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Twins Daily

Contending or not, Liriano could be gone

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

Twins Upper Level Talent

How many times this offseason have you heard the phrase, “The Twins have some really good prospects but they don’t have any in the upper levels of their farm system?” I hear it all the time, and frankly, it kind of hits a nerve with me.   In 2011, the Twins had a season in which pretty much everyone got hurt and missed significant time. That meant more playing time for Luke Hughes and Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere which may prove valuable as early as 2012. Those guys were rushed. Ben Revere and

Is Nick Punto a "Winner"?

Original post from twinsrubes.blogspot.com.   The following is dedicated specifically to baakre's mother-in-law, a.k.a. Nick Punto's #1 Fan. Having taken the winter off from even thinking much about the Twins after last season's 99-loss performance; I am just now getting around to racking my brain to figure out what happened between 2010 and 2011. This morning, the solution came to me: the Twins lost Nick Punto! Could it be? Is Punto a "winner"? Was he a significant piece of this roster for

Spring Training: The Beginning – AJ Pettersen

The first full day of Spring Training was a whirlwind of activities. Being my first March in Fort Myers, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. Here is how it went:   Leave home for the airport. Say goodbye to my fiancé. Check my bags, just under the weight limit. Take my shoes off, walk through a small door, put my shoes back on. Sit and read Hunger Games. Hope they make it out alive. Hangout with Nate Hanson. Board the plane. Watch Cole Nelson try to fit his long legs in a very small space.

Giolito suffers elbow injury, ends high school career

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

Ryan Needs to be Held Accountable

I have been smiling from ear to ear since the Twins announced Terry Ryan was coming back as the general manager to replace Bill Smith. I believe it will take Ryan four years to rebuild this organization into an A.L. Central powerhouse like he did a decade ago. Smith is an affable guy but clearly was in over his head as the GM of the Twins. He decimated the depth of the team with some very bad trades. I really like the additions of Carroll, Doumit, and Willingham to provide more offense to a club

Non-Roster Invitee Letter Grades

When a team is successful, deciding on roster spots shouldn't be much of a chore. The stars have their spots guaranteed, the role players have already been identified, and there's maybe there's one player that has a chance at sneaking in.   Last season, the Twins were anything but successful as they lost 99 games. While the departures of Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, and Joe Nathan were eventually filled by the signings of Josh Willingham, Ryan Doumit, and Joel Zumaya (who is now out with

Shipley: Nick Blackburn makes adjustments

Nick Blackburn’s greatest redeeming quality is his ability to consume innings. Unfortunately, for the past two consecutive seasons, he has not come close to proving his worth in this department.   When he was not sidelined by injuries, Blackburn pitched on either side of the spectrum for the Twins. One month - like May 2011 where he went 3-0 with a 2.53 ERA in 42 innings pitched - he would be dazzling, using his sinker effectively and keeping opponents off-balanced. The next month – like July

Keeping track of the Twins bullpen battles; version 1

This was originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch and is reposted here ---   Previously, I listed all the players who are battling for one of the 3 bullpen spots this Spring Training. Because they are so many, I decided to create a spreadsheet and keep track of their performance this Spring day by day, using color coding and symbols to get a quick visual. In other words, creating a dashboard of their performance.   Green (+) is better than average appearance that day, yellow (0) is ave

Mauer's Off-the-Field Value to the Twins

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-spxEoWvSljE/T1dnwKsK0qI/AAAAAAAAAMA/Si870g9dhMM/s320/Jersey.bmp[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar]   I've written before, as have others, that Joe Mauer isn't only valuable to the Twins for his contributions as the star catcher and third batter in the lineup. Make no mistake, that's how he earns his paycheck, but it's also evident that, over the last few years, he has become his own brand. Even where I live, far removed from Twins Territory, I have noticed more T

Who gets the 40-man spot left by Zumaya?

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

Prospect movement trends, 2011-2012

Twins fans who have a curiosity about how things are "down on the farm" may look at top 10 prospect lists or maybe merely look at those players who are September call-ups and judge the state of the Twins system accordingly. Seth Stohs does more than enough to provide fans with a wealth of information about minor leaguers, but I thought that I would take things a step further and look at the movement of players, by position, on some select prospect lists for 2011-2012.   This does a number of thi

Empty the Bucket

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GHxgYs4H5Z0/T1bJD0Y3RcI/AAAAAAAABwE/eATs_4llk6E/s200/bucketofballs.png Originally posted at k-bro's baseball blog   If I think of my brain as a bucket, I sometimes imagine that it begins to overflow and I have to intentionally get some of my thoughts out of there before they just spill over and are gone forever.       Here are some baseball-related bucket thoughts:     Denard Falls Down During Saturday's Spring Training game, Denard Span fell down twice while makin

ThatsRich is Also a Blind Pig

Huh.   Just saw the following story pop up on Zite.   http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/tom_verducci/03/06/designated.hitter.national.league/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a2   The primary thesis of which sounds an awful lot like my second point in the prior post - about the move of Houston to the AL leading inevitably to the abolition of the 'non-DH' rule.   I'm not saying Mr. Verducci snuck onto Twins Daily for column ideas. We just happened to be thinking along the same lines

Notes and Thoughts from Today's Twins' Game

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ----   Not a game report by any means; just some random, stream of conscious type notes I took while I was watching the Twins' game on TV this afternoon: Jamey Carroll's strike zone is smaller than Ben Revere's. He really gets down in the box Doumit looks like Kubel. A lot Great double steal by Revere and Carroll in a botched pick-off move. Carroll seams a very astute base runner Baker's fastball at 86 mph to start the game, then up at 87-88

General Manager for a Day: Undo a Recent Twins Move, or Make One they Failed to Make

[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar]   I try to be a (mostly) practical Twins fan. I knew the Twins would never go after Albert Pujols. Last year, I wrote that I thought that Jose Reyes would be a good fit at shortstop, but realistically knew that the pieces would never fall into place for him to come to Minnesota. And, now I'm optimistic about Brian Dozier. Sure, I guess it's fun to dream (and even write) about those big free agent signings every now and then, but that doesn't seem, for a

Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

This was originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---   Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) : Today is Spring Training Reporting day for the Twins' minor leaguers. You can find the full MiLB Spring Training Schedule here. And if you wonder what the Twins' minor leaguers feel about the off-season and Spring Training, you should read this article by Twins LHP prospect Tony Davis, this by fellow LHP prospect Ryan O'Rourke, this by RHP prospect Dakot

Will a skinnier Morneau mean more production?

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

Prospect movement trends, 2011-2012

Twins fans who have a curiosity about how things are "down on the farm" may look at top 10 prospect lists or maybe merely look at those players who are September call-ups and judge the state of the Twins system accordingly. Seth Stohs does more than enough to provide fans with a wealth of information about minor leaguers, but I thought that I would take things a step further and look at the movement of players, by position, on some select prospect lists for 2011-2012.   This does a number of thi

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