It’s only batting practice in February but Joe Mauer looks good.

Watched him go deep a couple times against a coach during batting practice, which should happen. But then Joe Nathan got on the mound and Mauer took one of his first pitches over the left field wall for an opposite-field homer, drawing hoots and hollers from the players around the cage.

Nathan threw another another pitch and yelled, “Stop!” as it crossed the plate….

Jesse Crain, coming back from shoulder surgery, threw well in his first encounter with hitters since May. He threw all his pitches and was around the plate. Mike Redmond remarked that Crain looked, “free and easy.”

A bunch of minor leaguers worked on a back field. Toby Gardenhire and Trevor Plouffe showed off their fielding talents.

Got a chance to get some interesting updates on a few players who were on the same field.

Erik Lis - slipped and injured his throwing shoulder during the winter and is not throwing well enough yet. He may play some first base when the season starts but will end up in the outfield.

Dustin Martin - the Twins found out a few days after Martin came over in the Luis Castillo trade that he had a herniated disk in his back. Martin, an outfielder, is doing much better now and, by the way, boy is he put together.

Drew Thompson - this is an important year for him. Thompson, a second baseman, fractured his back in 2006 and  missed all of last season with back problems. I was told that he either learns how to play with the condition he has or he faces career-ending surgery. But he was on the field Sunday taking grounders with the other early arrivals.

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Sunday is weigh-in day at the ol’ ballpark - another opportunity for Boof Bonser to show off his new ‘bod. Bonser strutted toward the scale as strength coach Perry Castellano sat nearby with his chart.

Bonser has lost about 30 pounds since the end of last season - he’s in the 230’s now - and it’s easy to tell that his confidence is sky high.

Several players hit the field at 8:30 for bunting practice before the regular workout began. Jerry White and Rod Carew went over proper bunting techniques and used a pitching machine to fire baseballs at hitters.

Joe Vavra tossed balls to Justin Morneau in the batting cage then helped Alexi Casilla with his swing.

Joe Nathan strutted into the clubhouse wearing a Tennessee t-shirt one day after the Vols knocked off Memphis. Front runner.

By the way, I feel sorry for college basketball when teams like Tennessee and Memphis are ranked so high. Seriously, does Memphis run any offense than having the point guard break someone down and then either shoot or kick out to a teammate for a three-pointer? At least Tennessee tried to run screens and move without the ball.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is going to have a few players take grounders at first base so there’s options when Justin Morneau needs a day off (how much rest does a first baseman need?). Brian Buscher shifted to first for some work on Saturday and Mike Lamb eventually will get some work over there too.

Gardenhire usually hangs out with the infielders during workouts, but since he’s going to have a starting center fielder not named Torii Hunter, he said he will watch outfield work closely this spring.

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I’ve tried to keep weather reports off this blog but it has been one of the warmer Februarys down here in my 11 spring trainings in Fort Myers. We sometimes have to keep the garage door-like pressbox doors closed because it’s in the 50’s some mornings, but it’s been in the 80’s by midday all week.

Watched the good morning drill to get a peek at some of the newcomers. Brendan Harris, Mike Lamb and Adam Everett all looked solid, but I’m not going to make snap judgements based on the first drill of spring unless they look like me fielding grounders.

I will say this: Nick Punto and Alexi Casilla stand out even in drills. Mike Redmond kept screaming at Punto throughout drills. “Come on, Nicky…..Yes! Nice!” Redmond always is trying to get Punto fired up. I know Punto is not a strong offensive player but man can pick it.

Matt Macri looks like an intriguing player. Good size. Seems to field well. I want to see him hit.

Harris liked the Good Morning America drill. “I liked that Tom Kelly is still involved,” he said. “I liked the old school approach to things.”

Kelly still talks it up during drills, but spent a lot of time helping Randy Ruiz through drills.

While Mike Redmond slipped on his catcher’s gear following the drill, a fan yelled out, “try not to get injured this year, Mike.” Too ambitious. The ball finds this man. About 30 minutes later, Redmond hits a Julio DePaula pitch and stings his hand.

Finished the morning behind the batting cage on the main field, where Tony Oliva told stories and Rod Carew locked in on hitting approaches.

Delmon Young certainly has the power, as he dropped several balls over the left field fence. Carew chatted occasionally with Young and spent some time helping Denard Span smooth out his approach. Span used to spread his hands apart on the bat but has stopped that in recent years and connected on a few line drives Saturday.

Joe C. and I were headed off the field before we discovered that Deolis Guerra was scheduled to pitch. Guerra. listed at 6-5 and 200 pounds, comes over the top and has excellent angle on his pitches. Goodness, does he throw hard and he does have a nice change up. Several people thought some of his curveballs were very good. Kid hasn’t turned 19 yet. I can’t imagine what he’ll look like at age 23 when he fills out some more.

The clubhouse buzzed early Saturday morning as the Twins prepared to hit the field - with all position players in camp.

Alexi Casilla’s bright smile lit up the clubhouse as he reported for camp after his arrival was in doubt because he missed his first visa appointment to tend to a family medical emergency.

Casilla flew from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on Friday to Miami, where he caught a connecting flight to Fort Myers….

The heavy hitters have arrived.

Tony Oliva, Paul Molitor and Rod Carew are on hand for the first workout. Didn’t see Harmon Killebrew yet, but his jersey is hanging in a locker (no, I didn’t think about stealing it).

I couldn’t help but wonder what Carew was saying to Delmon Young when he stopped by his locker this morning. This is a great opportunity for Young to learn from the master….

I arrived at the ballpark a little after 7:30 eastern. The first two players in the batting cages were Justin Morneau and Carlos Gomez. Gomez definitely has attended the Jose Reyes school for perpetual smiling.

Will try to file an update after the workout, but today will be a long and busy one as most of the fields will be used and pitchers will embarrass hitters during live batting practice in a couple hours.

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 Carl Crawford kept the pressure on Delmon Young today with even more blistering comments about Young’s stint with the Rays. Crawford apparently didn’t like how Young responded to his initial criticism.

Here’s part of what he said:

“Nobody ever said he was the reason why we lost games. We know that. We said it was a more at-ease environment, which is true. And second of all, I have no problem with coming directly to his face and telling him whatever it is he needs to know. Nobody’s waiting till he leaves. Nobody cares about him leaving. For him to say we want to act like Toby Hall and leave, nobody’s doing that. Trust me. Me personally? Tell him this is a direct statement from me; I will come say it directly to his face. If he wants to know, if he is not sure about anything, I’ll say it directly to his face. I’d be more than happy to say it to his face. Make sure he gets that.”

Crawford also questioned why Young aligned himself with Dukes: “He always wants to feel like if he can say him and Dukes, he feels protected that Dukes has his back or something like that.”

Young read a copy of the story but didn’t return fire, smiling and shrugging his shoulders at times as he spoke. “I’m not worried about anything. I’m just worried about the guys in this clubhouse and playing good ball down here.”

We’ll see how long this one drags on….

Dennys Reyes reported to camp today after getting a new passport. Alexi Casilla could make Saturday’s full-squad workout. The biggest news: Francisco Liriano, who is working out at the Twins’ Dominican academy, can pick up his documents Monday and could be in Fort Myers by Monday night.

Darnell McDonald has a sore back and will be somewhat limited for Saturday’s workout. Alejandro Machado, who missed all of last season because of shoulder surgery, is still trying to build strength in the shoulder and will be held out of some drills.

 

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