Tuesday Twins: The weirdest minor league catcher ever

The links:

• The stove has been pretty cool in the majors, but the minor league stove is hot! According to Rhett Bollinger, the Twins signed four players to minor league contracts late last week: outfielder Ryan LaMarre, catcher Bobby Wilson, pitcher Myles Jaye, and catcher/infielder Willians Astudillo.
• Speaking of which, this Willians Astudillo guy is... really weird. Like, really weird. Our friends over at Viva El Birdos just wrote a piece on how magically weird Astudillo is and I suggest you read it (I don’t just give out all the spoilers here). Anyway, maybe Falvine will find a way to utilize his unique abilities?
• Meanwhile, the Rangers signed old friend pitcher David Hurlbut to a minor league contract with an invite to spring training. Hurlbut has been hurling his butt off in the Twins organization since 2011, but he will no more. Good luck, David. I guess.
• Speaking of pitchers and missing body pieces, Phil Hughes got the rest of that rib removed in hopes it will fix his pitching problems. Nick Nelson over at Twins Daily looked at whether Hughes can still provide value to the Twins, and how.
• After coming within a game of the World Series this year, the Yankees fired manager and Joe Girardi. They took their time finding a new one, but have finally settled on Aaron Boone. Apparently, according to Darren Wolfson, Boone had recently talked with the Twins front office about joining them in some capacity, but obviously that’s off the table now.
• Also over at Twins Daily, Cody Christie is continuing his serious on why Johan Santana should be a Hall of Famer. Last week he looked at the Kirby Puckett Clause, and this week he’s looking at the Sandy Koufax Argument. You buying it?