Caravaning in the sub-tropics

The Minnesota Twins have announced what, in effect, amounts to the Twins Caravan efforts in South West Florida, the annual free youth clinics. 11 clinics are scheduled for each Saturday starting on January 13 and continuing one through February 10th.

While the coaching staff for the clinics was not formally announced, look for some of the local Twins coaches such as Milt Cuyler, Rick Knapp and Eric Rasmussen to be in attendance as well as the cast of local players (::cough::cough:: Tommy Watkins) who always seem to show up to help out at these functions.

There is no pre-registration, the Clinics are free and open to boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 16, irregardless of skill level. Hitting, fielding, and throwing will be taught at each clinic, and parents are encouraged to join their children on the field.

There are two clinics on January 13, 2006, the first from 10 a.m. until Noon, the second from 1 until 3 PM. Both those clinics along with the Challenger (children with handicaps) Clinic on February 10, will be held at William Hammond Stadium at the Lee County Sportsplex on Six Mile Cypress.

The remaining 8 clinics are as follows:

Jan. 20  10 a.m. to 12 p.m.  Cape Coral (TBA)
         1 p.m. to  3 p.m.  Fort Myers Little League, Deleon
Jan. 27  10 a.m. to 12 p.m.  Buckingham Little League
        1 p.m. to  3 p.m.  Lehigh Little League
       Noon to 2 p.m.      Centennial Park, Fort Myers
Feb. 3   10 a.m. to 12 p.m.  Desoto County Little League
        1 p.m. to  3 p.m.  Charlotte County Little League
Feb. 10  10 a.m. to 12 p.m.  San Carlos Little League

Locations addresses and contact numbers are as follows:

Jan. 13 & February 10 (Challenger)
Minnesota Twins/Lee County Sports Complex
14100 Six Mile Cypress Parkway
Fort Myers, FL 33912

Jan. 20
Jason Verdow Memorial Park
801 Se 27th Street Cape Coral, FL 33990
Art Avellino - 239-772-4232

Fort Myers Little League
Sam Fleishman/Deleon Community Park
1750 Matthew Drive Fort Myers, FL 33907
Don Overhouser - 239-872-7787

Jan. 27
Buckingham Little League
9800 Buckingham Road
Fort Myers, FL 33905
Pat Shannahan - 239-33-8355

Lehigh Little League
1400 West 5th Street 33936
Darrel Willis - 239-823-6126

Feb. 3
DeSoto Little League
Speer Recreation Center
185 West Winifred Street
Arcadia, FL 34266
Tara & Matt Anderson - 863-990-0529

Charlotte County Little League
Harold Ave Recreation Center
Port Charlotte, FL 23400
Lou Agusto - 941-629-6552 or 941-629-0114

Feb. 10
San Carlos Little League
18215 Three Oaks Parkway
Three Oaks Park Fort Myers, FL 33912
Todd Backster - 239-989-5868

It should be noted that Jeff Smith will NOT be at the clinic scheduled for January 13th, as he will be holding his annual baseball camp at the Community School of Naples. Visit GCL Twins or phone 239-659-6543 or 239-269-8742 for additional information on the Jeff Smith Professional Baseball Camp.

The clinics will take us pretty much up until the start of Spring Training in February. Major League pitchers and catchers will arrive on Sunday February 18th, with the first workouts scheduled for Monday, February 19th. Position players report on February 23, with the first full-squad work out taking place on Saturday, February 24.

The twins have invited minor league catchers Korey Feiner, Jose Leger and Jose Morales to Major League spring training. Free agent infielder signee Ken Harvey has been invited to camp as has Gil Velazquez and Tommy Watkins (New Britain/Rochester) and Glenn Williams (Rochester).

Outfielder Josh Rabe, who appeared in 24 games for the Major League Twins last season was also invitied. Rabe was removed from the 40-man roster earlier this year and outrighted to Rochester, where he spent most of last season.

Pitchers invited to camp include free agent signees Carmen Cali, Mike Venafro, and Jeremy Cummings, as well as Jason Miller and Australian Tristan Crawford, who have both been playing in the Twins minor league system. Also on the list of invitees, is the Twins second round pick in 2005, Kevin Slowey.

