Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment:

• Here is an interesting though from a couple of legislators from Florida: Allow publically-funded ballparks to be used as homeless shelters off-season. Wonder how that would play at Target Field, at the U of M football Stadium and the proposed Vikings Stadium...


• Ron Gardenhire annointed Carl Pavano as the Twins' opening day starter 2.5 months before the fact. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a classic case of premature declaration. And back to the manager of the millennium, he already has his starting OF set up before an inning of ST and before he sees how Denard Span will come around. I bet Trevor Plouffe, Rene Tosoni, Joe Benson and company feel the love.


• The Twins retired Tom Kelly's number 10 and the announcement came when a teary-filled Kelly was n the podium as a presenter at the Diamond Awards. Interestingly, 10 was not Kelly's first choice. He wore 41 in 2 seasons as a coach and half as a manager. However in 1987, he had t,o give it up for Jeff Reardon. And the rest is history.


• Our old friend Pat Neshek signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles yesterday. Good luck to Pat. He will join former Twins Steven Tolleson, Dennys Reyes and Allan de San Miguel who all have signed minor league contracts with the Os this off-season.


• Carl Pavano is doing something great (and did not get much attention or any press in Twins' Territory; and it does deserve to do so.) off the field this off-season. Watch the video, it's worth it. And you will see how Pavano trains the off-season.


• Great story about Jamey Carroll in the Strib by Joe C. Did not realize that Carroll has twins (3-year olds Cole and Mackenzie). Must be a sign.


• Guess who wants to make it bask to the big leagues. If he can, I can and you can. Maybe.

The parting shot today has nothing to do with the Twins or baseball. It's a car and a car that will never make it in the US. It's a car named "Carol" as in Madza Carol and is the twin (it does have something to do with twins) of Suzuki Alto. It's 2WD version gets 72 mph hwy and costs about 6500 pounds in Great Britain (that's about $10K or so.) Also available with 4WD. We can eat our heart out... (Hey, I warned you that these random thoughts are not always going to be about baseball...) :

The latest on Roy Oswalt

Here is the latest update on Roy Oswalt:

• Buster Olney reports that the Boston Red Sox have offered an one-year $5 million contract to Roy Oswalt. In addition, they have offered a contract to Edwin Jackson, so their priorities are not clear at this moment.


• Adam Boedeker of NBC Dallas reports that the Texas Rangers are close to signing the righty. There are no details of the interactions, but he reiterrates the alleged Oswalt preference to sign either with the Rangers or the St. Louis Cardinals so he can be close to his South Missouri ranch. Peter Gammons first reported that.


• Ken Rosenthal adds a few more clubs to the list: the Washington Nationals, Cleveland Indians, and Milwaukee Brewers.

The complete coverage on Roy Oswalt including earlier developments is here, in reverse chronological order.

Four Questions the Twins need to resolve this Spring Training

Pitchers and Catchers are reporting in 3 weeks or so and the 2012 Spring Training is just around the corner. The are a lot of questions at this point for the Twins coming into the 2012 season (like Justin Morneau's and Denard Span's health) but some of them will have to wait until the season to be answered. Here I am focusing on the questions that will be answered during Spring Training:

• What will be the starting outfield? The Twins fairly certainly will start the season with 4 outfielders in the Twins' 25 man roster: Josh Willingham, Denard Span (I assume that he is healthy), Trevor Plouffe, Ben Revere. Ryan Doumit will see some reps at the outfield as well, but he will probably take over Kubel's old role as well as serve as a back up catcher. The Twins have seem to have pencil in Span at center, Willingham at right and a platoon or Revere/Plouffe at LF. There are a few questions here: of the 5789 innings Josh Willingham player in the OF, only 264.1 (all in 2009 with Washington) or 4.6% were at RF. The rest were at left. From the 995 innings Ben Revere played in OF in the majors only 127.1 (13%) were at LF. 814.1 were at CF. And in the minors, he played only 46 games at left, 301 at center (and 2 at RF.). Trevor Plouffe played 3 games in LF and 11 games at RF in the majors, and 6 games at RF and 1 at LF in the minors. A total of 21 games at the OF (all in 2011) between the majors and the minors. And in those games the ball came his way 11 times in Rochester and 20 in the majors. So Plouffe has defended a grant total of 31 balls in his life at the outfield in game action. Denard Span has played 323 games at CF, 124 at RF and 74 at LF. The Twins in Spring Training will need to make 3 people comfortable in pretty much new positions for them, the way they have things planned. Could it happen? Maybe. It might not, though, and the Twins might end up with a starting lineup that has Revere at CF, Willingham at LF and Span at RF with Plouffe mainly assuming platoon DH duties (he is out of options.)



• What will be the Bench in 2012? I think that the only sure bet for the 2012 Twins' bench is Trevor Plouffe (I am counting Doumit as the starting DH). Plouffe is out of options, and unless the Twins trade him before the season starts he has to make the 25-man roster. Second likely member is Luke Hughes (who has, btw, killing the ball in the Australian Baseball League at a .344/.500/.656 rate with 4 HRs, 17BB and 4Ks in 19 games this winter.) He is also out of options and will be a serviceable option off the bench at all IF positions but SS and part time DH also, plus provide a RH bat off the bench as a PH in late innings. If he does not make the roster he has to be waived or traded, which I think unlikely. There are 2 additional positions on the bench and the common wisdom has it that one will go to a third catcher (Drew Butera, Rene Rivera, JR Towles) and Nishioka will get the other. I think that Gardenhire want a third catcher, but if someone like Rene Tosoni, Joe Benson, Chris Parmelee, Aaron Bates, or Sean Burroughs has a monster spring, these 2 positions are not set in stone, especially Nishioka's who will have to prove himself or start the season in Rochester.



