Twinkie Town Talk: The debut edition

Introducing a new, daily feature here at Twinkie Town. Treat this as a combination link-dump and open thread. Feel free to derail the comments to talk about whatever (within reason and the community guidelines.) The links provided are just conversation starters

Good morning Twinkie Town! Just a couple more days until opening day, and we’ve been busy here. In case you missed it yesterday:

• Who is John Andreoli, and why is he here? A profile of the outfield the Twins got from the Giants in exchange for Michael Reed (this one is from Sunday.)
• Winners and Losers from week four of Spring Training. Ben looked at the final roster battles in advance of the Twins announcing their opening day roster.
• What can history tell us about the 2019 Twins? Zach takes you back to the future, as he compares the current squad to a team from a few decades ago.

Elsewhere in Twins Territory

• The Twins played an exhibition game (and lost 5-2) against their triple-A affiliate, the Red Wings for the last day in camp. Eddie Rosario and Nelson Cruz served as player-managers, and Willians Astudillo drew a walk, for the first time this spring.
• Considering the Twins new affiliation at double-A Pensacola, the Pensacola News-Journal provides a great capsule overview of Twins history. We gained a great mascot in the system by partnering with the Blue Wahoos.

And out there in the baseball world:

• Eternal 20-year old Rick Porcello took a hit in the head from a line-drive during an exhibition game yesterday. Fortunately for him, he checked out ok, and doesn’t appear to be suffering any concussion symptoms.
• The Red Sox might be the Twins Spring Training neighbors in Fort Myers, but once upon a time, they played in the Cactus League. Al Yellon at Bleed Cubbie Blue looked at some baseball history.
• The Brewers superstar, Ryan Braun, won’t be able to join the team for their upcoming series in Montreal, as he forgot his passport at home. Maybe he just wanted a couple days to relax at home, instead?
• The Mets are being jerks, and essentially forcing Devin Mecoraco to retire. They told him he would not be making the team, but when he refused assignment to triple-A, they placed him on the restricted list rather than releasing him.

Today’s discussion question, since Ryan Braun is basically calling in sick, what’s the strangest reason you’ve called out of work?