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Know your 2016 Minnesota Twins crossword

The Twins have started their 2016 season with games in Baltimore and Kansas City and are coming home to play their home opener today at Target Field with a 0-6 record against those hated Chicago White Sox who are 4-2. The Twins are the only team in the American League that has yet to win a game in 2016. No Minnesota Twins team has started a new season this poorly.

Never-the-less it is good to see the Twins again and I think that the team will turn things around and play better than it has so far. The Twins have numerous returning players and they have some new players for you to get to know. Today it is time to see how well you know the 2016 team and the Twins organization as a whole with the attached crossword puzzle. Have fun!

Know your 2016 Twins crossword

Once you have brought the puzzle up and are ready to print the puzzle, do a right-click with your mouse and you might want to do a print preview first to get the puzzle the right size to fit on a single page. The clues for the puzzle will print on page 2.

Answers? You want answers? Probably just to double-check your work because if you are checking out this site you are probably a big Twins fan and will not need any research to complete the puzzle. If you do need help answering some, the answer might be found else where on this site. If you must see the answers, you can find them on the link below but only do so as a last resort. Thanks, I hope you enjoy it.

Know your 2016 Twins crossword answers

What changes can you expect to find at Target Field

The Twins will open their seventh season in Target Field on Monday and the biggest changes are noted here.

Minnie & Paul’s

The newest renovation is the replacement of seating in the centerfield area, below the Minnie & Paul Celebration sign and above the “batters-eye”. The upper level (Club Level) will be named Minnie & Paul’s and will be open to all fans. Minnie & Paul’s, a Twins-themed pub will feature Minnesota-branded food options while serving as a stylish gathering space for fans of all ages.

CATCH

The lower tier (Mezzanine Level) will be known as CATCH, an intimate all-inclusive club with limited access for approximately 120 season ticket members. This new premium space will be all-inclusive with beverages and a variety of tapas-style foods included in the season ticket price.

Safety Netting

New safety netting to comply with Major League Baseball’s Fan Safety Recommendations. Target Field’s current backstop net is in compliance with the stated MLB recommendations, which call for netting to protect seats between the dugouts within 70-feet of home plate. In contrast to other MLB ballparks, Target Field’s dugouts are the closest to home plate of any in the league, because of the proximity of seats within the dugout box seating sections (sections 3 through 6 and sections 11 through 14), the Twins will add protective netting above the dugouts in advance of the 2016 season. This new safety netting will extend approximately seven-feet high and run the length of the first and third base dugouts.

This Day in Twins History – April 8, 1969

April 8, 1969 – The Royals play their first game in the history of the franchise and joins the winner circle along with the other three new clubs making their debuts today. Reliever Moe Drabowsky picks up the win as Kansas City beat the Twins in 12 innings, 4-3 in Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

Losing to a lowly expansion team in the first game he ever managed must have really stuck in Twins skipper Billy Martin‘s craw. Who had the first ever Royals hit? That would be our old friend Lou Piniella, check out the boxscore for more interesting names that you might remember from that era. Boxscore

The Twins will play the World Champion Kansas City Royals later today at Kauffman Stadium looking for their first win of the season. Over the years the Twins and Royals have hooked-up 733 times and the Twins have beaten the Royals 380 times and lost 353 times for a .518 winning percentage. Even though the Twins have beaten KC 27 more times than they have lost the run differential favors the Twins by only 15 runs so many of the games over the past 47 years have been close ones. The Twins have a 199-166 record at home against the Royals and on the road they are 181-187.

If you want to see a history of all the Twins/Royals match-ups you can go here.

Twins way-back machine looks at April 1963

1961 – 1969 primary logo

It is fun to look back at the Sporting News and see what was up with the Minnesota Twins back in the day. The Twins started their 1963 season with a 9-10 record in April but went on to win 91 games. That however; only earned them third place (15 1/2 games back) in the AL standings behind the AL champ New York Yankees and 5 games behind the second place Chicago White Sox.

Jack Kralick had an “interesting” month of April, in his first three starts the Twins scored zero runs on his behalf but he also gave up 18 runs so he deserved his 0-3 start, but in his fourth start of the month he pitched a complete game 3-0 shutout of the Washington Senators. Little did he know but on May 2 the Twins would trade him to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jim Perry and the man that threw the Minnesota Twins first no-hitter was history.

1963 Twins roster

Sporting News April 13, 1963

By the way, there is a nice piece about Twins 2014 first round selection (and fifth over-all) shortstop Nick Gordon in the Ft. Meyers News-Press today that you should check out if you get a minute.

