Goodbye and Hello

March 3rd will mark the seven-year anniversary of the inaugural post on this blog, back when Nick Mosvick got things off the ground with a Spring Training Preview that detailed the outlook for players like Johan Santana, Brad Radke, Kyle Lohse, J.D. "The Real Deal" Durbin, Matt LeCroy, Jacque Jones and Michael Cuddyer (the third baseman).

Since then, there have been 1,607 articles posted here, covering all the ups and downs of an organization that has alternately thrilled, frustrated and baffled, but never failed to entertain. This outlet has allowed me to chronicle my evolution as a writer, analyst and fan, constantly growing from the knowledge gained through interactions with a loyal and intelligent reader base.

It's been quite a ride, and I'm damn proud of what I've been able to accomplish in this space. So it is with a tinge of sadness that I announce this will be my final post here, at least for the foreseeable future.

No, I'm not retiring from blogging. Instead, I'm migrating to a new site that I've been developing along with the TwinsCentric crew for the past several months. It's called Twins Daily, and it will be the exclusive home of my work and theirs as well (though our posts will continue to appear on StarTribune.com). We hope that it will become the central hub for quality Twins content and conversation on the web.

In short, Twins Daily is a community site that enables a whole new level of user interaction. By registering for a free account, you'll be able to not only read and comment on our blogs, but also create your own blogs and interact with members on our fully functional message board. Columns and forum posts that stand out will be promoted to the front page and appear alongside our stuff.

If you're interested in continuing to follow my work specifically, you can bookmark my personal blog over at TD, which has its own RSS feed (the NicksTwinsBlog.com URL will also direct to that page starting later this week). But I strongly recommend that you make a habit of routinely swinging by the front page, which will be updated daily with fresh content from myself, John Bonnes, Parker Hageman and Seth Stohs, along with the best work from our community of contributors (which, we hope, will include you).

I'm really excited about the next step in this journey. We're going to have a lot of fun over at Twins Daily. See you there.

Winding Down

You've probably noticed that the posts on this blog have grown increasingly sporadic here in September. Indeed, with only seven posts in the books, this is shaping up to be the least active in-season month in the site's history.

Part of it is because I've been busy, but the bigger issue is that I just can't bring myself to write about this team anymore. Things are basically as bad as can be. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and several others have been shut down for the season, leaving behind a motley group of mostly minor leaguers that seems legitimately incapable of winning a baseball game.

Meanwhile, it appears that Jason Kubel has slipped out of the Type A free agency field while Michael Cuddyer is on the verge of doing so himself. This would deprive the Twins' of their full compensation should either (or both) depart.

This organization enters the offseason facing a gamut of hugely alarming health concerns, a bloated and poorly allotted payroll, and a minor-league system that is bereft of impact talent in the upper levels. Without some creativity and ingenuity from the front office (not to mention some desperately needed good fortune) in the coming winter, things aren't necessarily bound to get better.

Once the offseason has arrived, the posting schedule figures to ramp up here as we mull the decisions that lie ahead. There will be plenty of fodder to supplement the third annual Offseason GM Handbook. In the meantime, if there are any topics you're interested in reading about, please share in the comments section. Thanks as always for stopping by.

Programming Note

I just wanted to toss up a quick post apologizing for the lack of fresh content here lately. The internet at my house has been down for about a week now (thanks Comcast!), which has prevented me from being able to get much blogging done. Hopefully the situation will be resolved soon and I can get back to updating this space on a semi-regular basis.

Until then, I recommend amusing yourself by watching this trailer repeatedly and throwing darts at a Matt Capps poster.

Technical Difficulties

Since running into maintenance issues late last week, Blogger has been struggling to restore full functionality to all blogs on its network. If you have run into trouble while trying to access the blog or the comments section (or noticed that your comment got deleted from the most recent post), I apologize but please know that this problem is out of my control. All I can do is wait for these issues to sort themselves out (hopefully by Monday or Tuesday at the latest) and ask that you bear with me.

It's annoying, but it happens. Besides, with the way the Twins have been playing, maybe Blogger's doing me a favor by limiting my ability to write about them.

Opening Day Site Update

After a brutally long winter and offseason, Opening Day has finally arrived. Tonight at 6 PM, the Twins will officially kick off their 2011 season in Toronto, and for the next six months we will never have to suffer through two consecutive days without a ballgame (save for the All-Star break and rain-outs). For fans of baseball and summer, it's a sweet feeling.

Over the past few years, I've made a habit out of writing a post on Opening Day updating the state of the blog. I've often taken the occasion to celebrate some sort of major development: in 2009, the re-naming and redesigning of the site; and in 2010, my newly formed partnerships with ESPN.com and the Star Tribune.

I'm very happy with how far this little site has come along. So, for this year, my goal is simply to keep up with it and make it the best it can be.

That won't always be easy, I'm sure. Contrary to common belief, I have a life outside of obsessing over baseball and it can be demanding at times. Even within the realm of this hobby I've tried to diversify and broaden my brush stroke.

The exposure to much larger audiences through the ESPN.com and Star Tribune outlets has been gratifying, not to mention highly amusing (the comment section "troll" in action is a fascinating phenomenon).

