Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson had a one year contract with the Dodgers last season and his deal with the Twins expires at the end of 2010. Hudson will be 33 in December and teams are cautious about long term commitments to older players. The Twins are paying him $5 million this year, according to Cot’s baseball contracts. https://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/minnesota-twins_17.html
Hudson is hitting .225 for the Twins, with no home runs and one RBI. His switch hitting gives the Twins, who face a steady lineup of left-handers, versatility hitting No. 2 in the batting order.
Hudson has no errors thus far and been effective on double plays teaming with shortstop J.J. Hardy. Hudson has had a base running lapse or two in the team’s first nine games.
The Twins left 11 runners on base in yesterday’s 6-3 loss to the Red Sox. For the season the Twins are 0-11 with the bases loaded.
Delmon Young is batting .383 (31-for-81) with six homers, 23 RBI and 14 runs scored in 21 games for the Twins since September 22, 2009.
Former Twin David Ortiz has struck out 12 times in his last 21 at bats for the Red Sox.
Twins owner Jim Pohlad is a certified public accountant. No one needs to explain an income statement to him.
KARE 11 reports that “Target Field does have the coldest averages of any outdoor baseball stadium in the country, but not by as much as you would think. Denver and Detroit, for example, average April temperatures are just 2 degrees warmer than Minneapolis. Chicago and Cleveland are only 3 degrees warmer. In October, the temperature differentials are basically the same.” https://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=847706
Baseball America’s top 10 Twins prospects are Aaron Hicks, Wilson Ramos, Kyle Gibson, Miguel Sano, Ben Revere, Danny Valencia, Carlos Gutierrez, Angel Morales, David Bromberg and Max Kepler. This is the second consecutive year Hicks, an outfielder, has been ranked by the publication as the No. 1 prospect in the organization.
Former Gophers and Cincinnati Bengals football player Ben Utecht sang the national anthem at last week’s Cincinnati Reds season opener.
The semi-finals of the Vikings cheerleaders’ swimsuit competition is Sunday night at Pantages Theatre. See the Vikings Website for more information including ticket prices. https://www.vikings.com/news/article-1/Minnesota-Vikings-Cheerleaders-Swimsuit-Competition-Set-For-Sunday/3439f7c7-55ca-4152-9fbf-a9180c272b2c
Despite a schedule that includes five likely top 25 teams, at least one passionate and optimistic Gophers football insider is talking about an 8-4 record.
Condolences to the Stoll family on the death of Jill Stoll. She is the daughter of the late Cal Stoll, the former Gophers football coach.
Wild head coach Todd Richards will for the first time be an assistant coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. The Wild’s Brent Proulx will also be a part of the staff as equipment manager. Team USA will open the International Ice Hockey Federation World Men’s Championship against host Germany on May 7. The game will be played in a soccer facility and is expected to draw a world-record hockey crowd of more than 76,000 fans.
Mikko Koivu finished the season with a career-high 70 points (21-59=70), the third-highest total in Wild history. Marion Gaborik is No. 1 with 83 points, Brian Rolston is second at 79.
Two Gustavus players, junior defender Kirstin Peterson and senior forward Melissa Mackley, and also St. Catherine junior forward Micheala Michaelson, have been named to the RBK Hockey College Division All-America first team for the West Region as chosen by members of the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA).
Chris Berenguer, son of former Twins pitcher Juan Berenguer, is a hockey defenseman for Hamline and was recently named a West Region All-American by the AHCA for the RBK men’s team.