Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Who was that masked man?

Did I see, or do I have any good pictures of, Carlos Gomez? I'm sure I saw him. I was watching outfielding drills. However, they were WAY out there in the outfield and I was up at the top of section 115 hoping for a bullpen session.

So unless he's the guy in the red sleeves - and there was a good deal of speculation on that point - I don't know. Put a warm up jacket on and you might as well be wearing mask as no one can see the numbers on your jersey and therefore, tell who you are.

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Interestingly enough, there wasn't as much speculation on Kevin Mulvey, Deolis Guerra or Philips Humber, the other three players that came over in the Johan Santana trade. Nor did I, to the best of my knowledge, see any of them - at least at spring training.

I did see the other two candidates for the position...Jason Pridie, whose picture I posted yesterday, and Denard Span...

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Span is the guy in the middle with his hands on his knees. I was keeping an eye on Span for several reasons, not the least of which was that he does have fans hoping he'll land the job this year.

Someone - maybe Gomez, maybe Span, maybe someone else - was making some nice saves during outfield drills. The problem with outfield drills being that their held in the outfield and unless you can catch the jersey numbers, it's too far away to figure out who is who.

And batting practice is, to my mind, pointless in trying to rate a hitter. He's facing a coach throwing balls that a batter is supposed to hit. I'd be more concerned about a guy that wasn't hitting during batting practice.

That means I likely won't have a good report on him until the Blue Jays game when I - hopefully - can see him in a game situation.

While I won't discount the battle for center, I'd say given his reputation, it will be Gomez's to lose.

The other two outfielding pics I have are Cuddy and Kubel mulling around in the "garden"...

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


The rest of the shots are on Photobucket or will be once I've finished editing them.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Spring Training Sunday

If you haven't been over to Hammond Stadium for Minnesota Twins spring training, you'll find some new trappings aside from the new seats and lights. Shade has been added over the SRO and Drink Rail area, and the stadium as had some bling-bling added:

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Unlike the bling-bling on the Reds Stadium in Sarasota, I know what these numbers mean!

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Owen doesn't, yet, but he's only three and getting read to start Bitty-Ball.

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Twins Field Manager Ron Gardenhire was his usual jolly self. Here he was watching what turned out to be catching drills. Virtually everyone in the park left Justin Morneau alone to infielding drills to watch catching drills.

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Not that Justin minded.

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Jose Morales looks like he'll be the first catcher called up should an injury happen to either of Twins main catchers, Joe Mauer and Mike Redmond, but Eli Whiteside was gathering a lot of attention from the staff as well.

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Australian catcher Allan De San Miguel will likely start the season in High A with the Fort Myers Miracle.

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


There was no bullpen session on Sunday (bummer) but here we see former Miracle Kevin Slowey taking fielding drills.

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


Newly acquired outfields Delmon Young...

Minnesota Twins,Spring Training


and Jason Pridie await their turn for batting practice.

Spring Training was lightly attended on Sunday, but don't expect it to remain that way. The Twins open their Grapefruit League season on the road Thursday, February 28 in Sarasota against the Reds. The first home game is Friday night against the Boston Red Sox. Tickets to select games are still available at the Hammond Stadium box office, but games are selling out fast!