Minnesota Twins Talk

I'm bringing my GF down from Winnipeg to Minneapolis at the end of April and I want to take her to a game. She wants to sit in the outfield as she has never sat in outfield seats before. Right now I'm looking at seats in Section 131 Row 2, right next to the bullpen. I'm just curious if any of you have any advice on the best outfield places to sit? Best sight lines, better to sit in the upper decks? Also if anyone has some cool places to hit up before or after the game that would be much appreciated. Thanks.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/192654831.html Phil Miller wrote another terrific article today on the state of the Twins middle infield. He got some great quotes from Twins assistant GM Rob Antony, including this one where he acknowledged that, like every team and every person, mistakes have been made.

How do we clear the way for Oswaldo Arcia by the start of 2014? There are a ton of possibilities here, so be creative.... http://twinsdaily.com/entry.php?b=2545

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_22655326/perk-goes-work Berardino's Sunday feature is on Glen Perkins taking over the role of closer. It's interesting reading the similarities between him and Eddie Guardado. There is also a lot of talk about the personality needed to be a closer:

seriously.....why our we letting these blind mice drive the ship right into the ice berg? why not fire them now and bring in moliter to take control and put this team on the right track? we need pitching and nothing got done!!! another 100 losses? how can we keep these guys?

Maybe I missed this, but according to Phil MIller, Harden could've signed with the Twins last year at this time, but knew he wanted shoulder surgery, so he turned them down: It's a really interesting story, both about the pain Harden has handled and how the Twins and he found common ground. It makes me even more optimistic about him being part of the team. (And maybe even re-signing if he stays healthy.) http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/192404651.html

http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2013/02/23/breaking-down-the-pay-scale-for-the-younger-minnesota-twins/ The Pioneer Press's Mike Berardino wrote an interesting blog explaining a little bit of how the Twins determine the contracts of the players in their pre-arbitration years. It's very interesting: The blog also tells us how much various Twins players will make in 2013 if they're with the Twins.

According to the Mets GM Sandy Alderson, it's not because he's had a setback: I was about to go out here and write what a disaster that trade was for both franchises. Certainly, Santana hasn't been what we saw or what the Mets expected, but his numbers the first three years with them were awfully good: 600 IP, 2.85 ERA. The last two were bad, but that contract can end after this year. (And considering he'll make $25M if they pick up his option, I expect it will end after this year.) If he looks like he's returning to health this year, but isn't dominant, I wonder if anyone locally will lobby to go after him for 2014. He'll be 34 this season. http://www.twincities…

The games will start soon. My challenge to the Twin Daily bloggers is to pledge not to use any data in spring training. The samples are way too small. The quality if competition way too varied. The data is absolutely meaningless. Uncertain? Look at last year's numbers. Luke Hughes tore it up. People on this site were arguing the Mike Hollimon had earned a job. Brian Dinkelman and JR Towles joined them with an OPS's over .900. On the pitching side, Matt Maloney, Nick Blackburn and Francisco Liriano dominated. Still uncertain? Look at 2011 data. That is not to say that a player can't earn a job. If he does, it must be through the eyes of the staff watching every …

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/sports/baseball/twins-terry-ryan-looks-to-recapture-past-success.html?smid=tw-nytimessports&seid=auto A terrific article on Terry Ryan from Tyler Kepner of the NY Times.

I don't know if we already knew this, or just figured it was the case. But Rhett Bollinger of MNTwins.com is reporting that Pedro Florimon is the favorite to be the shortstop on Opening Day. History tells us how he's going to swing the bat: like someone visually challenged. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130220&content_id=41819358&notebook_id=41819384

I'm just tossing an idea out there, but would anyone else be willing to do this trade?.... BoSox get: Byron Buxton, Travis Harrison, Daniel Santana Twins get: Xander Bogaerts

Looks like Kevin Correia is starting the Twins spring training opener on Saturday. That's partly because the team wants him to have two starts before he leave training camp on the 27th for the birth of his child. I'd sure love to be wrong about this signing, at least for this year. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130220&content_id=41819358&notebook_id=41819630

On this week's episode of the Talk to Contact we talk about spring training stats, positional adjustments to watch for this year, and even bring in Seth Stops for some quick prospect talk. Check it out at www.talktocontact.com

http://www.startribune.com/blogs/78693392.html Justin Morneau told FoxSports.com's Jon Morosi that it "would be very cool" to play for the Blue Jays someday... This morning, he told Miller that people shouldn't make too much out of those comments.

