, and most likely somewhat abbre
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog As expected, on March 22, the Twins placed Anthony Swarzak and Scott Diamond on the 15-day Disabled List. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KFwBaUCUB7E/UU5dEyvCL_I/AAAAAAAACH8/inQ2Qgz2NYA/s640/swarzakribs.png Anthony Swarzak was placed on the DL with cracked ribs suffered at the end of January while he was in Minnesota for TwinsFest. Apparently he and some teammates were goofing around, officially stated as "horseplay" but I'm guessing wrestling, and ouch.
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog. The Twins conducted another Fan Form conference call for season-ticket holders, this time featuring new hitting coach Tom Brunansky and new bench and catchers' coach Terry Steinbach. I furiously scribbled notes as fast as a could so I can recap the call for you. As always, I'm pretty crappy at taking dictation, so please don't consider any of this true quotes, but rather regard it as paraphrases and general ideas. I apologize in advance if I get any
Originally posted at kbro's baseball blog We all had a good chuckle (and by "chuckle," I mean "eye-roll") when we heard that Anthony Swarzak cracked a couple ribs when he and a teammate engaged in what the team officially calls "horseplay." Now, we're hearing that Scott Diamond's bone chips -- you know, the ones that required surgery in December -- occurred because he was jumping rope. It makes one wonder whether players participating in common children's activities is perhaps unlucky.
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog In less than a week, the Twins will officially open Spring Training camp. As of now, 66 players are expected to be there: 34 pitchers, 9 catchers (a lot of catchers needed for a lot of pitchers), 13 infielders, and 10 outfielders. There are a lot of bodies (I imagine the locker room might be a tad crowded), but there are also a lot of holes from 2012 to be filled. By the end of it, there will be 25 men ready to head north and face the Tigers on April
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog The days are beginning to get noticeably longer. Football teams are being eliminated from the playoffs one-by-one. The Twins Caravan is in full swing. So it must be almost time for TwinsFest. I know many fans enjoy going to TwinsFest yearly. Those folks already already know what they want to do. But, if you haven't been in a while, allow me to point out some of my TwinsFest traditions. Make a plan: Be sure to visit the TwinsFest website to view
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog Dirk Hayhurst. Out of My League: A Rookie's Survival in the Bigs. New York, NY: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2012. ISBN 978-0-8065-3553-1 I loved The Bullpen Gospels, Dirk Hayhurst's first book, so much that I went out of my way to recommend it to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, I can't muster that much enthusiasm for his follow-up book Out of My League. In fact, I hesitate to recommend it at all. While Gospels is primarily a humor b
Originally posted k-bro's baseball blog It's been a while since I've updated, and addition to the Span and Revere trades that I did write about, there's been some activity I need to mention. When I last did an update, it was right before the contract-tender deadline and the Winter Meetings. Let's go back in time three weeks to catch up. Sherman, set the WABAC machine ... bo beep boop bo beep November 30, 2012 Contract-tender Day. This was the date when teams had to decide whether to te
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog In the span of one week, the Twins have traded two speedy centerfielders. And both times, I've had mixed feelings about the deals. Just when Twins fans handed over the responsibilities of centerfielder, lead off hitter, and 'big brother' to the up-and-coming outfielders to Ben Revere, he was traded to the Phillies for two right-handed pitchers. And just when fans were getting past losing Denard Span, another fun-to-watch, popular player was torn a
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog You've most likely heard by now that the Twins have traded center-fielder Denard Span to the Washington Nationals for RHP prospect Alex Meyer today. Being a fan of a sports team has its downfalls. I wouldn't have much fun being a fan if I didn't get a little emotionally attached to some of the guys. The risk of that, of course, is that it's a bummer when they go away. I will certainly miss Denard. All the things I've seen on Twitter and websit
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog The Admitting of Errors and Omissions: The Twins haven't really erred or omitted -- as far as I can tell -- but I have. Specifically, I've omitted (although there's a better than even chance that I've erred as well, but I'm not aware of what it is yet). Last time, I totally forgot to mention that Alexi Casilla was claimed off waivers by the Orioles. I not only forgot this event happened, but I also forgot Alexi Casilla existed. Not to be mean or any
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog I've been out of blogging commission for a while; I've been laptopless (not to be confused with topless -- or lapless for that matter). That's been resolved, so here I am again. Not that there's much shocking news to write about, but here it is anyway. New Guys The Twins have added a few new players, but no one to get really excited about. Infielder Tommy Field (yes, a fielder named Field) and right-handed pitcher Josh Roenicke were claimed off waiver
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog. Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for winning the World Series. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was surprised that the Tigers weren't able to make a better series out it, especially after they mopped up the Yankees so handily. But it's just as well; the weather wouldn't have cooperated in Detroit for a game 5. Silly old Sandy. ~~~ Now that the World Series is over, players who qualify have become free agents. Friday at 11 pm Central time
