New beginning

Greetings everyone from Southwest Florida. It's chilly here. But I'm not complaining like the rest of the beat writers and everyone else around Hammond Stadium, considering it was -3 degrees when I left the Twin Cities early Friday morning to catch a flight to Traffic Jamburg, Fla. (Yes, I'm very much in favor of the Twins moving to Arizona, but that's not going to happen.)

Before moving on, I'd like to welcome myself to the world of blogging. I know I'm unique, because not too many people have blogs, you know. Whatever. Nothing like being a Johnny-come-lately, huh? I heard something recently that there are enough blogs in cyberspace for each person in America to have one. Everybody thinks everybody needs to know their take on life. My goal with this blog is to take you behind the scenes and give you Twins news and information you can't find anywhere else. Now to the important stuff:

Today is reporting day for pitchers and catchers. About a dozen players showed up early today. I was impressed that among those players were Sidney Ponson and Carlos Silva. They've got a lot to prove and getting here early sets a nice tone. Talked to Ponson. He is a sheer delight. He didn't duck my questions about his checkered past. Gotta like a guy who holds himself accountable. He also admitted that he thinks this is his last chance in baseball. And although he's not skin and bones, he's not a fat slob, either. He looks like he's in shape, and he said he felt good. He hadn't weighed in yet. But I'd guess about 240, 245 pounds. He was rumored to have ballooned to 280 last season.

Other key players who showed up early: Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, Nick Punto and Mike Redmond. That has to have a positive effect on a guy like Ponson when he sees some of the key position players, including the reigning AL MVP, show up almost a week before they need to be here.