Tuesday

SethSpeaks: How long have your been writing for the The News-Press, and what is your position there?

I'm midway through my 11th year at The News-Press. I started out as an intern, wrote for the news department for about nine months and then gladly switched to sports in 1995. I cover a variety of sports, doing a lot of high school football and basketball and of course, spring training.

SethSpeaks: How long have you covered the Miracle? What other sports or teams besides the Miracle do you cover?

I've covered the Miracle, off and on, for 11 years. In fact, one of the first stories I wrote for The News-Press was a profile on Steve Liddle, who in 1994 was the Miracle's manager. It's been fun watching him progress to the Twins big-league bench coach. I also have covered the NBA Development League team the Florida Flame, which is now affiliated with the Minnesota Timberwolves. They have two players here for this season, guard Bracey Wright of Indiana University and forward Dwayne Jones of St. Joseph's. They're both rookies with the Timberwolves.

SethSpeaks: What is your background in journalism and how did that transfer to your current position?

I majored in journalism at the University of Kansas. That allowed me the opportunity to cover the men's basketball season's run to the Final Four in 1993. The team lost to North Carolina in the semifinals, and I was sitting courtside at the Superdome in New Orleans when Chris Webber of Michigan called the timeout he didn't have. Covering that Final Four gave me something solid to put on my resume when I discovered the internship in Fort Myers in the summer of 1994.

SethSpeaks: What is your background in baseball? Did you play ball growing up?

Honestly, I don't have much of a background in baseball, other than growing up a Kansas City Royals fan. I never got past T-ball, choosing instead to play football. But I always have enjoyed watching the game.

SethSpeaks: Who were your favorite ballplayers when you were a kid, and who are they now?

George Brett would be my favorite player. I've been able to meet him twice. The first time, he was pretty grouchy. It was about a week before he got his 3,000th hit, and he wasn't in the mood to be interviewed about it. I was writing a story for my college paper at the time, and I really didn't know what I was doing. I had even stuffed a baseball or two into my pocket to get an autograph, not knowing that that's pure unprofessionalism (I never gathered the guts to actually ask him for the autograph, either). I met him again a few years ago when he was coaching for the Royals during spring training. I reminded him of my first interview with him, and we both had a good laugh about that.

SethSpeaks: Who were the writers who have most influenced you?

That's a good question. Anyone who writes for Sports Illustrated has influenced me. I enjoy Steve Rushin's columns the best, and I understand he's a Minnesota native. He's just a pure talent, the Barry Sanders of sportswriters. I also enjoyed meeting Jack McCallum, who covers the NBA for SI. He's just a great reporter and a solid writer.

SethSpeaks: Do you ever take the time to read sports blogs or articles on the Twins or other teams? If so, who are some of your favorites?

Because I am so immersed into high school sports and covering them here in Southwest Florida, I don't have much time to check blogs and articles during the regular season. So usually in the week or two before spring training, I do a crash course and research how the previous season went.

SethSpeaks: How do you draw the line between friendship with the players and coaches and a professional relationship with them?

That's another good question. There's a fine line between professional sportswriters and "jock-sniffers," who buddy-up to the athletes they cover and try to make friends with them. Ideally, you can be friendly without being friends.

SethSpeaks: Riccardo Ingram was the coach at Ft. Myers this last year. He has been promoted to New Britain for the 2006 season. Can you tell us a little bit about him and his personality and his managing styles?

Riccardo is just fun to be around. He keeps things loose and likes to joke around, but he always respects the game. He's like Twins manager Ron Gardenhire in both respects.

SethSpeaks: The organization named Kevin Boles, who had been managing in Beloit, the new Ft. Myers manager. Have you had a chance to meet him and can you tell us what you know about him?

I haven't met Kevin Boles in person yet, but I have talked to him on the phone. From what I gather, he's a baseball lifer, the son of a former big-league manager who shouldn't have any problem managing the Miracle.