I'll also continue doing a few regular radio spots this year, which is different but enjoyable. (Shout-outs to my friends on the airwaves: Dean DeBoer in Austin, Trent Condon in Des Moines, R.J. Richards in Grand Forks, and of course Doogie Wolfson at ESPN 1500.)

In addition, I'll continue to produce a couple weekly columns at Rotoworld. If you happen to play fantasy baseball, I hope you'll check them out. I should mention that one of the columns is accessible only to those who've purchased the Season Pass membership, but doing so is a no-brainer if you're hardcore.

That lame bit of self-promotion aside, my top writing priority has been and will continue to be this blog. I've got plenty on my plate, but my goal this year is to continue pumping out quality content with as much frequency as anyone else out there covering the Twins. Little will change going forward content-wise, but one feature I have added to the blog this year that I'm pretty excited about is the integration of TiqIQ as an avenue for fans trying to track down tickets to games.

I've mentioned this new feature in passing, but want to reiterate that I've implemented it on the site as a resource for readers, and I'm hoping it will prove useful. If you click on the sidebar widget (or the image to above) you can check out the Twins ticket page, which aggregates listings from third-party vendors such as StubHub, TicketsNow and eBay. If you're on the hunt for those ever-elusive passes to Target Field, I encourage you to check it out, and if you end up purchasing through TiqIQ, let me know how the experience goes.

Beyond that, it'll be business as usual, starting with a post on Monday that will undoubtedly contain some rumination about this weekend's series against the Blue Jays. This series, not to mention the one in New York that follows, strikes me as a fitting start to what will be a challenging year for the Twins. I wish I felt more optimistic about their chances, but from any perspective the 2011 season is shaping up to be an exciting and entertaining one. I hope you'll keep checking in regularly so we can share the ride. Your readership and interaction, as always, are what make this time-consuming hobby worthwhile.

Now let's freaking play ball already.

Migrating South

At least temporarily.

I'm heading down to Florida for a week, with my flight departing at 6 AM (yes, apparently there is a 6 AM) on Monday. I plan to take in two or three spring training games while I'm down there, the first of which is Tuesday's tilt between the Twins and Pirates at Hammond Stadium. Parker has arranged a little fan get-together after the game at Potts' Sports Cafe -- just a few blocks away from the ballpark -- so if you'll be around I'd encourage you to join us.

Most likely I'll check in with a few updates here over the course of the week, especially if any major news emerges. When I return next week I'll have a full recap of the action and then I'll get my annual Position Analysis series underway. That should take us right up to the start of the season.

Opening Day Site Update

Note: What follows is an update on this blog and its author. If you're more interested in digging into some baseball stuff, you can click here or scroll down to read my Twins season preview.

It has become tradition on this blog that every year on Opening Day, I post an update on the current state of this site and of my life in general. I know most people don't come here to read about me, which is why I only do this once a year, but some folks are interested and really I do this for myself as much as anyone, so that I can look back in the future and recall how things have progressed.

As far as blogging and baseball writing are concerned, the past year has been very, very good to me. Starting in the middle of last season, I teamed up with three talented, passionate and motivated fellow bloggers to form TwinsCentric. Together, we have produced three publications: the Trade Deadline Primer last July, the Offseason GM Handbook last October and most recently the Maple Street Press Twins 2010 Annual this spring. These projects have each presented their own sets of challenges, but overall the work has been fulfilling, particularly since all three publications have been met with such support and enthusiasm from our readers.

Earlier this spring, the Star Tribune approached me and my TwinsCentric colleagues about starting our own blog on the newspaper's website. That blog is now fully operational, with the four of us alternating posts and hopefully infusing the more traditional brand of coverage at the Star Trib with a refreshingly different modern flavor. Having a blog on a heavily trafficked and respected site like StarTribune.com has broadened our scope and allowed us to reach out to a whole new set of Twins fans, which has been terrific.

In addition, you may notice a new emblem on the top of the right sidebar. As I revealed in earnest last fall, my blog is now partnered with ESPN.com as a part of Rob Neyer's SweetSpot Network. Through this arrangement, I will be involved in various ways with the baseball coverage on their site, which is obviously a big thrill and a huge honor. As a sports writer, you can't really ask to be affiliated with a more prominent network.

When I launched this little blog experiment back in 2005, I never would have imagined at any point that my writing would be featured on the websites for organizations like the Star Tribune and ESPN -- definitive sports sources that I grew up reading. It's basically a dream come true and I can't begin to express how flattered and grateful I am to have these opportunities.

It's going to be a busy summer for me, though. Keeping up with the blog will be harder than ever. Between working two "normal" jobs as well as my writing gig at Rotoworld, playing in a softball league, advancing my musical hobbies, contributing to John Burnson's wonderful Heater Magazine, churning away on upcoming TwinsCentric projects, actually watching the baseball games and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life, my plate is going to be full to say the least. I share this not to elicit pity, but to inform the faithful readers of this blog that posting here may be more sporadic than ever this summer. While it has been customary over this blog's lifetime for me to have a new post up almost every weeknight around midnight for folks to read the next morning, I'm not sure it will be possible for me to stay true to that schedule this year. Instead, I'm going to have to post new entries whenever I have the opportunity to write them, whether that's on my lunch break from work, at 2 am on a Thursday night, or on a lazy Sunday afternoon. If you come here looking for a new post in the morning and don't find it, check back later in the afternoon. On my end, I'll try and do a better job of updating my Twitter account when I post new entries. Of course, you can also subscribe to the blog's RSS feed or follow through Google Reader.