Aside from the major league coaching staff, the following coaches will also be at major league spring training: Tom Kelly, Tony Oliva, Phil Roof and Terry Steinbach, as well as National Baseball Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew and Paul Molitor.

The Twins have signed short stop Nicholas Papasan, who was their 24th round (726th overall) pick in the 2006 June Draft. He's been scouted as having an excellent bat with surprising power for his size (5'9", 175 lbs). He'll be joining the GCL Squad this season, where he may end up being switched to second base.

Josh Taylor mentioned on his blog Taylor's Twins Talk the signing of Jesus Carnevales from Puerto Rico and Jae-Hyung Jang from South Korea. Both are expected to join the GCL Twins for extended spring training. There is little information forthcoming, I guess I'll just wait for the media guide.

Speaking of the GCL, for a league that was close to being disbanded at the end of the 2005 season, it sure has become lively. Both the Baltimore Orioles and the St.Louis Cardinals have opted to field GCL teams this season, bringing the number of teams in the league to 15. The Toronto Blue Jays were considering joining the League as well. The addition of the Orioles means that I'll get to see a few more games this year, as the league will be play every other Sunday now as well.

Unfortunately, it means the boys will not get as much time off as they had last year.

Meanwhile the Appalachian League will operate with only 9 teams this season, as Pulaski was unable to drum up any interest once the Blue Jays pulled out.

I have been in an organizational mood of late - very strange since anyone who knows me will tell you I've never been organized a day in my life. In any case, I've gotten all of the 2006 photos for the Twins and the Miracle into albums and tagged. There is something in the range of 1,500 of them (not counting spring training pictures). I've now started working on 2005. What this means is that if I have your address (like Vicki Harrington) I've finally dug out and sent the photos that I was supposed to send back in oh August...September...

If I don't have your snail mail address (Leavitt, Buenrostro, Parmelee) and you'd like to e-mail it to me, I'll be happy to drop said photos in the mail to you. Otherwise, you'll have to look me up at spring training.

No, sorry Eli. No photos for you until I get an autograph.

The baseball portion of this blog is now being duplicated on Blog Spot: Rookie Whites. If you'd like to exchange links, please let me know, links will appear on the Blog Spot location not on Xanga or Myspace.

I've also been doing some hockey blogging through the offseason at Live Journal for the entertainment challenged.

Finally, there was article in the Naples Daily News which related to lefty shooters on the ECHL Florida Everblades and the ratio of lefties to righties in hockey in general. What I found interesting about it was the a number of Canadians in the Twins organization - Justin Morneau, Rene Tosoni and Jon Waltenbury -- all bat lefty even though they they seem to be otherwise right handed.

Everblades president Craig Brush advanced the following theory in the article: "Your top hand on a hockey stick is your strong hand, so if you start playing hockey when you're a little boy, if you're right-handed you're going to shoot left-handed and if you're left-handed you're going to shoot right-handed. All three of my kids are right-handed, Matt played baseball first, he shoots right-handed, the other two shoot left-handed. If you played baseball first, like a lot of American kids do, and you learned how to hit right-handed then you'll shoot right-handed, whereas if you surveyed Canadians, there would be more lefties."

Could all the lefty batting in the Canadian contingent stem from playing hockey first? It's an interesting thought. Perhaps I need to have a chat with our neighbors from up north during spring training this year.

A slight draft

Everyone should know the story by now...Terry Ryan takes Johan Santana in the Rule V Draft, puts him in the Twins bullpen for a year, sends him down to the minors for a bit and manages to come up with a two-time Cy Young Award winner.

The odds of this happening are on the same level as picking up the next Triple Crown winner for $50,000 in a maiden claiming race. Which, however, does not stop general managers, including Mr. Ryan, from trying their hands at it.

In fact, Ryan snags someone each year. He just rarely keeps them.

The Twins potentially lost two pitchers in the major league portion of today's Rule 5 Draft, with closer Kevin Cameron being picked up by the Padres, in the first round, and reliever Levale Speigner being picked up by the Nationals in the second round.

Of the two, Cameron probably has the best chance to stick with a major league club. He was on the fast track for Minnesota a few years ago until he was derailed by injuries. In fact, Pat Neshek was sent down to High A Fort Myers as he was not getting enough time behind Cameron in AA New Britain. But Neshak is now in the majors, and Cameron took over for Neshak in Rochester after the Minnesota native was pulled up to the majors.

