Minnesota Twins Talk

Nice to have Miller back on a baseball beat. He writes a very comprehensive story about Gardenhire this year, including interviews with Tom Kelly and broaching the subject of Gardenhire's job security with Terry Ryan: Gardenhire is highly qualified for latest Twins task | StarTribune.com

Would you do it? Texas doesn't need him, and we do.

Hey folks, figured we could start something new to perk our interest up during ST this spring. Feel free to predict OVER or UNDER for each. # of Twins TJ Surgeries scheduled before April 5th 1.5 OVER Hits for Butera 3.5 OVER Joe Mauer World Baseball Classic Championship Title .5 UNDER Team wins (including S/S) 13.5 OVER Justin Morneau Homeruns 3 EVEN Innings pitched by Kyle Gibson 13.5 OVER Aaron Hicks batting average .280 UNDER Correia strikeout total 6.5 UNDER Joe Benson strikeouts 9 OVER Chris Parmelee XBH 7.5 OVER Trevor Plouffe's errors 2.5 UNDER Rich Harden innings pitched 5.5 UNDER Date Alex Meyer is sent down(before/after) March 6th BEFO…

There's lots of good stuff in this interview. It's more extensive than most. Brian Murphy asks specifically about the rotation, defense, middle infield, Harden, Parmelee, Garendhire and a lot more. I'm not sure what to make of Morneau, but Ryan didn't go out of his way to say he would keep him.... Twins' Terry Ryan Q&A: Ron Gardenhire, Justin Morneau still in Minnesota's plans - TwinCities.com

Tyler Mason previews the Twins starting rotation and will preview the other aspects of the team through the rest of the week. Gardenhire doesn't sound especially excited about the future.... Twins' rotation has changed, but is it better?

I find it somewhat interesting that one of Worley's worst days as a pitcher came at Hammond Stadium when he was trying to make the Phils last year. I also find it interesting that off-speed stuff seems to be more critical in the AL... Minnesota Twins' Vance Worley returns to scene of 'worst outing' - TwinCities.com

Lord, but I'm down on the Twins infield situation. Mason gives a good overview and gets Terry Ryan's thoughts... Twins ST will see competition in middle infield

A story on how critical Anderson's year is to the Twins, Gardenhire's and his own future. An interesting opinion by La Velle: Neal: With stakes raised, Anderson staying the course | StarTribune.com

Mariners. One year deal. Mlbtr.

La Velle lists five questions for the Twins, but they're spring training, not season related. Instead of Mauer's workload, I'd add something about the bullpen, which looks to be full, but not especially effective. I kind of like #4... Chart: Five questions facing the Twins | StarTribune.com

When even Mr. Powers refuses to jump on the bandwagon.... Tom Powers: For Twins, spring training is the best of times - TwinCities.com

I like kitschy as much as anyone, but I'll admit I'm a little baffled by how incredibly popular these are in Minnesota. In any case, it sounds like we'll be seeing Willingham as well as a double bobblehead of Morneau and Mauer. (Might want to do latter before the end of July....) Shooter Now: Twins bobbleheads: Joe Mauer-Justin Morneau, Josh Willingham - TwinCities.com

The Twins made a couple more minor league signings, adding outfielder Antoan Richardson and infielder Doug Bernier. These guys are nothing more than organizational depth, as far as I can see.

To countdown the days til pitchers and catchers report, we're going to list the Twins with those numbers (thanks to this awesome list) and let you can reminisce about one of them. So who is the poster boy for day #2.... Zoilo Versalles, 1961-67 Frank Kostro, 1968-69 Graig Nettles, 1969 Frank Crosetti, 1970-71 (Coach) Bobby Darwin, 1972-75 John Briggs, 1975 Craig Kusick, 1975 Steve Braun, 1976 Randy Bass, 1977 John Castino, 1979-84 Chris Pittaro, 1986-87 Wally Backman, 1989 Nelson Liriano, 1990 Donnie Hill, 1992 Pat Meares, 1993-98 Luis Rivas, 2000-05 Denard Span, 2008-12 Huh. I gotta say, I'm a little surprised that this isn't a more ac…

...DFA'd by the Cubs. Campana (LH) was the only player in the MLB that had more SBs per AB than Mastroianni. Could he be someone the Twins add to platoon with Mastro (RH)? At least until Hicks is ready...

