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Twins Insider is maintained by La Velle E. Neal III, who is the Star Tribune's beat writer for the Minnesota Twins.

He's always on top of the latest happenings and rumor mills, and is typically the one of the first places to break news on player signings and the rare Twins trade.

Latest Content from Twins Insider

Le Resistance et fini: via Twins Insider January 22, 2010 at 07:05 PM; First, Howard Sinker moved over. Then, Joe Christensen converted. I held out as long as I could. But no longer. The vicissitudes of technology have led us down another path. Sometime on Monday, I will join my baseball blogging buddies on a new server. It will be a different look with a different way to comment and read [...]
Notes and notes of notes: via Twins Insider January 21, 2010 at 05:35 PM; I have returned from my secret assignment, where it wasn’t as warm as I hoped and it rained during the second day. Bleeck! But it was worth the trip, so stay tuned in the coming weeks for the results. Morales update Twins catcher Jose Morales will have surgery a week from Friday on his sprained right wrist (convenient [...]
Clearing up one thing about Morales: via Twins Insider January 17, 2010 at 07:53 PM; When I reported Jose Morales’ injury, Twins GM Bill Smith told me that Morales had the injury for some time. That, apparently, got some Twins fans fired up. They wanted to know why it’s taken so long for this to play out. Here’s the deal: Morales had a sore wrist during the offseason, but apparently thought it [...]
Morales needs surgery and could miss up to eight weeks: via Twins Insider January 15, 2010 at 06:53 PM; Twins catcher Jose Morales needs surgery to repair a strained tendon in his right wrist and will miss six to eight weeks. The wrist had been bothering him for some time, so the Twins decided to have him checked out. We’ve had him (examined) twice, confirming everything,’’ Smith said The Twins are scheduling a time and location [...]
Will Glen Perkins remain with the Twins?: via Twins Insider January 15, 2010 at 12:05 PM; Lefthander Glen Perkins is believed to still be on the trade block. The Twins spoke with San Diego earlier in the offseason about a Perkins for Kevin Kouzmanoff swap, but the Padres wanted more. To the Twins’ credit, they didn’t add more. Perkins and Kouzmanoff are similar players in that they are still looking for their breakthrough season. Suggestions that [...]
The only Big Mac I’m interested in is the one served at McDonald’s: via Twins Insider January 12, 2010 at 12:47 PM; Those were not crocodile tears flowing yesterday when Mark McGwire blubbered his way through an interview with Bob Costas about his admission that he took steroids and HGH. McGwire was truly sorry for the mistakes he made during his career. He, along with Sammy Sosa, helped baseball distance itself from labor wars with an all-time binge [...]
Some Monday morning links: via Twins Insider January 11, 2010 at 11:53 AM; There have been many stories about Joe Mauer’s approaching free agency. And there will be many more. But EPSN has blown out its baseball section front with a Mauer story, a story on how the Twins do business and, finally, a poll in which voters weigh in on if Mauer will remain a Twin after 2010. As our [...]
Twins announce spring training invites: via Twins Insider January 08, 2010 at 04:35 PM; Former major leaguer Mike Maroth leads a list of players the Twins will invite to spring training this year. Maroth, 32, was 50-67 in sixth major league seasons, including a 2003 season in which he was 9-21. He missed all of 2008 because of shoulder surgery and had knee surgery in 2009. The Twins watched him pitch [...]
Getting to the bottom of the Washburn story: via Twins Insider January 08, 2010 at 03:35 PM; I wrote a couple days ago that I would revisit the Jarrod Washburn story if needed. And it’s needed. The Twins, indeed, made a one-year offer to Washburn for around $5 million that was rejected by Washburn’s agent, Scott Boras. The offer was believed to have been made about a week ago. Someone with knowledge of the offer [...]
Twins add a pitcher (but it’s not who you think): via Twins Insider January 06, 2010 at 05:23 PM; The Twins have agreed to terms with right-handed reliever Clay Condrey to a one-year major league contract. Condrey, 34, posted a 3.00 ERA in 45 games for the Phillies. For more info, check out his bio here. Twins GM Bill Smith said he likes that Condrey has pitched fairly well for a team that’s gone deep into the playoffs the [...]
The Hall of Fame vote: Quick Reaction: via Twins Insider January 06, 2010 at 01:59 PM; When Jeff Idelson, the president of the Baseball Hall of Fame, opened by calling the vote on of the closest ever, I knew Bert Blyleven was doomed. I sensed that more writers were voting for him, but I wasn’t sure how many. Now we know: He needed five more. It must be agonizing for Blyleven, getting this [...]
New digs…and old digs: via Twins Insider January 04, 2010 at 01:23 PM; I trying to learn new phone numbers today as the Twins officially took over Target Field. Instead of calls starting with 375, they now begin with 659. Instead of having a Kirby Puckett Place address, the new address is: Target Field 1 Twins Way Minneapolis, Mn., 55403 I spoke today with Twins director of minor leagues Jim Rantz, who said everyone [...]
Looking ahead….: via Twins Insider December 28, 2009 at 11:59 AM; I’m supposed to be off today. I still have some use-or-lose-it time off, but it’s been about three weeks since I last posted and I was tired of seeing that my last entry was about a minor leaguer I might never cover. I’ll get more involved after the new year. That’s’ when Joe C. will be away on one of his super-cool excellent [...]
Righthander Chris Province joins Twins: via Twins Insider December 12, 2009 at 09:35 PM; In addition to tendering contracts to all their eligible players, the Twins also have acquired righthander Chris Province as the player to be named later in the deal that sent Boof Bonser to the Red Sox. Province, 24, was a fourth round pick of the Red Sox in 2007. He was 2-4 with a 2.60 ERA [...]
Twins trade Bonser to Red Sox: via Twins Insider December 10, 2009 at 08:47 AM; Larry Reynolds, the agent for Boof Bonser, has just tweeted that Boof Bonser has been dealt to Boston. The Twins designated Bonser for assignment on Tuesday to make room for Carl Pavano. Twins GM Bill Smith acknowledged that a few clubs had called about Bonser. Stay tuned here for updates after we’re done with the Rule [...]
Thursday morning update: via Twins Insider December 10, 2009 at 07:35 AM; The Rule 5 draft is roughly 30 minutes away, but the Twins look to be spectators and not participators this year. They have the 20th pick in the major league phase and have talked about players. But they don’t see a fit for where they are drafting. Plus, their 40-man roster is full. “At this time [...]
Evening update: via Twins Insider December 09, 2009 at 07:05 PM; Just got out the Twins suite and it appears that the club made little progress on the acquisition front. When you spend more time shooting the bull with the GM than discussing topics, you get the sense that there’s not much going on. Their search for a third baseman will likely continue well beyond the end of the winter meetings. [...]
Morning update: via Twins Insider December 09, 2009 at 09:59 AM; The Twins met yesterday with the agent for Mark DeRosa and definitely are exploring ways to land the versatile player. DeRosa is 34 but still hit 23 homers and 78 RBI last year in stints with Cleveland and St. Louis. He could be the best thing the Twins have as a No. 2 hitter in front of [...]
While you were sleeping….: via Twins Insider December 09, 2009 at 02:41 AM; Phils
Poof! There goes Boof.: via Twins Insider December 08, 2009 at 02:47 PM; The Twins waited until Tuesday to announce that righthander Boof Bonser has been designated for release or assignment, a move to create space on the roster for righthander Carl Pavano. Bonser missed all of last season following right shoulder surgery during spring training. He recovered quickly enough for him to contemplate an attempt to pitch in September when the [...]