First off I must say this: the new Vikings Stadium is much more than a football stadium. On May 15, HKS Architects unveiled what the newest facility in Minnesota will look like. In short, they showed the facility as a baseball, hockey, concert and even basketball venue. In my opinion, it is nothing sort of spectacular. After looking at all the renderings and the video, here are just a few things that I like and some accessibility thoughts.

The stadium will have a clear, fixed roof on one side, which will provide lots of light, and a deck on the other. One of the most brilliant features will be on the Downtown end where five 90-foot tall glass doors will open to the plaza to give fans a view of Downtown and provide access to the huge plaza. This facility will have 65,000 seats (could be transformed to 73,000) with seven decks. Three decks will have suites and it looks like there are even suites on field level! As for video displays, there will be two huge scoreboards at each end and ribbon boards throughout the complex.

There are a couple of things that I must point out about accessibility features. I strongly recommend putting ADA seating right behind the end zone where the facility meets the plaza. This area would be one of the best places to put handicap seating in the entire stadium because it will be close to the event and it just makes perfect sense. Also, there seems to be a divider on the first level. ADA seats should be placed there, along with handicap seats on each level. Finally, for now, I hope the Vikings choose to use folding chairs for companion seats. There have been no accessibility details yet, but I am researching and will report back on this blog with updates.

There are numerous things the Vikings and HKS can do with this stadium and I hope they make the right decisions. In the picture below, where would you put ADA seating?

This was one of the renderings that the Vikings made public on May 13. Where would you put handicapped seating?

Written by: Michael L. Sack

Do you know about Oswaldo Arcia?  If not, you will soon!  Arcia, who just turned 22, is primarily an outfielder and is one of the Twins’ top prospects.  Since he was called up to the major leagues last month, Arcia has been red-hot at the plate.  He has 22 hits in 69 at bats and is 3rd on the team with a .319 batting average.  He also is 3rd on the team with 3 home runs this season and is tied for 5th on the team with 12 RBI without playing the first couple weeks of the season!

However, Arcia needs to work on his fielding.  He dropped a fly ball at the wall yesterday which led to the Orioles’ comeback and he has missed a few other catchable fly balls.  Still, because of his red-hot batting so far and his young age, Arcia can become a great player.  I hope I don’t jinx him by writing this, and after last night when he missed the fly ball I wondered if he knew I was going to write about him!

Written by: Sam Graves

Rain or shine, Target Field is the place to be!! When I was at the Twins game last night (when it was a frigid 35 degrees!) an usher came up to near where I was sitting and asked me if I wanted a blanket since the Twins were offering them. Blankets and baseball do not go together at all! Baseball is a game that is associated with warm weather and bright sunshine, not blankets!! This is Minnesota, though, so I guess we’ve got to be ready for any kind of weather!

Written by: Sam Graves

Hello all, I’m back (for now!). Today, I am going to talk about a Twins player who gets very few mentions on the news and other blogs. Back in February, around 60 Twins players came into Spring Training hoping to rejuvenate a team that has lost more than 95 games each of the last two seasons. Of course the Twins have to cut several players to hit the required 25-man roster mark. But in my opinion they cut one player WAY too early and I want him to be on the Twins Major League roster.

His name is Michael Thomas, better known as Clete Thomas. Thomas, born in 1983, grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, dreaming of becoming a pro baseball player. Thomas and his Mosley High School baseball team won the 2002 Florida state championship. After high school, Thomas chose to attend Auburn University where he continued his baseball career. He played right field for Auburn for three years, losing to Florida State in the 2005 NCAA Regional Tournament. In 2005, Thomas was drafted in the sixth round of the Amateur Draft by the Detroit Tigers as an outfielder.

During his three years in Detroit, Thomas registered 8 home runs while driving in 48. Thomas missed the cut to play for the Tigers for two consecutive seasons in 2010-2011, where he played for the Tigers Triple-A Affiliate. One of his career highlights took place in 2009 against the Los Angeles Angels, when Thomas belted his first career grand slam to help the Tigers break a tie.

But in April 2012, the Tigers placed Thomas on waivers where the Twins signed him a few days later. In his first game as a Twin on April 14, Thomas belted a two-run homer against Texas. Unfortunately, Thomas’ stay in the Twin Cities was short when the Twins put him back on waivers three weeks later. No team picked him up so Thomas played the rest of the 2012 season in Rochester. The Twins invited Thomas to Spring Training this year, but four weeks into Spring Training he was sent down once again. In 15 games this spring, Thomas batted .292 with 7 hits and no home runs.

