*I had an interesting conversation with my significant other last night during which I lamented the inner turmoil I will almost certainly face when Cuddyer leaves and I will have to find a new favorite Minnesota Twin.  I’m an adult, and I’m agonizing over who my favorite Twins player is like a 9 year old boy.  Unlike many 9 year old boys (or girls) I’m not leaping straight to Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau as my favorite Twin, but they’re not out of the running.  I haven’t decided yet, as this will likely be a difficult decision to make, requiring more thought than I can afford to give it at the moment.  In the vein of saddness, here is a Michael Cuddyer Eulogy from Twins Fan From Afar.

With yet another busy week behind us, let us look again at the best reads of the week that was:

Here is all of the Josh Willingham signing coverage you are likely to need.  First, an excellent piece by Parker Hageman about how well suited Willingham’s offensive style is for Target Field.  In case you like being skeptical, here is Rob Neyer’s counter argument, which doesn’t say that Willingham isn’t going to be successful in Minnesota, rather that Target Field might not be such a bad place for power hitting righties who hit the ball to the opposite field.  However, it seems fairly evident that no matter where he is hitting the baseball Willimgham’s power will help boost the Twins offense in 2012.  Even my new favorite man crush, Dustin Parkes, weighs in on the Willingham signing, suggesting that it is probably a good deal, but might not be as good as Twins fans hope.  Finally, Twinkie Town weighs in with an estimation of the Twins’ 2012 payroll, including Willingham’s estimated 2012 salary, pushing the Twins dangerously close to their suggested $100 million dollar cap.  (more…)