Minnesota Twins Talk

Join me tonight on a new Twins podcast. The show will be yours. Listen live, but definitely ask questions in the chat room and call in and tell me I'm an overly optimistic idiot. Ha! Or, just call in and give your opinions on the Twins or ask questions about the Twins or the Twins minor leaguers. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jack-steal/2012/03/07/sethspeaksnet-weekly-minnesota-twins-podcast Listen live by clicking that link. Join the chat room. Or Call In at (818) 572-8015.

Chris Jaffe at Hardball Times has put together a story about Don Minchner's Career Highlights. You can find it at: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/don-mincher-career-highlights/

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Here is a Mankato FreePress writer's thoughts on the bullpen criticism TR has faced... http://mankatofreepress.com/sportscolumnists/x1511866919/Thoma-Twins-get-no-relief-from-bullpen-critics A couple of things I don't agree with him on: A) We didn't over pay Capps. I'm just not a fan of paying the guy 4+ million as a pitch to contact closer. Is anybody actually critical we let Mijares go???

Rhet Bollinger reports that "Jerry White is in the hospital overnight to get checked out for stomach and chest tightness." Hope all is alright with him. Please post any updates

In this article, Jim Souhan suggests that sources are telling him that Trevor Plouffe could win the Twins starting RF job. Josh Willingham would then move to left field, and Ben Revere would be the team's fourth outfielder. Terry Ryan says that Ben Revere is the front-runner to start, but that Plouffe certainly will be given an opportunity to win a starting job. Souhan opines that Plouffe's two advantages over Revere are his ability to hit the ball with authority and to throw the ball with authority. Going back to last year, when Revere was creating excitement for Twins fans, Paul Molitor was on his weekly 1500espn interview. He was asked about Revere and, without straigh…

This is the same song-different verse on the way Target Field plays, but to put it on the record, here's what former Twin Jason Kubel says about the downtown park:

On SportsCenter they were just running down the top 10 captains in the history of sports. This got me thinking about the Twins and if they had a captain, who would it be? The obvious choice last year was Michael Cuddyer but who would it be for the 2012 version of the Twins? I'd like to hear people's suggestions...

ESPN1500's Phil Mackey details the Twins perspective in what have become 'going-the-other-way' gate. In terms of J.J. Hardy, according to hitting coach Joe Vavra, the Twins were trying to balance out the hitter who was completely lost at the plate. Hardy was a mess at the plate in Milwaukee the year before the Twins acquired him. The Brewers made attempts to adjust his swing, even sending him down to AAA Nashville to correct what they perceived was a detrimental "arm bar". Shortly after the Twins traded for him, I had the chance to sit down with assistant GM Rob Antony, who said on Hardy: So the Twins were not alone on thinking Hardy needed some adjustments. The…

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/Notebook_Mauer_Morneau_Span_all_set_to_play_in_spring_opener030212 that is good news that our studs are in the lineup already! do you guys think there is a good chance this is the everyday lineup? i dont know about plouffe in LF.... if revere is going to be on the roster he needs to play every day! casilla in the lineup no suprise there but if he has a slow start i think he needs to go! hopefully one of our starters has a breakout year.

I'll probably get ridiculed for this but count me among those who miss Go Gomez and his pure power of entertainment, both good and bad. I know he had to go and I'm not saying they should have kept him. But I am pretty sure that most people on this site watch a lot of Twins games, and I bet most of you sat forward a little bit when he came to the plate. I did. He was fun to watch, at the plate, in the field, in front of the cameras. LOVED his interviews. I know it was a while ago and I know he needed to go. I wish there was some personality as big as his on the team.

Is anyone planning on making the road trip to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati in June? I haven't been to PNC yet, so I can't wait. Also, fireworks on Friday night at Great American Ballpark.

that's from Phil Mackey's notebook (just posted) : I think that Gutierrez does have a decent outside chance to make the team now with Zumaya down. Fien might surprise us too...

My of us should be familiar with the story of David Ortiz. When Ortiz was a Twin, he was told to hit to all fields, since the Twins preach that philosophy. Of course, Ortiz goes to Boston where he is told to just swing the bat (i.e. pull the ball) and he morphs into Big Papi (with some PED help of course). Today I see this on Twitter from Jon Krawczynski: "Talked to O's SS JJ Hardy today. Gave same story Ortiz did after leaving Twins. O's told him not to mess around and pull the ball. 30 HRs" "Hardy said when he took 1st BP w/Twins, Carew told him to use whole field. 1st BP w/O's hit coach: "I want you to hit homers." " "Hardy didn't say one approach was better t…

I wrote about this in my blog post earlier today but here is the main point: The Twins have one of the toughest schedules in April out of all of the American League teams. Almost all of their games are against clubs who were in the playoffs last year or close to making it into the postseason. Should this be cause for concern? Or will the Twins be able to take advantage of these teams before they find their mojo?