• What will the bullpen look like? For the time being, pending a transaction, I consider the rotation set to look something like this: Pavano, Liriano, Baker, Marquis, Blackburn. If Blackburn has a horrible spring and someone like Swarzak, Hendriks, or Doyle step it up, there is an outside possibility that Blackburn will be delagated to the pen, but the Twins have been reluctant to do that in the past (including 2011, when Kevin Slowey clearly beat him out in Spring Training.) Assuming that Zumaya is healthy, Capps, Perkins, Zumaya, Deunsing are locks. This will leave 3 positions open for 14 players in the 40-man roster and for 10-non roster invitees. This includes 7 players who pitched for the Twins in 2011 (Alex Burnett, Scott Diamond, Liam Hendriks, Jeff Manship, Lester Oliveros, Anthony Swarzak, Kyle Waldrop) and an 8th (Terry Doyle) which is Rule 5 draft pick and has to be in the 25-man roster or returned to the White Sox. As you can see, this is going to be a brutal battle this Sping, which brings me to the last point:



• Setting the AAA and AA rosters and figuring out who stays and who goes. If you do the math just for the bullpen battle above, there are 24 players battling for 3 MLB positions. This leaves 21, just from the ones invited to the camp or are in the 40-man roster to populate the Rochester and New Britain pitching rosters. Add about 5-10 younger minor leaguers and you have way too many pitchers in the organization. Some of them, most likely the ones who signed Minor League contracts, will have to go, probably a good 5-6. This decision will have to be made during Spring Training and even-though not as critical as the other 3 for the 2012 Twins, will definitely be interested to watch

Tuesday morning Roy Oswalt update: Another suitor

Here is what we learned last night and this morning about Roy Oswalt:

• Put the Cincinnati Reds on Roy Oswalt's list, but it will be hard for them to afford him; as John Fay reports in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Walt Jocketty, the Reds' GM, indicates that Oswalts representatives contracted the Reds, but, he also said, that they are "pretty tapped out" and "would need to be very creative" to make it happen. John Fay today tweets that it is a long shot but does not dismiss it.


• The Boston Red Sox meanwhile, signed Coddy Ross for $3 million, cutting in half the $6 million they saved by trading Marco Scutaro to the Rockies. Could they still afford Oswalt? Do they prefer another SP (Wendy Rodriguez, Galvin Floyd) via a trade? We might find out soon. Keith Law tweets that he feels that Oswalt's "medicals" have been an issue for teams other than the Red Sox, which is an interesting tidbit to keep in mind.

The complete coverage on Roy Oswalt including earlier developments is here, in reverse chronological order.

Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment:

• This winter has been flying by. The Twins' pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training on February 18th. This is just 25 days away. Sneaky fast. Speaking of Spring Training and pitchers and catchers reporting, a former Twins who reported as a catcher in the 2011 Spring Training, Toby Gardenhire (yes the manager's son) officially retired after being granted free agency this off-season. He will be coaching baseball in the University or Wisconsin Stout. As a matter of fact he will be their head coach. He also got married last Saturday, so Gardy might be a grandpa soon.


• This will be (almost) a Roy Oswalt-free post. I will update later as needed. To see all the updates so far, you can go here


• In his first interview with the media as a Twin, Joel Zumaya was confident that he can throw 100 mph again, want to do it against the Tigers, but most importantly seems that he matured, expressing the desire to mix pitches and change speeds. And this comes from someone who in 2010 threw 85% fastballs, 1% change ups and 14% curves. Good to hear him saying that he will be mixing it up. Make sure that you read Phil Mackey's writeup on Zumaya at 1500ESPN.com. Probably the best written piece I read about Zumaya lately.


• Every Twins' fan should own Seth Stohs' annual Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook, which contains profiles about every player in the Twins' system. Great information and the 2012 issue is hot off the presses (and at a bargain price.) More information on how to get your hands on the handbook (and be the coolest kid on the block or around the office) is at Seth's blog or if you prefer an e-book for the price of a coffee and a scone at Starbucks, get it here.


• And speaking of the Twins' minor leaguers, here is a great interview of Twins' prospect Max Kepler.


• There is still plenty of time to give to The Bombay Teen Challenge the project that had former Twins' pitchers R.A. Dickey and Kevin Slowey climb up (and down) Mt. Kilimanjaro. The deadline is a week from today and about half of what needed to be raised has been raised.


• From the Lists Department: Bill James gave his list of the 100 best pitching duets for 2011. Anthony Swarzak (12), Carl Pavano (62), and Scott Baker (66) were the Twins' starters mentioned. Dan Tylicki cratead a list of 40 more catastrophic moves (as in transactions) in MLB and the A.J. Pierzynski trade was ranked number 32 (for the Giants) Twins releasing David Ortiz was number 21. Of course number 1 was the Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees. And Clay Davenport projects the Twins to win 68 games in 2012 (second worse record in the majors) and finish in the basement of AL Central 24 games behind the Tigers. Deja vu all over again. I don't buy it.


• One particular Twins' prospect achieved something bigger than baseball in real life


• 2012 Twins' organization Free Agents: 1B Jeff Bailey, RHP Andy Baldwin, C Jair Fernandez, C Steve Holm, SS Paul Kelly, 3B Chase Lambin, OF Jeremy Reed, and LHP Jake Stevens are still looking for a team. In total, there are 309 minor league free agents who are currently unemployed. Add about 113 MLB free agents not signed yet, and you might get the big picture of the baseball economy when the lights dim.


• On a totally unrelated note, Ben Revere has his own web site. Check it out


• Here is a great interview of Bobby Randall, former Twins' middle infielder in the mid 70s, by Jeremy Deckard of the Topeka Capital-Journal.


• This is a great article by Adelaide Now about the grand-daddy of Aussie Pitching who happened to be the 10th Aussie living the country to sign with an MLB team. He was signed by the Twins when he was 17th, back when George H. W. Bush was the president of the US, and the Twins were just coming off their second World Series Championship. He actually spent all his pro career with the Twins and made it all the way to Fort Myers. After a 3 year tour of the US Independent leagues (2 yeast in the Frontier League and one in Northern League) he returned back to Australia, when George H. W. Bush's son was the US president.

The parting shot today is a video of Ron Gardenhire, Brian Duensing and Glen Perkins in the Twins' Caravan from Fox 9 News:

Twins Caravan 2012: Gardenhire, Perkins & Duensing: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

Roy Oswalt is not a sure bet for the Red Sox

When the Detroit Tigers have bowed out from the Roy Oswalt Sweepstakes (primarily because Oswalt did not want to play for them), the assumption has been that the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals (if they clear payroll) are the main suitors remaining.

However, Tom Singer from MLB.com reports that the Red Sox have also been talking to the Astros about Wandy Rodriguez. Add to this the reports that the Red Sox are talking with the other Sox about Gavin Floyd, and the assumption that Roy Oswalt will be in Boston, becomes a tad premature.

Latest on Roy Oswalt: 2 teams out of the picture

No positive developments of Roy Oswalt yet, but there are a couple of suitors that are out of the picture right now:

• Take the Seattle Mariners off the Roy Oswalt list; as Joh Heyman reports they have signed Kevin Millwood instead


• Danny Knobler of CBSsports.comindicated that the Detroit Tigers are interested in Roy Oswalt, but it is unlikely that they will sign him. Detroit News' Lynn Henning says that it is not easy for the Tigers to spend $8 million. Furthermore, half-an-hour ago Knobbler indicated that Oswalt did not want to go to Detroit. I would assume that the Tigers are out of the picture.

