Twins Weekly for Feb. 23-March 1: Geeking Out

It’s Twins Geek week! Let’s lead things off with all the “Report From The Fort” articles via John from the past week:

Spring Training Update: Waiting For The Big Story

Report From The Fort: Logan Morrison Is Nice, But BULLPEN CARS

Report From The Fort: Mound Visits

Brian Dozier: I'll Be A Free Agent

Report From The Fort: Logan Morrison Is Staying Quiet (For Once)

Report From The Fort: Jake Odorizzi Is Better Than You Think

In addition to writing articles, John’s also been recording a quick-hit, free-flowing podcast episode each night. These range between 8-20 minutes, and are chock full off interesting little nuggets and observations from spring training. Here are links to where you can find those:

Twins Daily Nightly Wrap - 2/25

Twins Daily Nightly Wrap 2/26

Twins Daily Nightly Wrap - 2/27

Twins Daily Nightly Wrap - Pieces Are In Place

Nightly Wrap - Jake Odorizzi, Next Offseason & Jorge Polanco

And here are all the other articles that were published at Twins Daily between Friday, Feb. 23 and Thursday, March 1:

Twins To Sign Erick Aybar | Seth Stohs

Lance Lynn to the Twins? | Andrew Thares

Arms Race: Will the Twins Front Office Regret Losing High-Impact Arms? | Jamie Cameron

Twins Almanac for February 25–March 3 | Matt Johnson

Does the Logan Morrison Signing Make Sense for the Twins? | Tom Froemming

Examining Logan Morrison’s Breakout 2017 Season | Cody Christie

Twins To Sign DH Logan Morrison | Seth Stohs

Gleeman & The Geek: Logan Morrison | John Bonnes

On Rushing Pitchers And Taking Lumps | Nick Nelson

Missing Pieces? Lost Minor League Players | Cody Christie

2018 Minnesota Twins Roster Projections (1.0) | Seth Stohs

Seth Twins On Deck Podcast (Episode 8) | Seth Stohs

What's Next For Kennys Vargas? | Seth Stohs

Twins Fans Should Be Excited About Jorge Polanco | Tom Froemming

An Offense Poised To Do Damage | Ted Schwezler

Three-Bagger: DH, Dozier And Destiny | Nick Nelson

From the Twins Daily Blogs

Below are some additional items of note from the blog area. I've pulled excerpts from each piece in an attempt to hook you in.

Building an Ideal Twins Lineup

By Andrew Thares

After the addition of Logan Morrison over the weekend, it left many in Twins Territory wondering how would he fit into the lineup … This question drew a number of different responses from Twins fans, so I decided to dive into the numbers and construct what I believe to be the ideal Twins lineup. Just as it is worded in the tweet, I took this approach from the perspective that Sano will be able to play third base this season. I also see the lineup being constructed very differently depending on if the Twins are facing a righty or a lefty, so I created a lineup for both. So, let’s get into it.

LoMo in SloMo: What Happened to Logan Morrison in 2017?

By Jamie Cameron

Morrison is a fascinating player. His power surge made him the Statcast poster boy for the 2017 season. Before 2017 Morrison’s career high for HR was 23, in his first full season with the Marlins in 2011. Adjustments in Morrison’s approach at the plate led to an increase in HR from 14 to 38 (albeit with considerably more plate appearances), an increase in OBP from .319 in 2016 to .353 in 2017, and a huge climb in BB%, from 9.3% in 2016, to 13.5% in 2017, (good for 14th in the league among hitters who made at least 500 PA). Per Statcast, Morrison increased his launch angle from 12.1 degrees to 17.4 degrees in 2017 in an attempt to hit more balls in the air. Boy, did that ever work. Along with his adjusted launch angle, how did Morrison’s approach at the plate differ in 2017? Is his 2017 season a sign of things to come, or a statistical anomaly?

Nick Gordon and the Tea Leaves

By Ted Schwerzler

As of this writing, Minnesota will have played five games in Grapefruit League action, and Gordon has competed in three of them. He's started twice, manning the middle of the diamond with Jorge Polanco flanking him at shortstop. Playing second base in all of his action, Dee's brother and Tom's son has provided some interesting messages to read into.

The Missing Pieces: Building a Championship Team in Twins Territory

By JohnOlson

The missing pieces the Twins have left to fill in this puzzle to assemble a championship team are always going to be the most difficult. As a hopeful bystander during the courting of Yu Darvish, the Twins need a true ace. A stopper every fifth day, someone to right the ship when the dog days hit or the bats disappear. A guy who can win a 1-0 game when the team is in a rut. Johan Santana was the last, true ace in Minnesota, and that was over a decade ago. The Astros had not only Keuchel, their homegrown number 1, but also brought in Justin Verlander as a 1A in 2017. The Cubs in 2016 had their three headed monster of Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks - none of whom had an ERA over 3.10 in the regular season. Even the upstart Royals in 2015 brought in Johnny Cueto to flank their extremely talented and exciting young Yordano Ventura, who before his untimely death, showed promise to be a front line starter for years to come.

2018 Twins Off-Season top 60 Prospect List: Summary 1-60 and Organizational Overview

By Thrylos

The Twins system is its stronger and more balanced that it has been in years. The years when Sano, Polanco and Buxton were the top prospects, the quality of position players prospects was probably higher than now, but with Lewis, Javier and Rooker on the top 5, this might be challenged as well. The quality of pitching and the potential of pitching prospect is much higher than previous years.

Calling All Bloggers!!!

Twins Daily readers may have noticed a few new names appearing on the main page of the site. Well, you could be next! If you’ve ever been interested in writing for Twins Daily, there’s no better time than now to get started in the blog section. There is more attention being directed to the blog area than ever before and there will be a strong push for the site to “break camp” with a few new contributors for the 2018 season.

I got my start at Twins Daily in the blog section, and would be happy to answer any questions anyone has about the process. Feel free to leave questions in the comments on this article, send me a personal message here on the site or a direct message on Twitter (@BaseballByTom), whatever works best for you.

That does it, have a wonderful weekend everyone.