Monday morning breakfast & baseball: Pryor, 40-man, Perkins, Dozier, more

One week from today, it's opening day for our Minnesota Twins. It's been wonderful to have baseball back in our lives for these last few weeks, but getting real games underway that matter is what it's all about. In other news, while making dinner last night I was peeling vegetables and peeled off the top of the finger nail on the middle finger of my left hand. And I didn't even know it'd happened until a few minutes later. Pro: GREAT vegetable peeler. Con: It's so good you don't know it took a part of your body.

At least it was an inconsequential part.

Twins outright Stephen Pryor

The Twins were never going to get anything good for Kendrys Morales, and getting Pryor looked - at least at the time - like Ryan had netted Minnesota a project. The 24-year old gave the Red Wings 20.1 innings of relief down the stretch, striking out 22 and allowing just six hits (two for home runs)...but walking 16. Strikeouts and command have always been Pryor's calling cards, even before he was hurt in 2013.

He didn't do badly in spring training, allowing just one run in six innings of work. But he was never going to make the opening day roster, and now that the team looks to be making space on for a couple of non-roster invitees the cord was officially cut. Whether or not he'll stay with the organization is unclear, but one thing is certain: even if he departs, Minnesota has more than enough bullpen arms to watch this season.

40-man roster notes

Twins have outrighted RHP Stephen Pryor to AAA Rochester, removing him from 40-man. Now have 2 vacancies, presumably for Boyer & Robinson.

— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) March 29, 2015

With Pryor joining Lester Oliveros on the way off the roster, Minnesota now has 38 players on their 40-man roster. Blaine Boyer and Shane Robinson both appear to be on their way north with the team, so we'll see if anything else changes in the next few days to shake things up further.

Glen Perkins on location

Over at FanGraphs, David Laurila spoke to Perkins about his reverse splits. Perkins believes that spacial relationships can throw him off of his game, particularly when trying to locate his slider against left-handed hitters. It's a fascinating look at not just what makes Perkins tick as a pitcher, but it demonstrates how players are different in how they approach their craft.

Perkins sounds like a visual guy, and his quotes bear that out. The money quote comes at the end of his segment of Laurila's story:

"I have a pretty good slider, I just have trouble locating it against lefties," admitted Perkins. "I should be able to execute that pitch better – I’m a major-league player – but I can’t."

Terry Ryan and Rob Antony on Brian Dozier

In the same Laurila article, he later focuses on what Terry Ryan and Rob Antony had to say about Dozier following the announcement of his four-year contract. I break down my full thoughts here, because it's more than a bullet point.

Quick reads

• Sean Dolinar at The Hardball Times uses data visualization to preview the 2015 MLB season. Home/road streaks, player age bell curves, all kinds of fun stuff.
• Staying with Dolinar but shifting to FanGraphs, he charts data for revenue, payroll, and team value for each organization.
• And yet one more from Dolinar, this time with interactive offensive projections. Pretty sweet stuff.
• From Mike Berardino, Josmil Pinto has been cleared for game action. Good news.
• Anthony Swarzak made the Indians roster. Jeff Manship did not.