I agree with Nick Nelson and believe Terry Ryan is making a tremendous mistake by not trading for a proven reliever. The Twins tried the same thing last year and it failed miserably. It almost appears as if the team wants to lose because they are not good enough to compete in the A.L. Central Division. Name the last team to draw 3.2 million fans to a new ballpark, cut payroll by $15 million, lose 99 games, let three of their best players leave, and tell people they were going to compete. There is nothing wrong with loving this team but there is a difference between optimisms and reality. Please tell me what you think.

Good to see the Twins playing their first spring training game tomorrow. Baseball is finally here Any ideas on radio/tv/internet coverage of the game? I suspect since that it is a B game there will not even be an official boxscore available, so we'd be in the mercy of twitter for updates, but I just had to ask Thanks!

According to La Velle Neal, Francisco Liriano's live pitching session didn't go all that well. First, he plunked Danny Valencia (but who doesn't want to do that, what with all his swagger) and then gave up a "long one" to Justin Morneau (maybe Liriano's fastball is the cure for a concussion). It's spring so it's hard to put too much emphasis on it but for those counting on a rebound to his 2010 form, that's not a great start.

Starting at 9:00 Central time tonight, listen live to this week's Twins podcast. The guests on tonight include Twins minor leaguers Aaron Bates, Tony Davis, and AJ Pettersen. We'll then talk Twins topics with Twins blogger Troy Larson from Troy's Twins Dugout (http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/). The Chat Room is open so be sure to get your questions in, and the show will start soon. Listen Live (or download later) here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jack-steal/2012/02/29/sethspeaksnet-weekly-minnesota-twins-podcast. Feedback and Questions welcome!

Reports out of spring training have speedster Ben Revere working on his bunting with Hall of Famer Rod Carew. If Revere can master the art of the bunt, he could be much more valuable. Any time he is on the bases, he is a threat to move around and score. Thoughts?

This is just purely for fun, and I just want to see how wrong we can all be without a single Spring Training game played yet So I am looking at your opinions about who will make the team, after I give you mine. I think that the following are locks (alphabetically): Position players (will carry 13 or 14) : Jamey Caroll, Alexi Casilla, Ryan Doumit, Luke Hughes, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Trevor Plouffe, Ben Revere, Denard Span, Danny Valencia, Josh Willingham (I assume no DL for anyone - call me an optimist) so there are 2 or 3 spots left. Pitchers (will carry 11 or 12) : Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Matt Capps, Brian Duensing, Francisco Liriano, Jason Marquis, …

With Zumaya's injury, who do you think has a better chance of filling his role on the team? I'm looking at Jared Burton and Jason Bulger, but it's possible that this also opens the door for Jeff Gray, Esmerling Vasquez, Lester Oliveros, etc. Thoughts?

According to Phil Mackey in practice today the Twins 2nd team infield was composed of 1B Mauer, 2B Dozier, SS Nishioka, 3B Burroughs. It's a long shot but is it scary to think the team could field this line-up of infielders at some point this season?

Tonight at 9, Seth Stohs was joined by Travis Aune for the first episode of the season of Twins Minor League Weekly. Granted, there aren't a lot of minor league topics to discuss, so they talked Twins most of the 45-minute show. As you would guess, topics included the comments of Justin Morneau and JJ Hardy. We talked about the Joel Zumaya injury and what it means for the bullpen. We discussed what the good news on Kyle Gibson meant to the Twins, and much, much more. Listen back to the new episode of Twins Minor League Weekly at http://tobtr.com/s/2940503. On Tuesday night at 9:00 central time, be sure to listen live to the SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins Podcast…

Anyone know about a practice game this week between the Twins and Red Sox?

Last year, Carlos Gutierrez threw 10 shutout innings and had people talking. A year earlier, Juan Portes came out of nowhere as a non-roster invite to big league camp and hit several late-inning home runs. That got people talking. Looking at the 67 players in big league camp, who will be the surprise of camp this year? Who will come out of nowhere to impress? I'm going to go with Ray Chang.

I just got a text saying that Zumaya just walked off the mound with the trainer. Uh oh.

I loved this comment by LaVelle: My thoughts exactly. But the question raised on the last podcast was: then who is the utility infielder? It isn't going to be Dozier; he'll play everyday. Florimon? Do they really have another shortstop on the roster?

If the Twins decide to carry three catchers, who will it be, Drew Butera or J.R. Towles? I am hoping it will be Towles if he can hit at all this spring. Defensively, they are very comparable. Offensively, Towles career BA is slightly better than Butera's (.187 to .178), his OPS is significantly better (.583 to .481) and his slugging % is better (.315 to .261). He's hit in the minors but hasn't been able to do it in the majors. Maybe the AL will be a better fit for him. Thoughts?

Doesn't everyone think it is time to stop worrying about Joe Mauer. To me it is obvious that he is ready to go and the injury stuff can be put to rest atleast for him. I am not worried about Mauer's health at all anymore. The questions can be asked how he will do this year, but I think the injury concerns will not be the problem. What does everyone else think. I expect Mauer to be his all-star level self again and hit over .300 and get on base over 35-40 percent of the time. It is obvious that his days of hitting 28 homeruns were a fluke and likely will never happen again. However he is what he is and for that he will be the best doubles hitter in the game.