Jon Marthaler bakes up a batch of delicious links just for you. Other times, you can find him here and here. Jon?
--------------
Happy Saturday! I have done my best to not think about or talk about our latest tussle with winter, here in Minnesota, but it seems clear that my subconscious has had enough; when I opened up my list of weekly outstanding internet stories, I discovered that every single one of them is Twins-related. I'd like to believe that I'm not that shallow, but in between writing this sentence and the last one, I got distracted for a good half-hour by the Twins official site. To thine own self be true: 6:00 tomorrow evening, the Twins take on the Red Sox, and the game will be on the radio. Forget the cold. I'm going out to the garage to putter around while listening to baseball.
As I prepare for another season of yelling at Dan Gladden ("Dan! You're on the radio! You need to keep describing the play as it happens, or we can't tell what's going on!"), let's get on with a very Twins-focused edition of the weekend links:
*Jesse Lund at Twinkie Town interviewed Twins Assistant GM Rob Antony, and it's a pretty good insight into the off-season workings of the Twins' baseball operation. Plus, Antony gives his opinion on Carl Pavano's mustache, so it's a must-read for that alone.
*Also at Twinkie Town, Stu (of RandBall fame) has begun a series of poorly researched and factually incorrect AL Central team previews, and the first one - the Royals - is awesome. This series is potentially the best thing ever to happen to the internet, so stay tuned.
*Nick Nelson goes deep inside the numbers to study just why Denard Span's season at the plate in 2010 turned out so badly. For a counterpoint, Parker Hageman thinks that maybe Span was just unlucky. Either way, Span needs to rebound in 2011.
*And finally this week, a bonus Hageman link: Parker thinks that Michael Cuddyer's sore knee may have made him into a slap hitter last year. It would help if Cuddyer didn't have to play every day at first base this year, but in the interest of not jinxing certain Canadians, we will speak no more of this.
That'll do it for me, but before I go, a shameless plug: next week, the Maple Street Press Twins Annual hits your local newsstand. (It's also available for online orders now at TCAnnual.com, if you're bad with delayed gratification.) If you clicked on any of the links above, trust me - you'll find more of that sort of thing in the Annual. I think it's worth your time.