As always, my favorite aspect of operating this blog over the past year has been interacting with fellow fans and bloggers. I've conversed a lot of great people online through this avenue, and was fortunate to meet many of you in person at the TwinsCentric Viewing Party back in early March. I hope to meet even more of you when we hold a similar event at Majors in Blaine this Saturday.

I don't think there's ever been a better time to be a Twins fan. The club is opening a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium that has drawn rave reviews from folks across the nation. The franchise player and reigning MVP has just been signed to a massive long-term deal. An outstanding slate of offseason moves by Bill Smith and Co. have positioned the Twins as legitimate World Series contenders and almost unanimous AL Central favorites. This is going to be an awesome season, and I'm pleased as pie that I'll be able to write about it on so many different forums.

But it all comes back to this blog, and to the loyal readers who have helped make it such a successful and satisfying venture. From the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you who have supported me, even by stopping by and leaving a comment from time to time.

Now, with all of that out of the way... let's play ball!

Announcing the MSP 2010 Twins Annual!

As most of you are aware, I teamed up last year with John Bonnes, Parker Hageman and Seth Stohs to form TwinsCentric, a group of writers dedicated to producing specialized premium content for adamant Twins fans. Thus far, we have put out two publications: the Trade Deadline Primer last July and the Offseason GM Handbook in October. Both of these releases were met with strong sales and plenty of wonderful feedback; for that were are infinitelty appreciative.

Today I am pleased to announce our latest venture, the Maple Street Press 2010 Minnesota Twins Annual. This will be our most expansive effort yet, as our partnership with Maple Street has allowed us to bring in a broad range of writers and has put the design phase into the hands of talented professionals. The MSP 2010 Twins Annual will be a thick, hard-copy magazine packed with all sorts of great content previewing the Twins' 2010 season. Working with an experienced, large-scale publisher in Maple Street also means that the magazine will be less expensive (this one retails for only $12.99, whereas the hard copy of the Offseason GM Handbook went for $21.99) and available on newsstands as well as via mail order.

Tentative cover.

The magazine will cater to the tastes of the casual and hardcore fan alike. Articles will cover the Twins from a multitude of different angles, with some delving into advanced statistics and others providing more traditional analysis. You'll find player profiles, prospects rankings, position-by-position breakdowns of the Twins' organizational depth, extensive coverage of Target Field, a lengthy interview with Ron Gardenhire, historical narratives on past Twins seasons and tons more. The list of contributing writers is vast, consisting of veteran journalists, respected authors and of course plenty of familiar names from the Twins blogosphere.

We're really excited about this publication, and I know its contents will appeal to Twins fans of all stripes. It's set for release in early March, but you can pre-order your copy here. I'll pass along more information as the release nears. Thanks, once again, to everyone who has supported TwinsCentric and Twins blogging/writing in general.

Birthday Wishes and a New Contest!

Since I know Bill Smith reads this blog and is wondering what I'd like for my birthday (today is the big 2-4), a contract extension for Joe Mauer and a new second baseman would suffice. Oh, and if he wants to throw me a few tickets to the Target Field opener next year, that'd be dandy, too.

Speaking of Smith and the Twins' offseason, I'd like to direct everyone to TwinsCentric.com, which is hosting a new contest that allows you to predict just how exactly the Twins' brass will handle the upcoming offseason. The rules are simple: head to TwinsCentric.com, click on the contest link beneath the main image on the front page, fill in your predicted 2010 roster and payroll estimate in the appropriate fields (of course, figuring out the salary figures and available free agents/trade targets will be extraordinarily simple if you have a copy of the TwinsCentric GM Handbook handy), then click submit. You can track your projected roster throughout the offseason, along with those of other participants, and the team/payroll that most closely resemble the actual results on Opening Day 2010 will receive a fabulous prize! Submissions are due by the final out of the World Series, so hop to it!

Also, I appeared as a guest on the Fanatic Jack podcast last night. You can check that out here.

That's all I've got for today. Probably no blog update for tomorrow, so I wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween weekend.

Quick and Painful

It was tough watching the Twins trudge dejectedly off the field after last night's 4-1 loss, which completed an ALDS sweep for the Yankees and officially ended the Twins' 2009 season. Not just because the Twins lost the series -- I expected that. And not even because they failed to win a single game -- I pretty much expected that.

It was tough because the Twins gave themselves enough opportunities to make a series out of it. Much like their three-game set in New York during the regular season, the Twins were swept in this series but hardly laid down for the Evil Empire. After being soundly defeated in a first game on Wednesday that hardly anyone could have expected them to win, the Twins pitched well enough and collected enough hits to take both of the next two games. But given the inherent disadvantages the Twins faced in this series, they stood no chance of overcoming the Yankees with all of their terrible baserunning blunders, the brutal work from their seemingly depleted closer, and their complete lack of execution with runners aboard (32 runners stranded over the three games). We can talk all we want about Phil Cuzzi's unspeakably horrendous call on the left field line on Friday night, but the fact is that the Twins are ultimately responsible the fate that fell upon them. I do wonder if having had their repeated fundamental lapses on display for the entire nation over the past week or so will put a dent in the commonly held notion that the Twins are a sound fundamental team that does all of the little things.

