For those of you that didn't know, I just completed my first week of teaching. No more cooperating teachers, an actual paycheck... I made the jump midseason and I'm finally in the big leagues. The analysis of myself comes out as saying that I'm doing a solid job, with a few errors and mental mistakes, but I'm improving and Coach already told me that I'm here to stay for the rest of the season. I guess that makes me a September call-up on the 2011 Twins.
- Please click these two links one after the other. Drew Butera was sent to Triple-A earlier today, with appropriate music attached. I must admit that if Butera wasn't going to make the 2012 Opening Day roster, I assumed that it was going to be in lieu of J.R. Towles. However, it's now apparent that the Twins will only go with two catchers (Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit) to start the season. With Butera and Tsuyoshi Nishioka being cut in spring training, the Twins are showing that you've got to earn your spot on the roster this year.
- Speaking of earning a spot on the roster, Chris Parmelee sure did that this spring. His work has caused a whole avalanche of personnel changes. He could be starting at first base, which pushes Justin Morneau to DH, which pushes Ryan Doumit into even more of a super-utility role than he was originally going to have. You could possibly also argue that it put Josh Willingham back to left field because Doumit and Trevor Plouffe are now in right field (Doumit has played only 1 game in left field in his career, and that was earlier this spring). Oh, and it put Ben Revere on the bench. All of this because of the September and spring training Parmelee has had. Hey, isn't this how Jose Bautista got started a couple years ago?
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Congratulations to Jamie Moyer, who earned a spot in the Colorado Rockies starting rotation. Originally signed to a minor league contract, Moyer signed in possibly the worst place for a pitcher (depends on how you feel about the Rangers), but he put together a strong showing this spring. Even though his "fastball" is in the low-80s, it disappoints me that
an octogenariana 49-year old man like himself still throws about 20 MPH harder than me.
- You may have missed it, but the regular season has already started. Oakland and Seattle had a two-game series over in Japan earlier this week, with each team winning a game. Cuban import Yoenis Cespedes put his good and bad on full display, as he went 2 for 6 with a double and home run, but also with 3 strikeouts. Also, it looks like FanGraphs believes he's a machine.
- Finally, we often like to curse Japan, but much like Ninja Warrior and sushi doused in wasabi, good things do come from there as well. Today's instance is a commercial from the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, which dare I say, is the best commercial I have seen thus far this spring. Yes, that includes the Seattle Mariners commercials.
My brother's spring break starts today and we have plans to go golfing with our dad. Please keep your giggles to a minimum while I tee off from the junior tee box.