He got a bit of a showcase in the Arizona Fall League, posting a 1-1 record with a 8.59 era, but on the whole he can be solid. Cameron was 6-4, posting a 2.98 era with 9 saves, 53 hits, 26 BBs and 65 Ks in 66 IPs with Triple-A Rochester.

Speigner split time between New Britain and Rochester this year, allowing 5 home runs in 40 games in AA, but is considered a good prospect. He throws a low 90s fastball and a solid curveball, but his projection into a major league bullpen right now is kind of questionable.

Meanwhile, Ryan claimed infielder Alejandro Machado from the Nationals. Machado's numbers were not stellar in AAA Pawtucket: .260/.356/.346 with 21 SBs in 373 at bats. Nor is a change of scenery likely to make a difference, as he's been traded four times in the last five seasons. Still he may be an insurance policy if Jason Kubel is not ready to play next season after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus at the end of November.

Machado played with the Florida State League's Brevard County in 2004, and entered professional baseball in 1999 with the GCL Braves. He DID hit .300/.359/.379 in 117 game in Pawtucket in 2005, but on the whole, the likelyhood of Machado staying on the Twins roster is going to be slim and will depend on the injury situation.

In the Minor League portion of the draft, the Devil Rays claimed Erold Andrus from the Twins in the first round, with the first selection. Andrus was acquired from the Yankees last spring and spent the season with the Fort Myers Miracle. He's a decent enough fielder but hit only .207 with the High-A team in 198 at bats.

Also gone from the Twins system is left handed pitcher Justin Jones, who was claimed by the Nationals. Jones started the season in AA New Britain, but struggled and was demoted to High A Fort Myers. He continued to have some problems, and did not look like the lefty ace he was in 2005. I had asked him if he was injured, and he said no, but shortly thereafter he was placed on the disabled list with a shoulder ailment.

He was supposedly activated to AA New Britain at the end of the season, but never went, as he was sitting in the stands for the Miracle's play off game against Dunedin.

I rather liked J.J. and wish him well with the Nats. I was hoping to get him to sign and 8 x 10 for me in spring training, but I don't want it bad enough to drive over to Spacecoast and find him.

Meanwhile the Twins took right handed pitcher Jesse Floyd from the San Francisco Giants in the first round and 3rd baseman Brian Buscher, also from the Giants in the second round.

Floyd, who pitched last season for the AA Connecticut Defenders is expected to join the Rochester Red Wings this season. The 6'5" native of Nederland, Texas, had a 4-14 record with a 4.00 ERa in 25 games (135 innings) for the Defenders. The Defenders were woeful last season, finishing 15.5 games behind Norther division leading Trenton, and half a game ahead of the Twins affiliated New Britain Rock Cats, which were cellar dwellars all season long.

Buscher also played for the Defenders last season. He hit .259/.321/.366 in 467 at bats with the AA team. This is an interesting pick up, as I was expecting Matt Moses to play for triple-A Rochester and David Winfree to handle 3rd base in double-A New Britain. Buscher's entrance into the system might mean the Twins have lost faith in one or the other of their current prospects. Winfree, the Twins 2005 minor league player of the year hit only .176 in the Arizona Fall League this season, but three of his 12 hits were for home runs and four more for extra bases. He also had 17 RBIs in 21 games and slugged .382.

Moses hit .297, but only hit 1 homer and drove in only 13 in 21 games played. Moses has spent the last year and a half in AA working on his batting, which was only .249/.303/.386 last season in 474 at bats.

It may be an interesting contest for third base this spring training down in the minors.

The Twins finished off their involvement in the winter meetings with out much activity, although there were several staff changes. Rob Antony was promoted to Director of Baseball Operations and Contracts and will now work in the contract negotiation role as well as taking care of his previous duties. Just in time to, as we get into the arbitration period and the Twins have several contracts to renegotiate.

Also Perry Castellano was named the Major League strength and conditioning coach. (Great going Perry, but I'm going to miss seeing you around the GCL games.) Perry has been the minor league strength and conditioning coach for the past six seasons.