Roy Oswalt News: Sunday AM Edition

Here is the latest on the Roy Oswalt saga:

• ESPNBonston.com writer Gordon Edes suggests that the Scutaro trade to the Rockies happened because the Boston Red Sox wanted to clear money to sign either Roy Oswalt or OF Cody Ross. They freed $6 million dollars. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reports that according to a "baseball source" the Red Sox will make an "aggressive bid" for Roy Oswalt.


• Scott Wuerz, who covers the St. Louis Cardinals at the Belleville News Democrat suggests that the Red Sox are now the favorites and that the Cardinals would need to clear more payroll space if they were to sign Oswalt.


• A new team has maybe entered the Oswalt sweepstakes. Reportedly the Detroit Tigers are "on the fringe of the Oswalt market as of Saturday evening" (John Morosi reported that first on twitter.) I cannot imagine the Tigers needing additional pitching, their priority is a DH/OF type to replace Victor Martinez; maybe this is a move to block the Twins and/or drive Oswalt's price up.

Breaking development in the Roy Oswalt situation

Just in the last half an hour both Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies sources, indicate that Marco Scutaro will be traded to the Rockies, likely for Clayton Mortensen. Even though Clayton Mortensen is a starter, indications are that the Boston Red Sox are dumping the $6 million salary of Scutaro to pursue Roy Oswalt. Stay tuned.

Edit 6:12 PM EDT. The deal is done

Friday update on Roy Oswalt

There have been some news today, mainly from Cleveland and Boston so I am presenting and update of what has been happening on Roy Oswalt the last day or so. This is the fourth update, and you can find them all here. This is what we learned since the last update:

• It has been quiet from the Twins' front as far as news about Roy Oswalt go. On the other hand, radio, TV, and print media reporters in the Twin Cities, pretty much voice a uniform opinion that the "Twins are done" making transactions.


• The Cleveland Indians acquired former Twins SP Kevin Slowey from the Rockies for 24 year old RHP Zach Puntam who is ranked the Indians' 10th best prospect by Baseball America; this will quell the rumors that Cleveland might be interested in Oswalt or Jake Westbrook (freeing a spot for the Cardinals to acquire Oswalt), to mitigate the Fausto Carmona situation. This trade really shows that Terry Ryan blew it in the Colorado trade because what he received was much less than what Colorado received (but this is a different story.)


• The Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, St. Louis Cardinals,New York Yankees were mentioned in an MLB.com video, by Jim Duquette and Fred McGriff as potential landing places for Roy Oswalt, but it is all speculative. On the other hand, Jerry Cransnick included the Blue Jays (and the Mariners) to the list of the teams interested in Jeff Francis., which make their supposed interest in Oswalt less


• The Boston Red Sox seem to be focusing on Gavin Floyd who will be cheaper, because as is they cannot afford Oswalt, per Boston Herald's Scott Lauber. This opinion has been voiced by several people connected to the Red Sox. Ian Browne, also at the MLB.com, took it a step further and said that "at this stage, it doesn't seem like there will be any big changes before pitchers and catchers report to camp on Feb. 19" for the Red Sox. Gordon Edes from ESPNBoston.com agrees. On the other hand, Michael Silverman from the Boston Herald suggests that the Red Sox are still in contact with Oswalt. Speaking of the Red Sox, you can find a great analysis on their payroll situation and Luxury tax implications at the Fire Brand, written by Chip Buck, so make your own conclusions about how much flexibility they have. Edit: Troy Renck indicates that the Red Sox are close to trading Marco Scutero to the Rockies which will free $6M off their 2012 payroll. This might just be enough for them to pursue Roy Oswalt. Re-edit: According to Troy Renck the Scutaro to the Rockies trade is dead. So that leaves the Red Sox where there were before


• The Chicago White Sox seem to be out of it


• Philadelphia Phillies assistant GM Scott Proefrock at 97.3 ESPN South Jersey this afternoon mentioned that the Phillies have enough starting pitcing and Roy Oswalt "would be a long shot", regardless having lower demands right now.

If there are any more news on Roy Oswalt, I will update here.

Update on Twins' and other MLB teams' interest on Roy Oswalt

I last gave an update on the full picture surrounding Roy Oswalt a couple days ago, and there has been some additional information, so I think that an update is in order. I will maybe do those daily if new information is out, or just do small update posts when new tidbits appear. So stick around. This is what we also know today about the Oswalt situation:

• It has been quiet from the Twins' front. And Darren Wolfson that Roy Oswalt's agent took the fifth when asked about discusions with the Twins. We do know that the 40-man roster is full to the brim as is the alleged $99 million budget limit, but these things are easily changeable.


• I posted earlier today about the word out of St. Louis, stating the St. Louis Cardinals' interest, so there is smoke there, but I am not sure that the Cardinals can move that fast.


• There have been different Rumors involing the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners, but these are just rumors and Roy Oswalt's name is always listed with Edwin Jackson's, so I would not pay way too much attention to those.


• The Atlanta Braves seem to out of it


• The Kansas City Royals look like they are all but out on Oswalt (and any other starting pitcher) as well


• The Cleveland Indians might be in play, depending how the Fausto Carmona nee Roberto Hernandez Heredia works itself out. But as of now, there is not even smoke from Cleveland, other than an an opinion piece at Bleacher Report

This is the situation as it stands today... if something noteworthy arises I will update.

Quick note: A new (old) team in the Oswalt pursuit?

B.J. Rains who covers the St Louis Cardinals at FOXSportsMidwest.com has just indicated that the Cardinals are potentially looking into trading one of Lohse or Westbrook to clear salary (and rotation) space for Roy Oswalt. Things might move really fast now that the Texas Rangers have signed Yu Darvish. Everything is quiet from the Twins' front, but if they move fast with a 2-year deal, they can be winners in the pursuit of Oswalt.

Will the Twins sign Roy Oswalt? What we know.

Originally I was going to post this tomorrow, so please change the "today" to "tomorrow" and the "yesterday" to "today". I am rushing it for one day, because I have a feeling that dominoes will start falling in place sooner than later.

So here is what we know about the interest of MLB teams on Roy Oswalt, pretty much as of now:

The Boston Red Sox are still talking to him, as of Monday. On the other hand, a couple of weeks ago Nick Cafardo reported that Oswalt was out of the Red Sox' price range, but listed the New York Yankees (unlikely after the Kuroda signing and their recent trade with the Mariners acquiring Pineda) and the St. Louis Cardinals as potentially interested parties. The news that the Red Sox do not have enough money to sign Roy Oswalt without shedding salary was confirmed by the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday as well (based on a report by the Boston radio station WEEI.) Speaking of the Cardinals interest a couple weeks ago, things have been fairly quiet and there have been no other reports of interest the last couple weeks. (I am not counting opinions and hopes and shoulds as "reports".)

