5 Little known facts about the newest Twins' OF, Clete Thomas

The Twins have announced that they have selected OF Clete Thomas on waivers from Detroit. Clete Thomas bats left-handed and has played in all 3 outfield positions, but he has more experience in Right Field. After Darin Mastroianni, he is the second OF on waivers claimed by the Twins in 2012. He will take Scott Baker's 40-man roster spot and a corresponding move (either demoting Ben Revere who has options or waiving ineffective LHB Sean Burroughs) will be made before the Twins' game tomorrow, to clear a 25-man roster spot for Clete Thomas.

Here are five little known facts about Clete:

• He was drafted by the Twins on the 5th round of the 2003 draft but did not sign and went to Auburn University instead. Drafted by the Tigers on the 6th round of the 2005 draft as a Junior.


• His High School team won the State Championship (Florida) in 2002 when he was a senior at Mosley High School


• He was a member of the 1996 U.S. South Region Champs that advanced to the Little League World Series


• His first name is Micheal, but goes by his middle name Clete and has a brother, Alex, who is 18 years his junior


• He underwent Tommy John surgery; a rarity for position players; he is close friends with Denard Span and will wear number 36 for the Twins, recently vacated by Joe Nathan

Twins Players of the Week

The Twins are 2-4 in this early season, after being swept in their first series at Baltimore and winning the series against one of the AL darlings, the LA Angels at the home opener at Target Field, 2-1. This series win is very hopeful, because if they Twins win 60-70% of their series, they will be in the post-season. They stand at 50% right now and winning the Rangers' series, will put them at 66%, which is right on course.

A position player and a pitcher stood above and beyond the Twins' peers this week and they are the Twins' players of the week.

Position player: Josh Willingham:



.409/.458/1.000 4 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB, 5 K, (24 PA)

Pitcher: Glen Perkins:



.000 ERA, 0.545 WHIP, 2 H, 0 BB, 6 K (3.2 IP)

Twins' Organization Player and Staff Birthdays List

Did you wonder when is the Birthday of your favorite player in the Twins' Organization? Did you know that Brian Dozier and Justin Morneau shared Birthdays? So do Chris Parmelee and Nick Blackburn. And the New Britain clubhouse will have a lot of fun on August 20th, the shared birthday of both their pitching and hitting coaches (Bobby Cuellar and Tom Brunansky). And do you know the most popular day as far as Twins' organization players and staff birthdays go? It is November 24th when 6 members of the organization celebrate their birthdays. Here is the list of more than 200 birthdays in the organization; it can also serve as an organizational roster. A couple of caveats: A. Some players who are mentioned in the list are no longer with the organization. This will probably clear when the short season leagues are announced. B. Some players in the Twins' organization (esp. the new International Signees not in Extended Spring Training who will play in the DSL or will join the organization this summer,) as well as the managers and coaching staff at the short season leagues are not listed. I do not list front office/announcer/broadcaster etc birthdays.

Without further ado (and please help fill any gaps) :


January
-------

2 - Felix Jorge (1994)
3 - Andy Leer (1988)
5 - Danny Ortiz (1990)
6 - Nick Alloway (1989), Anthony Slama (1984)
7 - Nick Lockwood (1991)
8 - Carl Pavano (1976)
9 - Brendan Wise (1986)
10 - Gonzalo Sanudo (1992)
15 - Josue Montanez (1992)
16 - Tony Davis (1988), Yeison Florentino (1992), Matt Maloney (1984), Jeff Manship (1985)
17 - Gerardo Ramirez (1994)
19 - James Beresford (1989)
20 - Estarlin De Los Santos (1987), Brad Stillings (*) (1988)
22 - Ronald Jimenez (1994)
24 - Norberto Susini (1989)
25 - Eddy Concepcion (1993), Dallas Gallant (1989), Andrei Lobanov (1990)
28 - Javier Vargas (1993)
30 - Blayne Weller (*) (1990)
31 - Caleb Thielbar (1987), Brad Thompson (1982)