I'm disappointed by this outcome but not at all surprised, and given the spectacular end to the regular season I do feel like this 2009 Twins team gave me my money's worth. I'll have further analysis of this series and of the Twins' season as a whole over the remainder of the week, so be sure to check back. Within the next few weeks I'll also start diving into discussion of issues facing the team during the offseason. You can get a jump start on that conversation now, though, with the perfect offseason companion, which I invite you to read about below.

***

Back in July, I joined forces with John Bonnes (the Twins Geek), Parker Hageman and Seth Stohs to develop an eBook called the TwinsCentric Trade Deadline Primer. This was very much an experimental project, but the results were encouraging. The product generated a lot of good buzz and I'm extremely appreciative of everyone who bought a copy or supported our efforts in any way. But there were two central problems with the Deadline Primer. The first was that neither me or my TwinsCentric partners had much experience with designing and marketing something like this so there were a number of rough patches. The second -- and more troubling -- issue was that the Twins simply don't have a history of being real active at the trade deadline, so people had a hard time getting excited and shelling out money for an extensive write-up on the topic.

That second issue was one we had foreseen, and unsurprisingly it was one of the main areas of negative feedback we received. It was completely understandable. That's why I'm extremely excited about our newest venture, the TwinsCentric 2009-10 Offseason GM Handbook. Not only does this book cover a lengthier period of time where the Twins are much more likely to be highly active participants, but the product itself is built around a unique and fun concept that I think people will really enjoy.

The basic premise of the GM Handbook is that rather than simply providing an outlook for the next several months while predicting what Bill Smith and the Twins will probably do or what we ourselves would do, it actually puts you as the reader in the position of general manager. You are provided with a schedule of key offseason dates, a comprehensive breakdown of the team's payroll outlook, an incredibly thorough organizational depth chart, a listing of arbitration-eligible players, a collection of potential trade candidates, an overview of the entire free agent market position-by-position, and a whole lot more. With all this information at hand, you can either draw your own conclusions about the direction that the front office will take or you can create a personalized offseason blueprint. How would you fix the problems facing this team as they move forward into a new stadium while remaining within a reasonable budget? This book gives you all the information you'll need to come up with your answers, rounded out by plenty of opinion and analysis from us dopes.

Smith and the Twins have a tough task ahead of them over the next few months. If you're not content to sit back and see what they do, perhaps you'd like to formulate your own ideas. The GM Handbook provides an excellent resource for this endeavor, and of course picking up a copy will provide some much-appreciated support for your local Twins bloggers. If you'd like a sneak peek, you can download a free 61-page preview (a little over one-third of the book) at the TwinsCentric website.

Thanks to everyone for your support this year, and I look forward to continuing the discussions and debate throughout the offseason.

Presenting the 2009 Trade Deadline Primer!

I haven't been speculating much about possible deadline acquisitions on this blog. That's because I've been focusing all my attention in that regard on this project, which is available for sale as of today. A group of local bloggers that includes John Bonnes, Seth Stohs and Parker Hageman brainstormed the idea to put together a comprehensive guide to the deadline geared strictly toward Twins fans, and asked me to become a chief contributor. It struck me as a great idea, so I hopped right aboard.

This is very much an experimental effort, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. There's a ton of information packed into this eBook, and the varying writing styles of the different contributors gives the overall product a distinct attitude and flare. The Primer will allow you not only to familiarize yourself with any possible courses of action the Twins might take within the next couple weeks, but also the rest of the 29 major-league teams, which are all covered extensively.

By throwing down $9.95 for the TwinsCentric Trade Deadline Primer, not only are you acquiring a top quality guide to one of the baseball season's most exciting periods, but you're also supporting local bloggers who keep working hard to churn out free analysis despite demanding schedules.

If you are a hound for trade rumors and rumblings and love following the action as the deadline heats up, I strongly recommend picking up a copy of this eBook. You won't be disappointed. Seth, John and Parker are great writers and their strong efforts have helped turn this into a product that I'm proud to be attached to.

Even if you choose not to buy a copy, I just wanted to send a big thank you to everyone who stops by and chimes in on the blog. You guys are the best.

With that, I'll end my shameless plug. Enjoy the All-Star break and we'll get back to business later this week.

Opening Day Site Update

After a long offseason of waiting, baseball is here again. With it comes a wonderful mix of excitement and uncertainty. Not to mention some fairly significant changes to this old blog.

Those who have visited this site regularly are undoubtedly aware that, in spite of the "Nick & Nick" title that has existed since its inception, I have been essentially the sole contributor for about a year and a half now. Nick Mosvick, who originally alternated daily posts with me, is in Virginia working hard on earning a law degree, and his obligations there make it impossible for him to be heavily involved with this site. His hard work in the past remains an important foundation of this blog and I hope he'll still stop by on occasion to chime in with his thoughts, but the reality is that for now and for the foreseeable future, I'll be running this thing.