The Texas Rangers have been reported to "eye" Oswalt last week, but whether they will continue to be interested, if they sign Yu Darvish, it has yet to be determined, but they are looking to offer only an one-year deal. Yesterday it was reported at the mlb.com site, that Oswalt is a back up plan for the Rangers in case they do not sign Darvish. The deadline for signing Darvish is today at 5 PM EDT.

Tom Singer (national reporter for MLB.com) yesterday wrote that Oswalt is being evaluated as possible bullpen depth by some suitors. Also, it was reported by Buster Olney that Oswalt is looking for an one year deal around $8M. If a team offers him to start and a two-year deal, it will probably have the upper hand, I suspect. This is how the Twins come to play:

A couple weeks ago (January 5th) it was mentioned, by you know who that the Twins were talking to Roy Oswalt. On January 13th Lindsay Guentzel confirmed that the Twins are talking to Oswalt and a couple days later she suggested that the Twins are discussing a 2-year, $17M contract. I think that if all of that is true, the Twins have good possibility to "steal" Oswalt from contenders, in the same manner they "stole" Zumaya (they were the only team to offer him a an MLB deal.) So if they give Oswald a starting role, a 2-year (vs 1-year) contract with higher annual value that he is allegedly asking, he could be a Twin by the end of the week.

I do expect the dominoes to fall after today's 5PM EDT time that the Darvish signing is due, of when a Darvish decision happens (which ever comes first.) Also, with the Zumaya signing, the Twins' 40-man roster is full, so expect a corresponing move.

Random Tuesday: Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment:

• Apparently, the Twins beat out the defending AL Champions in signing Joel Zumaya. Seems that Zumaya was atop of the Padres' wish list as well. The reaction of both the press and the fans in the Twin Cities about the signing was, surprisingly, mixed. I think that the down side is minimal and the upside is so huge, which makes this a no-brainer. I just hope there is an incentives-based option clause there.


• If you want to follow the Dominican winter league games live, there is a TV stream of each game (in Spanish, of course) from the home page of the league located here. Just look at the scoreboard to the upper right of the page and click on the TV symbol to take you to the live stream. And it is free, but fairly uninspiring quality, but it is baseball in January. MLB.tv eat your heart out. And, speaking of the Winter Leagues, here you can find the stats for (most of and some not anymore) Twins' players in the various winter leagues, so you can ooooh and aaaaah about the performance of players like Aaron Bates, Alexi Casilla, Luke Hughes, Nelvin Fuentes, Deolis Guerra, Lester Oliveros, Louis Perdomo and others...


• From the numbers' department: Forty (40). This is the grant total of games that Jack Morris played wearing a Twins' uniform. Forty two (42). This is the grant total of games that Jack Morris played against the Twins wearing a Tigers, Jays or Indians uniform. For reference, Jim Thome (a long time AL-Central player) played 182 games for the Twins and 191 games against the Twins. So, I'd say that Thome is as much a Twin as Jack Morris, which is not much, other than the broadcasting thing and hailing from the Cities, for the latter...


• Prom the plagiarism or copying is the best compliment department: It is interesting to see that Terry Ryan also thinks that there are lots of parallels between Trevor Plouffe, and Mike Cuddyer, unless he first read it here, a couple months ago. (Just kidding... the parallels are to easy to spot from 100 feet away.)


• From the Meet the Press Department: The Sporting News' Stan McNeal picks the Twins to finish 4th at best at the division. Methinks, let the 25 man roster get final before you make predictions, especially for clubs you don't see every day. Also CBSsports started making fantasy predictions for the 2012 Twins, indicating that Joe Mauer will have a bounce back season, Scott Baker a breakout season and Ryan Doumit will be a sleeper.

Today's parting shot is of the Twins' Winter Caravan edition, which started yesterday making its first stops at Sauk Centre, MN, Glenwood, MN and Detroit Lakes, MN. The participants were: Glen Perkins, Brian Duensing, Ron Gardenhire, Joe Vavra, Cory Provus. Everyone knows who the first three are, mostly everyone wants to forget about the 4th, but who is Cory Provus, and can he play shortstop? Apparently not. He is the newest Twins' radio broadcaster, former Brewers radio broadcaster, and I am certain that the Twins' fans are lining up to pay $6 to get his autograph. For some reason the Twins think that this might be the case... This is what Cory Provus looks like:

How Baseball and Poker Compare in Fan Excitement

Baseball is a game famous for long periods of inactivity followed by moments of high drama and excitement. A team is held scoreless for several innings and then you hear the crack of the bat and the crowd erupts as a ball is sent sailing over the bleachers. Another game that has been gaining in popularity worldwide has many of the same characteristics as baseball, and that is the game of poker. Let's look at some of the similarities.

You may not realize this based on televised productions of poker or reports from sites like Pokerlistings.com (such as this article), but many poker tournaments have long periods of inactivity similar to baseball. At time, play can go on for hours where you may see nothing but a pre-flop raise or someone bet out of the pot on the flop.

Then suddenly, a big pot starts to brew between two players and one of them goes all-in. The other players call and players railing the game are all of a sudden on their feet and trying to see what hands the two players have. Then, the fans of a particular play will start screaming for the card their player needs or for their player's hand to hold. When the turn or river card hits, the crowd erupts into either cheers or groans depending on the outcome for their player. It is definitely high drama for the fans watching.

However, the fan experience is not the only thing similar between the two sports. Poker, much like baseball, involves a huge amount of strategy. For example, players must act as their own coach and scout all during the play of a game. They have to constantly evaluate their opponents’ play and try to spot any weaknesses much the same as the coaches do during game day.

Also, every hand can present different situations much like baseball. Depending on the ability of your opponent and how the hand is unfolding, you must adjust your strategy and sometimes try new plays. Much like the great managerial minds in baseball, poker players must always be thinking at the table. Otherwise, they will get run over by the better players.

As you can see, there are definitely similarities between baseball and poker. However, one big difference in the two games is that when people reach their 40's, they can still play poker at a high level. That's not as easy to do with baseball. Of course, you can't take your 10 year old to a poker room and watch the greats of poker like you can with baseball. One thing that remains the same in both are their passionate fans that will hang on every pitch or every turn of a card.


