It’s Sunday morning and that usually means a “Sunday Morning Comic Relief” post from CapitalBabs, but Babs is otherwise occupied this weekend.
It seems we have a new member of the Knuckleballs family. I got an email from Babs on Friday announcing that she had given birth to a seven pound, 15 ounce, baby girl!
Margaret Ann Smith
3/14/14, 6:46 am
7 lbs 15 oz
19.5 inches long
Babs and her hubby may feel otherwise, but I think it’s obvious that, given she shares a birthday with a certain Twins Hall of Fame outfielder, little Margaret Ann should hereafter be referred to here at Knuckleballs as “Kirbee”.
Please join us here in congratulating Babs and Andrew.
In Twins news, another round of roster moves were made this morning. Eight more players were moved across the parking lot to the minor league clubhouse, leaving 40 guys still in big league camp.
Pitchers Kris Johnson and Sean Gilmartin were never really expected to stick on the Twins staff, though either or both could see time with the Twins during the season. The same would be true of outfielder Jermaine Mitchell and infilelders James Beresford and Brandon Waring. It wasn’t a shock to see that fivesome moved to the minor league camp.
The three other demotions were perhaps a bit more surprising to some.
Shortstop Danny Santana has been hitting well (though fielding not nearly so well) and, with Pedro Florimon still working his way back from an appendectomy, Santana has been getting a long look. But Florimon is ready to return and he’s going to need all the innings he can get to be ready by Opening Day. Santana was never going to make the Twins roster out of camp and he really needs to get innings in the field every day.
Darin Mastroianni has been competing for the centerfield job, but also got his walking papers. That would appear to mean Aaron Hicks will be the starting outfielder for the Twins, with Alex Presley as the club’s fourth outfielder. The Twins will want Hicks playing every day, so if he was not going to be starting for them, he’d probably have been the guy walking across the parking lot.
The Twins also pared down the competition at catcher, sending down Eric Fryer. That leaves Josmil Pinto and Chris Herrmann continuing to fight for a spot, along with Kurt Suzuki, among the Twins’ backstop corps. There had been speculation that Fryer would be kept as Suzuki’s backup, while Pinto refined his trade in Rochester.
Today’s game against the Marlins is on TV, I believe, so perhaps we’ll open up a GameChat window, if anyone feels like stopping by. Ricky Nolasco is starting for the Twins and old friend Kevin Slowey will be on the mound for Miami. The posted Twins lineup looks a lot like what we might expect to see on Opening Day.
JC