Friday, May, 22nd

Twins Talk

• The Twins rebounded from their tough 6 game losing streak in a big way yesterday winning at Chicago 20-1. There were many hitting heros for the Twins but were let by Joe Mauer who went 3-4 with his 8th homerun, a grand slam, that capped a six run sixth inning. Michael Cuddyer was also awesome going 4-6 with his 6th homerun. Joe Crede also homered for the Twins. Nick Blackburn continued his strong pitching of late pitching 7 shutout innings on only 4 hits to bring his team leading era down to 3.83 on the season. Jose Morales also had 3 hits, but was sent down to Rochester after the game because Delmon Young's time on the Family Emergency ended after the game. Young won't be there until Sunday so Friday and Saturday the Twins will be playing a player short.
• The Twins begin a 7 game homestand with a 3 game series with the first place Milwaukee Brewers at the Dome. Tonight Kevin Slowey gets the start against Manny Parra.

Rochester Wrap

• The Red Wings won in extra innings last night 5-4 in 11 innings against first place Norfolk. Kevin Mulvey was masterful going 8.2 innings and only giving up 3 runs. He lowered his era to 3.95 on the season and very easily should of gotten the win. Mike Gosling came in relief to pickup his 5th win of the year. Bobby Keppel pitched the 11th for his first save of the year. He will probably pick up closing responsibilities with Sean Henn now with the Twins. Alexi Casilla had 3 hits and 2 rbi's to pace the Red Wings. The 3 hits brought his average up to .353 on the season. Matt Macri also had 3 hits for Rochester. Justin Huber had 2 hits and his 3rd homerun of the year. David Winfree also homered for the Red Wings, his 6th of the year.
• Transactions: Jose Morales was added to the Roster yesterday after the game along with reinstating Ben Hendrickson off the disabled list. Hendrickson will take Anthony Swarzak's spot in the rotation while he is with the Twins.
• Tonight, Rochester will continue their series with Norfolk with Ben Hendrickson getting his first start of the year.

New Britain Business

• The Rockcats continued their string of strong play with a 7-1 win against Reading. With the win New Britain pulled within 2.5 games of first place Connecticut. Ryan Mullins continued his strong pitching performances by going 6 innings and only giving up a run on 5 hits. He walked 1 batter and struck out 4 to lower his era to 4.38 on the season. Steve Tolleson continued his hot streak with 2 more hits to bring his average up to .250. But looking at how hot he has been has been unbelievable. He is 14 for his last 28 which is a .500 batting average in his l ast 7 games. The Rockcats connected for 4 homeruns on the day. Danny Valencia hit his 5th, Rene Tosoni hit his 6th, Brian Dinkelman hit his 3rd, and Erik Lis also hit his 3rd.
• Tonight, the Rockcats take on Binghamton with Cole Devries scheduled to get the Start.

Fort Myers Footnotes

• The Miracle won an old fashioned pitchers duel last night to improve their record to 25-14 on the season with a 2-1 win over St. Lucie. Mike Mccardell was masterful on the night only giving up a run in 6 innings along with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. His strikeout to walk ration is a very good 5:1 on the season. Alex Burnett came in relief to pitch the last 3 to get the win. Nick Romero making his first start of the year at Fort Myers was the hitting hero going 2-3 with the go ahead rbi.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with St. Lucie with Ace Carlos Gutierrez scheduled to start.

Beloit Beat

• The Snappers suffered another tough loss, going down 7-5 to Fort Wayne. The Big news was Michael Tarsi and Curtis Leavitt making their season debut. It did not go so well as they gave up 3 runs in 3 innings, but the important part is they are back out there pitching. Ramon Santana was the big star going 2-4 with 2 rbi's to bring his average up to .414 on the season. He really has this level mastered I really think they need to give him a new challenge at Fort Myers. Angel Morales also had 2 rbi's to bring his team high total up to 18 on the season. Dan Berlind got the start and was pretty good giving up 3 runs in 5 innings. He struck out 7 batters with only 1 walk which was very good.
• Tonight the Snappers continue their series with the Lugnuts as Dan Osterbrock gets the start for the Snappers.

I will be back later with the first edition of a new set of articles that I really think everyone is going to like so check back later this afternoon

Swarzak in; Breslow out

In a move that to me was not that surprising the Twins gambled for the third time this year and tried to get Craig Breslow down to AAA and for the first time this year they lost that battle. Breslow was claimed off of waivers by the Oakland A's. It is not surprising that they would try this because Breslow has not pitched up to standards that he set last year. However, he was starting to come around and I think he would of been ok. I knew that if they put him on waivers that some team would claim him because there is a shortage of good arms around baseball and based on what he did last year of course a team would take a chance. I really do not think this is a good move by the Twins because he was really good last year and just because he has struggled this year doesn't mean you should just get rid of him. In my opinion this reaks of ego thinking they are smarter than the rest of the teams just because they were able to sneak Philip Humber and Juan Morillo through waivers the Twins believed they could get anyone through. Breslow had improved as of late and Luis Ayala should of been the one to go instead of Breslow. With that being said to replace him the Twins called up Anthony Swarzak who definately deserved the call up and will start saturday at the Metrodome against the Brewers. Swarzak had a 2.25 era this year and I believe will make 2 good starts for the Twins until Perkins returns in 2 weeks. That is just an opinion let me know if you agree or disagree because I do not rant on the Twins very often let me know if it was warranted or unwarranted.

Unbelievable

I will more info later but I wanted to rant on something that I found utterly ridiculous. Delmon Young did what every person in his position would do. He left the Twins to be with his dying mother who was dying of cancer. First, off I want to give my condolences to the Young family I know your going through hell right now but she is in a better place now. What I have a problem with is major league baseball basically forcing a player to come back in 7 days. Thankfully, he was able to be with her until she died. However, stupid MLB is penalizing the Twins for being an understanding organization for letting him have as much time he needs before coming back. There is a rule that I had no idea about that says if a player goes for longer than 7 days the team has to play a player short until he returns. If that is not the stupidest thing I have heard. It is almost like MLB wants the teams to force the player to come back before they can instead of letting them be with their families in a tough time like this. Hopefully, MLB will realize how stupid this rule is and change it fast because it just makes them look stupid and hurts the teams. The Twins are handling this the right way because there are things way more important than baseball and thats what Delmon Young should be concentrating on now not baseball.