To reflect this, and to eliminate the confusion that the original title seems to create amongst newer readers, I've changed the blog's name to "Nick's Twins Blog." Creative, I know. I've also changed the Web address so the site can now be accessed through the URL: http://www.nickstwinsblog.com/. The old URL will still lead you here, so there's no need to change bookmarks, but the new one is simpler. To be honest, I've been meaning to get a domain name for this site for some time and to do away with the old http://twinsfanatnicks.blogspot.com/ address, which I originally thought was quite clever but have now come to find juvenile and extremely hard to explain in regular conversation.

Changing the title, URL and logo (special thanks to Tom Ecker for the new design!) of the blog certainly qualifies as the most drastic change this place has seen in its four-plus years of existence, but it won't really affect the site's day-to-day operations in any meaningful way. It'll still be me posting my inane thoughts about this club and generally getting ripped for overrating Brian Buscher. With that said, I will admit that the frequency of posting may drop a little bit this season. It currently looks like I'll have summer writing obligations with Rotoworld.com, Heater Magazine, BaseballDigest.com, probably GameDay Magazine and possibly Inside Edge. Balancing all that with this blog, a "real world" full-time job and leisure activities will undoubtedly prove to be a challenge. It's likely that there will be weeks where I'm only able to post three times or so, and if that happens please try to bear with me. By no means do I want to neglect my writing duties here, but sometimes it gets to the end of the night and I just don't have the energy to write up a worthwhile post. Especially when the Twins lose 1-0 and strand 12 runners on base. If posting gets to be too sporadic for comfort, I might look into some new possibilities, such as bringing in guest writers or ditching the current formula of posting at midnight every weekday and instead posting at random times of day whenever I get an opportunity, without any set schedule.

Anyway, I suspect most of you don't care much about an ultimately trivial name change to the blog or my personal workload, which is why I generally try to do these "site update" things only once a year. So if you've read this far, I'd just like to say thanks for visiting, and thanks especially to those of you who visit regularly and share your thoughts in the comment section or my email box. Interacting with readers is definitely my favorite part of this whole deal and I've learned an immense amount about the game of baseball through conversations with some of the awesome fans this team has. I'm really looking forward to what should be a fantastic season of baseball. Let's wish the boys luck tonight, and for the next 161+ games.

Ideas? Suggestions?

I must apologize for the rather inconsistent update schedule on this blog over the course of the past couple months. I assure you it hasn’t been for a lack of effort. I’m not exactly breaking any ground when I say this has been an awfully quiet offseason for the Twins, and as such it’s been quite a struggle for me to come up with topics to write about and keep the page fresh.

With that being said, I wanted to open the doors to any suggestions. If there’s something you’d like to see covered in this space in the near future, please feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email at nels2807@umn.edu. All ideas shall be taken into consideration.

Offseason

I must apologize for the sparse content here last week -- only one post, eek! It was a busy week, as I celebrated my 23rd birthday on Wednesday and then engaged in some Halloween festivities over the weekend. But now, with the World Series in the books (congrats Philly) and the season officially over, that long grind that is the offseason is finally upon us.

I don't foresee time constraints being a big problem for me this winter, so I should be able to post relatively often as long as I can continue to find material to write about. I'm going to try to avoid writing up a long analysis of every frivolous trade rumor, but certainly I'll look to break down the speculated moves that seem to have the most meat. I'll also probably do a bit more stuff on the 2008 season that was and touch on contract extensions, coaching changes, minor-league movement, etc.

This was a good year for the blog. There was a strong readership and a lot of good interaction in the comments section and via e-mail. Thanks to everyone who's stopped by and joined the conversation. I hope you'll continue to swing by throughout the winter and forward into the 2009 campaign.

Contest Winners and Such

First, let me wholeheartedly thank everybody who sent in a submission for the logo contest I announced last week. I was pleasantly surprised by how many clever, colorful and creative graphics I received, and it was actually extremely difficult to choose one. In the end, I chose the graphic you see above, which was submitted by Brad Miller. It is designed to emulate a Louisville Slugger bat, and I think he did a really great job with it. Great work Brad! I got some other really great submissions, so I'm thinking that when I get around to revamping the site again down the line, I might use one of those (with the author's permission, of course).

Here are the others who won a copy of MLB 08: The Show:
Tom Ecker, Andy Meissner, Adam Palmerton, Alex Halsted

I've put in some time with a PlayStation 2 copy of the game, and I've got to say I've enjoyed it. I don't have time to play video games much anymore, and in fact this is the first baseball game I've put in significant time with since the 2006 version of The Show, but it has a realistic engine and I think most baseball fans will enjoy playing it.

Anyway, in addition to the new logo, I've added a a few things to the sidebar. Near the top you'll see a mini-logo for the blog, designed by Mr. Meissner, and down a little ways you'll see a new "Go-Go vs. Jo-Jo" tracker. This is a little feature I've added just for fun to track the progress of Johan Santana and Carlos Gomez with their new teams. Obviously, it will be a while before we can really assess how well either the Twins or Mets came out on that deal, but for the time being I think it will be kind of fun to compare how the centerpiece on either side of the blockbuster trade is faring with his new club.

Hopefully all the new visuals don't overstimulate anyone who has grown accustomed to the drab, boring, lifeless aesthetic quality that this blog has sported throughout the first three years of its existence. If any of the new additions cause problems for anyone's browser, please shoot me an e-mail and let me know.