It sounds like he's going to be all right. He kept pitching, though with a screen in front of him. Clete Thomas was the bad guy.... The one who has something to worry about might be Meyer. I mean, Clete Thomas hit one of your pitches. You deserve what you get when that happens. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_22637093/minnesota-twins-pitcher-alex-meyer-fine-after-being

A melancholy story by Charley Walters, who talks to Rick Stelmaszek. Stelmaszek was fired as bullpen coach after last season and is not in Fort Myers this year. http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_22632347/charley-walters-after-43-years-void-ex-twin?source=rss

La Velle E Neal posted some ravings about 18-year-old Jose Berrios yesterday morning. There are some other quotes about him too. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/192025501.html

Brian Murphy of the Pi Press checks in on Rich Harden. it has a variation on the usual "best shape of my life" spring training story: Lord, help me, but I'm going to get sucked in by this. I'm going to believe. I can feel the stomach punch already. Minnesota Twins' Rich Harden hopes for more time on mound, less on DL - TwinCities.com

Admit it. You were looking for a picture, right? Willingham calls it "zany promos for Fox Sports North." Whatever. I don't need FSN to give me an excuse to feel pretty. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_22637041/minnesota-twins-josh-willingham-dresses-part-promo

http://www.thegoodphight.com/2013/2/20/4009560/ben-revere-singing-beyonces-single-ladies-put-a-ring-on-it

Friend of Twins Daily Brandon Warne unearthed an interesting piece of nostalgia -- an online archived 1996 Baseball Prospectus Annual. In it, you will find all the teams and their season write-ups and player synopsis, including the Minnesota Twins: 1996 ultimately was a snake-bitten season, what with the loss of Kirby Puckett in the spring, but the team did produce a few good offensive seasons (thanks to free agent Paul Molitor and Chuck Knoblauch). Still, the pitching was a mess and probably the 36-year-old Puck wouldn't be able to rob nearly enough home runs to change that fact.

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Zulgad_Departure_of_good_friend_gives_Darin_Mastroianni_golden_opportunity_022013 When Ben Revere was traded, Darin Mastroianni had mixed emotions. He and Revere were very close friends, but he now has an opportunity to be the Twins starting CF. Very good story!

Judd Zulgad writes about how Ron Gardenhire has at least one believer in the organization. And it's an important one: his boss. It will be interesting this season to see how Gardenhire ends up. With Terry Ryan at the helm, I don't think Gardy will be judged bases on wins and losses. He might get fired based on other things. But it isn't going to be just because of a 90-loss season. Ryan knows the talent level on this team. And he knows he put Gardy in a tough situation by building for the future instead of the present. And that's the way it should be, IMHO. http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Zulgad_Presence_of_Terry_Ryan_as_GM_is_good_news_for_Ron_Gardenhire0218…

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_22631504/minnesota-twins-scott-diamond-takes-slow-steady-route Nice piece from the Pioneer Press’ new beat guy detailing Scott Diamond’s recovery from offseason elbow surgery. The LHP states that he incurred the bone chips (or, I assume, first noticed them) when jumping rope in December, which answers the question many have asked about why he didn’t undergo the surgery until then. He called it a “freak mishap” (the number of those that have occurred to current/former Twins pitchers this offseason is mind-boggling). Also, it seems like the writing is on the wall that Diamond will not be ready for the start of the season:

Interesting article at MLB.com about the 2003 trade of Pierzynski for Nathan, Francisco and Boof, and the fact that Joe and AJ are now teammates in Texas. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130220&content_id=41818010&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

As much as I hate seeing repeated threads, I'm posting this link because I didn't see it anywhere else. (I'm sure it's in a thread somewhere today.) It's a five-minute clip that will leave you wishing it was it's own hour show. http://mlb.mlb.com/cutfour/index.jsp#contentId=41836712

Howard Sinker blogs about all the stories being written about Ben Revere in Philly - and posts the Ben Revere "Put a Ring On It" video. You don't want to miss this. He's either going to love or hate that city. I don't see any middle ground. I think it will be the former. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/191810521.html

Phil Miller finds out from Dave St. Peter that the first day of single game ticket sales wasn't great, but St. Peter doesn't see too precipitous of a drop: That confidence would seem to be misplaced. Last year, the Twins drew 2.77 million - and ranked 12th overall. Last year, the dividing line between the top 15 and bottom 15 was about 2.35M. Would the Twins sink that low? Consider that season ticket sales have gone down from 25,000 to 19,000, which is a 24% drop. A similar drop in overall sales would put the twins at 2.1 million this year. Early indications show decreased demand for Twins tickets | StarTribune.com

What hotel do the Twins stay at in Milwaukee? thanks.