Perkins to DL; Henn called up

This morning the Twins made a roster move that was kind of expected after the rough outing last night of Glen Perkins. Anyone that saw the game last could tell that was not the Glen Perkins that we have gotten used to seeing all year. He had no zip on the ball struggling to even hit 90 not the 92-93 we are used to seeing. In addition to that his off speed pitches did nothing so basically he had no chance last night. To replace him on the roster the Twins called up Sean Henn and minor league free agent they signed this winter from the Padres organization. He has major league experience and was pitching very good for Rochester so far this year. He had went 0-0 with a very good 1.13 era for the Red Wings along with six saves. He definatly deserved the call and If he can continue to throw strikes like he did in Rochester he will help the team very much. My question though is what are the Twins going to do about Saturday, which is Glen Perkins next scheduled start. Sean Henn is not a starter so they need to decide what to do about that start. The way I look at it is they have a few options to go with. They can either leave the roster the way it is constructed right now and insert RA Dickey into the rotation to make Perkins starts. He is probably stretched out after pitching 4.1 innings last night in relief of Perkins and who knows maybe he can give you some quality innings. My only problem with that is it feels like a band aid trying to cover up a gun shot wound. Perkins has been a very good starter for us this year and in my opinion Dickey is not good enough to pick up the slack. The other option and best option if you ask me is to bring up Anthony Swarzak who is 2-3 with a very good 2.25 era at Rochester. He has had his problems, like his drug suspension a few years ago and then his lackadasical pitching last season, but since he has been at AAA he has been lights out. In my opinion he is ready for the big leagues and would allow Dickey to stay in the right role for him and that is long man. The only question is who do you send down or release to make room for Swarzak? I think it comes down to Luis Ayala who has been a huge disappointment or Craig Breslow who also has been a huge disappointment. My guess is that Breslow will be designated for assignment hoping that he can make it to AAA because even though I think Breslow is a better pitcher than Ayala I really can't see the Twins carrying 3 left handed pitchers in the Bullpen with Jose Mijeras and Sean Henn already there. I think it is 50-50 that Breslow makes it through because even though he has been bad this year he was very good last year. There is one other option if Delmon Young is not ready to come back Friday you could send down Jose Morales and go with 13 pitchers until Young comes back, but I can't see Gardy doing that because he has said how much he detests 12 pitchers let alone 13 so I dont see that happening. I would love to hear from all you readers whats your opinion on this is. You can email me at travis_aune@yahoo.com or leave a comment on here I would appreciate the feedback.
As many of my readers know I have been gone a few days and that is because I have been traveling back home for the summer to spend time with family and friends. I am back now so I am going to start giving daily updates on the minor league teams and there is a new series of articles that I am in the process of planning out and the first one should be up tommorrow so please come back and check it out. I want to thank you all for checking my site and I hope you all bookmark this site and come back often.

Friday, May, 15th

• First off I want to send my Prayers to Delmon Young who left the Twins yesterday to be with sick mother in California. He is expected to miss between 3 and 7 days if not longer. I really hope your mother pulls through and let God be with you and your family.
• In response to this the Twins are expected to call up Jose Morales from Rochester to take Young's spot on the roster. Morales was hitting .340 with the Twins before his demotion and was hitting .267 in 9 games with the Red Wings. What this tells me is the Twins intend to play Joe Mauer all 4 games against the Yankees or they would of brought Jason Pridie or Dustin Martin up. I expect Mauer to catch tonight, Sunday, and Monday. I think he will be the DH on Saturday afternoon with Jason Kubel moving to left field on Saturday. The reason that they brought up Morales is to play it safe with the Catching situation because if Mike Redmond got hurt while Mauer was the DH they don't want to lose the DH and this way they won't because Morales could replace Redmond if he got hurt and Mauer could keep DHing.

Rochester Wrap

• The Red Wings are getting really good at coming back late against Indianapolis as they had another comeback last night. David Winfree was the hero as he put the Red Wings on top with a 2 out 3 run homerun. Luke Hughes also hit his 6th homerun of the season. Justin Huber was 3-4 to bring his average to .328. Jason Jones had his best start in a while going 4.1 innings and giving up 3 runs. Bobby Keppell pitched 2.2 shutout innings in relief to allow the Red Wings to come back. Sean Henn picked up his 5th save of the year even though he gave up a run in the 9th.

New Britain News

• The Rock Cats had their game with Portland suspended in the 4th inning with the Rockcats trailing 8-1. They will continue the game at 4:35 with the second game 30 minutes to follow. Brian Dinkelman led the offense going 1-2 with his 7th double and his 19th rbi. Jay Rainville had his second straight rough start giving up 7 runs in only 2.2 innings to bring his era up to 6.14 on the season.

Miracle Memos

• The Miracle broke out offensively in a huge way as they defeated St. Lucie 19-4 in St. Lucie. Everyone contributed really but were led by Mark Dolenc who went 5-6 with 3 doubles and 6 rbi's to bring his average up to .337 on the year. Evan Bigley continued his strong start with the Miracle going 4-5 with 3 rbi's to bring his average up to a crazy .667 with 6 hits in 9 at bats. Ben Revere and Danny Berg also contributed 3 hits each. Lost in it was the good pitching performance of Tyler Robertson who went 5.2 innings and only gave up 2 runs to lower his era to 4.75 on the season. Alex Burnett pitched a shutout 1.1 innings and Santos Arias finished it up giving up 2 runs in 2 innings.

Beloit Beat

• The Snappers suffered a tough loss to Clinton last night in 13 innings 7-6. The Snappers were only able to must 5 hits, but were led by James Beresford who had 2 hits. Jon Waltenbury had his 3rd homerun and 3 rbis. Angel Morales also homered, his 3rd of the year. Brad Tippett continued his strong pitching this season by going 5 innings and only giving up 2 earned runs to lower his era to 2.87 on the season. Joe Testa had 2 more good innings lowering his era to 1.52 on the season. Danny Rondon took the loss giving up a run in 2.1 innings of work.

Todays Schedule

Twins at Yankees with Francisco Liriano getting start

Indianapolis vs Rochester with Kevin Mulvey getting start.

Portland at New Britain with Ryan Mullins starting the 2nd game.

Fort Myers at St. Lucie with Mike Mccardell getting start.

Beloit at Clinton with Michael Allen getting start

if anyone has any comments or questions you can either email me at travis_aune@yahoo.com or leave a comment on here.

Big Twins win

Twins Today

• The Twins finished their 6 game homestand today in grand fashion as they defeated the Detroit Tigers today 6-5. It was a very unexpected victory today considering that they trailed 5-0 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning and Justin Verlander was cruising. He had only given up 4 hits and had struck out a very impressive 13 batters. Just look at the 7th inning shows how impressive the comeback was because everyone did their part. Joe Crede finished the comeback with a 2 run single to score Justin Mourneau and Jason Kubel to put the Twins on top.
• Speaking of Kubel he continued his hot streak of late by going 3-4 and driving in a run in the 6 run 7th inning with a double that would of tied the game had it not jumped the fence for a ground rule double. With the 3 hits it raised his average to an amazing .333 on the season.
• Scott Baker looked awesome for 5 innings and everything fell apart for him again very similiar to the Kansas City game 2 starts ago. He had runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs and got a strikeout and a popup to get 2 outs. He then gave up a fly ball that Kubel misjudged for a run and then after that all heck broke loose and by the end he had given up 5 runs and ruined an otherwise excellent start.
• On top of that the bullpen really did a good job today with Craig Breslow picking up his first major league win in relief pitching 1.2 scorless innings, then Matt Guerrier got a big out, and Joe Nathan Picked up his 6th save of the year.
• The Twins begin a 7 game road trip this weekend with 4 in New York and 3 in Chicago. Here is the Pitching Matchups this weekend

Friday Liriano(2-4 5.75era) vsPhil Hughes(1-2 8.49era)

Saturday Blackburn(2-2 4.32) vsChamberlain(2-1 3.89)

Sunday Slowey(5-1 4.91) vs Burnett(2-1 5.36)

Monday Perkins (1-2 4.27) vs Pettitte(3-1 4.00) Game on ESPN

Top 5 Disappointments thus far this season

For the second part of this series I am going to go with the 5 players in my opinion that have really underperformed what we thought they would do going into the season. Keep in mind its only six weeks into the season and its a long season so they can still have very good years.

• 5. Alexi Casilla- Going into this season the expectation for Casilla that he would continue to be a table setter for the Twins. Last season he hit .281 with 7 homeruns and 50 rbis in only 98 games. So going into this season I was really expecting more of the same. However, he hit only .167 with 4 rbi's in 24 games. The worst part is he was taking the bad at bats into the field and making mental mistakes. The Twins sent him down to Rochester to try to get him right. He is off to a good start with the Red Wings so hopefully we will see the good Alexi Casilla sometime this year.