How will the Twins fare in 2016

I know I am a bit late with my Minnesota Twins prediction this year and I blame it on the Panama Canal cruise that I returned from yesterday. In the 2016 Minnesota Twins I see a fun young team but a team that takes a small step back this season. The good news however; is that the lessons the younger players learn this year will help them to become solid contenders in 2017 and beyond.

The most pleasant surprise this year will be the hitting of Eduardo Escobar who has finally taken over the shortstop role on a full-time basis and turns out to be a much better hitter than most expected. The biggest disappointment of the year will be the back-end of the Twins bullpen with Glen Perkins and Kevin Jepsen not performing up to their abilities, Jepsen due to injury and Perkins more due to attitude than anything else. What most had viewed as a strength going into 2016 turns out to actually be a weakness.

How about the AL Central Division? Here is how I see them in the standings come early October.

Royals
Tigers
White Sox
Twins
Indians

GO TWINS!

This Day in Twins History – April 3

April 3, 1982 – The Twins beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0 in an exhibition game, the first event ever held in the new Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Pete Rose of the Phillies gets the first hit in the new stadium and Kent Hrbek hits the first two home runs in the Metrodome.

Key Dates in Metrodome History

April 3, 2000 – TC Bear is introduced as the Twins new mascot. The TC stands for Twin Cities. A case could be made that TC Bear “bears” some resemblance to the Hamm’s Beer Bear, a mascot used in advertisements for Hamm’s Brewery, an early sponsor for the Twins dating back to the early 1960’s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TC!

April 3, 2015 – The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced that Minnesota Twins right-handed pitcher Ervin Santana has received an 80-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance, in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The suspension of Santana will be effective for the first 80 games of the 2015 regular season. Santana, who was to earn $55 million over the next four seasons, was suspended for 80 games for violating Major League Baseball’s drug prevention and treatment program. The earliest he can return to action is July 4, when the Twins visit the Kansas City Royals. Scheduled to earn $13.5 million this year as part of the richest free-agent deal in club history, Santana will not be paid during the suspension, costing him more than $6.6 million.

Looking forward to Opening Day 2016

When the umpires call “Play Ball” for the Twins/Orioles game on Monday it will Twins opening day number 56. No I have not attended all the openers but I usually watch them on TV or listen to them on the radio, this time I will be listening or watching on my computer in Cape Coral, Florida.

So who will be in the Twins opening day line-up this year? You can never know for sure until they run on the field but I think that it is a safe assumption that only four players that were in the 2015 season opening loss in Detroit will be in Paul Molitor‘s starting line-up for the start the 2016 season for Minnesota in Baltimore. Those player’s being Kurt Suzuki catching, Joe Mauer at 1B, Brian Dozier at 2B and Trevor Plouffe at 3B. You probably can’t even remember the Twins 2015 opening day line-up, can you?

Here is a chance for you to look back to the last 10 years worth of Twins opening day line-ups. Some players are obviously familiar and others you probably have forgotten even played for Minnesota and some younger fans may have never even heard of some of these guys. For me it is interesting to see how much baseball teams turn-over from year to year and what positions the Twins seem to have trouble with.

	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF	DH	SP	YEAR
2015	Kurt Suzuki	Joe Mauer	Brian Dozier	Trevor Plouffe	Danny Santana	Oswaldo Arcia	Jordan Schafer	Torii Hunter	Kennys Vargas	Phil Hughes	2015
2014	Kurt Suzuki	Joe Mauer	Brian Dozier	Trevor Plouffe	Pedro Florimon	Josh Willingham	Aaron Hicks	Oswaldo Arcia	Chris Colabello	Ricky Nolasco	2014
2013	Joe Mauer	Justin Morneau	Brian Dozier	Trevor Plouffe	Pedro Florimon	Josh Willingham	Aaron Hicks	Chris Parmelee	Ryan Doumit	Vance Worley	2013
2012	Joe Mauer	Chris Parmelee	Alexi Casilla	Danny Valencia	Jamie Carroll	Josh Willingham	Denard Span	Ryan Doumit	Justin Morneau	Carl Pavano	2012
2011	Joe Mauer	Justin Morneau	Tsuyoshi Nishioka	Danny Valencia	Alexi Casilla	Delmon Young	Denard Span	Mike Cuddyer	Jason Kubel	Carl Pavano	2011
2010	Joe Mauer	Justin Morneau	Orlando Hudson	Nick Punto	J.J. Hardy	Delmon Young	Denard Span	Mike Cuddyer	Jason Kubel	Scott Baker	2010
2009	Mike Redmond	Justin Morneau	Alexi Casilla	Joe Crede	Nick Punto	Denard Span	Carlos Gomez	Mike Cuddyer	Jason Kubel	Francisco Liriano	2009
2008	Joe Mauer	Justin Morneau	Brendan Harris	Mike Lamb	Adam Everett	Delmon Young	Carlos Gomez	Mike Cuddyer	Craig Monroe	Livan Hernandez	2008
2007	Joe Mauer	Justin Morneau	Luis Castillo	Nick Punto	Jason Bartlett	Rondell White	Torii Hunter	Mike Cuddyer	Jeff Cirillo	Johan Santana	2007
2006	Joe Mauer	Justin Morneau	Luis Castillo	Tony Batista	Juan Castro	Shannon Stewart	Torii Hunter	Jason Kubel	Rondell White	Johan Santana	2006
	C	!B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF	DH	SP

