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- The Twins will be opening their season in Minneapolis later this month. Notably, last month was rather snowy, but the Twins grounds crew has a plan, and believes they will be up to the task of keeping Target Field playable. Go ahead and insert your retractable roof complaints here, and yell into the void. The book on that subject has long been closed
- A book was opened, however, this winter by Matt Magill. The new coaching staff of the Twins sees Magill’s curveball as a unique weapon, and rather than adjust his pitches, Magill spent the offseason reading selections to improve the mental side of his game.
- Perhaps someone else should have focused on the mental part of their job during the winter. Nice job blue! The umpires blew a call in favor of the Twins the other day, against the Phillies, as LaMonte Wade missed a potential web-gem of a catch in the stands, but the umpire still called it an out.
- Beyond the Box Score isn’t sure if the Twins will be good, will make the playoffs, win the World Series, or none of the above. What they are sure of is that the Twins will be a fun team this season, and who am I to disagree? Reason number one, of course, is Willians Astudillo, but there are several other players who they think will be fun. Let’s hope those players are good, too.
- At Baseball America, Joe Sheehan picked his sleeper team for 2019. Any guesses who it is? Since this is a Twins blog, that was probably a good guess. The real takeaway is that the Twins young core is drawing national recognition. Sheenan compares the 2019 Twins favorably to the 2015 Royals, speaking of whom...
- Bad news for the Royals: Their superstar catcher Salvador Perez has apparently suffered UCL damage, and may end up missing the entire season. Considering the rest of the Royals roster, it may not make much difference. At least this time it wasn’t a luggage-handling injury.
- Better news for the Tigers: Miguel Cabrera might actually make a comeback this year. It’s like his fourth straight comeback season in a row, so you never know, it might actually happen.