• 4. Deolis Guerra- I really bought into the Deolis Guerra hype when he came over to the Twins in the Santana trade. I even bought into the fact that the reason he had a 5.47 era last season was because the Twins were tinkering with his mechanics so that he would not break down. So I was expecting a breakout season out of Deolis Guerra and he may because its so early. However, so far it has been more of the same as Guerra has went 2-3 with a very bloated 6.09 era. He has improved his walk to strikeout ratio. Last year he had 71walks and 71 strikeouts in 130 innings. So far this year he has 12 walks in 34 innings which is 2 walks/per 9 innings less than least year. To go with that though he has gotten hit harder so its a catch 22 thing. I still have high hopes for Guerra and really hope he can pull it together.

• 3. Angel Morales- I was really expecting big things out of Morales this year after his awesome season at E-town last year. Last year he hit .301 with 15 homeruns with a .623 slugging percentage. So the expectation was that he would move up to Beloit and build off of that. He just might, but so far he has really struggled. He is hitting only .177 with 2 homeruns and 9 rbi's with only a .333 slugging percentage. I really can't figure out why he has struggled so much this year. However, two reasons could be a lot of guys struggle getting used to a full season being he is from Latin America and probably is not used to the cold weather. Another thing is he is only 19 years old and is one of the younger players in the Midwest League. I am not panicking yet, but I would like to see improvement because I am very high on Morales and think he could be a factor with the Twins in a few years.

• 2. Steve Tolleson- Now this is a guy that I really can't figure out. Many people including myself thought he deserved to go to AAA after a very solid season last year with the Rock Cats. Last year he hit .300 with 9 homeruns and 50 rbis with 44 walks and a .382 obp playing everywhere. I really thought he was ready for the next level. However, the way he has played this year says that he is not ready. This year he is only hitting .180 with no homeruns and only 5 rbi's and a .274 obp. The only thing I can think of is he is suffering from the Anthony Swarzakitis. Last year Anthony Swarzak struggled bad at New Britain after many people thought he would be in AAA. By Default later in the year he was promoted to AAA and took off and has continued it this year. Thats the only explanation I can come up with for him I am really buffaloed by this. Another problem is Tolleson is 25 years old which is too old to be playing to AA he should be in AAA at his age. The bottom line is if he doesn't pick it up and make the Twins promote him he likely will be a offseason casualty.

• 1. Shooter Hunt- Now this is a guy that I had very high hopes for coming into the season. He was number 9 prospect in my preseason rankings. That makes it all the more troubling because he has a big league arm and did not have control problems at Tulane which is why the Twins took him with their supplementary pick last year in the draft. Last year they started him in E-town and was awesome only giving up 1 earned run in 19 innings with E-town along with only 6 walks and a awesome 34 strikeouts. That dominance led to a promotion to Beloit where many people including myself thought he would dominate again. He struggled somewhat with Beloit last year going 1-4 with a 5.46era and you started to see the walks come into play as he had 27 walks in only 31.1 innings of work. My explanation for that was he had been pitching since January and was wore out and a winter of training would see him dominate once again. Well that is not what has happened so far, let me also say its early and there is a lot of time for him to rebound. However, he has got to rebound because that is how bad it has been for him this year. Hunt went 0-1 with a 10.34 era with a crazy 30 walks in only 15.2 innings of work. It got so bad that the Twins sent all their top scouts to come watch him pitch to see if there is anything they can do to help. Now they are trying him in the bullpen to try to get him straight. Lets be serious Shooter Hunt is one of the most talented pitchers in the organization and already has a big league curveball, but right now he has no clue where the ball is going. It is totally a mental thing right now so hopefully some time in the bullpen will help him get his confidence back and he can go back to being the pitcher we all believe he can be.

5 Players who have been pleasant surprises so far

Today I thought it would be kind of fun to do a little countdown on 5 players that have been pleasant surprises so far this season.

• 5. Rene Leveret- I am pleasantly surprised with the start that Leveret has gotton off too. I was really not expecting much out of him going into the season. I thought he would have trouble getting plate appearances with a talented Fort Myers team. Honestly, though he has been the most consistant and best hitter so far. He is hitting an awesome .368 with a homer and 10rbi's. He also has contributed 11 walks and only 13 strikeouts in only 68 at bats. The most impressive stat to me was his .482 obp. His .982 ops is not too bad at all. He has been battling a quad injury, but should be back this weekend. I look for big things for Rene this season.

• 4. Anthony Swarzak- I knew that Swarzak had talent, but the promotion from New Britain has really turned his career around. This season he has 3-3 record. His 3 losses are more to do with lack of run support early in the season than anything else. The most impressive thing was his 1.70era with the Red Wings. In 37 innings of work he has only walked 9 batters and struck out 28. I really have high hopes for Swarzak and like I have said I would like to see him get the call if something happens to a Twins pitcher this summer.

• 3. Evan Bigley- Evan Bigley was the best hitter for Beloit thus far. I really did not know much about him coming into the season with the seasons last year by Morales and Waltenbury at E-town he kind of got lost in the shuffle. This season with Morales and Waltenbury struggling Bigley really took off. So much so that when Joe Benson was injured, Bigley got the call. Evan Bigley was a 10th round pick last year out of Dallas Baptist and has been very impressive. This year at Beloit he hit .307 with 2 homeruns and 22 rbis. I really look for Bigley to continue his hot streak at Fort Myers and at the end of the season we will be talking about him as a top prospect.

• 2. Carlos Gutierrez- I was not surprised that Gutierrez has been good so far. The thing that really surprised me is how good he has been. Carlos in many minds would be ready for the Twins right now. He has been lights out with Fort Myers going 2-1 with a 1.25era with the Miracle. In 36 innings he has walked 9 batters and struck out 22. The stat that impresses me the most is hitters are only hitting .158 against him. He is a ground ball machine who in my opinion is a better version of Carlos Silva. I really believe that we could be seeing him in September with the Twins much like we did out of Jose Mijeras last year.

• 1. Dustin Martin- I really did not see this coming at all. I saw him as a middling prospect at New Britain, a borderline starter for New Britain. With his promotion to Rochester I was not expecting too much out of him. He had a very solid Arizona Fall League with a very good spring training. Then when he got to Rochester he took off. He is hitting a very impressive .311 with the Red Wings with a homer and 13 rbi's along with 10 stolen Bases. My whole opinion of him has changed 360 degrees. I really think he is a very solid prospect and someone I think that could play for the Twins as early as this summer. If they decided to send Carlos Gomez to AAA I would bring up Martin up and platoon with Delmon Young in left field and see how he does. But he is someone that I have high hopes for and someone we should all keep our eye on.

Tommorrow I will have the top 5 dissapointments for the Twins organization. I decided to do the top 5 surprises first because wanted to start this on a good note. Hope you all enjoy

Tuesday, May 12th

The Big news of the Day is Evan Bigley was promoted to Fort Myers from Beloit. The reason behind that was Joe Benson punched a wall according to Lavelle and broke his hand. Bigley I think was the right choice to go up to Fort Myers. He was hitting .307 with 2 homeruns and 22 rbi's. He had a .340 obp and a .785ops. He was a 10th round pick by the Twins out of Dallas Baptist college. It was a good time to go because he is 21 years old because of college and needed to be challenged. It will be very interesting how he does.