The Twins also added Lee MacPhail and Kenny Compton to their scouting staff. There was no word on which territories they would be covering. MacPhail was recently with the Nationals organziation as Director of Baseball Administration while MacPhail, the nephew of former Twins general manager Andy MacPhail, has worked previously with the Twins organization.

Today was also the last day for the teams to offer salary arbitration to players or risk losing them to free agency. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Nick Punto, Mike Cuddyer, Lew Ford, Jason Tyner and Juan Ricon are all eligable for arbitration this year.

Twins fest starts on January 26th and major league pitchers and catchers report on February 18th for the start of spring training.

Hibbing, revisited

Joe, my little friend from Wisconsin, was asking about autographs from Fall Instructional League -- mainly Parmelee, Benson and Brandon Roberts, but he included some words about Eli Tintor as well.

"Also watchout for Eli. He's got pop he hit 3 homers this two weeks that ended up game winners. I was there for the first, he was estatic. He had a smile from one ear to the other. I talked to him the day after and he said he didnt know how long it be before it ever happen again like that. a few days later in the playoffs bang. So watchout hes a 'Special Player'."

As if anyone needs to tell me about Eli. Tintor was drafted into the organization as a cather in the 18th round of the 2003 draft and played the 2003 and 2004 season with the Gulf Coast League Twins. 2004 was kind of a special season for him, as he got loaned up to the Miracle partway through, in part because the organization was a little thin catcher wise with Joe Mauer hurting his knee at the major league level.

Generally speaking, I'm tickled to death when we get any of the GCL boys on the Miracle squad, but I loved having Eli up. I bounded over to the gift shop, got a Miracle ball and had him sign it for me. Still have it too, and it's the only autograph on that ball.

Eli was a little tickled about being called up as well. "It was everything I could have imagined — playing in front of 1,000 people and all that stuff," he told his hometown newspaper.

He got to play in seven games before they sent him back down. "It was brutal (going back). Now I have to be up at 6:30 a.m. to be on the field by 7 a.m. With the Miracle, we were on the field at 3 p.m. I'm down a little bit, but I got the experience."

He was here when Terry did a group sales with the French foriegn exchange students, a game which left my friend Aaron majorly pissed off as they were seated in our section. They knew nothing about baseball, where all dressed like little tarts and refused to stay seated during the game.

And when I say they knew nothing about baseball, I mean NOTHING. They had to give them sheets with with lyrics to take me out to the ball game on them, so they could sing the seventh inning stretch.

However, they did enjoy getting this pictures taken with "real baseball players" and while Eli may not have been Derek Jeter, he was the next best thing as far as these girls were concerned. So I did get a laugh, watching him down on the field with girls just dripping all over him as he kept possing for pictures.

(If you want a laugh, ask him about the incident.)

He was here for Hurricane Charley too, an experience for anyone in the GCL class of 2004.

"We were right in the middle of it," Tintor said, again to his hometown newspaper. "There were 130 to 140 mile per hour winds. It was pretty nuts.

"Trees were down. Wires were down," Tintor said. "Houses were torn down. I guess there were casualties, too.

"Some stoplights came flying through the parking lot. You couldn’t get outside without getting hit by debris."

The boys lasted four days without electric and there had been some talk of transfering them over to the clubhouse to stay instead of at the host hotel, but it never came to that.

Lots of experience all in one year. I was pretty bummed when he was back with us for extended in 2005 but in the end he went up to Elizabethton. I has hoping they'd move him to Beloit, but his batting, .228 in GCL, probably wasn't up to snuff.

He did well in Elizabethon though, hiting .281 and earning Appalachian League Player of the Week honors. He was considered the the third string catcher at the time although some of his fans felt otherwise about the situation. But the bat is the key thing and the bat was coming around.

I told him that in spring training this las year too. As long as you can hit...he assured me he had the batting thing figured out. Evidently he did. It was the catching thing that was a problem and Eli was moved to the outfield for 2006 as a member of the Beloit Snappers.

I have no clue how his fielding was (10 errors seems like a lot for an outfielder, even in Beloit) but he hit .285 with 12 home runs, making him second on the team behind Erik Lis in the home run department. 54 RBIs sent him third in the team in that department was well. Not a bad plate perforance at all.