SethSpeaks: Adam Harben had an incredible season. Was there any good reason that he was kept in Ft. Myers, rather than being promoted like the other three (Nick Blackburn, Errol Simonitsch and Glen Perkins)?

I think Harben stayed in Fort Myers because with all of the other promotions, there just wasn't enough room to promote yet another pitcher. I know the Twins were really pleased with him, and his pitching distanced himself from the fact that he was a college roommate of Ron Gardenhire's son.

SethSpeaks: Who are some of the best pitching prospects that you have seen come through Ft. Myers and eventually made it to the big leagues? Is there some consistent characteristic in those guys that just gives you an idea that they will make it, or at that level is it still mainly a guess?

Brad Radke pitched his way to the big leagues from Fort Myers, but he did so right before I moved here. I don't remember many of the current Twins pitchers from their Miracle days, mainly because if they were with the Miracle, they weren't with the Miracle for very long. So to answer the second part of the question, they all share one thing in common: they get promoted from the Miracle pretty fast.

SethSpeaks: There were a couple of hitters on the roster that really intrigue me. Denard Span seemed to really figure things out this year. I hear that he is a great guy. Can you tell us a little more about him as a person and what you see from him as a ballplayer?

Denard Span is definitely a good guy. I had him over at my house early in the season to play the new Major League Baseball video game on Playstation 2. Unfortunately, he beat me, I think the score was 7-5. I wrote a story about it. Span worked really hard on his hitting. He realizes his place in the organization as a potential leadoff hitter and Torii Hunter's eventual replacement in center field. And he'll do everything in his power to get there. But if we were to have a rematch in the game, I know I'd beat him, because I've been practicing, too.

SethSpeaks: Obviously Matt Moses is another name that spent about half of the year in Ft. Myers. This was really his first full, healthy season and he did show he can hit. Tell us a little about him, his offense, and even a little about his defense as that is frequently mentioned as the big concern with him?

Matt Moses probably gets labeled as a shaky defender since his hitting is so good. But he can handle the hot corner well, and for every run he allows with a bad play, he can more than make up for it on the offensive side. He had an incredible work ethic, just like Span. I don't have any inside information on this, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Moses in the big leagues sometime in 2006.

SethSpeaks: Australian Trent Oeltjen has been a personal favorite prospect of mine for the last couple of years. It was a tough year for him, getting off to a rough start with the injury. But by season's end, he had put together a pretty solid season. Tell us some about him, and does he have a real chance?

Trent has the best chance out of any of the Australian position players. He's solid on defense, he's a good baserunner, and he improved his confidence at the plate. He's also the projected starter for Team Australia in the baseball World Classic. You're smart to be keeping an eye on him.

SethSpeaks: Brock Peterson is still young for that level. I find him an intriguing prospect because of his youth and his power potential. Does he have a chance?

Of course Brock has a chance. He just needs to cut down on his strikeouts and not try to hit a home run with every at-bat. Right now, he's a free-swinging slugger who needs to focus on raising his batting average and lowering his strikeout totals.

SethSpeaks: Finally, I'm also curious about Allan de San Miguel. He was called up to Ft. Myers from the GCL Twins team. He is just 17, so surely there were others that could have been promoted instead of him. Is he high on the prospect radar with the Twins?

Allan got promoted a little sooner than he should have because there were a string of injuries at catcher throughout all levels of the Twins. But that doesn't mean the Twins don't like him. They were confident enough in him to give him a chance with the Miracle at the end of the season. Although he looked like a 17-year-old, he carried himself like a 20-year-old.

SethSpeaks: Which guys showed an ability to lead?

Matt Moses seemed a lot like a future leader. I'd keep an eye on him as he moves through the system.

SethSpeaks: Who were the first guys in the weight room, doing extra running or throwing?

Again, I have to go back to Denard Span and Matt Moses. For the pitchers, Tristan Crawford had a great work ethic, and so did Adam Harben. All of the players seemed to work hard. I can't think of any slackers. Also, I have to give credit to Jason Kubel, who missed the season with a knee injury. Kubel was in the weight room every day, quietly rehabilitating. He's showing a lot of determination to come back from a very difficult injury.