I am writing this from the Norwegian Pearl as we cruise in the Caribbean Sea on our way to dock in Roatan, Honduras tomorrow morning after leaving Costa Rica last night. Then on to Belize City, Belize and Costa Maya, Mexico before returning to Miami and Cape Coral Florida on Monday. Hot and humid here, I hope you have the same where ever you are when you attend a 2016 baseball season opener. I can’t wait for REAL baseball again.

I almost forgot to mention that while I am in the Caribbean stopping in places like Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico I have and will continue to be on the lookout for some potential ace pitchers that the Minnesota Twins can sign. But sadly, I must report that like most of the Twins scouts that have looked for good pitching for the last 56 years I too have struck out.

Cuba Béisbol

The Tampa Rays played (and defeated) the Cuban National team yesterday in Havana and President Barak Obama and his family were in attendance along with Raul Castro and a host of other dignitaries. The game marks the second time since 1959 that an American team has played in Cuba — the Baltimore Orioles defeated the national team, 3-2, in Havana in 1999. It will be interesting to see how the baseball relationship between these two baseball loving countries takes shape in the next few years.

The Minnesota Twins and the island of Cuba have a long history and it goes back to the 1960’s prior to the Washington Senators becoming the Minnesota Twins in 1961. The relationship between Calvin Griffith and Joe “Papa Joe” Cambria was an interesting one. The Senators/Twins had a nice Cuban pipeline going for a number of years.

Players born in Cuba that have pitched for the Twins

Rk	Player	Year	From	To	Age	G	SHO	W	L	SV	IP	SO	ERA
1	Livan Hernandez	2008	2008	2008	33-33	23	0	10	8	0	139.2	54	5.48	Villa Clara, Cuba
2	Luis Tiant	1970	1970	1970	29-29	18	1	7	3	0	92.2	50	3.40	Marianao, Cuba
3	Camilo Pascual	1966	1961	1966	27-32	184	18	88	57	0	1284.2	994	3.31	La Habana, Cuba
4	Mike Fornieles	1963	1963	1963	31-31	11	0	1	1	0	22.2	7	4.76	La Habana, Cuba
5	Julio Becquer	1961	1961	1961	29-29	1	0	0	0	0	1.1	0	20.25	La Habana, Cuba
6	Bert Cueto	1961	1961	1961	23-23	7	0	1	3	0	21.1	5	7.17	San Luis, Cuba
7	Pedro Ramos	1961	1961	1961	26-26	42	3	11	20	2	264.1	174	3.95	Pinar del Rio, Cuba

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/23/2016.

Cuban players with at least on plate appearance for the Twins (includes pitchers)