So he's here for Fall Instructional League to work on his fielding skills and perhaps I can now look forward to him gracing the Miracle roster again -- even if it is as a outfielder. I'll have to ask him how he likes being way out in the field, as opposed to being part of all the action behind the plate.

Of course, on a personal note he's a fun guy too, especially has he kept telling me that he's from so far up north -- Hibbing, Minnesota -- that it never unfreezes up there and they play baseball on ice covered fields all of the time. I'm quite certain he's pulling my leg, as I've since heard that it does unfreeze, for about a month and a half over the summer.

And that yes, air conditioners are luxery items in Hibbing and the only people that have built in swimming pools have them so they can play hockey on them in the winter. I wonder if he's every played hockey. Shall have to ask him that as well.

So, I'm hoping to get autographs for Joe at Fall Instuctional League (if I survive that long) and I will certainly keep an eye on his "special player", Eli Tintor.

Joe Growl-aur

Jim Rantz showed up Monday -- it was "Got it at a Thrift Shop Night" at the game -- and they were giving things out that they'd gotten from Goodwill.

One of the items was a large stuffed sheep. The fan that received it, had a blast with it and was holding it up and shaking it throught the game. It was one of those spontaneous things that was brilliant.

Anyway, they were saying the sheep is going up on myspace.com as "Miracle Sheep" etc, etc. etc.

And of course I told the staff that I thought the sheep was brilliant.

In any case, I come in tonight and the staff had a very large stuffed golden teddy bear for me, which Andrew delivered with his little son A.J. following behind, eyes all a goggle.

The sheep was about 5 pounds, the bear is about 15 or so. It's going to be a bit tougher to animate him. But that's okay, I needed some exercise in my life.

Anyway, I really didn't have an agenda for tonight but several of the GCL boys showed up and I thought I'd go sit with Jim, just to weird them out. However, that's when I got waylayed with the bear. And the boys were leaving at that point.

I go and say hi to Jim anyway who looks at the bear and says "Don't bring that to Gulf Coast League tomorrow."

Hadn't really planned on it, but it will likely still be in the front seat of the car.

After I went back to to my seat, one of the bat boys came to talk to me and then well...

We tried to come up with names for the bear. Now, I believe I've got a Miracle T-Shirt that will fit him and the Miracle hat I bought at the yard sale this winter is a couple of sizes to big for me, but I should be able to tack it onto his head at a jaunty angle.

Anyway, later, I was talking to Chris our concession guy, and he said "How about 'Miss-A-Bearicle'?" which is a play on the mascot's name. I said no and added that I thought it was a boy bear in any case.

"Well, what does he like to do?"

"Come to Miracle games, obviously."

"Then I think you should name him Joe Growl-aur."

So Joe Growl-aur it is. Now all I have to do is find a little mitt for him.

Once I get him dressed, I'll post pictures.

And open up a myspace.com account for him.

Latches

I took yesterday's game at the Edgar Popowski field yesterday as my "rehab" start and will return to the Miracle games this week, in part because the Hummerheads are coming into town I keep hoping that they will bring Travis Bowyer with them.

I realize that is is unlikely to happen, but a girl can hope can't she? (Yes, I know, if you're a pitcher I will always tell you I will only love you until the next fireballer comes along and I can be very fickle that way, but Trav is well....He's my Bowyer-friend, you know? The stories I could tell about that guy!)

Anyway, I get down to the field and it's locked. So I head over to the front office. The old guy that comes to all the games is sitting in his car. "Is that locked, or just latched."

"It's locked," I say. "Latches wouldn't stop me."

So I thump into the BoSox front office with all my Twins gear and a guy comes out of the back room eating a piece of pie. "Can I help you with something."

"The guest enterance is locked," I inform him.

"Oh, we'll get that taken care of right away."

Took about five minutes but they did finally find the right key and open the gate.

"Sorry for the delay," he says.

"It's okay, 20 years ago I would have just climbed the thing, but I'm not up to that anymore. Besides, the poor fellow in the car with the walker wouldn't be able get in unless we got it open."

They've actually done a nice job on the BoSox Complex over the last three years. There's now a couple of concession stands and what looks like a merchandising booth, none of which are open during GCL games and which are likely only there for Spring Training when the BoSox are in town.

The bathrooms are very nice though and those are open. Especially since in the past all we used to have there was Port-O-Potties.

