Category: Dailies

For love of the game

It’s Valentine’s Day and what better way to spend the holiday than watching a little baseball, right?

Well, actually for me it would just be watching some Twins players work out on the back fields of the Lee County Sports Complex. The Twins pitchers and catchers aren’t scheduled to report until tomorrow but a few guys were still out there on Saturday morning getting in their workouts.

Saturday is usually the day when many of the players who have arrived early don’t come out to the park. That’s because they know that once reporting day comes there is not much of a break to follow. But when I arrived at the ballpark Saturday morning, about 20 cars were parked at the facility. Among the recognizable faces out on the fields were Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins, Jesse Crain, Mike Redmond, Carlos Gomez and Brian Buscher.

Over the last couple of days, I stopped in briefly to check in with some of the guys who are already here. There hasn’t been much in terms of news to report. It’s just been the usual catching up and seeing how everyone’s winter has been. That will all likely change in the coming days, as Spring Training “officially” gets underway.

So for now, I’ll leave you all with a valentine gift of five little words that’s sure to excite any baseball fan, “Pitchers and Catchers report TOMORROW”

Question Time

I’ve received many emails in recent weeks about the abrupt stop of the mailbag. Unlike what I wrote in the final mailbag of 2008, the weekly feature did not return as promised on Jan. 5 (I know it ended up being a lie, I’m sorry). At the time, MLB.com decided to head in a different direction and the mailbags were scratched.

But now comes the good news — the mailbag is back.

Well, actually it’s now called the “Inbox.” My weekly interaction with fans has a new name to better reflect how fans actually send me questions. So you can send your inquiries (along with your first name, first initial of your last name, and your city and state) to twinsmailbag@yahoo.com and some of those questions will be incorporated in a future Inbox.

One change with the Inbox is that it won’t have a set run date. Unlike the mailbag, which ran every Monday, the Inbox will run whenever I have received enough questions to warrant one (and of course, when I have enough time to answer the questions as well). I am going to try to have it run at least once a week in Spring Training and then will determine how often it will appear during the regular season.

So thanks for your understanding and bring on the questions!

Greetings from Fort Myers

It’s been a long time coming, but I have finally joined the blogosphere.

MLB.com recently decided to give all 30 beat reporters their own blog for the upcoming season and beyond. So people like me who are crashing the blogging party late can now join the rest of you in the fun.

My plan is to use the blog as a place for breaking news, certainly. But I also want it to be a space to share things that don’t often get into stories like clubhouse anecdotes, funny quotes and even some stats/analysis. My hope is that I can also use this blog as a better way to communicate with you, the fans. So any comments or suggestions that you have about the blog or what you would like to see here, please pass those along.

Turning back to Twins baseball, I’ve arrived in Fort Myers for the start of Spring Training. Even though pitchers and catchers don’t report until Sunday, I’ll be out at the ballpark over the next couple of days to work on some stories. So I’ll try to give you an update as to who’s arrived early and what’s taking place at the Lee County Sport Complex.

I’m looking forward to bringing you another season of Twins baseball (the final one in the Dome!) and hope you’ll be visiting my new little “corner” of the internet often.