Hmm...

A few notes on a couple of things that kind of made me scratch my head.

The Twins signed all eight of their arbitration eligible players
This is good. I've heard that neither the teams nor the players want to go into the arbitration room. The team tells the player how awful he is so that they don't have to pay him as much money as he wants, and then when it's all done, they have to convince him how much the love him. Can't be good for anyone.

So it's great that everyone (JJ Hardy, Carl Pavano, Delmon Young, Pat Neshek, Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, Francisco Liriano all for one-year contracts and Brendan Harris for a two-year contract) signed so quickly -- all done on the very day when figures were exchanged. But it's curious that it was indeed that fast. The Twins and one other team (I forget which, Dodgers maybe?) were the only ones that had that many arbitration eligibles. So it would have been understandable if a few of them had taken a day or two.

Now, I haven't really followed Twins contract activities in the past, so I'm not sure about what to think of this. But I seem to remember when Cuddyer was arbitration-eligible, he and the Twins came to a "hand on the doorknob to the mediator's room" agreement.

So it seems odd to me that they'd knock off all eight in one swell foop. What does it mean? Are they opening the wallet freely? Are they just trying to get it over with and just saying "whatever" to whatever the players wanted? Were all the players extraordinarily reasonable with their demands? Huh?

The Twins are seriously interested in signing Jim Thome
Um, ok. The White Sox announced earlier this evening that they're not interested in him, so speculation is that he's deciding between the Twins and the Rays.

Now Thome's great. He's the kind of player you hate, only because he always beats you. I always like him a lot better when he's in the National League.

He's been described as the nicest guy in baseball. And that came from Mike Redmond -- after Thome cracked his skull when he forgot to hold on to his bat.

But, despite all that, the curious part is: why? We already have a left-handed, and much younger, DH in Jason Kubel. And it's not like we could put Thome out in the field to rest some guys.
I know the bench is a bit thin, but I seriously think they have other needs to address first. I don't know; bringing him in is like bringing beer to a wine tasting -- really good beer, but it still doesn't quite fit.


Ok, this is a no-brainer
The estimable Seth Stohs is planning a super-duper, action-packed, star-studded, pre-TwinsFest extravaganza podcast tomorrow (Tuesday) evening. Ok, I exaggerate, but it's still going to be great.

Follow this link to listen live: www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SethSpeaks

Here's his tentative schedule (Central Time):

8:00-8:05 – Introduction

8:05-8:20 – John Sickels

8:20-8:35 – Pat Neshek

8:35-8:50 – Joe Benson

8:50-9:05 – Carlos Gutierrez

9:05-9:10 – Catch Up

9:10-9:25 – Kyle Gibson

9:25-9:35 – Open

9:35-9:45 – Denard Span

9:45-9:55 – Jeff Manship

9:55-10:00 – Wrap-Up

Be sure to tune in; it sounds like an awesome show.