I went out to Hammond Stadium again this morning and hung around for a couple of hours talking baseball with other fans and watched some of the early arrivals hit and take some infield. Not much going on as yet. Some of the players I recognized today that were participating in early workouts of one variety or another were Trevor Plouffe, Jason Bartlett, Miguel Sano, Nate Roberts, Adam Walker, Lewis Thorpe, Wilkin Ramirez, Kyle Gibson, Jared Burton, Mike Kvasnicka, AJ Pettersen, and Amaurys Minier. These players and others that I did not recognize were working under the tutelage of some minor league coaches and Joe Lepel. After hitting, some of the infielders including Jason Bartlett and Miguel Sano took some infield on field 4 practicing their fielding and working on turning double plays. It was interesting watching Bartlett and Sano doing some of these infield drills on their knees. All in all there is not much going on out at the ballpark as yet with no players having officially reported. I would however expect that more players will arrive over the week-end and that the action will pick up next week. The people working the hardest at Hammond Stadium these days are probably the construction workers that are trying to getting things ready for the start of spring training. I took some more pictures today primarily of the ball players and I have uploaded them to the “2014 Spring Training” link you can find on the right hand side of this page. I will be out there again early next week and I will keep you updated on what I see going on at Hammond Stadium..
Tag: Nate Roberts
First 2014 visit to Hammond Stadium
I was excited to get my first look at the changes that are taking place at Hammond Stadium this year and yesterday I went out there to see what was going on. For the most part it is a construction area and kind of messy and muddy in parts of the complex but work is going on everywhere.
The main changes to the ballpark itself are the new concourse that encircles the entire ballpark and the new “grassy knoll” in the left field corner. The grassy knoll appears finished but the concourse is definitely a work in progress. With the work underway, the new concourse is obviously not accessible to the public at this time so it is not possible to get pictures from there and to see what the field of play looks like from the concourse.
The area between field 5, the Twins batting cages, The Twins bullpen and the field with just an infield is a construction area so access there this spring might be questionable. This was a spring training gathering place for fans over the years and a prime autograph location but I am not sure it will be available this year. It is really too early to tell.
I bought tickets to a couple of spring training games and they told me to try to get to the ballpark early because the parking area has been changed due to the construction in the area. The parking areas on the right as you first drive in have not changed but as you get closer to the minor league complex the construction has eliminated many parking spots. The folks selling the tickets said they do not expect that the parking area will be cleaned up by the times games start so that could make things interesting but they do expect the concourse to be completed. From what I see of the concourse, I would be surprised if that is done by the time the Twins play the Boston Red Sox on March 1st.
I saw a few minor league players on field 3 hitting but I did not see any Twins players working out at all. I did see Kyle Gibson walk by and later I ran into Jared Burton and Glen Perkins and asked them if I could take a picture but they said “not today, a bad day for pictures today” and they kept on walking back towards the Twins clubhouse. Kind of unusual for Burton because he is usually willing to stop and talk with fans, maybe they had a bad day or they were just upset about having to walk through some muddy construction on their way to the clubhouse.
Nate Roberts walked by and I asked if I could take a picture and he was kind enough to stop and pose for me. We chatted briefly and he went on his way. Seems like a very nice guy and if you are a Duck Dynasty fan you have to like the beard that Roberts is sporting.
All toll I probably saw a dozen or so players today and about as many fans. Some were looking for autographs and others were there to buy tickets. The funny thing was when I asked if they were Twins fans, more said Red Sox then anything else. It sure was good to be back at spring training again and I am sure there will be more players and more fans when I stop by in the next few days for another visit.
Plans to renovate City of Palms Park (the old Red Sox facility) and bring the Washington Nationals to Fort Myers appear to be on hold, if not dead because Ft. Myers can’t meet the costs the developer has proposed the city pay to renovate the stadium. The Nationals, who train at Space Coast Stadium in Brevard County, have been looking elsewhere to move their spring training operations. Hopefully that changes because it would be nice to see another team in Ft. Myers.
If you want to see some of the pictures I took at the ballpark on Tuesday, you can find the link called 2014 Spring Training on the right hand side of the page.
