Friday Links-N-Thinks

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan

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Well the Twins made their series in the Bronx much more enjoyable than was originally anticipated by many fans in Twins Territory. The offense seems to be clicking on all cylinders and the bullpen has been surprisingly good in some tough situations against a very good line-up. Hopefully this positive momentum will carry over into their weekend series with the Rays and the Twins can start the climb back to the .500 mark.

The baseball world had plenty of stories from the entire week and the headlines will continue to roll in as the season progresses. Ozzie Guillen returned to the Marlins, Matt Cain and Cliff Lee got caught up in a pitcher's duel, Jamie Moyer seemed to defy Father Time, and Ivan Rodriguez is set to retire as a member of the Rangers. There were plenty of stories from the Twins organization as well. So let's jump in and see what's in store for this edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks."[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

• Anthony Swarzak and Liam Hendriks are fighting for a spot in the rotation and Parker Hageman analyzes who has the inside track.
  
• Everyone knows the Twins cut payroll this year but how does that compare to the rest of the league.
  
• The Twins aren't going to carry 13 pitchers for the entire season so Minnesota Twins Musings looks at the roster shuffle that is coming in the near future.
  
• We are two weeks into the season and JC over at Knuckleballs tries to figure out who the Twins are.
  
• Luke Hughes was designated for assignment a couple of days ago and over at The tenth inning stretch they discuss how the Aussie got a rotten deal.
  
• At the beginning of the spring, Ben Revere was set to be a starting outfielder with the Twins. So how did he end up back in Rochester?
  
• Scott Baker went in for his elbow clean-up and woke up to find out the doctor's performed Tommy John surgery.
  
• Twins Fan From Afar continues to write some great coverage on the Rock Cats and he wrote about the lackluster coverage from the World Wide Leader in Sports.
  
• One of my favorite blogs to follow about the Twins is Baseball Outsider and he finally got a Twitter account so make sure to follow him.
  
• Twins top prospect Miguel Sano has been a beast for the Beloit Snappers by hitting his sixth home run of the season last night. MiLB wrote a feature article explaining his hot start.
  

• Who would be on the All-Time Baseball Dream Team? Baseball: Past and Present come up with their starting nine.
  
• There are plenty of former Twins across MLB and Puckett's Pond took a look at how they have started the year.
  
• Current AL Central foe Prince Fielder stole a base earlier this week and it was a fun sight to see.
  
• Do you remember that famous blooper reel shot where Jose Canseco has the home run ball bounce off of the top of his head? Now you can buy the hat that was on his head for that famous play.
  
• Dear Football Writers, please don't write about baseball.
  
• Last week I had a link to a play where Delmon Young did a 360 trying to catch the ball. The ruling on the field after the play was a triple so MLB had to step in.
  
• The Twins just saw first hand how long a game can take in the Bronx. So which AL Central team has the fastest working rotation?
  
• Jim Leyland thinks the experts that make predictions at the beginning of the season are a bunch of idiots. He's probably right.
  

My Weekly Rundown:

• Monday: Are we living in the "Golden Age" of catchers?
  
• Tuesday: Morneau's changing role leaving Parmelee behind
  
• Wednesday: 2012 MLB Draft starting to come into focus
  
• Thursday: Mixed messages might have messed up Liriano
  

Video of the Week: Since the Twins were in NYC, they made time to visit the MLB Fan Cave. It also made sense because Lindsay Guentzel, a Minnesota native, is one of the nine fans hanging out in the MLB Fan Cave. Check out this video done with Joe Mauer during his visit and you can even make out Brian Duensing in the background.