February
--------

1 - Damian DeFranke (1995), Michael Quesada (1990)
2 - Logan Darnell (1989), Ryde Rodriguez (1988)
3 - Jose Gonzalez (1990)
8 - Nate Hanson (1987)
9 - Ernesto Ciprian (1991), Levi Michael (1991), Matt Parker (1988)
10 - Liam Hendriks (1989), Max Kepler (1993)
11 - Brad Tippett (1988), JR Towles (1984)
12 - Cole DeVries (1985), Danny Rohlfing (1989)
17 = Josh Willingham (1974)
18 - Jhonatan Arias (1989), Jamey Carroll (1974), Kelvin Mention (1992), Matthew Tone (1988)
22 - Brian Duensing (1983), # Nelson Prada (1976)
24 - Chris Parmelee (1988), Nick Blackburn (1982)
25 - Nate Roberts (1989)
26 - Sterling Bonilla (1992)
27 - Denard Span (1984)
28 - Ricardo Arevalo (1991), Niko Goodrum (1992), Aaron Thompson (1987)

March
-----

1 - Martire Garcia (1990)
2 - Glen Perkins (1983)
4 - (#) Steve Liddle (1959)
5 - Joe Benson (1988), Stephen Wickens (1989)
9 - Evan Bigley (1987)
10 - Aaron Bates (1984)
12 - PJ Walters (1985)
13 - Javier Pimentel (1994)
14 - Junior Subero (1992)
18 - Reudis Reyes (1993)
21 - Junior Amarante (1995), Kelly Cross (1992)
22 - Elias Villasana (1993)
26 - Victor Arias (1991)
27 - Jose Vasquez (1991)
28 - Phil Chapman (*) (1989)
30 - Matt Houser (1988)
31 - Josmil Pinto (1989)


April
-----

3 - Ryan Doumit (1981)
5 - Tobias Streich (1988)
6 - Carlos Martinez (1994)
7 - Nelvin Fuentes (1989)
9 - Nick Cicio (1989)
12 - Melciades De La Cruz (1993)
17 - Deolis Guerra (1989)
18 - Brandon Henderson (1989)
19 - Joe Mauer (1983)
20 - Marcus Limon (1989)
21 - Drew Leachman (1989), Justin Parker (1990)
24 - Francis Mateo (1993), Adrian Salcedo (1991)
27 - Luis Perdomo (1984)
30 - Ryan O'Rourke (1988)

May
---

1- Tyler Koelling (1989)
2 - Corey Kimes (1990)
3 - Ben Revere (1988)
4 - Erick Gonzalez (1991), Matej Hejma (1990)
5 - Melciades De La Cruz (1993) Bobby Lanigan (1987)
9 - Oswaldo Arcia (1991)
10 - Jairo Perez (1988)
11 - Miguel Sano (1993)
12 - Aderlin Mejia (1992), Hein Robb (1992)
13 - Jonathan Goncalves (1989)
14 - Dubal Baez (1993), Romy Jimenez (1991)
15 - Brian Dozier (1987), Justin Morneau (1981)
16 - Trent Higginbotham (1992)
17 - Sebastian Perez (1995)
18 - Randy Rosario (1994)
19 - Jhon Garcia (1987)
21 - Adam Bryant (1989)
25 - Pat Dean (1989)
28 - Lester Oliveros (1988)
31 - Edgar Ibarra (1989)

June
----

2 - Jared Burton (1981)
3 - (#) Jim Dwyer (1950)
5 - Dereck Rodriguez (1992), Jhon Silva (1993)
10 - (#) Scott Ullger (1955)
11 - Yorman Landa (1994)
12 - Billy Killian (1986)
14 - Dubal Baez (1993), Mike Hollimon (1982)
15 - Trevor Plouffe (1986)
16 - Michael Gonzales (1988)
17 - Garrett Jewell (1990), (#) Jeff Smith (1974)
18 - (#) Tommy Watkins (1980)
19 - Derek Christensen (1989), Blake Martin (1986)
20 - Ramon Santana (*) (1986)
22 - Engelb Vielma (1994)
25 - Felix Gallardo (1991)
27 - Mark Trau (1991)
28 - Wang-Wei Lin (1988)
30 - Steve Gruver (1989)

July
----

1 - Matt Carson (1981)
2 - Sam Deduno (1983), Rene Tosoni (1986)
3 - Nate Fawbush (1990), Tyler Grimes (1990)
4 - Corey Williams (1990)
5 - Jorge Polanco (1993)
8 - Bart Carter (1987)
10 - Jacob Younis (1993)
12 - Phil Dumatrait (1981)
13 - Jose Abreu (1992)
14 - Cole Nelson (1989), Adonis Pacheco (1991)
15 - Alexandre De Oliveira (1992) Bobby O'Neill (1989), Adonis Pacheco (1991), Nick Romero (*) (1987)
18 - Bruce Pugh (1988)
19 - Candido Pimentel (1990)
20 - Alexi Casilla (1984)
24 - Argenis Silva (1994)
26 - Alex Burnett (1987)
27 - Tsuyoshi Nishioka (1984)
28 - Rory Rhodes (1991)
30 - Scott Diamond (1986)
31 - Rene Rivera (1983)