• Rochester Wrap: The Red Wings continue to be on a hotstreak as they completed a 4 game sweep of Charlotte. Anthony Swarzak pitched an uneven 6 innings, but did not give up any runs to lower his era to 1.70 on the season. Trevor Plouffe was the hitting star with 3 rbi's and Alexi Casilla had his 2nd triple of the year.
• New Britain Beat: The Rockcats had another tough loss to connecticut. Cole Devries pitched another good game pitching 7 innings and just giving up 2 unearned runs. Danny Valencia returned from injury and did not miss a beat going 3-4. Yancarlos Ortiz went 2-3 to help Valencia.
• Fort Myers Futures: The Miracle got another win behind another masterful pitching performance out of Carlos Gutierrez. Gutierrez went the first 6 innings and only gave up 3 hits and no runs. Chris Parmalee had another good game going 2-3 with a walk and his 5th homerun of the season. Henry Arias struggled giving up 4 runs in only a third of an inning. Blair Erickson picked up the save in relief.
• Beloit Happenings: No Game

• I want to thank Seth of SethSpeaks.net for allowing me to come on his podcast last night it was fun and I hope you all enjoyed it as well. Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon.

• Tonight Shooter Hunt gets back on the horse for Beloit so lets all pull for him to get back on track after the short term in the bullpen.

Part II

New Britain

• Hitter of the Month: Brian Dinkelman- Brian really rebounded after a slow start with the Rockcats to hit .293 for the month. Along with that he had a homer and 10 rbi's. Most impressive were his .400 on base percentage and his .848 ops. He has continued that get numbers into may and is now hitting .333. I really look for his days in New Britian to be numbered. I look for him to get a promotion to Rochester sometime this season and you could see him with the Twins sometime next season.
• Runner-up: Danny Valencia

• Pitcher of the month: Anthony Slama- This was a tough decision between Slama, Rob Delaney, and Cole Devries. In the end however Slama's dominance took the cake. Take a look at the numbers he put together in April. A miniscule 0.84 era along with 2 saves. The reason the saves were not there was because to be all honest the Rockcats did not win too many games in April. He walked 6 batters, also had an awesome 19 strikeouts in only 10.2 innings of work. Some will argue that it is too many walks which it is but his strikeout total overshadowed that. Also hitters only hit .211 against him. Slama is a future Twin i would bet anybody on that. If things don't improve in the majors his time may come this summer.
• Runner-up: Cole Devries, Rob Delaney

Fort Myers

• Hitter of the Month: Rene Leveret- Leveret put up some amazing numbers in April for the Miracle. Leveret is not a home run hitter, but he hit an amazing .333 at the plate along with a homer and 10 rbi's. More impressive was his obp at .457 and his ops of .913. That is amazing to have an ops that high without hitting many homeruns that just doesn't happen very often. Right now he is out with an ankle problem, but hopefully he gets back soon because the Miracle really miss him in the lineup.
• Runner-ups: Ben Revere, Deibinson Romero

• Pitcher of the Month: Carlos Gutierrez- This was a tough decision because the pitching at Fort Myers has been phenomenal. Gutierrez was the class of the staff in April though. He went 0-1 in 4 starts with a tiny 0.78 era. In 23 innings of work Carlos only gave up 2 earned runs. He is a groundball machine much in the mold of Carlos Silva when he was good. What I found the most impressive of all was opposing hitters only hit .135 off of him. Gutierrez in my opinion is on the fast track to the major leagues and could be up there as quickly as September.
• Runner-ups- David Bromberg, Steven Hirschfeld, Spencer Steedley.

Beloit

• Hitter of the Month: Ramon Santana- Santana really caught me and im sure many others off guard in April with the authority he hit the ball. He hit an unbelievable .393 in April along with 3 homeruns and 10 rbi's. For someone that was thought to be more glove than bat he could of fooled me. He had a very good .493 obp and an out of this world 1.135 OPS. Just when things were going great for Santana he was hurt with a sprained ankle that landed him on the Disabled list. Hopefully he can get off soon and continue his career year. The Twins have high hopes for Santana and the start he had this year will not temper those hopes one bit.
• Runner-up: Nick Romero

• Pitcher of the Month: Bobby Lanigan- It was really hard to pick a pitcher that had a good month of April. Lanigan probably had the best month of the staff. He went 2-0 with a very respectable 3.68era for the Snappers. He has had a couple bad starts in May but I really think he can turn it around and have his April numbers the whole year long. For a staff looking for leadership Bobby has been the best pitcher for Beloit all season long.

Pitcher and Hitter of the month

I am a little behind I have had finals for the last week so my brain was fried. Im done with school for the year so i am back in the Twins blog world. I will be writing more regularly now. Today I am starting with the April Awards.

Twins

• Hitter of the Month: Justin Mourneau- Justin had a very good April hitting a very solid .318 with 6 homeruns and 18 rbi's. He is right on pace with his career averages. What makes it more impressive is he did this without the protection of Joe Mauer hitting ahead of him and having to move up in the lineup to 3rd instead of his customary 4th. It looks like this is the beginning of another MVP caliber season for Mourneau with a stat line like this. .318 average, .365 obp, and a robust .922 ops for the month.
• Runnerups: Denard Span, Jason Kubel, Jose Morales.

• Pitcher of the Month: Glen Perkins- Glen Perkins had an outstanding month for the Twins. He only had only 1 win in the month, that had alot to do with the limited run support he received. A better sign of his success was his 3 straight 8 inning performances to start the season. Also his 2.48 April ERA was phenomenal. I really think this is the breakout year that we have been waiting for with Perkins.
• Runnerup: Joe Nathan

Rochester

• Hitter of the Month: Luke Hughes- For a team that really did not hit up to their capabilities Hughes held the team together. His batting average was not great at .255, but he mashed the ball. He had 3 homeruns and drove in 14 runs. He had a .344 obp which is solid and a very robust .853 OPS. He is getting better in May so it would not surprise me at all if he repeats. The only question mark is his glove as he committed 5 errors in April which is too much, but I think those totals will come down if they stick him at 3rd and keep him there and not move him around.
• Runner-up: Dustin Martin

• Pitcher of the Month: Anthony Swarzak: He was the most dominant pitcher on the Red Wings going 0-3 with a 1.59 era. He looks to be turning the corner into being the prospect we all knew he could be. In 17 innings he allowed only 4 runs on 13 hits. He only walked 2 batters with 11 strikeouts. He seems to be getter better from start to start and if the Twins need a starter this season my vote would be on Swarzak getting the call for the Twins.
• Runner Up: Sean Henn

Thats all for today I will be bringing you the New Britain, Fort Myers and Beloit awards tommorrow so talk to you then

2009 NFL Draft

With the NFL Draft today I will be giving my thoughts on all the picks in the first round. Enjoy

1. Detroit Lions- Mathew Stafford QB Georgia

My Take: I think its a solid pick because the Lions need a QB and he has a strong arm and I think he will be very good.