Michael Cowgill is looking for the bathroom. "Oh, you go around the corner there and there's this trailerrr...." one of his teammates is telling him. "You're in for a treat."

"Don't let him fool you," I tell him. "The bathrooms are really nice."

"I was just telling him..." Ya, but it's the way you were telling him.

Cowgill comes back a few minutes later. "Those ARE really nice." See.

If you're planning a trip to Fort Myers, make sure you stop by the Red Sox Training Complex on the end of Edison Avenue and check out the bathrooms. They're worth the visit. If the gate is locked, make them open it for you.

(Assuming of course the trailer lasts through the next hurricane.)

Loek Van Mil comes over and sits down. He tells me he's feeling under the weather. I can sympathize with this. Even though the weather was a bright and sunny day.

So he's not making his starts this week and will only pitch a few innings out of the bullpen. Good. Well...not good that he's sick, but good that I won't have to feel too bad about not being able to take off work to watch him pitch.

With all the time I have taken off I feel I need to be in the office for a whole week at least before I beg off another day for a ballgame.

Above offer of only loving you until the next fire baller comes along not withstanding, he's already fended off a crush on Dave Bromberg's slider and still remains my favorite in the rotation, so he's doing well. I shall be remarkably unhappy when he goes to Betsy.

Dan Leatherman and Justin Staatz both went to Elizabethton however. We signed lefty Adam Revelette out of the University of Kentucky to replace one and we are receiving Walt Patton back from Elizabethton.

I didn't really understand the promotion as his stats last year weren't all that great. 3-1 with a 7.43 era in 17 games (23.0 innings).

Walt's a nice kid, but he struggled last year at times. Loek says he had a tough extended as well.

I did rather like Abby's blog in which she said "I'd also like to say that I am terribly sorry, Mr Patton, but I fear you have no future in baseball. I know tonight's walks were probably not your fault, but the fact is you've only pitched .2 innings and you have an ERA of 135. That is not good. I am so very sorry."

I saw him make one very good outting but all the rest he needed work on. Hopefully he'll improve and (more hopefully) he's not injured.

We have enough injured boys around this place. Speaking of which...

Jeff Schoenbachler and Kyle Edlich come by. "When are you going to Minnesota?" one is asking the other.

"If you boys want to go to Minnesota, I wish you'd do it the right way already.

"You," I point at Mr. Edlich "Should be pitching in Triple A at least and YOU..."

Oh...don't get me going on Schoey. On July 10th, David Winfree played third base for the Miracle for the first time. YIPPEE!!!!

Jeff Schoenbachler has already broken my heart however, as I seriously doubt he's going to make it the Miracle in another year. Maybe if I'm luck he'll get here for his fourth-pro year. If he ever gets healthy again. ::sigh::

Bowyer was a fourth-yearer, although Bowyer's problems weren't related to his health, but to his control. Now he's out with arm problems too. How depressing.

Mr. Gassner made his first rehab start however and did pretty well, 1 run on 2 hits with 2 strike outs in 2 innings worth of work. Pity we couldn't make that ninth inning rally stand. Although he'd left the park by that time.

At least with Schoey and Edlich I will not have to worry about being left alone. A crowbar couldn't get those kids out of this city right now.

"Well," one says "See you tomorrow."

"No you won't. It's Sunday, you get a day off."

I'm hoping that someone takes Benson and Parmelee off and that they go....bowling, fishing, golfing, to the beach or something suitably fun, get out of the wretched little hotel rooms and relax. The pressure on those two kids is incredibly intense each time they step up to the plate. You can feel it in the air.

They need to get away for baseball for a day and do something fun. Mr. Fox, if he were here, would take them golfing. I miss Mr. Fox. He's a good guy.

Meanwile, Dear Mr. Van Mil:

I realize I have been tied up in my own problems for a while and forgot to offer to make you homemade chicken soup. I'm sure it will take care of your stomach ailment as it's been known to cure just about anything. (Except arm injuries, sorry Mr. Edlich & Schoenbachler.)

If you would like some please let me know. Please take care and get well soon.

(I'm sorry, I realize that oversight was quite unforgivable.)

Anyway, I started writing this all yesterday and accidently deleted it. Now it's Sunday and I really MUST go do laundry as there's a lot of it this week.

So...