Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment (also heavily influenced by Spring Training) :

• I am on my way to Fort Myers this weekend. There will be in situ coverage of the Twins major league and minor league camps, as well as games all next week from there. So make sure that you check here early
  and often. This will also give me a chance to update my Fort Myers Spring Training Guide
  for next season. I am also planning on a few surprises, but those will have to wait. I will be tweeting a lot during the games and as I get news about the Twins, so feel free to follow me on twitter @thrylos98 or
  come back here and see my latest Twins tweets at the left hand side of the page.
  
• By now we all know about the second round of the Twins' cuts, and I suspect sending Nishioka to Rochester was a bitter pill to swallow, but the right decision. This opens the door for someone like Mike Hollimon to win a roster spot. At this point, the Twins might want to take Nishioka off the 40-man roster as well. If he gets claimed, he does, if he does not, nothing lost and a spot gained... I also suspect that there might be a trade or 2 before the rosters get finalized.
  
• Speaking of Nishioka, I sure hope that the Rochester Red Wings are now paying his translator instead of the Twins. They can afford him with all the income they are getting by the Yankees and by selling Yankee paraphernalia in their web site.
  
• Speaking of the cuts... the one that I kinda find unreasonable at this point is Aaron Bates. He has been outperforming a lot of people, and it is a shame he was cut, while Matt Carson, Brian Dinkelman and Danny Lehmann are still around.
  
• This is a killer video of the Twins' Spring Training. A MUST watch.
  
• Twins' LHP pitching prospect Ryan O'Rourke, blogged about his first days in the Twins' minor league camp in Fort Myers. So does fellow pitching prospect Dakota Watts.
  
• At least certain Twins' players enjoyed St. Patric's day. Can you identify the one not identified? Hint: all 3 of them were in Rochester for at least parts of last season, and 2 of them were cut yesterday. Meanwhile another Twins' player, was at least thinking of sporting the Jose Reyes look (before haircut).
  
• I would not "panic about Justin Morneau" (and I do not "panic"), but I might be a tad concerned about Jason Marquis and Carl Pavano at this point. A quote by Marquis from that ESPN1500 link with the Morneau story: "I
  worked in my slider and today was the first day I used it. I wouldn't say excessively, but I felt like it was where I needed it to be. So I was pretty excited about it." All I have to say is that I am glad to see that he is pretty excited about the outcome...
  
• Meanwhile, both Cleveland and Kansas City lost their closers for a while and the White Sox have traded theirs a while ago... On the other hand the Royals' Broxton is having a nice Spring Training. Additionally, the new Tigers' third baseman, loves to stop line drives with his face.
  
• If you live around the Twin Cities area and have a taste for Twins' minor league ball, make sure that you check out Territory Train. I think that they follow the major league team around too.
  
• It started yesterday, but I think that since the Do you know your Twins? challenge has been a hit, and since I have lots of Twins' memorabilia to give away, I may continue doing that. At least on a monthly basis
  
• Continuing the Twins' product of the week feature. Because there are so many out there and some of them are, well... interesting. But this one, I ordered one for myself. This weeks' winner is: MLB Minnesota Twins Classic Baseball Bracelethttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=B001CG2W98
  

The parting shot today is of dearly departed (to Rochester) Tsuyoshi Nishioka in full Chiba Lotte Marines regalia. I hope he returns to the performance he had then, via Rochester, soon.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Tsuyoshi_Nishioka_2010.JPG/399px-Tsuyoshi_Nishioka_2010.JPG