August
------

1 - Kennys Vargas (1990)
2 - Luke Hughes (1984)
4 - Pedro Estaba (1992), Miguel Munoz (1988), Marty Popham (1987)
6 - Ricky Bowen (1987)
9 - Drew Butera (1983), Steven Evans (1989)
11 - Manuel Soliman (1989)
15 - Rafael P Valera (1994), Joel Polanco (1992)
17 - Matthew Summers (1989), Danny Turpen (1986)
20 - (#) Tom Brunansky (1960), (#) Bobby Cuellar (1952)
21 - Jason Marquis (1978)
23 - Hyeong-rok Choi (1989), (#) Jerry White (1952)
24 - Ray Chang (1983), Wander Guillen (1992), Jairo Rodriguez (1988)
25 - J.R. Krogstad (1988)
26 - Darin Mastroianni (1985), Markus Solbach (1991)
27 - AJ Achter (1988), Emilio Sepulveda (1991)
29 - Clint Dempster (1989)

September
---------

1 - Edgar Martinez (1990)
2- Lance Ray (1989)
3 - Matt Capps (1983)
5 - Anderson Hidalgo (1988), Tyler Jones (1989), Danny Lehmann (1985)
6 - Jose Ramirez (1991)
8 - Steve Hirschfeld (1985)
10 - Anthony Swarzak (1985)
12 - Sean Burroughs (1980), Kyle Knudson (1987)
13 - Luke French (1985)
14 - David Bromberg (1987), Tim Shibuya (1989)
19 - Danny Valencia (1974)
20 - Brett Lee (1990)
22 - (#) Gene Glynn (1956), Carlos Gutierrez (1986)
24 - Deibinson Romero (1986), Sam Spangler (1987)
25 - Hung Yi Chen (1992)
26 - Luis Nunez (1991), Tom Stuifbergen (1988)
28 - Eddie Rosario (1991)

October
-------

1 - Erik Komatsu (1987)
2 - Aaron Hicks (1989)
3 - Kelvin Silvania (1990)
4 - (#) Jimmy Alvarez (1977)
6 - Andrew Albers (1985), Cole Johnson (1988)
8 - Tyler Herr (1990), (#) Rick Stelmaszek (1948)
10 - Luis Gonzalez (1994) 12 - Miguel Gonzalez (1994)
13 - Paul Bargas (1988)
17 - Travis Harrison (1992), Chris Mazza (1989)
18 - Hudson Boyd (1992)
19 - Kelvin Ortiz (1991)
24 - Chris Colabello (1983), (#) Ron Gardenhire (1957)
23 - Cesar Ciurcina (1990), Kyle Gibson (1987), Jonatan Ynojoso (1992)
25 - Wilkin Ramirez (1985)
26 - Francisco Liriano (1983)
27 - Jamaal Hawkins (1988), Kyle Waldrop (1985), Jason Wheeler (1990)
29 - Julio Torres (1993)
31 - Casey Fien (1983)

November
--------

1 - Alex Wimmers (1988)
2 - Daryl Thompson (1985)
5 - Reggie Williams (1988), Reyson Zoquiel (1993)
7 - Tim Atherton (1989), Danny Santana (1990), Esmerling Vasquez (1983)
8 - Mark Dolenc (1984), (#) Gary Lucas (1954)
9 - Madison Boer (1989), Joshua Hendricks (1991), Brett Jacobson (1986)
10 - Brian Dinkelman (1983)
13 - Ryan Mullins (1983)
154 - Gabriel A. Ynfante (1994)
16 - (#) Joe Vavra (1959), Dakota Watts (1987)
17 - Kyle Wahl (1988)
18 - Ezequiel Zarzuela (1990)
19 - Scott Baker (1981), Jeff Gray (1981), AJ Pettersen (1988), Michael Tonkin (1989)
20 - JD Williams (1990)
21 - Matthew Koch (1988)
24 - Chris Herrmann (1987), David Hurlbut (1989), Steven Liddle (1987), (#) Steve Mintz (1968), Angel Morales (1989), Carlos Suarez (1992)
28 - Joshua Burris (1991)
29 - (#) Rick Anderson (1956)
30 - Austin Malinowski (1992)