Last NFL Mock Draft of the 2009 NFL DRAFT

1. Detroit Lions- Mathew Stafford QB Georgia
2. St. Louis Rams- Jason Smith OT Baylor
3. Kansas City Chiefs- Aaron Curry LB Wake Forest
4. Seattle Seahawks- Mark Sanchez QB USC
5. Cleveland Browns- B.J. Raji DT Boston College
6. Cincinnati Bengals- Eugene Monroe OT Virginia
7. Oakland Raiders- Jeremy Maclin WR Missouri
8. Jacksonville Jaguars- Michael Crabtree WR Texas Tech.
9. Green Bay Packers- Andre Smith OT Alabama
10. San Francisco 49ers- Michael Oher OT Ole Miss
11. Buffalo Bills- Brian Orakpo DE Texas
12. Denver Broncos- Tyson Jackson DE LSU
13. Washington Redskins- Aaron Maybin DE Penn St
14. New Orleans Saints- Chris Wells RB Ohio State
15. Houston Texans- Malcolm Jenkins S Ohio State
16. San Diego Chargers- Robert Ayers DE Tennessee
17. New York Jets- Josh Freeman QB Kansas State
18. Denver Broncos- Knowshaun Moreno RB Georgia
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Everette Brown DE Penn St.
20. Detroit Lions- Peria Jerry DT Ole Miss
21. Philadelphia Eagles- Percy Harvin WR Florida
22. Minnesota Vikings- Eben Britton OT Arizona
23. New England Patriots- Brian Cushing LB USC
24. Atlanta Falcons- Rey Maualuga LB USC
25. Miami Dolphins- Vontae Davis CB Illinois
26. Baltimore Ravens- Clay Mathews LB USC
27. Indianapolis Colts- Darrius Heyward-Bey WR Maryland
28. Buffalo Bills- Brandon Pettigrew TE Oklahoma St
29. New York Giants- Hakeem Nicks WR North Carolina
30. Tennessee Titans- Larry English DE N. Illinois
31. Arizona Cardinals- Ziggy Wood OT Missouri
32. Pittsburgh Steelers- Alphonso Smith CB Wake Forest.

The Return of a Phenom

There was some talk this spring that Deibinson Romero had lost his top prospect status. Romero a year ago was known as a top Twins prospect before last year. Deibinson Romero is only 22 years old so he is very young for his level. The Twins signed Romero as an undrafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2004.

• In his first season with the GCL Twins he hit .313 with 4 homeruns and 38 rbi's in 50 games at the age of 19. He struggled a little defensively with 13 errors.
• In his second season Romero started the 2007 season in Elizabethton at the age of 20 he hit .316 with 9 homeruns and 52 rbi's in only 66 games. He then was promoted to Beloit to finish the season.
• In his Third season Romero start the 2008 season in Beloit at the age of 21. All I can say is it was a struggle as he struggled with injuries all season long only playing in 40 games. He hit .268 with 3hr and 18 rbi's. I think you need to forget that season and look at his past seasons.

I think Deibinson Romero is a prospect that many people are forgetting about and that is unfortunate because a year ago everybody was wondering who was going to be the better player between Valencia and Romero. Deibinson got off to a good start last night for Fort Myers going 3-5 with an rbi. His defense is a work in progress but it has gotten a little better every year. I really look for him to have a bounceback year this year and reestablish himself as a top prospect for the Twins. He won't be 23 until August so he is very young for his level and I believe in 2 years he will be challenging Danny Valencia for the starting 3rd basemen for the Twins.

The Twins farm system

I know this is a small sample size with the minor league season just getting underway but I have made a few observations so far.

• The Twins have a lot of good prospects in the system but the way these teams are put together I just don't see any good teams like we had last year with Fort Myers and Elizabethton. Rochester has some good players but I don't see the role players that every team needs to be a winning team. Look at the bullpen its primarily all left handers. Also you won't know from day to day what the lineup is going to be because you have so many people of the same skill level and who are basically utility players not type A prospects.
• In New Britain I am not liking how that team is put together. Like Matt Moses are they going to give him a chance if not just release him then. I did not see the point to bring both Rene Tosoni and Juan Portes up to New Britain. They do not have a lot of hitting and it will be worse when Danny Valencia moves up to Rochester. I am not very high on Jay Rainville at all he is getting shelled again tonight. I know some people are high on him but I just don't see it he had a bad year last year and not a good start to the season this year.
• The Jeff Manship ship needs to slow down because he is struggling against AA hitters. Last year after his promotion he was not real good at New Britain and the people that wanted him to go to Rochester need to settle down and let him figure it out before we start annointing him as a future Twin.
• The Twins had a rough game today against the Mariners. Glen Perkins was awesome today only giving up 5 hits and 1 run in 8 great innings. The problem is they could not hit and the Twins have had their games like this the last couple years. The Twins take their 2-2 record to Chicago to take on the White Sox. RA Dickey gets the start tommorrow night against Jose Contreras. Gametime is at 7:11 in Chicago

Top 50 prospects and teams

Thought I would update everyone on where the players on my top 50 prospect list will be starting their 2009 season.

1. Aaron Hicks- Elizabethton Twins
2. Ben Revere- Fort Myers Miracle
3. Wilson Ramos- New Britain Rockcats
4. Danny Valencia- New Britain Rockcats
5. Angel Morales- Beloit Snappers
6. Deolis Guerra- Fort Myers Miracle
7. Kevin Mulvey- Rochester Red Wings
8. Carlos Guitteriez- Fort Myers Miracle
9. Shooter Hunt- Beloit Snappers
10. Jeff Manship- New Britain Rock Cats
11. Trevor Plouffe- Rochester Red Wings
12. Dustin Martin- Rochester Red Wings
13. Chris Parmalee- Fort Myers Miracle
14. Luke Hughes- Rochester Red Wings
15. Rene Tosoni- New Britain Rock Cats
16. Anthony Swarzak- Rochester Red Wings
17. Tyler Robertson- Fort Myers Miracle
18. Joe Benson- Fort Myers Miracle
19. Deibinson Romero- Fort Myers Miracle
20. Mike Mccardell- Fort Myers Miracle
21. Jose Mijares- Rochester Red Wings
22. David Winfree- Rochester Red Wings
23. Rob Delaney- New Britain Rock Cats
24. Anthony Slama- New Britain Rock Cats
25. David Bromberg- Fort Myers Miracle
26. Erik Lis- New Britain Rock Cats
27. Alex Burnett- Fort Myers Miracle
28. Jason Pridie- Rochester Red Wings
29. Dan Osterbock- Beloit Snappers
30. Brian Dinkelman- New Britain Rock Cats
31. Brian Duensing- Twins
32. Steve Tolleson- New Britain Rock Cats
33. Steve Singelton- Fort Myers Miracle
34. Daniel Ortiz- Elizabethton Twins
35. Cole Devries- New Britain Rock Cats
36. Jay Rainville- New Britain Rock Cats
37. Juan Portes- New Britain Rock Cats
38. Yohan Pino- New Britain Rock Cats
39. Jon Waltenbury- Beloit Snappers
40. Brock Peterson- Rochester Red Wings
41. Evan Bigley- Beloit Snappers
42. Alex Soto- Beloit Snappers
43. Steven Hirschfeld- Fort Myers Miracle
44. Philip Humber- Twins
45. Mitre Garcia- Elizabethton Twins
46. Edward Ovalle- Fort Myers Miracle
47. Ryan Mullins- New Britain Rock Cats
48. Tyler Ladendorf- Elizabethton Twins
49. Santos Arias- Fort Myers Miracle
50. Zack Ward- New Britain Miracle

Beloit Snappers

Im still waiting to get word on the roster for the Fort Myers Miracle but I was able to get ahold of the Beloit roster and it is very interesting. There is no Aaron Hicks on the roster. That was expected and I expect him to be manning centerfield for Etown. Here is the roster.

C- Alex Soto
1b- Jon Waltenbury
2b- James Beresfeld
SS- Ramon Santana
3b- Nick Romero
Lf- Evan Bigley
Cf- Angel Morales
Rf- Michael Harrington
Dh-Hank Sanchez

Bench
Eli Tintor
Dominic De la osa
Adan Severino
Nate Hansen

Pitching
1. Shooter Hunt
2. Dan Osterbock
3. Brad Tippett
4. Henry Reyes
5. Bobby Lanigan

Relievers
Closer- Danny Hernandez
Michael Allen
Steve Blevins
Danny Rondon
Joe Testa
Thomas Wrights

DL
Brian Kirwan
Michael Tarsi
Blake Matin
Curtis Leavitt

Let me know what you think

New Britain Rock Cats

The Roster for the New Britain Rock Cats has been revealed and it is very easy not to argue with it. The thing that I took from it is if your going to beat the Rockcats you better get a lead after 7 innings because with both Rob Delaney and Anthony Slama on the roster look out. Without further adeiu here you go.