With all that out of the way, I'll make a few comments about yesterday's game, with an emphasis on "few." The game wasn't televised, so I was only able to follow part of it online, but from the looks of it, it was another frustrating loss filled with missed opportunities. Kevin Slowey had to leave the game in the fourth inning with right biceps strain, and it's not clear at this point how serious the injury is. If he has to miss significant time, it is possible that Francisco Liriano will be called up to replace him in the rotation; however, it's worth noting that Liriano surrendered four earned runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings in a tune-up start with Ft. Myers last night.

The Twins did get their first home run of the season yesterday, rendering my friend's prediction false. The homer came off the bat of Jason Kubel, who I imagine will again be benched tonight when the Twins face Royals lefty John Bale. I think I'm starting to feel a fever...

Opening Day Reflections

I was a freshman in college when Mr. Mosvick and I launched this little Twins blog experiment. Three years later, I find myself about six weeks away from graduating, and I'm pretty amazed the blog has lasted this long. Despite the obligations of everyday life, I manage to make time for this little hobby of mine just about every night, and the interaction with other fans and writers has rendered the entire experience worthwhile. It's been a little bit more difficult to keep up with things over the past six months or so since Mosvick left to go to law school and effectively ceased being a contributor, but I think I've done a decent job of maintaining the update schedule and covering all the big stories.

I feel like this blog has grown with me over the past three years. My writing skills have steadily increased during my time in the School of Journalism here at the U, and I like to think that's reflected in my work here on the blog. I don't purport to be a great writer by any means, but when I go back and look at some of the content from this blog's early days... yeesh. I also think that interacting with all the great baseball minds who comment on this site and send me e-mails has vastly increased my knowledge and appreciation of the game in a lot of ways. My philosophy when it comes to baseball is one that mixes the new-age Sabermetric style with a respect for the traditional values of the game, so I can respect arguments made by both sides as long as they're based in logic.

From a personal standpoint, I don't really know where I'm headed once I finish up with school in mid-May. During the summer, I'm hoping to continue working my two current part-time jobs, and it appears I'll also be doing some work with Rotoworld (thanks to AG for the hook-up on that one). It is also likely that I will be once again be heavily involved with GameDay Magazine, the independently owned and operated program sold outside of the Metrodome before home games. If you aren't picking this mag up nearly every time you attend a Twins game, you really should. I say this not just because of my involvement with the publication and my friendship with the Editor in Chief, John Bonnes; it is a really great program which I bought regularly even before I ever wrote a word for them. If you are a reader of Twins blogs like this one, there is little question that GameDay will have a great deal to offer to you.

Incidentally, I served as guest editor for the April issue, so I'll encourage everyone even more strongly to pick up a copy (or two, or three!) if you make it out to tonight's season opener or any game this month. The issue features articles by renowned bloggers such as Twins Geek, Jesse Lund from Twinkie Town, Seth Stohs and myself (not that I'm "renowned" by anyone other than my mom).

Anyway, I'll keep doing the part-time stuff this summer and should continue to fire out daily updates on this blog. In the fall it will probably be time to start thinking about getting on with my life and joining the full-time work force. I want to tell myself that that's a long ways away yet, but then I think about how quickly these past three years have gone by and I'm reminded that the summer will be gone much more quickly than I'd like to believe.

But, I'll deal with that hurdle when it comes. In any case, I just want to thank everyone who has stopped by this blog regularly and chimed in with your thoughts. I find that even those who generally tend to disagree with me (tt, I'm looking in your direction) almost always bring well-reasoned arguments and help create quality discourse.

After a long winter, Opening Day is finally here. Enjoy tonight's game. As always, you can stop by tomorrow morning to read all my inane thoughts on it.

***

And now, a Nick Mosvick update from Virginia:

As many of you know, in late August last year I departed for the University of Virginia School of Law. Many people left nice comments and plenty of suggestions upon my posting of a goodbye message. Not all of it came true of course. However, poster J. Lichty's comments were certainly insightful, as using five different colored highlighters became not a strategy in order to frighten others or be "gunnerish," but rather was a genuine by-product of my overt indolence. Of course, the University of Virginia School of Law is, in so many ways, completely different from any other law school. A lot of the other comments dealt with having fun and balancing time, but the fact is that going to law school here in many ways does that for you unless you absolutely have a unquenchable desire to make work for yourself.

That, in the end, is the real reason why I have had so little time to even consider posting on this blog. From organizations to get together to a collegiate atmosphere in general, it has felt since the day I arrived here that I almost always had something to do if I wanted. Obviously, it will sound to most that read this that I am big promoter of the school and they would be right. I love the decision that I made and the people that I have meet have been by in large fantastic. With that said, I still miss blogging as much as I was able to in undergrad and in no real tangible way have I actually lost my appetite for all things baseball.

With that said, when the horrible time that is finals comes to an end in early May and I settle into my summer job here in Virginia, I should have time to watch games on MLB TV and return to more regular blogging. Otherwise, I'll be cheering vicariously through all of my friends in Minnesota and will have to allow box scores and the minimal highlights on ESPN suffice for the time. Now lets go Twins!