December
--------

1 - BJ Hermsen (1989)
3 - Angel Mata (1992)
6 - Felix Martinez (1988)
7 - Jorge Andrade (1994), Matt Schuld (*) (1987)
10 - Pedro Florimon (1986)
12 - Jose Jimenez (1991)
17 - Matthew Tomshaw (1988)
19 - (#) Stew Cliburn (1956), Danny Rams (1988)
20 - (#) Jake Mauer (1978)
23 - Roy Larson (*) (1987), Tyler Robertson (1987)
24 - Matt Rizzotti (1985)
28 - Francisco Nunez (1991)


Unknown:
--------

Kuo-Hua Lo
Miguel Gonzalez
Felix Jorge
(#) Rudy Hernandez


(*) Denotes no longer with the organization. (#) Denotes Manager/Coach/Staff

Twins' Baker out for the season with flexor pronator tendon issues: Anatomy Lesson

The Twins announced that Scott Baker will be out for the rest of the season due to surgery on his Flexor Pronator tendon of his right elbow. Most people have no idea what this is, so I will try to explain...

Here is a picture of the inside of the elbow (Think of it as being around on the inside -thumb side- bony part of the elbow) :



The Flexor Pronator Tendon is the one pointed out with the arrow on the top of the picture. The UCL is the dotted blue line (The arrowhead points to a nerve that has been looped out of the way). So the Flexor Pronator Tendon is close enough the UCL to allow misdiagnosis without an MRI.

Clearly Scott Baker had an MRI last week and according to all Twins' sources that MRI was identical to that he had last summer. When Baker received a second opinion by Dr. Altcheck the "tendonititis" that was diagnosed by the Twins' medical staff, was immediately diagnosed as tear scar tissue build up on the tendon requiring surgery.

If the Twins' staff did not misdiagnose and mistreated Scott Baker's elbow injury last summer, he would have had the surgery then and with the 6 months required for rehab, he would have been available and healthy in the beginning of Spring Training. Now his season is lost. And all because of another misdiagnosis and mistreatment. It is about time that the Twins' brass hold the medical staff accountable and replace them ASAP. Terry Ryan spoke about accountability when he was (re)appointed as the interim GM. Let see if he can walk the talk, or he was just blowing hot air.

Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment:

• The opening day was a bummer but featured somewhat a comeback, for which I was thankful. Still the Twins lost, which is not good. My thoughts as I was watching that game are here. The second game debacle did not put me in a great mood and the third game was the cherry on top. At least there were a couple of bright points: Swarzak's performance on short notice, Jamey Carroll's defense, Frankie Liriano's first inning. Glen Perkins and Brian Duensing have done a remarkable job when called upon.


• The home opener yesterday afternoon was pretty interesting, until the manager of the millennium per habit, left Blackburn in a batter or 2 too many. After 4 games the Twins as a team are hitting a collective Buteraesque: .165/.252/.240 and only Josh Willingham (1.390/239 OPS+) and Justin Morneau (.829/149 OPS+) have OPS higher than league average


• The Twins are 14th in the AL in OPS and Runs Scored, 12th in ERA, 10th in WHIP and Runs allowed/game and 11th in Runs Allowed so far. But the Defense has improved: They are 8th (and above league average) for Defensive Efficiency and tied for 4th for Total Fielding Runs above average. I would not be surprised to see Mr Brunansky as the hitting coach soon


• Scary thought: Matt Maloney might be part of the Twins' rotation in 2013.


• Apparently with all the issues Scott Baker had in Spring Training, his first MRI was after his failed start with the Miracle last week. I hope that Terry Ryan who has been blowing hot air about accountability explains that


• Ken Rosenthal wrote this incredible story about the bike accident of Reese Marquis and her healing. A MUST read, especially if you have kids. You might understand what Jason Marquis was going through.


• Looks like the Twins jumped up a few spots on these and these pre-opening day power rankings


• From the cannot make it up department: Matt Capps' middle name is "Dicus" (No K). I swear. Look it up.


• Twins' middle infield prospect with the Beloit Snappers AJ Pettersen Is trying to explain the art of choosing a walkout song.


• R.A. Dickey's Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball is great. A must read feel good story from a former Twins' pitcher.


• The Twins' product of the week, is the MLB Men's Minnesota Twins Arch Classic Long Sleeve Full Zip Hooded Fleece, in Athletic Navy. You cannot beat the price and I picked one for myself to wear at my local ballpark.