C- Wilson Ramos
1b- Whit Robbins
2b- Brian Dinkelman
SS- Yancarlos Ortiz
3b- Danny Valencia
Lf- Juan Portes
Cf- Brandon Roberts
Rf- Rene Tosoni
Dh- Erik Lis

Bench
Steve Tolleson
Allan De San Miguel(Jeff Christy will replace him when Joe Mauer returns to the Twins.)
Joe Gaetti
Matt Moses
Toby Gardenhire

Pitchers
1. Jeff Manship
2. Jay Rainville
3. Ryan Mullins
4. Cole Devries
5. Matt Fox

Bullpen
Closer- Rob Delaney
Anthony Slama
Jose Lugo
Zach Ward
Frank Mata
Yohan Pino

Everyone let me know what you think.

Rochester Red Wings

The 2009 Rochester Red Wings roster has been revealed and I guess the thing that surprises me is no Rob Delaney. I thought he would make it but I guess they are being cautious with him. I don't think it will be very long till you see him up with the Red Wings.
C- Drew Butera
1st- Brock Peterson
2nd- Matt Tolbert
SS- Trevor Plouffe
3b- Luke Hughes
Lf- Dustin Martin
Cf- Jason Pridie
Rf- David Winfree
Dh- Justin Huber

Reserves
Jeff Christy
Alejandro Machado
Matt Macri
Tommy Watkins

Pitching- Here is my projected starting 5 for the first week or so until Scott Baker comes off the DL.
1. Kevin Mulvey
2. Anthony Swarzak
3. Jason Jones
4. Mike Gosling
5. Bobby Keppel
6* Ben Hendrickson will be in the rotation when he comes back from the DL. The starting 5 when he comes back and Baker goes back to the Twins will be Mulvey, Swarzak, Jones, Hendrickson, and Duensing or Dickey.


Bullpen
Closer: Jose Mijares
Armando Gabino
Ben Julianel
Tim Lahey
Carmen Pignatiello
Sean Henn
Reid Santos

What does everyone think about the Rochester roster

2009 Minnesota Twins

With the cut of Matt Tolbert today and with Scott Baker going to the disabled list this is your opening day Minnesota Twins. I see Dickey if he pitches good in Chicago staying as a reliever with Duensing going down but without any furth adieu here is the Minnesota Twins 2009 opening day roster.
C- Mike Redmond
1st- Justin Mourneau
2b- Alexi Casilla
ss- Nick Punto
3b- Joe Crede
Lf- Delmon Young
Cf- Carlos Gomez
Rf- Michael Cuddyer
Dh- Jason Kubel

Bench
Denard Span
Brian Buscher
Brendan Harris
Jose Morales

Pitchers
1. Francisco Liriano
2. Nick Blackburn
3. Kevin Slowey
4. Glen Perkins
5. RA Dickey

Bullpen
Closer- Joe Nathan
Jesse Crain
Craig Breslow
Luis Ayala
Matt Guerrier
Philip Humber
Brian Duensing

• Today, the Twins had their final spring road game in Bradenton against the Pirates and it ended up in a tie 4-4.
• Kevin Slowey pitched his last start of the spring and was good as always going 5 innings and only giving up a run on 3 hits. His Spring ERA was an awesome 2.02. I really look forward to his season this year because I think he is in for a jump in wins and lower his era by a run.
• The Twins were led by Brian Buscher who went 2-3 with a 3run homerun that put the Twins ahead. Michael Cuddyer also had 2 hits to pace the Twins.
• Tommorrow the Twins host the Pirates in the final spring training game of the year as the Twins try to get to 20 wins for the spring. Glen Perkins will get the start for the Twins in Fort Myers. Gametime will be at 12:05.

Wednesday, April 1st

The Twins are closing in on their 25 man roster as they made 3 cuts yesterday 2 of them were expected and one that took me off guard.

• Jose Morales beat out Drew Butera for the backup catchers job for a few weeks until Joe Mauer gets healthy. I have to admit I had that wrong I was pretty sure that they would go with Butera because of his strong defense and ability calling a game. However, Morales got it because he is a superior hitter and has improved behind the plate. Being that he has spent the last couple years in AAA he is probably better able to hit major league pitching. It is a short term thing because the Twins are adament that Mauer will be playing sometime in April so im happy for Morales to get the chance with the Twins.
• In an expected move Jose Mijares was sent to AAA. As much as it was expected I am sure it was a blow for the Twins because there was a lot expected out of Mijares this year after letting Dennys Reyes go after last season. He did not allow them to keep him this spring because first he showed up at camp out of shape and then had a 9.90era this spring. This move does not guarantee that Brian Duensing is going to make the team all it means is Jose Mijares won't. With RA Dickey and Philip Humber still in camp there is a chance they could go with Dickey and Humber with Craig Breslow as the only left handed pitcher in the bullpen.
• As expected Alejandro Machado was reassigned to minor league camp and is expected to come off the bench for Rochester. Jeff Christy was told he will be cut but stay in camp until Saturday to help with catching the pitchers.
• According to Lavelle E. Neal the Twins are looking at trades to settle their roster problems. He said it is possible that either Brenden Harris or Philip Humber could be traded or both. I really hope that doesn't happen because as much as I like Matt Tolbert I would really be disappointed if they got rid of Brenden Harris because you really don't know if Joe Credes back is going to hold up on the turf. I know everyone says bring up Luke Hughes or Danny Valencia. I would not bring up Valencia because why rush him let him spend the year in between New Britain and Rochester and be ready for next year. As for Hughes has anyone seen his defense it is horrible almost as bad as Brian Buscher's so I would not be too happy with that platoon. Humber on the other hand if they believe that RA Dickey gives them a better arm in the bullpen then I would try to get something for him before I would release him.
• Yesterday, the Twins got 19 hits and a good outing by Nick Blackburn to get a nice 12-8 win.
• Nick Blackburn made his final start of the spring going 5 innings and only gave up 2 runs. He appears ready to pitch next Friday night in Chicago.
• Joe Testa had the line of the spring and not in a good way. Testa was brought up for the day because of the cuts the Twins have been making. Testa faced 7 batters and gave up 3 hits and walked 3 while only retired 1 batter. At the end he gave up 5 runs for an era of 135. That is not a line he won't soon forget and im sure his teammates with the Miracle won't let him forget it. Im sure when he makes it with the Twins he will remember his first outing with Twins.
• The Twins are a little nickedup so they had quite an outfield yesterday. Delmon Young has a sore shoulder and didn't play. Carlos Gomez had to take his pregnent wife to the doctor so he wasn't there. Michael Cuddyer had to go to the Twin Cities for a follow up appointment on his surgically repaired finger. So the outfield consisted of Jason Kubel in left, Denard Span in Center, and former first round pick Chris Parmalee in right.
• Matt Moses was very impressive in his start yesterday going 3-5 with an rbi. That was huge because hopefully that will be the start of a big season for Matt because he is in danger of being released if he doesn't have a good year. Im really pulling for him because he has alot of talent and a former 1st round pick in 2003.
• The Twins are getting close to the end with only 4 spring games left. Today, the Twins take on the Pirates in Fort Myers at 12:05. RA Dickey gets the start today as he tries to solidify a roster spot with the Twins. It should be interesting if he comes out and has a good outing. The good news is only 5 more days until the opener.

NEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fort Myers Roster

Here is a new projected Fort Myers team with just over a week until they start playing games. Everyone let me know what you think.

C- Danny Lehman
1b- Johnny Woodard
2b- Steve Singelton
SS- Yancarlos Ortiz
3b- Deibinson Romero
LF- Chris Parmalee
CF- Ben Revere
RF- Rene Tosoni
DH- Rene Leveret

Bench
C- Jair Fernandez
OF- Marc Dolenc
2b- Chris Cates
SS- Esterlin De Los Santos

Pitchers
1. Tyler Robertson
2. Deolis Guerra
3. Mike Mccardell
4. Alex Burnett
5. David Bromberg

Relievers
Closer- Danny Hernandez
Kyle Waldrop
Steven Hirschfeld
Henry Arias
Danny Santiesteban
Blake Martin
Joe Testa

Lineup
1. Ben Revere CF
2. Steve Singelton 2b
3. Rene Tosoni RF
4. Chris Parmalee LF
5. Deibinson Romero 3b
6. Rene Leveret DH
7. Johnny Woodard 1b
8. Danny Lehman C
9. Yancarlos Ortiz SS

NEW!!!!!!!!!!!! Projected New Britain Roster

I will be continuing my look at the Twins farm clubs just over a week from the teams starting to play games.

C- Wilson Ramos
1b- Whit Robbins
2b- Brian Dinkelman
ss- Steve Tolleson
3b- Danny Valencia
LF- Juan Portes
CF- Brandon Roberts
RF- Matt Moses
DH- Erik Lis

Bench
Rodolpho Palacious
Toby Gardenhire
Danny Berg
Edward Ovalle

Pitching
1. Jeff Manship
2. Jay Rainville
3. Yohan Pino
4. Cole Devries
5. Kyle Aselton

Relievers
Closer- Anthony Slama
Blair Erikson
Matt Fox
Ryan Mullins
Oswaldo Sosa
Zach Ward
Spencer Steedley

Lineup
1. Brandon Roberts CF
2. Steve Tolleson SS
3. Danny Valencia 3b
4. Erik Lis DH
5. Wilson Ramos C
6. Matt Moses RF
7. Juan Portes LF
8. Whit Robbins 1b
9. Brian Dinkelman 2b

Saturday, March 28th

Today, in Fort Myers vs the Red Sox the Twins and Francisco Liriano found out a very important lesson. When Liriano has trouble placing his fastball he is very hittable. Gone are the days when he could rely on his nasty slider when he couldn't place his fastball. I think Liriano is going to be a very good pitcher for the Twins, but I don't see him ever being the dominant Liriano of 2006 and thats ok. He will be a guy in the 3's for a era and every team needs one of those.

• Today in Fort Myers the Boston Red Sox got all over Francisco Liriano to the tune of 7 runs in only 3 innings of work. He gave up 3 homeruns in the 3rd inning in his worst start of the spring. Liriano just can not place his fastball right now and until he does that he will be a very average pitcher. Joe Nathan pitched a good inning and appears ready to go north. Philip Humber was ok giving up 1 run in his 2 innings of work. All in all everyone but Liriano did his job and all in all they appear ready for the season.
• The Twins continue to hit the ball well as they again had 8 hits in a losing cause. Joe Crede had an Rbi double and Justin Mourneau had an rbi single in a 2 run first. Matt Tolbert continued his quest to make the team with a 2 run homerun for the Twins. All in all it was a good game for the hitters as Carlos Gomez' skills were on display as he went 3-3 with 2 stolen bases. The Twins need to find a way to get him in the lineup on a consistant basis because he is a star in the making.
• The Twins made a major roster decision when they agreed on a trade with the Yankees to keep Jason Jones in the organization. They had to give up a good prospect in Charles Nolte, but he will be a good pitcher for Rochester and might make his way to the majors this season. Jones had a 2.70 era this spring and will start the season in Rochester.
• Tommorrow, the Twins welcome the St. Louis Cardinals to Fort Myers. The Cardinals are expected to bring all their regulars so it should be an exciting game. The pitching matchup should be good with Twins ace Kevin Slowey going against Chris Carpenter. Gametime is at 12:05 in Fort Myers.

NEW!!!! Projected Rochester Roster

Based on a few roster changes and other projections I am going to project who I think will be on the Rochester roster and the type of lineup.

C- Jose Morales
1b- Brock Peterson
2b- Matt Tolbert
SS- Trevor Plouffe
3b- Luke Hughes
Lf- Dustin Martin
CF- Jason Pridie
RF- David Winfree
DH- Justin Huber

Bench
Jeff Christy
Matt Macri
Alejandro Machado
Joe Gaetti

Pitching
1. Kevin Mulvey
2. Anthony Swarzak
3. RA Dickey
4. Jason Jones
5. Mike Gosling

Relief
Closer- Ben Julianel
Rob Delaney
Bobby Keppel
Jose Mijares
Tim Lahey
Armando Gabino
Sean Henn

Friday, March 27th

Today, the Twins put on their most impressive performance of the spring with a 16-2 drubbing of Tampa Bay in Fort Myers. Scott Baker got it going and the Offense pounded a very good starter in James Shields of the Rays for 11 runs and 12 hits.

• Scott Baker put up his best start of the spring giving up 2 runs in 6 innings. I wasn't real worried about Baker but it was good that he started to get the results that they were looking for come the season. With 1 more spring start Baker is just finetuning things as he gets prepared for his start April 6th vs the Mariners.
• The Twins offense continues to be on a tear as they had 18 hits today. That is 4 out of 5 games that they have had double digit hits. They appear to be ready for the season offensively so it is just about finetuning the bench. Jason Kubel went 4-4 witha homerun to pace the Twins. Justin Mourneau went 2-3 with a homerun. Michael Cuddyer also homered for the Twins as they look ready to go.
• The Twins made 5 more cuts today and are down to 32 players left in camp not counting Joe Mauer and Boof Bonser who will be placed on the DL. The guys that were cut were not surprises just part of the process.
• Jason Pridie
• Bobby Keppel
• David Winfree
• Brock Peterson
• Sean Henn

• Tommorrow the Twins continue grapefruit league as they take on the Red Sox in game 4 of 5 in the Mayor's cup and need a win to keep out hope of winning the Cup. Francisco Liriano gets the start for the Twins in Fort Myers. Gametime is at 12:05 and it should be an entertaining game.

Wednesday, March 25th

Yesterday, the Twins took the show on the road to Jupiter to take on the Marlins. Im sure the Marlin players were as high as a kite after their new ballpark was approved in Miami Dade County which meant a lot of the players will be able to stay instead of being traded. The Twins put on probably their most complete game of the spring yesterday with a very good 8-1 win. Kevin Slowey continued his strong spring and the hitters also did their part.