Ultimately, Thomas won’t be a player who woos the crowd, but he should be given the opportunity to play alongside Mauer, Morneau, and Willingham. Remember, Thomas is not the Japanese star who failed in the Major Leagues; he has some experience and just wants to play in the big leagues. Plus with the departures of Denard Span and Ben Revere, the Twins need a proven player to backup rookie center fielder Aaron Hicks and second-year right fielder Darin Mastroianni. So let’s all say it: come on Twins, give Clete a chance!

Written By: Michael L. Sack

Believe it or not, the Twins could bring back 42-year-old Jim Thome! Thome, who played for the Twins for almost two full seasons (2010-August 2011), is a free agent and it is said that both he and the Twins are interested in having him return to play in Minnesota.

Even though some may say that Thome is too old to still be playing baseball, I would be really excited to see Thome back in a Twins uniform. Fans love him, which would greatly increase ticket sales (and the Twins need that!). I still believe that Thome, who is 7th all time with 612 home runs, is still a good hitter and could be a big help to the offense. I think the Twins likely would split his playing time between having him come off the bench and having him be the designated hitter. As long as the Twins don’t put him in the field (which would be quite an adventure!) I am all for Thome: Round 2!!

Here’s my prediction: The Twins sign Thome for 1 year right before Opening Day. What’s yours???

Written by: Sam Graves

About two weeks ago, Twins pitchers and catchers reported to spring training in Fort Myers, Florida. Today the Twins play their first spring training game against the Baltimore Orioles. Here is some of what the team should look for this spring and what they need to figure out before the start of the season:

• How the pitching rotation will look: Scott Diamond, who might be the “ace” of the rotation, recently had minor elbow surgery and may miss Opening Day but I expect he will be the #1 starter when he comes back. Other probable starters include Vance Worley, Kevin Correia, Mike Pelfrey (who are all new to the Twins) and Liam Hendricks. Kyle Gibson and Rich Harden also may make the rotation later on in the season, but I think they will start in the minors. The rotation may look like this when Diamond gets healthy: 1. Diamond, 2. Worley, 3. Correia, 4. Pelfrey, 5. Hendricks, but there are so many new pitchers I had to look online just to see who’s on the team! Worley may be the Opening Day starter if Diamond isn’t ready.

• Who will be the starting center fielder: Outfielders Denard Span (who shouldn’t have been traded) and Ben Revere were traded this off-season, so the Twins will have to decide who will play center field on Opening Day. I expect Darin Mastroianni to be the guy but Joe Benson and Aaron Hicks are candidates as well.

• What the bullpen will look like: Glen Perkins will likely be the closer and Jared Burton the setup man. The Twins also have Trevor May, Alex Burnett, Casey Fien, Anthony Swarzak and Tyler Robertson (and probably some more).

Basically, I don’t know much about the 2013 Twins. The team still has fan favorites Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau but they also have a lot of new guys which I guess is good after two straight years of 90+ losses! This should be a VERY interesting season!

Written by: Sam Graves 

Each winter, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) selects a few former players to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. This year was particularly controversial because a majority of the candidates played during the “steroid era” (roughly between the early 90s and the late 2000s). Maybe because of this no one was selected by the BBWAA to be inducted this year. This was just the eighth time in history the BBWAA didn’t select any player.

Some players who were linked to steroid usage did not get voted in, like career home run leader Barry Bonds and former star pitcher Roger Clemens. This is a good thing because no one deserves to be in the Hall of Fame or to receive other special honors after using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs, which is cheating in sports. These players are eligible to be inducted for several more years but hopefully they never will be voted in. Other players who played in the same time period, such as Craig Biggio and Mike Piazza,  were not voted in even if they are not linked to steroid or other performance-enhancing drug usage. This is sad since all players from the steroid era should not be grouped into one category and looked down upon. MLB and the BBWAA need to not stereotype these players and assume something about them based on what time period they played in. Also former Twins pitcher Jack Morris, who retired right before the heart of the steroid era and was never linked to usage, was not voted in in his second-to-last year of eligibility.

However, the Pre-Integration Committee (click here) selected former New York  Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, former umpire Hank O-Day and late-1800s catcher Deacon White to be honored (all of whom I have never heard of and who are no longer living), so there will still be an induction ceremony this summer. Still, not many players will be inducted, which is sad but in some cases the right thing to do.

What is your opinion on this issue? Should players who have been linked to performance-enhancing drug usage be inducted into the Hall of Fame?