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog An INFIELD FLY is a fair fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule. When it seems apparent that a batted ball will be an Infield Fly, the umpi
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog The Twins front office and ownership really hate losing. And who doesn't. So they wasted no time setting into motion a bad day for a bunch of members of the Twins coaching staff (it couldn't have been a ton of fun for the Terry Ryan, Dave St. Peter, and Jim Pohlad either). No one technically got fired; their contracts were not renewed. Bullpen coach Rick Stelmazsek, third-base coach Steve Liddle, first base coach Jerry White, and head athlet
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BL4zXiZLkDo/UGzo67jmQpI/AAAAAAAACEo/knDIi_Bl63E/s200/formal.PNG As the Twins wrap up another disappointing season, it would be easy to just throw up my hands in a snit and curse them all. But Twins baseball is still better than no baseball. For all the complaining I've done about pitching and leaving men on base, I want to spend a blog post focusing on the good things these players did this season. So, for what it's wo
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog On Thursday evening, Ron Gardenhire and Terry Ryan participated in a Fan Forum Conference Call with Season Ticket Holders. This is a nice little perk that allows fans to get a glimpse of the inside workings of the team. Nothing earth-shattering ever gets said, but it's always interesting. I hastily tried to take some notes as the call went along; here are my impressions. (Keep in mind that I'm not a good transcriber, so none of these are direct
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog There are less than two weeks left in baseball's regular season, and with the Twins slogging through these last few games, there's nothing much for Twins fans to do but find other teams to root for and look forward to the off-season with hope of great improvement for 2013. September 12, 2012 -- MLB 2013 Schedules Released (ok, this one isn't upcoming, but it's still important) What it means: Next season, the Astros will be joining the Americ
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2hZrlx7Hgi8/UEU_wVi2uxI/AAAAAAAACDs/Tn6Wwz1tUAg/s400/span_sc.PNG On August 30, the Twins placed Denard Span on the 15-day disabled list with a strain of his right sternoclavicular (SC) joint. At first look, that seems like an odd move, given that the Twins would increase their rosters on September 1. However, as ESPN1500's Phil Makey (@PMac21 on Twitter) explained it, they did it so they could call up Matt Carson to ta
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog I have some little opinions on some news items, so I thought I'd share some of them. ~~~ Scott Diamond received a 6-game suspension for throwing toward Josh Hamilton's head on Friday. He plans to appeal the suspension. I'm glad he's appealing because I thought the whole situation was handled poorly. Roy Oswalt inexplicably beaned Joe Mauer in the back of the neck, I'm assuming because he was pissy that Pedro Florimon scored on a pla
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog The last time I talked about the Twins roster changes, Danny Valencia had just been traded and Tsyoshi Nishioka had been called up to replace him. That was August 6th. The Twins have made a move or two since then. Let's review. August 6: Nishioka was called up to replace Valencia on the roster. Since he makes $3 million a year, it was worth giving him another chance to see if he could hack it in the bigs. In fact, Gardy mentioned that he wan
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog A few weeks ago, the Minnesota Twins sent out a tweet inviting folks to apply to their social media event beneath the Budweiser Roof Deck that they call Deckstravaganza.This was the third time I had applied, and this time I got an invitation. First of all, I'd like to thank the Twins for hosting such a terrific event. The staff did a great job making us feel welcome and well-taken-care-of. Aside from the score of the game itself, we couldn't
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog A bunch of random thoughts that individually aren't enough for a blog post, but collectively are, well, something. Or not. Buh-bye Danny In a sudden, but not necessarily surprising move, the Twins traded Danny Valencia to the Red Sox for rookie-ball outfielder Jeremias Pineda. Danny seemed to be pretty popular with his teammates, but his relationship between with the organization was becoming strained. Obviously, we can't know for sure wh
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog I suppose you probably already know by now that the Twins traded Francisco Liriano, but I'm going to talk about it anyway. As I was thinking about getting ready for bed on Saturday night (yeah, this was at about 10pm; I'm a fuddy-duddy), I went to check Twitter quick before plugging in my phone. And in the five minutes since I had previously checked Twitter, it had exploded with news that the Twins had traded Frankie to the White Sox. Wai
Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yw-QBIVVtBw/UBH7F5qAWeI/AAAAAAAACBE/Z4hBX_dt_Kc/s400/swarzakshoulder.PNG The Twins have placed RHP Anthony Swarzak on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to July 25th, with a rotator cuff strain. I was surprised by this, and after a quick Twitter inquiry, I learned that I wasn't the only one. It didn't seem like there were any tell-tale signs that he was hurting like there there were with Carl Pavano and Matt Capps, no
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
