Twins Pitchers and Catchers Report
There are fake
holidays like Valentine’s Day. And then there are days like today that should
be a holiday! Twins pitchers and catchers are reporting to Ft. Myers on
Thursday and will hold their first official workout on Friday. It is the most
wonderful time of the year!
Kyle Gibson and Carlos
Gutierrez will be there trying to make a strong first impression. Pat Neshek
will be trying to show that he can be the dominant reliever he was in 2006 and
2007. Joe Nathan... OK, seriously, I don’t want to be reading reports of him
throwing 91, 92 mph now. I want to hear stories that he is just working his way
back, nice and slow with the plan of being at full strength on Opening Day. Not
a week before spring training. It just makes me nervous to hear just how well
his return is going and how much he is doing already. I guess it’s the opposite
is true of Scott Baker. I don’t want to hear about setbacks. You’ve got six
weeks before you have to be ready. Just be ready.
I am incredibly
intrigued by how the bullpen will turn out on Opening Day, and more
importantly, what will it look like on August 1st. Which left-handed
pitchers (aside from Francisco Liriano and Brian
Duensing) will make the roster? With so many options,
is Jose Mijares
a given? There are a lot of storylines, and there is already a nice media
contingent in Ft. Myers, and not all of them are from Japan.
Making the day even more
interesting is that Miguel Cabrera had yet another run-in with the law late
last night. The Tigers 1B and one of the game’s best hitters was arrested
under suspicion of DUI. To make the story more fun, he “used an expletive” before
“he didn’t comply with several orders to get into
the patrol vehicle. The arresting deputy said he lifted Cabrera’s left hand to
gain pain compliance and Cabrera then “pushed off the vehicle into me,”
according to the report. The deputy then delivered 3-4 knee spikes into
Cabrera’s left thigh muscle. Cabrera fell into the vehicle, according to police.”
Seriously, it
has been a long offseason. There was a lot of talk and speculation. There was
some frustration too. However, spring training is and should be a time of
optimism. This Twins team should be really good again, and it’s exciting to get
it going again!
MEDIA NOTES
·
Last night, I was a guest on Fanatic Jack’s
Twins Talk podcast. He moved his show from BlogTalkRadio
to 612sports.net. Gotta admit, I’m considering doing
the same thing. Any feedback would be welcome. We talked about some Twins
topics, and then got into a long debate on Albert
Pujols and his contract expectations which turned
into a salary cap argument and well, it was good times.
·
Although not completely confirmed, I believe I will be on
740 The
Fan in Fargo, North Dakota, during the noon hour today.
·
At 3:25 this afternoon, I will join the Sports Buffet
on ESPN 99.1 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
·
If you missed my appearance yesterday on the Nine to Noon Show with Paul Allen on KFAN, you can go to his Fan
on Demand page.
·
John Bonnes was a guest on KFAN’s
The Power Trip Morning Show in the 7:00 hour.
Have a great day!! Any thoughts or topics,
please feel
free to comment.