Spring Training Update #1

Although only pitchers and catchers have reported to Spring Training so far, there are already a few stories coming out of Ft. Myers, Florida. The Lee County Complex is the headquarters for the Minnesota Twins during Spring Training and that is where all the news will be coming out up until Opening Day. There has been some comforting news and some not so comforting news thus far.

Let’s start with the comforting news. There are indications that Twins south-paw, Francisco Liriano may decide to pull out of the World Baseball Classic and practice with the rest of the Twins team in Ft. Myers. No official decision has been made, but I bet Francisco will stay and get up to speed. Although the Twins Front Office won’t force him to pull or prevent him from playing, they must be very happy about this news. I think this is a very smart move for Francisco, because he would get more done in Ft. Myers than he would be if he was just pitching once every 5 games.

Another bit of possible comforting news for all Twins fans is that we may be getting very close to signing Joe Crede. If you ask any Twins official, they will continue to deny it, but there are strong indications it could be a matter of days. The San Francisco Giants have even come out and said they feel the Twins will sign Crede. The Giants have been the only other known suitor for Joe’s services, but you never know what agent Scott Boras has up his sleeve. So if you ask, I think the Twins will sign Joe by the beginning of next week.

Now onto the not so comforting news out of Twins camp thus far. The first item is the continuing recovery of Joe Mauer. Back in December Joe underwent surgery to fix a kidney problem he has had since childhood. Now it was nothing serious, but they want him to take it easy and not rush back into the baseball mode yet. Although it seems Joe will be healthy at Opening Day, there is that small chance he could miss Opening Day. I will continue to keep you updated on this situation.

The last item is bullpen related. This past week Boof Bonser received a cortisone shot in his right shoulder to try and help with what he calls “a heavy case of tendinitis”. He will begin some light throwing on Wednesday and hopefully get up to full speed. But with the struggles of the bullpen last year, this is not news we want to hear before any major training begins.

Other than these items, there hasn’t been much development down in Ft. Myers. I will try to get one or two updates per week during Spring Training. I’m also trying to determine how to report during the Regular Season. So if any of you readers out there have any suggestions on how I should report during the season, please let me know. Whether its game recaps every night, or weekly recaps. Any suggestions would be helpful.