This is an interesting point of view that I have not thought about before... This post was written by Andrew Perry, a professional Poker player and a very big fan of Baseball

5 little known facts (and a couple videos) about Twins' Joel Zumaya

It leaked earlier today that the Twins have signed Joel Zumaya to a non-guaranteed one year major league contract that will pay him a minimum of $800,000 and a maximum of $1.7 million if he reaches incentives based on appearances, pending a physical that will take place the coming Thursday or Friday. A non-guaranteed MLB contract works pretty much like this: The player is added to the 40-man roster and the team has until the end of Spring Training to decide whether or not to keep him. If the do not keep him, he is a free agent and allowed to sign any type of contract with any team (including a minor league contract with the team that cut him.) I do like this signing for a lot of reasons, especially the huge upside and the absolute zero risk for the Twins. But I am not going to get much into numbers or details, but instead I will present 5 little known facts and a couple videos about Joel Zumaya:

• His full name is Joel Martin Zumaya and he was born in California (Chula Vista, which is dead smack on the Mexican border - his family hails from Mexico- south of San Diego, the other side of Tijuana, and grew up a Padres' fan.), but his nickname has been Joel "Zoom zoom" Zumaya. And he turned 27 last November 9th. His father's name is also Joel (his mother's is Yvonne) so he could have been a "Junior".


• His fastball topped out at 104.8 mph when cameras were introduced to measure velocity in Pitch fx. His highest stadium gun recorded pitch was an 104 mph pitch thrown against Twins' Nick Punto in Comerica Park on August 7th 2006.


• Zumaya has been injury-prone, but his biggest injury was when sidelined in the 2006 ALCS with a sore wrist, apparently caused by playing Guitar Hero


• In the past, Zumaya used to subsribe to the Miguel Cabrera lifestyle. Hope these days are over. Here is Zumaya's video response at The Detroit News about Cabrera's issues (at the 1:33 mark.)


• Zumaya has been wearing uniform number 54. This number has been (sort of) claimed by Phil Dumatrait for the Twins for the time being, and up until recently it belong to Matt Guerrier.

Zumaya apparently has made at least one TV ad, and not for Mazda (Zoom Zoom, that's coming next) :



and that injury has not discouraged him from playing Guitar Hero:

Case Solved: Why the Twins released Jose Mijares

Apparently the Twins released Jose Mijares not to save $200K a year, but to make room in their roster and locker room for Todd Coffey (yes, the Todd Coffey who pitches in capris) :

Random Tuesday: Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment:

• From the sky is falling department: There is a lot of anger/anguish/disbelief/desperation about indications that the Twins' payroll will be around $100 million this season. Usually this is presented as a 'major cut' from the 2011 payroll, which started the season at $113M or so. My non-California math, says that, given the probability that insurance companies paid a decent chunk of Morneau's and Mauer's combined $38 million for 2011 and the fact that the Twins will probably spend another $5M or so more than 2011 to sign the more and higher draft picks than last season, it adds up pretty equally. And if anyone told a Twins' fan 4 years ago that fans will be complaining with an $100 million payroll, the nice men in the white coats would be on the way.


• From the Winter Leagues Department: Baseball America scouts indicate that Lester Oliveros has been hitting 96 mph with his fastball in the Venezuela Winter League. And Fransisco Liriano has officially started play with the Escogido (means "chosen" in Spanish, btw; could it be a sign?) Lions. Yesterday, Liriano started his second game in the DWL and did a little better in the walk department (no walks) but a bit worse in the hit department (5H, 3ER -and 4K) in 2.2 IP


• Interesting to see the different reactions of the organizations, the reporters and the Twin Cities fans to the equally horrible seasons of the Twins and Vikings. The Twins lose 99, it is "bad luck", "injuries" etc, so they keep the whole coaching staff intact, and have a very small roster turnover (just the free agents practically). Ok there was a token GM change, having Ryan, who btw was part of the 99 loss team, switching positions with Bill Smith from Special Advisor to GM. The Vikings lose 13 games, and, everyone asks for half of the coaches heads on a plate and the roster will probably be turned over big time. And it is funny that the fans are oblivious of the irony. Wonder why there are different expectations there. Who knows?


• Tweet of the week by a Twins' player: This one by Drew Butera, brought to you by the Wild Kingdom of Omaha. If the link does not work, it reads: "@drewbutera: Do you ever see a lion stretch before he attacks a water buffalo. To the jungle. Lets go!!!!" I am not really sure of the literal, metaphorical or metaphysical meaning of this, if it were the 60s or early 70s, I would have attributed it to something else. Drew is probably going for a Safari or joining RA Dickey and Kevin Slowey up Mount Kilimanjaro; or something.


• A worthwhile series of articles to check, are Puckett's Pond's Non-roster invitees series, each highlighting one of the 25 Twins' non-roster Spring Training invitees.


• For some strange reason the Twins released Cesar Ciurcina, Todd VanSteensel and Pedro Guerra. I am very disappointed with this decision, because I think that Pedro Guerra has a bright future ahead of him. Frankly, if the team is running out of MiLB spots, they can wave goodbye to some of the 30somethings they signed instead of 20 and 21 year-olds with ability and future. Unless there is something else going on, like needing to cut international players to save on something or another (kidding.) And apparently at least Todd Van Steensel found out his release by Baseball America. If indeed the Twins did not have the class to contact him or his agent before they release the news to the press, it does not speak well for Mr Ryan and his staff...


• Congratulations to Barry Larkin who was the only person in the BBWAA ballot to receive more than 75% of the vote and elected to the Hall of Fame. Barry will (of course) wear a Reds' hat. Surprisingly, former Twins' pitcher for a fortnight, and current Twins' radio announcer for much longer, Jack Morris (who would had worn a Tigers' hat if were elected) received 66.7% of the vote and could get in next year (his last year of eligibility.) I still cannot believe that he received more votes than Bagwell or Rains, but c'est la vie... Two homer writers voted for Brad Radke (who did not make the cut to be included next year) and the other 3 former Twins on the ballot did not receive any votes.

Today's parting shot is of Francisco Liriano pitching at his first game at the Dominical Winter League:

Not a Garden Variety Top 10 List - Part 4: Twins Franchise OPS Leaders

This is the fourth installment of the franchise top ten lists, Looking at the team leaders in OPS.

Again, the purpose is to provide a glimpse of the great players who wore the Franchise's uniform, being Twins or Senators.As with the other lists, there are two top ten lists for each category: Single Season Best and Career Best. Career Best takes into consideration cumulative performance for only the Twins' or Senators' years of a player's career. In other words, what Carew did with the Angels does not matter. And the top-10 lists are not a single top ten list. Because of the variations of the game through out the years, a Senators' top ten list is merged with a Twins' top ten list to give the franchise's best (usually 20-30) players in a category.