The parting shot today is of Mr Nicholas Blackburn. He was alright in the home opener, until Gardenhire left him in a couple batters too long:

Random thoughts from the Twins' Opening Day game

Not necessarily in any order. Just notes I was making while watching the game:

• Luke Hughes was the emergency backup Catcher? Say what? I thought that it would had been Josh Willingham who actually caught before. And (I did double check) Luke has played in every position of the field in pro ball (including P) but C.


• Mauer and GIDP are not a good combination. So are Pavano and his 86 mph "fast"ball, esp when it ends up at the seats.


• The early innings reminded me a bit of last season when the Twins were making heroes out of no-name opposing pitchers. Arrieta's curveball is pretty nasty thought. Helps opposing pitchers having perfect games through the first time in the order.


• Nice play by Carroll in the middle of the 3rd. Nice and steady. I don't think that Nishioka makes that play. And then he makes another one


• Memo to Denard Span: Please please do not get picked off first again. Paying attention helps


• Good to see Morneau get a hit at the 4th after Mauer hit a rocket to the Centerfielder


• I think that Pavano's pitching to contact with those soft-tosses will get too old too soon


• Great diving play by Parmelee on the bottom of the 5th. He is learning


• Pavano's breaking junk is working better than his (not so) fastball. Got to throw more of that. And nice D play by Valencia. I just hope they come back with a few runs. That sounds like a broken record from last season, I know...


• Surprise: Pavano does not irritate me any less than he did last season.


• And that Doumit and Span play was vintage Mike Cuddyer; Carroll is ok with the glove


• Nice catch and throw out at the plate by Willingham. Revere does not do that (the throwing out part)


• The Twins look like they are picking up from where they left last season. Not. Too. Good.


• Burroughs in to PH for Casilla. Lazy fly on the first pitch he saw. Not. Too. Good. Especially with a guy who cannot find the zone. Big mistake to not let Casilla draw a walk there. Even more interesting to see Plouffe instead of Luke Hughes as the Defensive replacement at second.


• That "close" play at 1st was not even close. Davis was off the bag. Way off the bag. When he caught the ball


• Jeff Gray reminds me of Dusty Hughes. A lot. Only he is right handed. And Gardy burns yet another pitcher in a meaningless game. And a good one (Duensing.)


• Good to see that Josh Willingham HR on top of the 9th! Made things interesting. Questionable called strike 3 against Doumit, Parmelee comes through and Plouffe up. Also interesting to see Revere PR for Parmelee. Unfortunately Plouffe hits a double play ball.


• At little better than it could be. Still disappointing to lose, but let's get the next ones. Tomorrow is another day.

Twins' Opening Day facts

Happy Opening Day to the Minnesota Twins who are starting the 2012 season by playing at the Baltimore Orioles at 3:05 PM local time. Here are some facts about the Twins' opening days of yore:

• The Twins lost their last 3 opening days


• The Twins' overall record, since they moved to Minnesota, on opening day is 25-26, so with a win today, they will be back to .500


• The following pitchers made the most opening day starts for the Minnesota Twins: Brad Radke (9), Bert Blyleven (6), and Frank Viola (4)


• The Franchise original opening day opponent was also the Baltimore Orioles on 4-29-1901 at the American Park in Washington DC


• The Twins' Franchise overall record on opening day is 62-49


• The Twins' Franchise opening day record against the Orioles is 6-1, with the only loss in a 6-7 game in 1957 at Griffith Stadium


• The only teams the Twins' Franchise has a losing record against on Opening day games are the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox , Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (the only time they played them were of the Devil kind still)


• Only 5 of the 13 position players (Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Denard Span and Danny Valencia) of the Twins' 2011 opening day 25-man roster are on the 2012 roster


• Only 6 of the 12 pitchers (Nick Blackburn, Matt Capps, Brian Duensing, Fransisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Glen Perkins) of the Twins' 2011 opening day 25-man roster are on the 2012 roster

Random Tuesday Twins Thoughts and Tidbits

Here is this week's installment:

• I cannot believe that Spring Training is over tomorrow and that the season begins this Friday. Orioles' Jake Arrieta (of the 5 some ERA and 1.5some WHIP in 2011) was named opening day starter agaist the Twins. Hope that the Twins' bats beat him up pretty nicely.


• Last November we heard that Plouffe was finally just an outfielder/DH. Unfortunately, Mr Gardenhire decided that "Plouffey" is the backup shortstop as well and he will have a "super utility" role. I think that this is a fairly unfortunate thing to do with one of your worse defenders, but Gardenhire has been doing it for years with Cuddyer...