Surprises

In our comments section last week, a reader notified me that this blog was rated as the 17th-best baseball blog in the country for the 2007 season by the readers of a site called LA Snark. Suffice to say that this was a major surprise to me and also a huge honor. I'll confess that I don't know much about the LA Snark blog and I'm a little wary of this list's legitimacy considering that some wonderful and popular Twins blogs like Seth Speaks, Twins Geek and SBG appear nowhere among the Top 101, but nonetheless it is extremely flattering that enough people voted for this blog to put it among the Top 20, and to rank it as the second-best Twins blog on the Web behind the immortal Aaron Gleeman (who came in at No. 3 overall). So, thanks everyone.

Anyway, last week's surprises didn't stop there. Bill Smith made his first official moves as the Twins' general manager, dropping Luis Rodriguez, Lew Ford, Josh Rabe and Tommy Watkins from the team's 40-man roster. Moves like this can accurately be described as "trimming the fat."

With the possible exception of Watkins, each of the players are expected to find a home with another organization during the offseason. Rodriguez has already been picked up by the Padres. These are hardly moves that will hurt the Twins, as none of these players have been valuable assets to the team.

Back in 2004, it appeared that Ford would be a part of the organization's long-term plans after he hit .299/.381/.446 over 154 games while patrolling the Twins' outfield. Unfortunately, he never approached those numbers again. Since his major-league debut in 2003, here is Ford's year-by-year OPS trend: .977, .827, .715, .599, .677. At this point his career, he is just a no-hit fourth outfielder. Because of his defense and speed, Ford still has some value, but he's not worth the $1 million-plus he's likely to receive through arbitration next season. It appears that Smith realized this, and made the necessary move.

Rabe and Watkins are both minor-league journeymen who don't really belong in the majors. Many people seem to have grown an affinity for Watkins because he's apparently a nice guy and he had some success in his brief stint as a major-leaguer this season, but it's important to note that he has hit just .249/.331/.337 over 10 minor-league seasons. I'm fine with him returning to the organization on a minor-league contract, but I found it awfully ridiculous that some people were toying with the notion that he could compete for a starting job in the Twins' infield next year.

Moving these relatively useless parts out of the picture represents a step in the right direction for Smith, but by themselves these moves don't do a whole lot of good. They key now, as Gleeman notes, will be finding superior players to replace them. That shouldn't be an overly difficult task, and if Smith can accomplish it, he could go a long way toward improving the offensive depth on this club.

End of Season Thoughts

First, let me apologize for the lack of new posts this weekend.

Second, let me thank everyone who contributed to the comments section for Friday's post. I wrote up that offseason wish list with the hopes that it would generate some good conversation, and it did just that. There were some great comments, and I'll address a few of the points that were brought up below. But first, I'll reflect on the season that ended yesterday with a 3-2 victory in Boston.

The Twins' 2007 season opened on April 2, with Johan Santana facing off against Orioles' ace Erik Bedard at the Metrodome. One hundred and sixty-two games later, the Twins are 79-83 and the '07 season is in the books.

The Twins finished third in the AL Central, which is exactly where I predicted they'd finish back in March, so I suppose I shouldn't be too disappointed. Yet, I am disappointed. During the season, I saw flashes of brilliance from this team, and I saw a roster with enough talent to compete for a playoff spot. Instead, that team finished 17 games out of first place, because for whatever reason they could never seem to consistently get big hits, they fell apart in key series, and the front office stood pat without making a single move to bolster the fledgling offense.

It was a season filled with disappointing individual performances, and highlighted by the resignation of longtime general manager Terry Ryan. This offseason is going to be a hugely important one, and I really have no idea what to expect from new GM Bill Smith. I truly hope he's able to make some moves that will get the team back on a competitive track in 2008 while simultaneously setting the organization up for future success. It won't be easy, but I think the moves I suggested in my post on Friday are the type that could put the team in that type of situation.

There were a few gripes that seemed to be common themes in the comments section on my Friday post. The most prominent seems to be that the Twins should get more for Santana than the suggested bounty of Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw. Believe me, I'd love to see the Twins get as much as they possibly can when trading the best pitcher in baseball, and I wouldn't be surprised to see another top-notch prospect added to that package depending on how many other teams are bidding for Santana's services. I do, however, think it would be wise for people to temper their expectations about what the Twins could get back for Santana. Receiving a young outfielder who can hit like Kemp and play center field along with a 19-year-old left-handed pitcher with arguably the most upside of any hurler in the minors in return for any one player -- not matter how great -- is impressive. If the Twins are able to get a package better than Kemp/Kershaw for Santana, great; but I'd be satisfied with that deal.

Several people thought that signing Bonds was unrealistic, while some just don't want him here. I can understand both sentiments, and I agree that it's a long-shot. I would really love to see the effect that Bonds would have on this lineup though.

Anyway, while I was disappointed by the way the Twin' 2007 season ended up, it was a really fun season for me. I truly enjoyed writing on this blog, and there was more interaction in the comments section than any previous year. I was able to meet several fellow bloggers and readers over the course of the year, which was a great experience. Here in the final couple months, once Mr. Mosvick departed to go law school, I had the responsibility of posting every day, and let me just saw that I have a new level of respect for guys like Aaron Gleeman and Seth Stohs, who find time to update their blogs individually almost daily and with no assistance.

