Twins manager Ron Gardenhire walked into the visiting clubhouse at Ed Smith Stadium after Monday’s 5-0 victory and had one complaint.

“These long-term contracts are killing us,” Gardenhire said. “Most teams get three pieces of chicken, we get two. We better hurry up [and eat] before Mauer signs or we’ll get one piece.”

Gardenhire’s joke was in regards to the team’s postgame meal for the bus ride home which was a box of chicken for each player. It garnered a good laugh out of the clubhouse where Nick Blackburn sat, having just signed a four-year, $14 million contract on Sunday.

The skipper was serious in his chicken complaint but he couldn’t help but laugh as well. He said that he even told one of the clubhouse guys to order twice as much since there was one less piece of chicken in each box.

— Before the game, Gardenhire talked about the possibility of moving Michael Cuddyer into the fifth spot in the lineup at times this season to break up the three lefties — Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel or Mauer, Morneau and Jim Thome.

Cuddyer hit 32 home runs last year and played a big role in the offense over the final three weeks of the season when Morneau was out due to his back injury. And Gardenhire wouldn’t mind the possibility of using him in that fifth spot to force other teams to think about leaving a left-hander in the game.

“I don’t mind putting a righty in [the fifth spot] and then having Kubel in there afterwards,” Gardenhire said. “Really that’s the best scenario because if they throw a lefty in there, they either have to leave him in to face Cuddyer to try to get to Kubel or take your chances or whatever. But I don’t worry about lefties vs. those guys either.”

— Also a quick note that I’ll be off tomorrow. Jonathan Mayo, one of our talented writers, will be filling in for me so be sure to check the site for updates on Nathan and the rest of the club.

As promised to Mr. Mayo, I’m going to let my blog readers know about a great book if they are interested in finding out more information on Twins prospects. Blogger Seth Stohs of www.sethspeaks.net has written his second annual Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook. There is a link on his website if you are interested in ordering. It’s got over 150 profiles on
prospects in the system, so it’s a great guide for sorting out all the
young players here in Ft.
Myers. Oh and the foreword is written by yours truly. But please don’t let that discourage you from getting the book.

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