• Despite this (which, thankfully, was valid only for the day that was posted), I am happy to see what is probably the strongest openning day bench for the Twins in recent memory.


• Ron Gardenhire did not crack the top ten in this top MLB managers list.


• A former Twins' player who has retired a while ago, is still active in his community.


• Looks like Jason Marquis' seven year old daughter who had a serious bike accident thankfully is doing better and Marquis will return to the Twins shortly.


• And it looks like Hammond Stadium will be upgraded after all (last paragraph of the linked article.) I hope the Twins give it the Target Field dimensions, because now it is 330-405-330 symmetrical.


• The answer to the Twins Trivia Contest about who is different that the rest in the Twins' Hall of Fame and Why, was Jim Rantz because he is still in the same position he was Elected in the HOF for. Even though nobody got the why exactly correctly, LeCroy24fan was the first one to get Rantz so he wins a game used bat of former No 1 Twins' draft pick BJ Garbe. Please e-mail me your snail mail address at thetenthinningstretch.at.gmail.com to mail it to you.


• The new Twins' commercial is a hit


• The Twins' product of the week, in honor of the new season is a book: 162 - 0: The Greatest Wins in Twins History Would we all love an 162-0 season? :)

The parting shot today is of the most unlikely man to make the Twins' 25-man roster: Sean Burroughs

2012 Season MLB Predictions

'Tis the time of the year for the season predictions. I took a (unpublished) cut on these right at the beginning of Spring Training and then I finalized them today. I actually had to make a few changes based on events that happened in Spring Training and even teams' performances in Spring Training. Here are my predictions for the 2012 Major League Baseball season, including standing for each division, who will win the wild card and who will win the League Pennants and the World Series. Optimism abounds, since everyone (other than the Athletics and the Mariners) are starting with a clean slate:

AL Central:

Twins
Tigers
Royals
Indians
White Sox

AL East:

Red Sox
Yankees
Blue Jays
Rays
Orioles


AL West:

Rangers
Angels
Mariners
Athletics


AL Wild Cards: Yankees, Angels

NL East:

Nationals
Phillies
Marlins
Braves
Mets

NL Central:

Reds
Pirates
Brewers
Cardinals
Cubs
Astros

NL West:

Giants
Dodgers
Diamondbacks
Padres
Rockies

NL Wild Cards: Phillies, Pirates

ALCS: Twins over Red Sox
NLCS: Nationals over Philies

WS: Twins over Nationals in 6.

Breaking: Butera makes Twins 25-man roster as outfielder

FORT MYERS FL. A bit before the seventh inning stretch of today's game with the Boston Red Sox, Twins' manager Rod Gardenhire went to the visitor's clubhouse at the Jet Blue Park and decided to have an impromptu press conference. He announced that, since last Saturday when Drew Butera was optioned to Rochester, Gardenhire has been having severe symptoms of separation anxiety including indigestion, night terrors, flu-like symptoms and other unmentionable things. To that effect, he said, he had to "do right by Drewy". He indicated that he has to "get that cannon arm of his on the field" and he thinks that this Spring Training Drew has shown signs of major improvement at the plate. "He will hit better than Nicky ever did for us this season, write it down", Gardenhire said. He also said, that Drew Butera will now be his starting Right Fielder and will slide in occasionally at Left Field and Center Field. "He is fearless out there, I always liked him and he has deceiving speed". Gardenhire admitted that sending Butera down (or rather pretending to do so) was a ploy to expose the haters and the closed-minded and "them bloggers and commies". Here is an exclusive spy shot of Drew Butera at the Hammond Stadium outfield on a AAA game this afternoon:

Twins Report from Fort Myers. March 30th edition: Punto and the Red Sox and Goodbye Fort Myers

Tonight is my last night at Fort Myers. It has been a super blast to be able to spend 8-10 hrs a day at the Twins' Spring Training Complex on a daily basis. This will be the last of my Daily Reports from Fort Myers and it is a bit super-sized: 21 photos in all.

Like every morning, I started the day at the minor league Fields. Today was one of the rare days that all 4 fields were occupied and Twins' minor leaguers were either doing drills (Fields 1 and 4) or taking Batting Practice (Fields 2 and 3). Happy to finally snap an action photo of this previously elusive Twins' prospect:



Pretty tight two-seamer grip.