So in the lists, we get the ranking in the franchise and the ranking of a particular player among Senators or Twins, depending what uniform that player won. Because the purpose of this is to be a history lesson and a celebration of the great players who played for our beloved franchise, and not a debate about who is better than whom, I am not adding commentary on performances. Also, because these units are somewhat freestanding the way they are posted, I am profiling every player including the ones appearing in earlier lists. The stats in the profiles are career totals and not franchise totals.


Here is the OPS List:



Franchise Single Season:

Franchise 1 WAS 1 Goslin, G 1928 WAS 1.056
Franchise 2 MIN 1 Mauer, J 2009 MIN 1.031
Franchise 3 MIN 2 Carew, R 1977 MIN 1.019
Franchise 4 MIN 3 Killebrew, H 1961 MIN 1.012
Franchise 5 MIN 4 Killebrew, H 1969 MIN 1.011
Franchise 6 MIN 2 Goslin, G 1926 WAS .967
Franchise 6 WAS 2 Sievers, R 1957 WAS .967
Franchise 8 MIN 5 Killebrew, H 1967 MIN .965
Franchise 8 MIN 5 Knoblauch, C 1996 MIN .965
Franchise 8 WAS 4 Stone, J 1936 WAS .965
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Killebrew, H 1970 MIN .957
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Allison, B 1964 MIN .957
Franchise 13 WAS 5 Goslin, G 1925 WAS .941
Franchise 14 WAS 6 Goslin, G 1924 WAS .937
Franchise 15 MIN 9 Mauer, J 2006 MIN .936
Franchise 16 WAS 7 Cronin, J 1930 WAS .934
Franchise 16 MIN 10 Morneau, J 2006 MIN .934
Franchise 16 MIN 10 Hrbek, K 1987 MIN .934
Franchise 19 WAS 8 Travis, C 1941 WAS .930
Franchise 20 MIN 12 Killebrew, H 1966 MIN .929
Franchise 21 MIN 13 Killebrew, H 1964 MIN .924
Franchise 22 WAS 9 Vernon, M 1953 WAS .921
Franchise 23 MIN 14 Puckett, K 1988 MIN .920
Franchise 24 WAS 10 Judge, J 1930 WAS .919
Franchise 24 MIN 15 Carew, R 1975 MIN .919

Franchise Career:

Franchise 1 MIN 1 Killebrew, H .892
Franchise 2 WAS 1 Goslin, G .888
Franchise 3 MIN 2 Mauer, J .874
Franchise 4 WAS 2 Stone, J .867
Franchise 5 WAS 3 Sievers, R .859
Franchise 6 MIN 3 Mack, S .854
Franchise 7 MIN 4 Morneau, J .851
Franchise 8 WAS 4 Manush, H .849
Franchise 9 MIN 5 Hrbek, K .848
Franchise 10 WAS 5 Cronin, J .842
Franchise 11 MIN 6 Carew, R .841
Franchise 12 MIN 7 Puckett, K .837
Franchise 13 MIN 8 Koskie, C .836
Franchise 14 MIN 9 Oliva, T .830
Franchise 15 WAS 6 Spence, S .829
Franchise 15 MIN 10 Allison, B .829
Franchise 17 MIN 11 Hisle, L .811
Franchise 18 MIN 12 Lawton, M .808
Franchise 19 MIN 13 Knoblauch, .807
Franchise 20 WAS 7 Lemon, J .805
Franchise 21 WAS 8 Rice, S .804
Franchise 22 WAS 9 Judge, J .802
Franchise 23 WAS 10 Myer, B .801

Who is who of the Senators listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):


Cronin, J
---------



Joseph Edward Cronin
Born: October 12, 1906 in San Francisco, CA
Died: September 7, 1984, Osterville, MA
SS

1926-1927 Pittsburgh, 1928-1934 Senators, 1935-1945 Red Sox.
Career: .301/.390/.468, 170 HR, 1424 RBI, 1232 R, 2285 H, 87 SB

7 times All Star: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941
AL MVP 1930
Hall of Fame (elected 1956 as a Red Sox' Player)
His number 4 retired by Boston


Goslin, G
-----------



Leon Allen (Goose) Goslin
Born: October 16, 1900 in Salem, NJ
Died: May 15, 1971, Bridgeton, NJ
OF

1921-1930, 1933, 1938 Senators, 1930-1932 St. Louis, 1934-1938 Detroit
Career: .316/.387/.500, 248 HR, 1609 RBI, 1482 R, 2735 H, 175 SB

All Star 1936
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators) 1935 (Detroit)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1968 as a Minnesota Twin not as a Senator)

Judge, J
----------



Joseph Ignatius (Joe) Judge
Born: May 25, 1894 in Brooklyn, NY
Died: March 11, 1963 in Washington DC
1B

1915-1933 Senators, 1933-1934 Red Sox
Career: .298/.378/.420, 71 HR, 1034 RBI, 1185 R, 2352 H, 213 SB

World Series Winner 1924 (Senators)

Lemon, J
---------



James (Jim) Robert Lemon
Born: March 23, 1928 in Covington, VA
Died: May 14, 2006 in Brandon, MS

1950, 1955 Cleveland, 1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1962 Twins, 1963 Philadelphia, 1963 White Sox
Career: .262/.332/.460, 164 HR, 529 RBI, 446 R, 901 H, 13 SB

All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators)



Manush, H
-----------



Henry Emmett (Heinie) Manush
Born: July 20, 1901 in Tuscumbia, AL
Died: May 21, 1971 in Sarasota, FL
OF

1923-1927 Detroit, 1928-1930 St Louis, 1930-1935 Senators, 1936 Boston, 1937-1938 Brooklyn, 1938-1939

Pittsburgh
Career: .330/.377/.479, 110 HR, 1183 RBI, 1288 R, 2524 H, 114 SB

Led AL in Batting Average in 1926 and in Hits in 1928 and 1933
All Star (1934, Senators)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1964, Detroit Tigers)

Myer, B
---------



Charles Solomon (Buddy) Myer
Born: March 16, 1904 in Ellisville, MS
Died: October 31, 1974 in Baton Rouge, LA
2B

1925-1927, 1929-1941 Senators, 1927-1928 Red Sox
Career: .303/.389/.406 38 HR, 850 RBI, 1174 R, 2131 H, 156 SB

Led the AL in Batting Average in 1935 and Stolen Bases in 1928
Two times All Star: 1935, 1937



Rice, S
---------



Edgar Charles (Sam) Rice
Born: February 20, 1890 in Morocco, IN
Died: October 13, 1974 in Rossmoor, MD
OF