Injured shoulder

To countdown the days til pitchers and catchers report, we're going to list the Twins with those numbers (thanks to this awesome list) and let you can reminisce about one of them. So who is the poster boy for day #3.... 3 Harmon Killebrew, 1961-74 So this is an easy one. There are a few other with just one player, but only one other one is under #65. When I think of Killebrew, I think of my first live Twins game. My dad got some tickets from Unisys, where he worked, and if I remember it right (and I might not) it was a special game for Killebrew. Either he had come back with the Royals, or he had retired and the Twins were playing the Royals and both teams were h…

Nice story on Roy Smalley's efforts to help kids play baseball after Hurricane Sandy: Roy Smalley helps New York/New Jersey kids through Pitch in for Baseball | twinsbaseball.com: News

Kind of a weird story by Adam Kilgore about Denard Span starting fresh with the Nationals. There are a lot of Twins references, stuff that sounds like grumbling that could only come from Span, but it falls short of following through. Like this: And then....nothing. The story moves on to his concussion. Did he reject those changes? Did he modify those suggestions when he broke through in AAA? Is he still doing that? Is he looking forward to ditching them? It references them and doesn't tell us what happened. He also talks candidly about the impact of the concussion on his emotions: Yeah, certainly seemed to be the case. The article suggests that yoga has helpe…

Rhett Bollinger did a little heavy lifting, cranking out a monster column that sets the stage for the year. Hicks' status was about the only think I really disagreed with in the starting lineup, though I also think he's optimistic if he thinks Joe Mauer will be batting #2. Spring Training affords first look at Minnesota Twins' pitching acquired in offseason | twinsbaseball.com: News

The Reds released AAA SP, Todd Redmond, yesterday after signing him to a $490,000 contract in November. Redmond is a big-framed guy, 6'3" and 215#s and will be 28 in May and has the dubious distinction of having his name in the dictionary twice, pictured next to the meaning of "Starting Pitcher, AAAA" as well as "Positional Blocking, Major League". His 4 years worth of AAA stats are actually pretty decent, he apparently never misses a start and he throws about 72% FBs averaging 89 MPH and has very good K/9 (7.6) and K/BB (3.00) ratios with a AAA 3.78 ERA along with a WHIP of 1.25. Question??? As these are numbers that vary from much-better to far-superior to wh…

From La Velle on Twitter: I have a sinking feeling that Kevin Correia is going to be the Twins' Opening Day starter.

This is from Twincities.com: "Right-handed reliever Anthony Swarzak will be sidelined about a month after fracturing two ribs on his left side horsing around with friends during TwinsFest, according to general manager Terry Ryan." Here is the full story. Geez.

To countdown the days til pitchers and catchers report, we're going to list the Twins with those numbers (thanks to this awesome list) and let you can reminisce about one of them. So who is the poster boy for day #4.... Bob Allison, 1961-70 Steve Braun, 1971-75 Gene Mauch, 1976-80 (Manager) Mark Funderburk, 1981 Jim Eisenreich, 1982-84 Chris Speier, 1984 Steve Lombardozzi, 1985-88 Orlando Mercado, 1989 Chip Hale, 1990-95 Paul Molitor, 1996-98 Paul Molitor, 2000-01, 2003 (Coach) Augie Ojeda, 2004 Hold it - Molitor was a coach in 2003? I didn't think he was ever on Gardy's staff. Am I wrong, or is this list? I also notice that Molitor ws #4 throu…

I know it's hokey and contrived, but I always look forward to the "we're sending a bunch of stuff to spring training in a big truck" story every February. Here is this year's: Twins ship equipment to Fort Myers complex | twinsbaseball.com: News

It has some quotes by Terry Ryan, but also points out that Plouffe's defense, which was obviously a concern, might have been impacted by him preparing to play in the outfield all year. That's a nice thought, but it was in the second half of the year that the defensive gaffes were most prominent. Of course, that was also after the thumb injury. Can Plouffe get back in the swing?

Most of the story is about the farm system, but he does address the following question: He doesn't say "no" but he sure gives plenty of reasons why they probably can't. Inbox: Farm system one of the best in the game | twinsbaseball.com: News

We haven't talked too much about the impact these new guys could have this year. There's a lot of talk about Steinbach tutoring the catchers. STeinbach tells a story about him and LaRussa and then he and Gardy have the following exchange.... Twins counting on new coaches to help turnaround as ex-players Steinbach, Brunansky join staff | StarTribune.com

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere, but why isn't there more talk of how valuable Mauer's ability to call a game has affected the Twins the last two years? The pitching staff the last two seasons wasn't drastically different than other years in which they were successful (albeit they did have an injury epidemic two years ago), which seems largely attributable to not having Mauer behind the plate calling more games.

To countdown the days til pitchers and catchers report, we're going to list the Twins with those numbers (thanks to this awesome list) and let you can reminisce about one of them. So who is the poster boy for day #5.... Jose Valdivielso, 1961 Don Mincher, 1962-66 Russ Nixon, 1967 Bob Oldis, 1968 (Coach) Leo Cardenas, 1969-70 Danny Thompson, 1970-76 Roy Smalley, 1976-82, 1985-87 Ray Smith, 1983 Houston Jimenez, 1984 Jim Dwyer, 1988-90 Pedro Munoz, 1990-95 Roberto Kelly, 1996-97 Brent Gates, 1998-99 Michael Cuddyer, 2001-11 Eduardo Escobar, 2012 I've always been happy that Roy Smalley and Bert Blylelven ended up back on the Twins in time for …