And the Celebrity of the Day (he was watching AAA BP at Field 2 and chatting -maybe commiserating- with Joe Benson about haircuts and the Twins' policy) :



Back at Hammonds Stadium for the Twins' game. Here are the lineups (names correctly spelled) :



I took this one just for Parker. "Thome is my Homey" sighting at Hammond Stadium:



Lots of familiar faces with the Red Sox:







Four sentence tale of the game:

Blackburn was up and down



Bard did this all afternoon long



The young players did OK, but some plays made Jerry do this:



and this was the final score:



I always like to take action shots and especially of players who are new with the Twins. So here is a a bunch:

Brian Dozier:



Sean Burroughs:



Mike Hollimon:



Angel Morales:



Jeff Gray:



Andrson Hidalgo:


(Yes he does the one-handed thing in every swing)

Evan Bigley:



Sam Deduno:



Esterlin De Los Santos:




What is wrong with this picture?



All good things have to come to an end and I had a blast. It was a great way for me to get to warm up for the season (and to get a decent 3K of pictures of Twins to play around with all season long...) Until next season, so long from Fort Myers.

Twins Report from Fort Myers. March 29th edition: Gibson and Hicks and the minors

Double Bill today at Fort Myers: The Twins' AAA club played the Red Sox' equivalent at Field 2 and the Twins' AA club played the Red Sox' equivalent at Field 3. At the same time while the Twins were playing the Pirates at McKechnie Field. Fields 2 and 3 are back to back so it was easy staying in-between, peeking at the action on both fields and concentrating to the one that made the most sense depending on the action.

Earlier around 10 AM there were Pitcher Fielding drills on Field 1, with pitchers of all levels of the organization from Extended Spring Training to New Britain, mostly Rookie and A, conducted by Tom Kelly, Paul Molitor and Jake Mauer. Pretty good company for one of the Twins' top prospects, don't you think?



Seeing this guy participate in Pitching drills with the rest of the AAA pitchers (even though he was just tossing the ball softly) was a sight for sore eyes:


(this is Kyle Gibson, for the ones who do not know him)


Back to the games. Here is the AAA lineup:



And here is AA:



(and, YES, even the Twins' staff cannot spell Mastroianni's and Herrmann's names correctly)

The pitching roster for Rochester was Luke French, Brad Thompson and Jeff Manship and for New Britain it was Alex Wimmers, Deolis Guerra and Lester Oliveros. The pitching roster and the fact that Aaron Hicks was playing (right field) for New Britain, made my choice of main game easy. A bonus was that a Tampa Bay scout was there scouting the two Twins' relievers, which makes me think that something might be going on...

There were some interesting spectators, involving a big name Twins' writer (not sure if he is going to write anything about this, though) :



And a certain pitcher who pitched most of last season with the Twins:



BTW, since he was cut I have not seen him in a single workout since I have been at Fort Myers last Sunday, so either there is something with him or he will be packing his bags soon...

Back to the AA game.

Alex Wimmers pitched 4 strong innings. Good sinker with good movement sitting from 88-90 and touching 91 occasionally. His braking ball is decent and so is his change but they both need command work. The one thing that is amazing about Wimmers, if you have not seen him before, is how little he looks:





I think that this season would be very important for him, especially to establish that command of his secondary pitches and improve the control of his sinker. If he does not do so, he will not be ready next season (2013) for sure...

Deolis Guerra pitched 3 more innings and he really struggled on the first one, throwing mainly his sinker (89-92). The four first batters went: double, HR, single, single. Very flat sinker with not much of an action at that inning.



The last pitcher for New Britain was Lester Oliveros, of Delmon Young trade fame. Something very interesting about Lester (and Bobby Cuellar was sitting by the radar table, where I was also, after the Twins' AAA game was done and chatting about this with the young Twins' pitchers who were charting pitches: ) When Oliveros throws his FB at 94-96 it flattens out, when it sits at 91-93 is has a nice sinking action and good movement and it is hard to hit. Same with the slider: 86-87 is all over the place; at 82-84 he can command it well. And control has been the biggest issue with Lester. I am very encouraged of the diagnosis of the issue and looks like he will start the season at New Britain trying to fix it. Another thing about Oliveros. If you have not seen him in real life, you will be surprised on how big he is. He looks small on the TV, but is really built. Almost Tyler Robertson big, other than the height.



How about Mr Hicks:



This picture is typical of Hicks at this game. He took a lot of pitches and he walk a couple of times before he was replaced by Derek Rodriguez (Pudge's son.) Could have been part of the game plan. I am not sure. He did play RF and if he will start at New Britain, with Derek Mastroianni there, he will have to mix and match outfield spots. He made a couple of nice catches and had a couple of good throws from RF. Before anyone is thinking about potential permanent move out of RF, this is just a game.