Written by: Sam Graves

At the start of this off-season, the Twins began a frantic journey to find solid starting pitching. The starting pitching looked bleak last year, resulting in a 96-loss season. The Twins had to take desperate measures to make the team better. So far, they have fired 6 of 8 coaches and signed a whole slew of starting pitchers, while trading away their two starting center fielders.

On December 21, the Twins signed another starting pitcher with great potential: free agent pitcher Rich Harden to a Minor League deal. Harden’s contract details haven’t been released, but General Manager Terry Ryan indicated that he received a Spring Training invitation. For most of his career, which started in 2003, Harden pitched for the Oakland Athletics. During seven years at Oakland, Harden went 40-23 with a 3.65 ERA and recorded 614 strikeouts. Harden has also pitched for Texas and the Chicago Cubs, where he racked up 19 wins and 335 strikeouts in three seasons. Harden missed all of 2012 because of shoulder surgery but he believes he’ll be ready in February. I am really hoping that the Twins will try Harden out in the fifth spot of the starting rotation right away.

The Twins will have a new-look starting rotation in 2013 because so many pitchers have gone elsewhere or want to join a new team. Scott Baker signed a deal with the Chicago Cubs in November, Francisco Liriano (although not with the Twins at the end of last season) just signed a two-year deal with Pittsburgh, and Carl Pavano is still a free agent. Plus, the Twins look like they are losing confidence in Nick Blackburn.

Here is my Twins starting rotation if the season started today: 1. Scott Diamond (12-9 with a 3.54 ERA last year); 2. Kevin Correia (12-11 with a 4.21 ERA last year for Pittsburgh); 3. Vance Worley (6-9 with a 4.20 ERA last year for Philadelphia); 4. Mike Pelfrey (pitched 3 games last year with the New York Mets; coming off Tommy John Surgery); 5. Rich Harden (didn’t pitch in 2012 because of right shoulder surgery; could move up in rotation if he performs well).

And there’s a report that the Twins are talking to free agent pitcher Freddy Garcia, who pitched for the Yankees in 2012. Will he be the newest Twin? I feel the Twins are good with pitching and it’s time to start looking for hitting.

Written by: Michael L. Sack

This offseason, the Twins have begun to address their most pressing need: starting pitching. While I do believe the team needed to add starting pitching, I have not agreed with some of the moves the team has made to acquire these pitchers. Here is what the team has done so far this offseason.

• On November 29, the Twins traded outfielder Denard Span (who was my favorite player) to the Washington Nationals for Alex Meyer, a minor league pitcher. Even though Meyer is considered a very good prospect, I do not like this trade because Span, besides being my favorite player, was the Twins starting center fielder and a good leadoff hitter. Meyer could one day become a very good starting pitcher, but nobody knows for sure.
• On December 6, the Twins traded outfielder Ben Revere to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitchers Vance Worley and Trevor May. May, who is in the minor leagues, is considered another good prospect and Worley was 6-9 last season after going 11-3 in 2011. Even though I could see this trade working out for the Twins, I do not completely understand why the Twins traded Revere because it looked like he was going to be the starting center fielder after Span was traded.
• On December 10, the Twins signed pitcher Kevin Correia to a two-year, $10 million contract. Correia has a career 4.54 ERA, which is not very good.
• On December 16, the Twins signed pitcher Mike Pelfrey to a one-year, $4 million contract. Pelfrey has a career 4.36 ERA and is coming back from Tommy John surgery he had last season. His best season was in 2010 when he had a 3.66 ERA. I don’t really know what to expect from him.

It seems to me that the Twins are looking toward the future and kind of giving up on next season, since they traded their top two center fielders, who were also the first two hitters in their batting order, for young pitching prospects. While it is important for the Twins to plan for the future, I would like the Twins to get a starting pitcher who has had a lot of success in the major leagues sometime this offseason.

What do you think of the moves the Twins have made this offseason??

Written by: Sam Graves

Throughout the 2010 season, the Twins first season playing in Target Field, there were spruce trees behind the center-field fence. Following that season, the team had the trees removed because of hitters’ complaints that the tress were too distracting. There was recent conversation about the possibility of replanting the trees, but Twins president Dave St. Peter has said that the trees will not be returning to the outfield.

I think that it’s interesting the Twins don’t want to put the trees back in. In 2010, the Twins won 94 games and the AL Central Division. Since then, the team has won an embarrassingly low 129 games over TWO seasons, finishing a woeful 32 games out of first place in 2011 and 27 games out in 2012. Since baseball players are so superstitious and want things to be kept the same as long as their team is winning, why don’t the Twins replant the trees?! Plus, they look pretty!

What do you think about the trees?? Should the Twins replant them behind the center-field fence or not?

Written by: Sam Graves