Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Spring Training is in full swing down in Fort Myers.  The Twins are playing (meaningless) baseball games everyday, often more than a game per day!  Although Ron Gardenhire made a point of beginning Major League camp a couple of days early, the Twins are still making blunders and errors on the base paths and out in the field.  But not everything is going poorly for the Twins in southern Florida.  They have beaten the Tampa Bay Rays on three consecutive occasions, and, despite dropping a couple of games to the Red Sox, they are still in possession of the Mayor’s Cup, which Gardy insists is his for the keeping.

While you are waiting for the Twins to once again take the field against the Rays (this afternoon at 12:05 pm CST) enjoy another edition of the Thursday Links:

A must read site for any Twins fan is John Swol’s Twins Trivia.  Not only does Swol possess a great archival knowledge of the Minnesota Twins, but the recaps he does chronicling his visits to the Twins’ Spring Training home, Lee County Sports Complex, are candid and entertaining.  Last week, John Swol spent Another Beautiful Day at the Ballpark.

At the end of last week, FanGraphs wrapped up their review of MLB’s TV broadcasting teams.  The Minnesota Twins finished in the middle of the pack.  Of particular interest to fans is this tidbit of information, “Bert Blyleven — a man who, it must be said, both (a) loves to fart and (b) is zero percent ashamed to admit it.”  FanGraphs will be taking on the AM dial later this week as they begin gathering data on the best and worst radio teams.

Looking for more middle-of-the-row rankings for the Minnesota Twins?  MLB DepthCharts ranks the Twins 16th in their organizational rankings that combine scores for the 40-man roster, the farm system, management, ownership, and the stadium.  If the Twins were still playing in the Homer Dome they’d fall about 10 spots.  (more…)

Drew Butera, on his knees, begging to be your Baseball Boyfriend. Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

The most discouraging news this past week  was not even the Twins’ inability to sign a starting pitcher to replace Nick Blackburn.  It was the release of the Baseball Boyfriend app, a mini-fantasy baseball game designed partnered with CBSSports.com, and I’m completely guessing here, to create interest in fantasy baseball from women.  ”If he stays past noon,” BaseballBoyfriend.com says, “he’s your BBBF for the night.”  Unsurprisingly there has been a lot of backlash since the app was announced on Tuesday afternoon.  I cannot believe this game made it past the idea phase, and even more surprised that CBS Sports signed off on the partnership.  ”Bring your girlfriends and BFFs together for a fun baseball season this summer.”  No thanks.

On with the links, boyfriend or not:

If I had a baseball boyfriend I would want it to be Dustin Parkes.  Parkes neither plays baseball, nor is my boyfriend, unfortunately, but he did do an excellent job explaining some of the intricacies of BABIP, and how there is more than just dumb luck at play when BABIPs fluctuate up and down.

Beyond he Boxscore continues to take a visual look at the Window to Win for different Major League teams.  Last week they posted the Twins’ infographic, which detailed the contract lengths of the Twins’ 40 man roster members as well as some key prospects and minor leaguers.

As part of the 2012 Projections series here on Puckett’s Pond I’ve been evaluating the Twins’ 2012 projected starters using an increasingly common MLB stat, Wins Above Replacement, WAR.  The Platoon Advantage’s Mark Smith takes WAR to a whole new level, and finds a way to use WAR in Everyday Life.  Today, my sack lunch is worth about 1 WARL (WAR Lunch).  (more…)

*Not that you couldn’t have thought about something besides baseball.  I spent one sleepless night earlier this week pondering the loss in lifetime earnings potential that could be created by not receiving an annual raise in salary.  Numbers, combined with time, are scary things.  This has been the first installment of “Things that Keep Me Up at Night”.

Anyways, on with the links:

The Common Man was so taken by the anticipation of seeing Brad Radke at TwinsFest that he wrote the script for a pretty entertaining Twins commercial, in the style of SNL’s Bill Brasky skit.

While I guess this is technically ANOTHER TwinsFest story, this one, even more than the others, really embodies what TwinsFest is all about: making connections with your favorite baseball players, and creating memories that last a lifetime.  Lindsey Seavery from CBS Minnesota reports on a Missing Jersey that was reunited with Twins great Tony Oliva, 25 years after he lost it.

The Twins have expanded their Hall of Fame to 24 members, electing Camilo Pascual.  If there is a man that looks like a MLB pitcher, Pascual is that guy.  (more…)