With the season coming to an end, so too will the everyday posting routine here on this blog. This should be fairly obvious, since there just isn't a whole lot to write about during the offseason. I hope everyone will still visit back frequently, however, because I do plan to update at least a few times a week this winter. Whenever the team makes a move, I'll have analysis, and I hope people will stop by to give their own thoughts. Over the next few days, I'll do some season review stuff, and then I'll just play it by ear from that point forward.

Thanks everyone for reading and commenting. I hope you'll continue to stop by during the offseason. It will be a crucial one for Smith and the Twins organization.

Leave of Absence

Normally, we try not to write too many personal blurbs on this site keep things, generally keeping things limited to baseball. Occasionally, however, events come up that manage to get in the way. Such an event has arisen for me. I will be gone for at least a short time before returning to my duties, and when I return I will likely be less active. What is the reason for this absence? You could call it my big news of the year.

Today, I will be moving to Charlottesville to begin law school at the University of Virginia. Being a top school, I am both nervous and excited about the amount of work I will be facing over the next three years. Because of that, for obvious reasons I will not be able to contribute to this blog as much. However, I won't be leaving permanently, as over the two and a half years we've had this website, I've grown quite found of blogging and interacting with the readers on not only this site, but the other sites I tend to read daily, such as Gleeman, SBG, and Seth.

This news probably will surprise everyone who reads this site. I wanted to wait because I didn't feel like this blog was a place to air personal news or to gloat, so I figured I'd wait until it actually mattered. The good news is that Nick Nelson is more of the brainchild behind this blog and he's actually a journalism student, whereas I was a History and Political Science major who always had ambitions of going to graduate school and becoming a professional student.

The better news is that I see others in the Twins blogosphere, like Ubelmann, who manage to be graduate students in far more difficult areas of study (such as Physics, which is an endlessly interesting subject that I would have studied if I had just a tad more interest in math), and still are able to make major contributions as well as guys like SBG and Seth who manage to balance work, blogging, and the full-time job of parenting.

With that, I hope to be back soon and I plan to write more general analysis, as I'll have trouble catching Twins games for the rest of the year (I probably won't bother getting MLB.TV until next year). I'm sure there will be many Braves games to watch, as I'm living with an Braves fans.

Anyway, this blog should continue to run as normal, just with more of one Nick and less of the other. Thank you all of supporting the site, and hopefully you'll hear from me again soon.

-Nick Mosvick

Site Update

Nick & Nick's Twins Blog is entering its third season covering the Minnesota Twins, and I'm pleased with the way it's taken shape. Writing about the Twins regularly has provided an entertaining hobby since we started back in March 2005, and I really feel like my work on this site has improved my understanding of the craft of writing as well as the game of baseball. I'm sure Mr. Mosvick feels the same way.

Contributing on this blog has provided me with many interesting opportunities, from appearing on Jeff Straub's Podcast to participating in one of Seth Stohs' many delightful Q&A sessions. Interacting with the well-informed writers and readers in the blogging community has really been an awesome experience.

Our readership has grown consistently since the site spawned, a trend I'm hoping will continue with the 2007 season. I always like seeing a new name pop up in the comments section, and I'm always happy to receive an e-mail from an inquiring reader. From my interactions with people who stop by the site, I know that we have a reader base that varies greatly in age and geographic location, which really creates an interesting dynamic.

Regular readers may have noticed some subtle changes to the site over the past month or so. We've added a labeling system to our blog that enables readers to filter posts by a particular subject. So now, if you want to read articles specifically relating to Joe Mauer or spring training or trade speculation, you're able to do that. Posts can now also be filtered by author, so if you happen to prefer one writer's style over the other or for some reason want to go back and look through a particular author's work, you can look through the previous work of Mr. Mosvick or myself individually. Links to each of our respective article histories are now featured on the sidebar.

Overall, I'm happy with the way the site looks. I hope it is relatively functional and easy on the eyes. The No. 34 graphic on the sidebar was initially planned as a temporary memorial to Kirby when we put it up last year, but I like the way it looks so I think we'll keep it there. I don't mind being reminded of Puck every time I click into the page. I really like the stellar collection of links on the sidebar, and I hope the ads are not overly intrusive.

The real point of this post was to open the door for some reader input. If there is anything that people would like changed about the look or format of the site that would make it more functional or enjoyable, please let me know via comment or e-mail. In addition, we are open to suggestions as to what direction to take the content for the rest of the spring and into the season. If there are topics you would like to see us write more or less often about, feel free to let us know.

As it stands, we do have some hopefully good stuff planned for the five weeks leading up to the start of the 2007 season. Aside from following all the developments of spring training, we'll be posting our annual "Position Analysis" series and we'll be making some (probably highly inaccurate) predictions for the 2007 season. Once the season starts, we'll get back to posting on weekends, for those of you who like to stop by somewhere other than work.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who has read and commented. It's been a lot of fun and hopefully this can be another good year.

On a completely unrelated aside, congratulations to Martin Scorsese on his big wins at the Academy Awards last night. Scorsese finally won Best Director, which has been a long time coming, and the film he directed, The Departed, won Best Picture over four other solid nominees. I'm no movie expert, but I thought Departed was definitely the best movie I've seen over the past year.