And, speaking of Derek Rodriguez... he looks a lot like dad, only taller, thinner and faster:



Back to the AAA game.

Really not impressed by Luke French. Typical LH junk-baller. Pitches from 80-86 mph, was hit hard. Brad Thompson who followed him is an interesting story. He is another new MiLB free agent (like French) and was out of baseball nursing an injury all last year. His FB sits at 86-87 but has crazy movement and induces lots of ground balls. He will be 31 this season. Interesting to watch how he will do in Rochester



Thompson pitched 2-3 good innings and the last pitcher for Rochester was Manship. Looks like they might use him as a reliever and not a starter this season down there. I have seen a lot of Manship so I was at the AA game when he pitched. This shot is from the bullpen warming up.



You'd probably heard by now that Trevor Plouffe had a couple of hits in that game. Here are his swings for those hits:






Tomorrow will be my last full day at Fort Myers and will coincide with my last report. I will be watching the Twins' game vs the Red Sox and will try to catch some action at the side fields earlier.

Twins Report from Fort Myers: March 28th edition

This afternoon was the Twins' game with the Phillies at Fort Myers. The Minor League games also started early today, so the side fields were pretty quiet. As usually before Twins' games at Fort Myers, a select group of players were taking batting practice at Field #5, while the non-playing Pitchers were at the OF to catch the balls. The players there were the backup infielder types and back up catchers: Doumit, Towles, Hollimon, Dozier, Burroughs (who was fine to take BP with a soft splint on his left wrist.) Interesting point number one: Drew Butera was absent from that group. Interesting point number two: Batting practice was under the eyes of these two gentlemen who actually had an animated discussion about some of the participants, but it would be rude to listen to a private conversation now, wouldn't it?



Back to the game. Liriano was starting (which was a treat) but there were a couple of interesting position choices: Ben Revere was the starting Right Fielder and Luke Hughes was the starting first baseman. Hughes later moved to Left Field, when Willingham was lifted for Hollimon who stayed at the game playing 1B. Revere later move to Center Field, when Brian Dinkelman came in.

You can read the box score and pretty much tell what happened in the game. Very encouraged by Liriano who was hitting 91-94 mph with his Fastball and was locating it properly. Also he induced a lot of ground outs, most with his slider and some with his FB, which is encouraging to see. As far as his mechanics go, he did stay tall (this delivery is on a slider) the whole outing



Mauer and Morneau made solid contact. Especially encouraging was to see a couple of hard and far hit balls by Morneau, including a Home Run. Here is his home run swing:



The people with "access" might have more information and they might have talked about it by now, but it appears that Willingham got something going on with his left forearm:




Alexi Casilla laid a perfect bunt and he is one of the best bunters in the majors, but his bunting form is somewhat unorthodox:



Speaking about Frankie staying tall, this was later in the game after he got into trouble. Truly, most of the Frankie's trouble was defensive issues. Valencia could have been easily given an error on that ball that passed through 3rd base and Span should have caught that soft pop in shallow center at the 3rd inning. So Frankie did not stay tall at least in that one pitch (and that was a Fastball) :



Brian Duensing had a very nice outing and surprisingly, he had the fastest pitch of the game. Most of his fastballs were from 90-92 but one hit 95 to stuck out looking the last batter he faced:



Did I say how nice is to see Mauer and Morneau getting on base?



And all Luke knows how to do, is to knock runners in



Hard to figure what's been going on with Perk (and Capps for that matter). Maybe because it was their first back to back appearance this Spring. But I really think that the issue of the matter is deeper: He is trying to re-grow that Amish looking beard he had a couple seasons ago and we all know where that led him. So about time to make changes...



On the other hand there has been word of Capps' split finger fastball. Did not see that one today, but Capps really labored and his regular fastball was sitting at 91-92 which is a bit slower that where it should be this season. (And do not blame the gun. Liriano hit 94 and Duensing 95 on the same game earlier)




Burnett finished the game and he looked underwhelming... I think that he will be on the round of the next casualties along with Drew Butera. At some point the Twins had Casey Fien warming up at the 9th inning... with a 5 run lead, when Burnett was pitching. I think that this speaks tons about the confidence the Twins' have on him at this point.




Tomorrow the Twins are playing the Pirates away in Bradenton. I will be staying at Fort Myers and covering action at the Minor League fields.