This and That
The Twins announced yesterday that they will have seven players going to the Arizona Fall League Peoria Javelinas this season. The players are catcher Chris Hermann, outfielders Evan Bigley and Nate Roberts along with pitchers Kyle Gibson, Caleb Thielbar, Logan Darnell and Michael Tonkin. Trainer Alan Rail will also be representing the Twins. 13 players on the current Twins roster have participated in the AFL in past years. The roots of the AFL go back to 1992 and that season the Twins participants were Derek Parks, Chip Hale, Jon Henry, Ray Ortiz, Rex Delanuez and Scott Ullger participated as a manager. The reason for the league was to have an easily accessible offseason league where players could be monitored closely and did not have to leave the country. The six clubs in the league are in close proximity to each other so not a lot of travel is required. The rules for participation have changed over the years but currently Major League clubs hold a position draft in August to determine the players who will go to Arizona, most are Double-A or Triple-A players but each club can also send one Single-A player if they wish.
A couple of days ago the Double-A New Britain Rock Cats announced that the team had three players named to the Eastern League Season Ending All-Star Team, first baseman/DH Chris Colabello, outfielder Aaron Hicks and third baseman Deibinson Romero were all named to the team which was announced from the Eastern League office. Congratulations to all three players.
We went to the Twins /Mariners game yesterday and the Twins and Samuel Deduno won 10-0. It was a warm and muggy Wednesday evening game and my wife was playing Twingo and before the first inning was over all she needed was a “base on balls” to be a Twingo winner. With Jason Vargas pitching for Seattle with a 2.3 BB/9 and Samuel Deduno pitching for the Twins with a 7.9 BB/9 I thought that would be the least of her issues but it took her until the third inning before she finally got that BB when Vargas walked Trevor Plouffe in the bottom of the third and she became a Twingo winner for the second game in a row. Who would have thought it would be tough finding a walk with Deduno pitching? Samuel Deduno pitched a superb game last night going 7 innings only allowing 2 hits with no walks. 68 of his 98 pitches were strikes, an amazing number for Deduno. I enjoy watching Deduno pitch, he does not have the best command but he knows how to get out of trouble and I hope he keeps getting better.
Then there is outfielder Denard Span. I used to real enjoy watching Denard Span play baseball but now that Span has been in the big leagues for a couple of years I see him as a malingerer. Span is not making superstar money but he is making $3 million this year, and will make $4.75 million in 2013, $6.5 million in 2014, $9 million in 2015. For that kind of money I expect Span who is still only 28 years of age to play in at least 155 games per season and since he became the full-time center fielder in 2009 he has appeared in 145, 153, 70 games and so far this season in 108 games. That does not cut it for me, if you are my regular center fielder I expect your butt in the line-up day in and day out regardless if the team is winning or losing. You get paid to play, not to sit on the bench belly aching that you are not 100%. Who is ever feeling perfect day in and day out? No one. If you worked for me in a regular job Denard, you would have been put on notice a long time ago and if you didn’t starting showing up ready to work day after day you would find yourself on the unemployment line. If I was one of Span’s teammates I would be pretty unhappy with Span and his lack of desire to play. When he does play, I am not sure that Span is willing to do what it takes to win. In my opinion a player of Span’s ability and experience should be stealing at least 25-30 bases a year and yet when he is on base he stands there and waits for someone to knock him in. Is he afraid that he will get hurt if he tries to steal a base? If I was GM Terry Ryan I would trade Span in a heart beat. Now that I am reasonably sure that Ben Revere can play center field at the big league level I get what I can for Span. I trade Span before the rest of the baseball world realizes that Span only plays when he is feeling great and his team is winning. Denard Span is part of the problem on this Twins team, he is not part of the solution. If I am building a team I want players that want to play day after day, I don’t need someone with a low pain threshold that would rather sit than play if he is not feeling 100%. Now I see that the Twins have recalled Matt Carson and put Span on the DL and there is a chance Span is done for the season. What a shocker…..
Speaking of injuries, who is making the decisions for the Twins on who stays on the roster and who goes on the DL? For the second year in a row we have players that seem to be day-to-day for a week or more. Why should Gardy manage with one hand tied behind his back because he has players sitting on his bench that can’t play that day but claim they will be ready tomorrow? I am tired of tomorrow’s, either you play or you find yourself on the DL, it seems simple enough to me, what am I missing here.