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This Monday morning represents a day that is pretty much on par with Christmas for a good chunk of baseball fans.
It's the day Baseball Prospectus releases its free (!!!) Top 101 prospects list.
As a brief aside, a subscription to B-Pro is totally worth the money. I don't ask for much, but if you have the means I highly suggest you pick one up -- a subscription, that is.
But this year's version is sort of a Christmas present to Twins fans too, as eight (!) prospects -- or seven and a Pinto if you prefer -- from the organization appear in the top 101.
Outfielder Byron Buxton and left-handed starter Lewis Thorpe bookend the list, with the following players in the middle:
No. 14 3B Miguel Sano (No. 21, 2013)
No. 32 RHP Alex Meyer (No. 88, 2013)
No. 54 RHP Kohl Stewart
No. 56 C Josmil Pinto
No. 60 2B-OF Eddie Rosario
No. 75 RHP Jose Berrios
Read the list, and get acquainted with the brightest starts on what is one of the very best prospect groups not only in the major leagues, but possibly Twins history.
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It's not entirely clear if Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press slept at all this weekend, but one of the many stories he posted during TwinsFest was on Buxton becoming a dad for the first time. Surprisingly, Buxton and the boy's mother -- a former softball star in her own right -- have already decided the youngster will not play baseball. Hopefully they acquiesce.
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You can't talk about Buxton without also bringing up Sano, who has some pretty big expectations for himself this year, via his conversation with Phil Miller of the Star Tribune.
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Perhaps the biggest news that Berardino dug up over the weekend was getting Brian Dozier to say that he was told Ryan Doumit would not longer catch after consulting with his family. The post was later disputed -- if not necessarily refuted -- by Braves beat reporter David O'Brien. At this point it sounds as though both clubs expected Doumit to be in the equation as a catcher going forward, so it'll certainly be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
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Berardino also reports that Chris Parmelee had a cyst removed from his right wrist about three weeks ago. He expects to be ready for spring training, which will be important because he's not only battling for an Opening Day roster spot, but possibly his spot on the 40-man. Parmelee insists the cyst in his wrist had nothing to do with his disappointing 2013 season, however.
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It also sounds as though the Twins are still in on Johan Santana -- who likely won't be ready until midseason at the earliest -- but still have tepid interest in Korean right-hander Suk-Min Yoon.
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Twins Daily hosted a "Winter Meltdown" event at Mason's in downtown Minneapolis after Saturday's TwinsFest festivities, and it was a rousing success. Speakers included club president Dave St. Peter, former Twins right-hander Scott Erickson, and "Pelotero" filmmaker Jon Paley. All three were entertaining, and there was plenty of food and spirits to go around as the place closed down for two-and-a-half hours to accommodate the 300 person party.
Notable guests included pretty much everyone from Twins Daily except Nick Nelson, Star Tribune's LaVelle E. Neal III, Howard Sinker, and Phil Miller, Fox Sports North's Tyler Mason, 1500 ESPN's Nate Sandell and Patrick Donnelly, and KTwin's Lindsay Guentzel among countless others.