Monday, March 24, 2008
Monday Notes
Good morning! Well, this morning I will be hopping on a plane in Minneapolis and flying through Memphis on my way to Gulfport, Mississippi. I will spend a few days along the Gulf Coast doing a little market research for work, which has absolutely nothing to do with baseball. So again, I hope to post some updates throughout the week, but bear with me.
TWINS NOTES
Ron Gardenhire has now said that the truck carrying the team's equipment to Minnesota will be packed up and leaving today. Therefore, we should be finding out today what the Twins Opening Day Roster will look like. Glen Perkins was sent down on Sunday, but there are still plenty of roster spots to consider:
Gomez or Span... or both?
Pridie?
Buscher or Tolbert?
5th Starter - Liriano? Blackburn? Humber?
Backend of the bullpen - Liriano? Blackburn? Humber? Bass? Casey Daigle?
On Saturday, I asked if the Twins would or should consider releasing Nick Punto and cutting their losses. Seeing that the Blue Jays released Reed Johnson, and will only have to pay him a half-million rather than about $3 million, it makes me wonder more about Craig Monroe. Although I think he will and should remain on the roster, the Twins pay him $3.8 million if he makes the team and less than a million to let him go. Monroe would likely be signed by another team, but here is an interesting question, if the Twins released Nick Punto, would another Major League team pick him up?
I am one of those that says a topic should only be talked about so much, and we really have discussed the above situations ad nauseum. It will be nice to have the decisions made so that we can dissect them! Be sure to check out Travis's and Josh Taylor's roster thoughts though.
Oh, we also found out the the Twins traded Garrett Guzman back to the Nationals for a Player to be named Later. That means that the Nationals put him out on waivers and no one claimed him, then they offered him back to the Twins, who took him back, but then the teams worked out a trade. This is much like when the Twins and Nationals worked out a trade last season for Levale Speigner (Darnell McDonald) so that they could send him down to the minors. Don't expect to have even heard of the player the Twins get in return, but I'm sure they'll have done their research and get someone who could help the organization some day.
By the way, have you seen the Twins new commercial, called The Gurus, yet? I think it is another really good one. It stars new Twins OF Delmon Young, Hall of Famers Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew and Twins Hall of Famers Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek! It contains a little cross-promotion with a certain Minneapolis steakhouse.
If you check out the Comments from yesterday, "Roger" mentions that Jim Rantz said on the radio yesterday morning that the Twins released eight minor leaguers and 15 to 20 others will need to be released in the next few days. Rochester and New Britain have to get down to 24 players on their rosters. Ft. Myers and Beloit have to get down to 25 players. The Twins will then keep between 40 and 45 players in Extended Spring Training. Well, I've been digging and digging, trying to find out where I can find a list of these releases. Well, Baseball America gives Minor League transactions, but not very often. So, if you know of a place, please let me know. So far, I have been able to find out that Caleb Moore, Adam Hawes and Dan Leatherman have been released. I don't think any of the three is shocking. Moore was transitioning from catcher to pitcher. Hawes struggled with health and the strike zone and last year was a big year for him to come up big. Leatherman was a great story after signing with the Twins as a free agent in 2006, and he was a solid reliever in 2007 as well. I had projected that Moore and Leatherman would pitch in the Ft. Myers bullpen.
Alright, I really need to start packing. Again, be sure to check back here. I will try to get things posted daily, but we shall see. I also plan on reading a lot of my Chris Coste book, The 33 Year Old Catcher, this week. So, check back here, but also be sure to check out all the other Twins blogs because a lot will be happening this week. Have a great week!