Friday Notes

Not a whole lot to cover today, so I'll touch on a few different subjects before enjoying my pre-birthday weekend (I turn 22 on Monday!).

* I was surprised to see this story gracing the front page on ESPN.com yesterday. The headline: "Hunter says Twins haven't made any offers since end of season." It must have been a slow news day in the sports world, because that's not really news. Most of us don't expect the Twins to go any further than the three year, $45 million offer they made during the season. And they shouldn't.

* The Twins elected this week to activate Joe Nathan's $6 million option for the 2008 season, which is also not really news since it was obviously coming. Nathan is a tremendous bargain at that price, and he will enter the '08 season as arguably the only known commodity in the Twins' bullpen.

* Infielder Matt Macri, who the Twins acquired from the Rockies in August in exchange for Ramon Ortiz, has been putting together some impressive numbers while playing in the Arizona Fall League. Over 13 games, the 25-year-old Macri has hit .302/.333/.558 with five doubles, two homers and four RBI. This after hitting .296/.345/.511 with 26 doubles and 15 home runs over 331 at-bats this year spread across Double-A and Triple-A. He shouldn't be counted on, but Macri could be a dark-horse candidate to chip in at third base for the Twins. I'd prefer to see Bill Smith go out and acquire a legitimate young third baseman in a trade, but short of that, he could probably do worse than, say, a platoon of Macri and Brian Buscher or Corey Koskie (assuming that Koskie is back in playing shape).

* Non-Twins-related note: if anyone is interested in reading my stuff elsewhere, I write a bi-weekly sports column for the U of M's student magazine, The Wake. You can read my latest column here. This issue's edition previews the men's hockey team, which just recently kicked off its season and last night defeated Ohio State handily.