• Kevin Slowey was impressive once again giving up 1 run on 2 hits in 5 innings of work. His only mistake was a long homerun by Dan Uggla in the second inning. Other than that he was impressive like usual. With the 5 innings he lowered his starter low spring era to 1.79. Since they played at a national league park the pitchers had to hit and Slowey was impressive there as well. Slowey was 2-2 with 3rbi's so basically he was a one man gang to get the win for the Twins.
• Denard Span went 0-4 to lower his average to .145 this spring. I know numbers are not that important in the spring, but since the other outfielders have had better springs that should be used in determining opening day. I think when you start playing in the regular season playing time should be based on who is hitting then, but if I was Gardy based on what he has done this spring my starting outfield would be Delmon Young, Carlos Gomez, and Michael Cuddyer with Span coming off the bench.
• The Twins put together 12 hits to continue their impressive hitting as of late. Brian Buscher, Brenden Harris and Matt Tolbert each had multi-hit games to pace the Twins in addition to Slowey. It appears the Twins offense is ready for opening day as they have double digit hits for 3 consecutive days.
• The Twins have their last day off today this spring. Tommorrow the Twins travel to Sarasota to take on the Reds for a 6:05pm game. Nick Blackburn gets his first start in a long time as the Twins try to build his arm strength back up so he is ready for the season after missing a few weeks with knee soreness.
• With the Twins having today off I will be writing the first article of a new series that I am writing so check back this afternoon when I should have it up.

Tuesday, March 24th

Yesterday, the Twins took on the Blue Jays in Fort Myers. The Twins came out on top 8-7 in the high scoring game. The Twins came out strong with the bats and like usual as of late the pitching really struggled. I am not making a big deal out of the pitching struggles as of late, but with less than 2 weeks before the season I would like to see improvement.

• Francisco Liriano was not real great again. He gave up 3 runs in 5 innings. The problem again was not him getting hit that hard, he only gave up 3 hits, the problem is he is having trouble placing his fastball. When he is right he is getting ahead with the fastball and finishing hitters off with the slider and changeup. However, when he can't throw his fastball for strikes his slider and changeup are meaningless. When he falls behind he has to groove a fastball and gets hammered. I am less worried about Liriano than I am Baker because Liriano's problems can be corrected. Because if Liriano throws strikes he is almost unhittable so keep an eye on him to see if improves.
• The hitters appear that they are ready for the season to begin as they hit a spring high 4 homeruns. They were led by Justin Mourneau who homered for the second consecutive day and Matt Tolbert, Brenden Harris and Delmon Young also homered for the Twins. The Twins put up 13 hits a day after putting up 12 hits so it appears they are ready for the season to begin.
• Matt Tolbert continued his campaign to make the Twins with 2 more hits and 3 rbi's to bring his team high 7 rbi's this spring. It will be interesting to see what Gardy does because the 3 of them Tolbert, Brenden Harris, and Brian Buscher are not making it easy becuase all 3 of them are really hitting the ball. The Twins will bring 2 of the 3 up north and I really don't know who goes to Rochester. A week ago I would of bet it would of been Tolbert, but he has gotten hot so I have no idea any more and I don't think Gardy has decided yet.
• Today, the Twins continue grapefruit league play as they travel to Jupiter to take on the Marlins. Gametime is at 12:05 with Kevin Slowey looking to continue his steller spring and get ready for the regular season. Philip Humber and RA Dickey are also expected to pitch in their battle for a bullpen spot with the Twins.

Monday, March 23rd

I am working on a bigger article that I will be starting this afternoon so keep looking back for an update on it. I think you all will really enjoy it. Yesterday, the Twins were victorious over the Blue Jays in Fort Myers 11-6.

• Justin Mourneau had his first homerun of the spring to lead the Twins who had one of their first good hitting games of the spring. Going into yesterday we had only scored like 68 runs this spring which is second to last in the grapefruit league just ahead of the Houston Astros. Mourneau had 2 hits and 3 rbi's. Joe Crede had an rbi double and Matt Tolbert really helped his case to make the team as a utility infielder by going 4-5 at the plate.
• Scott Baker continued to struggle on the mound as he gave up 4 runs and 9 hits in only 4.1 innings. The good news is he did not give up any homeruns for the first time in 3 starts. The bad news is they hit him all over the ballpark. I am not worried about him but with 2 weeks to go before opening day I would like to see Baker improve his spring numbers. I feel like the last 2 weeks of spring training is really when you should be rounding into form. So keep an eye on Baker.
• Jose Mijares had another tough outing yesterday giving up 2 runs in .2 innings before having to leave after getting spiked in the ankle. Mijares going into spring training basically had to give away his roster spot and he is doing a good job of it. The Twins would like to keep him but it is looking more and more like he will start the season in AAA.
• Today, the Twins face the Baltimore Orioles for the 3rd and final time today. Gametime is at 12:05 in Fort Myers and Francisco Liriano gets the start for the Twins with Matt Guerrier, Luis Ayala, and Craig Breslow also look to get action out of the pen today.

updated position battles

With the season scheduled to start 2 weeks from tommorrow. The roster is starting to take shape. I figure 21 out of the 25 roster spots are decided with 4 up in the air.
The 21 guarantees
1.Jason Kubel
2Mike Redmond
3Justin Mourneau
4Alexi Casilla
5Nick Punto
6Joe Crede
7Delmon Young
8Carlos Gomez
9Michael Cuddyer
10Denard Span
11 Brian Buscher
12 Scott Baker
13 Francisco Liriano
14 Kevin Slowey
15 Glen Perkins
16 Nick Blackburn
17 Joe Nathan
18 Jesse Crain
19 Craig Breslow
20 Luis Ayala
21 Matt Guerrier

• That leaves 4 roster spots 2 on the bench and 2 in the bullpen.

• Philip Humber vs RA Dickey
• A very interesting battle because they have both pitched well as of late. Humber got drilled his first outing but has been very solid since. Dickey has done a lot of good things and if things were equal he probably would win. However, things are not equal because Humber is out of options and the Twins normally do not let talented pitchers go for nothing. Added to the fact that since Dickey signed a minor league contract he can be sent to AAA until June before you need to make a decision on him. With those facts I think it is a pretty easy decision.
• Winner: Philip Humber

• Jose Mijares vs Brian Duensing
• Mijares has done nothing this spring to earn a roster spot with a era over 11 and coming into camp overweight. Duensing has done everything you can do to earn a roster spot with an era under 1. However, based on comments Gardy has made I don't think this is a fair competition. Gardy wants Mijares because when he is right he is a very good pitcher and makes the Twins better team. If the Twins were going to cut Mijares I think they already would of. If Mijares can do anything the next couple weeks I think Mijares will go north
• Winner: Jose Mijares

• Jose Morales vs Drew Butera
• With Joe Mauer starting the season on the disabled list the Twins need to find a backup to Mike Redmond. It is basically offense against defense with Morales vs Butera. Morales is a good hitter and suspect behind the plate. While Butera is very strong behind the plate but not a great hitter. At first I said it should be Morales but the fact that Redmond is going to be the starter and he is very good offensively his backup should be better defense.
• Winner: Drew Butera

• Brenden Harris vs Matt Tolbert
• I don't think this should even be in discussion. Brenden Harris is a professional hitter who is a doubles machine. He is solid at short and 3rd and if Joe Crede can not stay healthy we are going to need him. Matt Tolbert is much better defensively and a decent hitter. I don't think their is much doubt about this and if im wrong I will be shocked.
• Winner: Brenden Harris

1. Yesterday, the Twins defeated Philadephia in Clearwater 2-1. The Twins did not bring much of a lineup but were led offensively by Brenden Harris who went 3-3 on the day. The most impressive player was Glen Perkins who pitched 5 shutout innings for the Twins and looks like he is in midseason form. The Bullpen did a very good job in relief also besides a homerun given up by Philip Humber in the 9th.
2. Today, the Twins take on the Toronto Blue Jays in Fort Myers. Scott Baker tries to rebound from a couple bad starts in a row. He has given up 6 homeruns in those starts. Gametime is at 12:05 in Fort Myers