Rk	Player	Year	From	To	Age	G	PA	R	H	HR	RBI	BA
1	Kendrys Morales	2014	2014	2014	31-31	39	162	12	36	1	18	.234	Fomento, Cuba
2	Livan Hernandez	2008	2008	2008	33-33	23	3	0	1	0	1	.500	Villa Clara, Cuba
3	Tony Oliva	1976	1962	1976	23-37	1676	6880	870	1917	220	947	.304	Pinar del Rio, Cuba
4	Leo Cardenas	1971	1969	1971	30-32	473	1938	193	453	39	210	.263	Matanzas, Cuba
5	Minnie Mendoza	1970	1970	1970	36-36	16	16	2	3	0	2	.188	Ceiba del Agua, Cuba
6	Luis Tiant	1970	1970	1970	29-29	18	36	7	13	0	4	.406	Marianao, Cuba
7	Jackie Hernandez	1968	1967	1968	26-27	112	247	14	39	2	20	.172	Central Tinguaro, Cuba
8	Hank Izquierdo	1967	1967	1967	36-36	16	28	4	7	0	2	.269	Matanzas, Cuba
9	Sandy Valdespino	1967	1965	1967	26-28	259	491	58	99	4	34	.220	San Jose de las Lajas, Cuba
10	Zoilo Versalles	1967	1961	1967	21-27	1065	4500	564	1046	86	401	.252	La Habana, Cuba
11	Camilo Pascual	1966	1961	1966	27-32	186	509	35	100	4	52	.215	La Habana, Cuba
12	Julio Becquer	1963	1961	1963	29-31	58	87	14	20	5	18	.238	La Habana, Cuba
13	Mike Fornieles	1963	1963	1963	31-31	11	6	1	1	0	1	.167	La Habana, Cuba
14	Marty Martinez	1962	1962	1962	20-20	37	24	13	3	0	3	.167	La Habana, Cuba
15	Bert Cueto	1961	1961	1961	23-23	7	8	1	0	0	0	.000	San Luis, Cuba
16	Pedro Ramos	1961	1961	1961	26-26	53	100	8	16	3	11	.172	Pinar del Rio, Cuba
17	Jose Valdivielso	1961	1961	1961	27-27	76	158	15	29	1	9	.195	Matanzas, Cuba

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/23/2016.

I think it is interesting to note that in the 60’s the Twins had a rich pipeline to Cuban players but the last Cuban player to play in a Twins uniform that was actually signed as an amateur free agent by the club was Tony Oliva in 1976, that is a long dry spell.

Did Fidel Castro really have a big league tryout with the Washington Senators?

Cuba Baseball Hall of Fame

This Day in Twins History – March 22, 2010 – you have to be careful what you wish for

Catcher Joe Mauer officially signed his eight-year, $184 million contract extension (2011 – 2018) in a press conference at the Lee County Sports Complex. The contract is the 4th highest contract ever signed in MLB as of that date.

Since his eight-year extension started in 2011 which is five years ago Mauer has the following stats (and look for the box that has Mauer’s batting stats for 2011-2015). Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for but I also remember how upset I would have been had the Minnesota Twins not signed Joe Mauer to an extension.

The reality is that long-term deals seldom work out as planned and most of the time favor the player. But in spite of what appears to be a distinctive advantage in these long-term deals for the players, their agents still found a way to swing the advantage in their favor even more by inventing opt-outs in the contracts. What’s next? Doubling a players salary if he is injured and out for the season? Sometimes I wonder if baseball GM’s and their players aren’t in cahoots. Baseball owners are wealthy but you have to wonder how they got that way because they don’t seem to be the brightest bulb on the tree. Then I wonder what that says about me, the baseball fan lifer who keeps buying tickets and follows the game day in and day out.

Why not bat Joe Mauer first?

The season opener is not far away and in my mind (such as it is) the Twins line-up is pretty well set short of any last-minute injuries. But before spring training ends I would like to see manager Paul Molitor tinker with a few different batting orders to see what might work best.

Personally I would like to see the Twins move Joe Mauer to the lead-off spot in the batting order. Mauer has hit in the three hole 1,145 times during his career and he has knocked in less than 53 runs a year from that position if you average it out. You have to be honest, that is a pathetic number, some guys have the knack for getting the runners in, Mauer does not posses that skill. I know that the three hole is usually the teams best hitter but Mauer is not the teams best hitter at this point in his career. Mauer however; has shown a skill for getting on base although his OBP has been dropping the last few years, never the less at this time and with an inexperienced Byron Buxton the time has come to slip Mauer in to the lead-off position. Here is the line-up I would try if I was the Twins manager for a day, I know it is not perfect but I think it is worth a try.

Joe Mauer (L) at 1B
Brian Dozier (R) 2B
Eddie Rosario (L) LF
Miguel Sano (R) RF
Trevor Plouffe (R) 3B
Byung Ho Park (R) DH
Eduardo Escobar (S) SS
Kurt Suzuki (R) C
Byron Buxton (R) CF

I know I am asking a lot of Eddie Rosario to hit third but I think he has the skills and the patience to hit there. You could swap Dozier and Rosario in the order and have Rosario bat second but the Twins are heavy from the right-side and I like to see the lefty-righty thing for at least the top of the order. Mauer is going to probably be around for several more years, the Twins have to find a way to maximize his skills.

Joe Mauer’s OBP has been dropping but it is still better than most of the Twins hitters so until someone better comes along, why not put Mauer at the top of the batting order? What have you got to lose by at least giving it a shot for a couple of weeks?

Know your 2016 Minnesota Twins crossword

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