Baseball Weather

Well, at least it looks like it in the pictures. It's nice to see that Spring Training is getting underway.

Still no word on how the Twins are going to fit Luis Ayala on their roster. I'm assuming that Bobby Korecky will be DFA'd, pass through waivers and end up in Rochester. If, by chance, he is lost... oh well.

Rumors still swirl that the Twins are in-play for Joe Crede. I'm not sure what to think at this point. At the right price (what's the right price?), I would be okay with it. It would turn Brendan Harris into the utility guy that Nick Punto will no longer be and will allow Brian Buscher to be a left-handed bat off the bench. Both of those scenarios are desireable. But throwing a lot of money at a guy that may or (more likely) may not hold up is not something that fits the way the Twins roll. Regardless, Crede will sign a 1-yr contract somewhere for a contract that is loaded with incentives. If that happens to be with the Twins, I hope he earns the incentives.

That's all for tonight.

Oh, for the American Idol record, I'm taking Danny Gokey, Anoop and Alexis to move on to the finals. I also think Ricky Braddy will move on as Wildcard.

Twins Update

• The Twins agreed to terms today with RP Matt Guerrier. They split the difference on their arbitration figures and he'll be playing this year for $1.475
• Last week I made a comparison - on a pretty well-known blog -between the first couple of seasons of Delmon Young and the first couple of seasons of everybody's favorite Twin Kirby Puckett. Not everyone thought it was deserved - and it very well might not be - but at least it shows that there still is potential for Young to suceed.

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/aarongleeman/325991758735726083/#338126

• Check out this website (after looking at my comparision). Looks like somebody likes the way I think...
• PS - I was a little off on my Super Bowl Prediction, huh? Oh well.

Super Sunday

Just a few random thoughts on Super Sunday.

• I fully expect the Steelers to capture their second Super Bowl win in the last four years. I'm hoping for an enjoyable game, but I'm not convinced the Cardinals will be able to keep it close for all four quarters. (My prediction: Steelers 31, Cardinals 13. Steelers score 17 unanswered 2nd half points. No one individual shines, so Ben Roethlisberger takes home game MVP.) With all of that being said, I'm rooting for Larry Fitzgerald and the Cardinals.
• I had a blast watching Georges St. Pierre kick the living crap out of BJ Penn last night. After a close Round 1, GSP had Penn on his back for the next 3 rounds. To Penn's credit, he did whatever he could to not have to tap out. Luckily for him, his manager/trainer/brother wouldn't let him go back out for Round 5. Personally, I think GSP is the best fighter in the UFC right now... of course, I may be bias since he's on my Fantasy UFC team.
• Still consider me "not in favor" of trading Delmon Young. With the bullpen issues and the appearance that the Twins are going to make a trade, all signs point to Young being a likely casualty. I really think his career will take a sucessful turn. As I commented on a different blog, Young's stats through two full seasons almost mirror Kirby Puckett's identically. I don't expect Young to become Kirby (not possible), but it is evidence that players can turn it around in a hurry - and in a big way.

Off for some more pre-game preparations.

Your "Daily Dose"...

***Joe C. of the Star Tribune just reported that the Twins have broke off talks with RP Eric Gagne. It appears that Gagne had just met the Twins asking price (1 yr, $3m+incentives) but the Twins are moving in a different direction - apparently a trade. No word yet what that means, or who is being targeted. Personally, I would have been fine with Gagne for $3m. He would have, in effect, just been keeping the seat warm until Pat Neshek returns in 2010.

So it's hardly been daily. Sometimes it's closer to monthly... like mostly all the time. When it's soooo cold outside its hard to get fired up to write about the Twins. However, TwinsFest seems to get this blood moving again. I was in attendance both Friday night and Saturday and had a pretty good time.

My main objective on Friday night was to hit up the Minor League area for autographs. Last year I went with a few balls to have signed. My plan was to go to the top prospects and have them sign a ball. But they were in a small group, so I had all three guys sign the same ball. I was immediately disappointed, because not all three were considered top prospects (or prospects at all) and I knew that I would have to either display all three or none at all. (Needless to say, two still remain Twins, and only one remains on the Prospect Radar.)

This year I went more prepared. I had no intention of trying to locate an actual baseball card of the prospects because it was either going to be too hard to find, or too expensive to purchase (rarity, not quality). So I went hard to work on locating and downloading pictures from the internet. Anyway, I went armed with a dozen or so decent-looking 4x6 pictures.

I also brought my Seth Stohs Prospect Handbook to have the prospects sign their profile. I was pretty happy when the first person I saw in line was Seth Stohs himself. Those who are wondering, this is Seth from sethspeaks.net. I introduced myself and shot the shit with him for awhile. I had to let him go to chase his daughter who wasn't interested in standing still.

I was excited for all the top prospects, but was especially looking forward to OF Ben Revere, INF Trevor Plouffe and 3B Danny Valencia. It was interesting to see how they interacted with fans. Revere appeared to be nervous; he didn't say much. I congratulated him on a good year and all he mustered was something that sounded like, "hu". Valencia and Plouffe were talking football, so I joined in there conversation. They were discussing where Tim Tebow would be drafted (even though he didn't enter the draft this year) and what position he would play (I expressed that I didn't think he'd play fullback like they were predicting.) Plouffe was especially enjoyable. He showed the picture to the guy next to him (P Anthony Swarzak) and said, "Look, long hair, don't care." Before he signed we talked a little about where the picture was from. He probably would have talked to every one in line for ten minutes, but there wasn't time for that.

Pictured below is Ben Revere.

Saturday we went back to take in the sights. We were able to catch the tail-end of a photo-op and got one taken with former Twin Tony Oliva. He seemed to be having a good time.

We also took the clubhouse tour. It was interesting; we got to sit in the press box, tour the clubhouse and sit in the dugout, but wasn't as cool as I expected it to be. Throughout the whole weekend there is also a sportscard/memorabilia show that is very impressive. I was able to survive the weekend with only purchasing a Joe Mauer Plaque. Although I bought a Beloit Snappers hat and a Snappers shirt for LeAnne. They threw in a Brian Duensing Bobblehead Doll for spending $35 too, so that was alright.


That's all for tonight. I hope to start doing this weekly (at the least) until the players report. So come back next week...