SethSpeaks: Who are players from other teams in the FSL that stood out to you this year? I have to assume that Andy LaRoche and Justin Verlander had to be impressive.

You're right about LaRoche and Verlander. And unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see either of them play, as they were promoted right before coming down to Fort Myers. I did luck into getting a Verlander rookie card earlier this year, and I'm hanging on to it.

SethSpeaks: How are you doing after Hurricane Wilma hit Ft. Myers? Was there a lot of damage?

I went without power for six days and had about $1,000 worth of damage. That's nothing compared to some of the people closer to the storm's path in Naples, Clewiston and across the state. A lot of people lost their homes. It looks like preparing for hurricanes and dealing with them will be a way of life for awhile, unfortunately. The Twins were supposed to have an organizational meeting the weekend the storm was coming. They all high-tailed it back to Minnesota, and I can't blame them.

SethSpeaks: I read that you plan on running a marathon in January in Orlando. What made you decide to do that? How is your training for that going?

Thanks for asking. Basically, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Weighing 254 pounds earlier this year sparked the motivation. Now, I'm down to about 230. I'm also trying to raise money for a mission trip to Kenya....If I can plug that and readers want to help, they can write a check to First Christian Church and write "Dorsey Africa" in the memo line. They can send it to David Dorsey, The News-Press, 2442 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Fort Myers, Fl. 33901.

I'm not asking for much: $13.10 or $26.20. That's 50 cents or one dollar per mile, and the donations are tax-deductible.

SethSpeaks: Finally, are there any other players or coaches or people that you would like to discuss. Are there any other topics that mean a lot to you, or that you think that Twins fans might be interested in? The floor is yours.

Really, I'd like to finish by saying that I have really enjoyed covering the Twins over the years during spring training, and I look forward to the 2006 spring training. It's been fun to watch all of the players and coaches progress, especially Torii Hunter and David Ortiz, now with the Boston Red Sox. Those are two players whose demeanor and attitudes haven't been corrupted by the money and fame they have most certainly earned. Players like Hunter and Ortiz make my job a lot more fun.

Final Standings	Total	Week	9		Over	All
Name	Site	W	L	Win%	W	L	Win %
Trevor Born	Twins Junkie	12	1	92.3%	92	37	^{^71.3%}
Cory Hepola	KTVH-TV Sports	12	1	92.3^{^%}	91	38	70.5^{^{^{^{^%}}}}
Mike Brasel	Fantasy FB Guru	11	2	^{^84.6%}	88	41	68.2^{^%}
SethSpeaks Panel		10	2	^{^83.3%}	84	38	68.9%
Seth Stohs	SethSpeaks.net	12	1	^{^{^92.3%}}	87	42	^{^{^67.4%}}
Aaron Gleeman	Aaron's BB Blog	11	2	84.6^{^%}	86	43	^{^{^66.7%}}
Brent Hanson	BrentNet	9	4	69.2^{^{^%}}	80	49	62.0^{^{^%}}
Stick & Ball Guy	Stick & Ball Guy	9	4	69.2%	80	49	62.0^{^{^%}}
Melissa Lien	SethSpeaks.net	10	3	7^{^6.9%}	81	48	62.8^{^{^{^{^%}}}}
Will Young	Will's Twins Blog	12	1	^{^{^{^{^92.3%}}}}	82	47	63.6^{^{^{^{^%}}}}
Ben Jacobs	Hardball Times	11	2	^{^{^84.6%}}	80	49	^{^{^62.0%}}
Kevin Slowey	Twins Pitching Prospect	8	5	61.5^{^{^%}}	74	55	57.4^{^{^%}}
Grant Balfour	Twins Relief Pitcher	8	5	61.5^{^%}	69	60	^{^{^53.5%}}