1915-1933 Senators, 1934 Cleveland
Career: .322/.374/.427, 34 HR, 1078 RBI, 1513 R, 2987 H, 351 SB

Led the AL in Hits 1924, 1926 and Stolen Bases in 1920
World Series Champion 1924 (Senators)
Hall of Fame (elected 1963, Minnesota Twins)



Sievers, R
-----------



Roy "Squirrel" Edward Sievers
Born: November 18, 1926 in St.Louis, MO

1949-1953 St Louis Browns (later became Baltimore Orioles), 1954-1959 Senators, 1960-1961 (White Sox)

1962-1964 Phillies, 1964-1965 (expansion Senators - later became Texas Rangers)
Career: .267/.354/.475 318 HR, 1147 RBI, 945 R, 1703 H, 14 SB

Led the AL in HRs in 1957 and in RBI in 1957
All Star: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 (Senators) 1961 (White Sox)
Rookie of the Year: 1959 (Browns)

Spence, S
----------



Stanley (Stan) Orville Spence
Born: March 20, 1915 in S.Portsmouth, KY
Died: January 9, 1983 in Kinston, NC
OF

1940-1941, 1948-1949, Red Sox, 1942-1947 Senators, 1949 St Louis
Career: .282/.369/.437 95 HR, 575 RBI, 541 R, 1090 H, 21 SB

All Star: 1942, 1944, 1946, 1947 (all with Senators)


Stone, J
--------



John "Rocky" Thomas Stone
Born: October 10, 1905 in Mulberry, TN
Died: November 30, 1955 in Shelbyville, TN
OF

1928-1933 Detroit, 1934-1938 Senators
Career: .310/.376/.467 77 HR, 707 RBI, 739 R, 1391 H, 45 SB



Travis, C
----------



Cecil Howell Travis
Born: August 8, 1913 in Riverdale, GA
Died: December 16, 2006 in Riverdale, GA
SS

1933-1941, 1945-1947 Senators; 1941-1944 US Army, received Bronze Star for injuries
Career: .314/.370/.416 27 HR, 657 RBI, 665 R, 1544 H, 23 SB

Led the AL in Hits, 1941
All Star: 1938, 1940, 1941



Vernon, M
-----------



James Barton (Mickey) Vernon
Born: April 22, 1918 in Marcus Hook, PA
Died: September 24, 2008 in Media, PA
1B

1939-1943, 1946-1947, 1950-1955 Senators, 1949-1950, 1958 Cleveland, 1956-1957 Boston, 1959 Milwaukee,

1960 Pittsburgh; US Army 1944-1945
Career: .286/.359/.428 172 HR, 1311 RBI, 1196 R, 2495 H, 137 SB

Led the AL in Batting Average in 1946 and 1953
All Star: 1946, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1955 (Senators) 1956 (Boston) 1958 (Cleveland)
World Series Champion 1960


Who is who of the Twins listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):


Allison, B
------------



William Robert (Bob) Allison
Born: July 11, 1934 in Raytown, MO
Died: April 9, 1995 in Rio Verde, AZ

1958-1960 Senators, 1961-1970 Twins
Career: .255/.358/.471 256 HR, 796 RBI, 811 R, 1281 H, 84 SB

Led the AL in OPS in 1963 and in Runs in 1963
All Star: 1959 (Senators) 1963, 1964 (Twins)
Rookie of the Year (1959, Senators)


Carew, R
----------



Rodney (Rod) Cline Carew
Born: October 1, 1945 in Gatun, Canal Zone
IF

1967-1978 Twins, 1979-1985 Angels
Career: .328/.393/.429 82 HR, 1015 RBI, 1424 R, 3053 H, 353 SB

Led AL in Batting Average: 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978; in OBP 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978 in

OPS 1977 in Runs 1977, Hits 1973, 1974, 1977
All Star: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 (Twins), 1979, 1980,

1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 (Angels)
MVP 1977
Rookie of the year 1967
Roberto Clemente Award 1977
Uniform number 29 Retired by the Twins (1987) and Angels (1991)
Hall of Fame (elected 1991, Minnesota Twins)
Hisle, L
---------


Larry Eugene Hisle
Born: May 5, 1947 in Portsmouth, OH
OF

1968-1971 Philadelphia, 1973-1977 Twins, 1978-1982 Milwaukee
Career: .273/.347./.452 166 HR, 674 RBI, 652 R, 1146 H, 128 SB

Led the AL in RBI in 1977
All Star 1977 (Twins), 1978 (Milwaukee)



Hrbek, K
---------



Kent Alan Hrbek
Born: May 21, 1960 in Minneapolis, MN
1B

1961-1994 Twins
Career: .283/.367/.481 293 HR, 1086 RBi, 903 R, 37 SB


All Star 1982
World Series Champion 1987, 1991, Twins
Uniform number 14 was retired by the Twins (1995)

Killebrew, H
-------------



Harmon "Killer" Clayton Killebrew
Born: June 29, 1936 in Payette, ID
1B

1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1974 Twins, 1975 Royals
Career: .256/.376/.509 573 HR, 1584 RBI, 1283 R, 2086 H, 19 SB

Led AL in Home Runs 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 and 1969, in RBI in 1962, 1969 and 1971, in OBP in

1969 and in SLG% in 1963
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators) 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971

(Twins)
MVP 1969
Uniform number 3 Retired by the Twins (1975)
Hall of Fame (elected 1984, Minnesota Twins)

Knoblauch, C
------------



Edward Charles (Chuck) Knoblauch
Born: July 7, 1968 in Houston, TX
2B


1991-1997 Twins, 1998-2001 Yankees, 2002 Kansas City
Career: .289/.378/.406 98 HR, 615 RBI, 1132 R, 1839 H, 407 SB

All Star 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997 (all with Twins)
Gold Glove 1997
Silver Slugger 1995, 1997
World Series Champion: 1991 (Twins), 1994, 1996, 1997 (Yankees)
Rookie of the Year 1991 (Twins)

Koskie, C
-----------



Cordel (Cory) Leonard Koskie
Born: June 28, 1973 in Anola, MB, Canada
3B

1998-2004 Twins, 2005 Blue Jays, 2006 Brewers
Career: .275/.367/.458 124 HR, 506 RBI, 516 R, 71 SB

Lawton, M
----------



Matthew (Matt) Lawton
Born: November 30, 1971 in Gulfport, MS
OF

1995-2001 Twins, 2001 Mets, 2002-2004 Indians, 2005 Cubs, 2005 Yankees, 2006 Mariners
Career: .259/.368/.417 138 HR, 631 RBI, 756 R, 165 SB

All Star: 2000 (Twins), 2004 (Indians)


