The Twins continue to play good baseball thus far in Spring Training. The starting pitching has been very solid and the bullpen has performed surprisingly well so far. Only one of the Twins’ losses has been by more than one run, which was a 10-1 defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates. So that goes to show that the Twins are able to stay close in games. This is nothing new for Twins fans though, as you can never count them out.
Francisco Liriano pitched possibly the best game of any Twins starting pitcher so far in Spring Training. He pitched four innings, while giving up no hits or walks and struck out five batters. This is a very good sign as Liriano is in that 1½ year range of pitchers who had Tommy John Surgery. It typically takes about a year and a half to get the velocity back to pre-surgery form. So I can only imagine that Francisco will be the pitcher he was in 2006, when he won 12 games and was lights out.
Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez are both playing very well this Spring and are letting Ron Gardenhire know that they want their respective outfield starting position. Young is hitting .538 with two doubles and two runs batted in. Carlos, who participated in the Winter Leagues, is hitting .313 with two homeruns and three runs batted in. This is a very good sign from Carlos, as last year he was struggling with his patience at the plate. If he can continue this, he will be even more fun to watch this year.
Where there is good news, there is also always not so good news. Denard Span, one of the three players fighting for an outfield spot, has not been the same player he was last year. He is hitting a miserable .111 with no extra base hits. Although it is still early, this will not help his cause to try and claim a starting lineup position.
Not only is good stuff happening on the field, but off the field as well. This past weekend, the Minnesota Twins and pitcher Scott Baker agreed on a 4 year deal worth 15.25 million dollars. The new contract also carries an option for the 2013 season. This is a huge step forward for the Twins as Baker would have likely been a 10 million dollar pitcher after a couple seasons of arbitration. Bill Smith has really been a nice breath of fresh air for the Twins.
I have also heard that the Twins plan to sit down with Joe Mauer and his agent, Ron Shapiro within the next week to begin preliminary talks about a new contract. I have said this before and I’ll say it again, this has to get done before next season starts, otherwise it could be the Johan Santana fiasco all over again. I will keep you updated on this information and more as it becomes available.
The Twins will be traveling to play the Tampa Bay Rays this afternoon with Kevin Slowey taking the mound going against Scott Kazmir.
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