Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Hello Carlos Gomez, and other Twins notes

By Michael Haas

- Less than one week until the season starts, and the Twins made two announcements on Monday that feature a forward looking mentality: Signing Joe Nathan and naming Carlos Gomez the center fielder. I really do feel bad for Denard Span, he played his tail off this spring, and has had an up and down career - all in the minor leagues. But Gomez is apparently the future, and the Twins would certainly save face on that Santana deal if he turns in a productive season. The Joe Nathan contract has been in the works for a while. It seems kind've backwards to ink the closer to a long term deal in the same offseason that you watched two cornerstone players walk, but what the heck do I know. We certainly have the money for him, and he has a nice head of hair.

- I am determined to find that Golden Ticket. It's this big scavenger hunt that the Twins are doing with the Strib. I would win a Flex 40 season ticket package, get to throw out a first pitch at a game, and a bunch of other stuff. The first clue was on Sunday, and is basically said that the ticket was in a park. Mondays clue goes like this: "When you watch our boys play, hustling you'll see, however you'll want to ignore, Mr. Greeley's plea." I'll let you figure out that one for yourself. I'm only helping out my teammates.

- Construction on the new Twins stadium is coming right along. I've learned a few things from Twinsballpark2010.com that I think are worth mentioning.

The sports bar in the Left Field Foul Pole Building will use the original floor on which the Minneapolis Lakers played. It's been in storage since they left for Los Angeles in 1960, waiting for the right time to be stepped on once again. Just imagine, I'll be spilling my beer on a piece of history.

The team is reportedly close to a deal with a corporation for the naming rights to the stadium. It is a local company with a strong international presence. So what could it be? If it's Best Buy, I'm just going to be sick.

I've been thinking about the other ramifications of the new stadium. Like, what happens to small college baseball at the dome? Will it still be able to turn into a baseball field, or will they make it a permanent football stadium? I don't know where the Gophers will be playing baseball if that happens. I tried to contact the MSFC about this, but they have yet to answer.

And what about the Dome Dog? Or Hormel hot dogs in general? The Twins have announced that Centerplate will not be their concessionaire in the new ballpark. If the hot dogs suck at the new place, I don't know if I'll be able to handle it. I have contacted Hormel about this potential problem, but haven't heard back yet. If all else fails, omgTwins suggests that I sell domedogs from a stand on the sidewalk in 2010. Dammit, I'm hungry. I dare you to type 'DomeDog' three times and not NEED one.




That's it for today. Twins "preview" week will continue Wednesday.

8 comments:

bizmarkie507 said...

It's either going to be Best Buy Park, Target Park, or 3M Park. All of the above would be disheartening.

How much do you think the Pohald's will rake in for a corporate sponsored stadium?

Daymonster said...

Sorry for the late comment. Excellent post. I have been frantically looking for info about the golden ticket. Is it only in the real newspaper?

Also, what if we scrapped some money together and put in a bid. Think of it The Alright Hamilton Ball Park

TwinsWin83 said...

I got 5 bucks to offer the fund. Wait...more like $4.65.

They wouldnt have both Target Center and Target Park would they?

That MPLS Lakers floor thing is really cool. The nice thing about this new ballpark is that they seem to be trying to infuse a lot of Minnesota flavor into it.

I guess they will have to build the Gopher baseball team a new stadium finally if the Dome stops hosting college games once the Twins depart. But Im guessing that the Dome is going to NEED those college games during the spring to bring in some type of money or revenue. One question that Ive had for a while now is how long will the Dome stay in the black after the Twins leave? I mean, you can only have so many monster truck rallies a year. I had heard at one point that it would only be a few years after the Twins leave before they would blow the place up and the Vikings would be forced to either move or play in the Gophers new football stadium. Anyone have any answers?

haasertime said...

well, the Vikes lease expires December 31st, 2011.

They would play there until they get a new stadium or move away. The only way they'd ever play in the Gophers stadium would be while they were awaiting a new football stadium on the metrodome site.

I think they'll move away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Vikings_Stadium

bizmarkie507 said...

vikings will either get a new stadium or move after 2011. Then the metrodome owner will sell the land for a very nice chunk of money

Anonymous said...

the gopher baseball team is getting a new stadium its already in the works. what sucks about the new stadium is that it will push back opening day here in minnesota a couple weeks, because by no means will they be playing here, outside in march. dumb.
troy

haasertime said...

Good to hear about the new gopher baseball stadium.

yea that is kinda stinky. If you look at the schedules when the twins played at the old Met, they didnt play a game in minnesota til the end of April.


Also, I heard back from a person at Hormel. She's forwarding the question about the future of Hormel Franks and Twins Baseball to someone higher up, but she did tell me that Dome Dogs and those types of franks are only available at the Dome.

I find it odd that theyd invent and manufacture dogs specifically for the dome. oh well.



You guys should see how many hits Alright Hamilton has from folks Googling shit like, "mr. greeleys plea" Looks like I have some competition for the golden ticket...probably even competition that is willing to get off the couch.

brex said...

What's wrong with best buy or 3m?

How about Carlson Park? With discounted tickets for Carlson employees.