Mack, S
---------



Shane Lee Mack
Born: December 7, 1963 in Los Angeles, CA
OF

1987-1988 San Diego, 1990-1994 Twins, 1997 Boston, 1998 Kansas City, 1998 Oakland
Career: .299/.364/.456 80 HR, 398 RBI, 436 R, 853 H, 90 SB

World Series Champion 1991 (Twins)


Mauer, J .
----------



Joseph (Joe) Patrick Mauer
Born: April 19, 1983 in St. Paul, MN
C

2004- Twins
Career: .323/.403/.471 84 HR, 502 RBI, 545 R, 1096 H, 35 SB

Led the AL in Batting Average 2006, 2008, 2009, in OBP in 2009, in Slugging percentage in 2009 and in

OPS in 2009
All Star: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010,
Gold Glove: 2008, 2009, 2010
AL MVP 2009


Morneau, J
----------



Justin Ernest George Morneau
Born: 5/15/1981 in New Westminster, BC Canada

2003-2011 (Twins)
Career: .281/.353/.499 185 HR, 709 RBI, 550 R, 1055 H, 4 SB.

All Star: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (Twins)
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008 (Twins)
MVP: 2006 (Twins)

Oliva, T
---------



Pedro (Tony) Oliva
Born: July 20, 1940 in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba
OF

1962-1976 Twins
Career: .304/.353/.476 220 HR, 947 RBI, 870 R, 1917 H, 86 SB


All Star: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 (Twins)
Gold Glove: 1966
Rookie of the year 1964
Uniform number 6 retired (Twins, 1991)


Puckett, K
-----------



Kirby Puckett
Born: March 14, 1961 in Chicago, IL
Died: March 6, 2006 in Phoenix, AZ
OF

1984-1995 Twins
Career: .318/.360/.477 207 HR, 1085 RBI, 1071 R, 2304 H, 134 SB

Led the AL in Batting Average 1989, in RBI 1994 and in Hits in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992
All Star: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
All Star MVP: 1993
Silver Slugger 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994
World Series Champion: 1987, 1991
ALCS MVP: 1991
Roberto Clemente Award: 1996
Hall of Fame (Elected 2001; Minnesota Twins)


Next: Home Runs

Random Twins Tuesday: Thoughts and Tidbits

My goal is for this to become a regular feature here. Just some random, haphazard thoughts and various things I find interesting about the Twins and baseball in general. And maybe not baseball only; we'll see how this will evolve. Weekly. Tuesday works for consonantal alliteration's sake, so here is the first installment:

• Now that Danny Valencia claimed uniform number 22 for 2012 (Carlos Gomez' old number, btw, and the thought of getting a "Valencia" name plate and having it replace "Gomez" on my #22 blue jersey passed my mind for about one single second, I do not lie) looking at unused uniform numbers, the one that really tickles my interest is the number 4, last worn by Augie Ojeda in 2004 and previously by Paul Molitor as a player and a coach. Does the fact that is not used, mean something? Who knows? For sure the Twins will not retire it for just 3 seasons of Molitor's play. Do they keep it for Paul to come up and help occasionally or more than occasionally? We'll see.


• The 2012 Twins' pen has the potential of being like the 2004 pen, which had a newly acquired 'inexperienced' 29 year-old failed starter and decent for a year set up man as the closer (Nathan), a 25 year old RH set up man left over from the previous season(Rincon), a 28 year old decent LHP left over from the previous season (Romero), a young 22 year old fireballer (Crain), a 25 year old waiver wire pick (Gurrier), an oft injured 26 year old (Balfour) and 2 early 30s journeymen (Roa and Fultz). And it was not bad, but something has to click in 2012.


• Speaking of the 2012 'pen. La Velle said (in so many words) that the Twins cannot afford Dan Wheeler. This is kind of an interesting tidbit, because I am sure that they can afford him. Maybe they simply do not want to afford him.


• And potential 2012 'pen candidates (both RH fireballers), Lester Oliveros (20.1 IP, 1.33 ERA, 9 BB, 18 L, 1.33 WHIP in Venezuela) and Luis Perdomo (21.1 IP, 2.11 ERA, 3 BB, 16 K, 0.80 WHIP in the Dominican) are lighting up Winter Ball. Anthony Slama finished his stint in the Pacific Mexican League with 1.76 ERA in 15.1 IP, 5 BB, 19 K and 0.85 WHIP, but he does not seem to be invited in Spring Training for some reason. Stay tuned.


• Speaking of Winter Leagues, Alexi Casilla is having a stellar winter (and that has not happened often). He is been hitting .336/.419/.412 with 6 SB in 119 AB in the Dominican; I hope that this is a sign of things to come, because he can really use a break-through season in 2012. And speaking of crazy hitting in winter and need for break through seasons (or a great spring in his case), Luke Hughes, who is out of options, has been hitting .500/.630/1.111 with 3 HRs in 18 AB in Australia.


• Lots of talk about the 2012 Hall of Fame vote and who is in and who is out and why. There are five (count them, little known secret) former Twins on the ballot: Jack Morris, Terry Mulholland, Phil Nevin, Brad Radke and Ruben Sierra. I don't think that anyone has a chance. I see Barry Larkin making it and possibly Tim Raines and Jeff Bagwell. That's about it. How would I vote? I don't, so I don't have to cross that bridge yet (and probably ever.)


• The other day I looked up Terry Doyle's full name, in order to create the ground work for a future world play (malapropism or metonymy for you, English majors) on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in case Terry Doyle makes the club and amazes us with his performance, and I was surprised to find that his full name was John Terry (not even Terrence) Doyle. Just does not have the same ring to it. But at least he has the same name (not middle) as a former Washington Senator, Dirty Jack Doyle or trivial fame. The MVP award of the Irish Baseball League is named after him (full name: The 'Dirty' Jack Doyle Silver Slugger Award. Dirty Jack's middle name is Joseph, btw) Have not seen pictures of the trophy, but I will close this post with a picture of Old Dirty Jack:

And a (bonus) parting thought, also, concerning Terry Doyle:

Nick Blackburn in AFL in 2007: 6 GS, 22 IP, 1.64 ERA, 2 BB, 20 K, 0.68 WHIP, .178 OBA
Terry Doyle in AFL in 2011: 8 GS, 26 IP, 1.98 ERA, 5 BB, 22 K, 0.62 WHIP, .135 OBA

I think that the comparison is too interesting not to mention here...
Blackburn in the following season, 2008, had his career bests in WHIP, K/9 and K/BB and this makes me think that Terry Doyle could be better than Marquis de Junque (here goes a malapropism, btw) in 2012.

But...who knows?