Hi Twins fans.  Can you believe there are just three more weeks of spring training.  It’s going too fast.  I know, we aren’t even to the halfway point of the Grapefruit League games, but still it seems like the start of the season is really creeping up on us.  Here are some news happenings from Fort Myers, Florida.

1.  TWINS MAKE FIRST CUTS….Eight players were trimmed from the Twins Spring Training roster, and all eight were assigned to the Twins Minor League Camp.  There were RHP Deolis Guerra, RHP Loek Van Mil, LHP Jose Lugo, IF Estarlin De Los Santos, C Jair Fernandez, C Danny Rams, IF Steve Singleton, and OF Rene Tosoni.  Of the entire group only Tosoni got appreciable playing time in the early games.  And I would say that Tosoni is the only one to really keep an eye on during the 2010 season.  He’s one of the Twins top outfield prospects.   Tosoni has a chance to play at AAA Rochester.  It was disappointing that Van Mil was hurt and didn’t get a chance to pitch.  He’s the 7 foot 1 inch pitcher from the Netherlands and has been coming along in the Twins system.  Guerra is the last of the four players the Twins got from the Mets when they traded Johan Santana.  Guerra has a chance to pitch at AA New Britain and is still ranked as one of the Twins top pitching prospects.

2.  NCAA TOURNAMENT….The field of 65 in the NCAA Basketball Tournament always causes a big buzz at the Twins camp.  There are all sorts of pools and the players, media, and Twins staff have a big time talking up the tournament.  I was kidding Kevin Slowey about the Wintrop Eagles.  Slowey went to Wintrop and if you remember they made quite a stir in the tournament a couple of years ago.  The Eagles qualified this year when they won their league tournament and Slowey and I were talking about where they would be seeded.  I tried to make him feel good and said they might get a 11 or 12 seed.  Well they didn’t fair too well and the Eagles will have to play the feed-in game Tuesday night versus Arkansas Pine-Bluff and if they win they get Duke in a first round game.  Good luck to the Eagles.

3.  TWINS LOCK IN BLACKBURN AND SPAN….Earlier in the week the Twins signed RHP Nick Blackburn to a four year contract and then on Saturday they announced that they have signed OF Denard Span to a five year deal.  Both are very good signs by the Twins.  The signings will take the Twins up to and a bit beyond free agency for both and both are becoming valuable players for the Twins.  Span had a great year last year and has established himself as a top lead off hitter and exceptional centerfielder.  Despite the fact that Blackburn has a losing record in two full seasons as a starter for the Twins, he appears to coming into his own and it’s good to know that he will be around for the next four years.  These are both very good signs by the Twins.

That’s all for today folks.  It will be a busy week of baseball for the Twins with games everyday this week.  And with just three weeks to go the players will start to bear down on getting themselves ready for the start of the 2010 season.

“Touch ‘em All,”

JG

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