It looks like Twins new starting CF Carlos Gomez isn’t have any more problems with his hamstring.  It was reported that manager Ron Gardenhire was miffed with Gomez for his reluctance to take it easy after experiencing tightness in his hamstring.  Gomez told fellow outfielder Michael Cuddyer that his leg was getting stiff.  Cuddyer promptly told Gomez to take himself out of the game.  Gomez refused and in the next inning was unable to run down a ball hit to deep center.  Gardenhire quickly pulled Gomez as a precaution against further injury.  Apparently Gomez attributes his leg stiffness to having too little body fat, and really doesn’t see it as a big deal.

After his performance in Minnesota’s home opener, Gomez proved he was right.  Gomez impressed everyone by going 2-3 with a walk, 2 stolen-bases and 2 runs scored.  In what was supposed to be a night about Torii Hunter returning to Minnesota, most fans walked away talking about the new Twins CF.

The Twins announced this morning that they have optioned four more players to Triple-A Rochester.  The demoted players were RHP Philip Humber, IF Brian Buscher and two of the three candidates for the starting CF role in Denard Span and Jason Pridie.  By process of elimination, this leaves Carlos Gomez, the top prospect sent over in the Johan Santana trade, as the starting CF in Minnesota.  While Gomez has certainly gone through periods of struggle, he has always been fast.  Gomez should certainly have value in shallower leagues for his ability to rack up the stolen bases.

• After hitting two long balls yesterday, Cameron Maybin came through with another home run today.  Looks like the youngster is making a push for that CF job.  Maybin had come into the game as a pinch runner earlier in the game.
• Kosuke Fukudome wowed fans with his defense today, making a spinning acrobatic catch to save an extra base hit.  Piniella also batted Fukudome in the 5 hole today, wanting to put a solid bat behind Aramis Ramirez.
• As we reported a few days ago, David Price has been cut from the big league squad.  It was announced today that Price will be starting the season at Class A.  This is pretty standard for first year players, but Price proved this spring that he isn’t a standard prospect.  It had been speculated that Price might start a little higher than Single-A ball.  Regardless of where he starts, Price should end up at the big show in no time.
• Jonathan Mayo of MiLB.com released his list of the top five farm systems.  Mayo had the Rays at #1 (no surprise there), the A’s at #2 (okay, that’s surprising), the Rangers at #3, the Reds at #4, and the Red Sox rounding it up at #5.
• The Giants are trying speedster Eugenio Velez at 3B.  Two weeks into March and the Giants still don’t really have a leading candidate for the 3B spot, so Velez definitely has a shot.  The Giants have been reported to be surveying the trade market for a third basemen, but if Velez wins this job, look out.  With a little bit of playing time Velez is definitely a fantasy sleeper to watch for his SB totals.
• Twins RHP Nick Blackburn finally gave up a run.  The youngster hadn’t given up a run this spring, until surrendering 3 ER in 3 IP today.

Manager Ron Gardenhire dropped some info on Tuesday. He is looking at Carlos Gomez or Denard Span for the starting job in center field, but is far away from making a final decision. Gardenhire said:

“I could send them both down [to Triple-A Rochester], but I don’t know what good that’s going to do me. They need to play center field, and they both need to play… We’re going to heat up the competition and see what happens.”

Span is the more consistent of the two batting .278 with a .435 OBP. Gomez has proven that he has the tools and is incredibly fast, but has yet to produce in the box. He has been hitless in his last 8 plate appearances and is batting .167 on the spring.

Jason Pridie has been left out of the fun and it doesn’t appear that Gardenhire is viewing him as a starter. Pridie has been moved all around the outfield this spring and may be a competent backup to the starter.

• Jacoby Ellsbury ran down a deer. In related news, The Boston Globe reports that the Cubs are interested in Coco Crisp, although the Red Sox are not enamored by Cubs’ offer of pitcher Jason Marquis or minor league outfielder Sam Fuld. If Crisp does get traded it could obviously have huge implications for Ellsbury’s upcoming fantasy season.
• Bill Chastain of MLB.com writes that Evan Longoria has done enough to earn the starting job at third base, and batting him further down in the order would allow him to settle in at the beginning of the season with less pressure.
• Lisa Winston of MiLB.com reports that 2007 #1 overall draft pick out of Vanderbilt, David Price, hit the first batter he faced, then struck out the side in the left-hander’s first appearance with the Rays. Tampa manager Joe Maddon and pitching coach Jim Hickey are all about this kid:

“He’s handled himself so well that regardless of what he does on the mound, we just want him to get out there and enjoy himself in his first ‘big league’ game,” Maddon said Friday. “He’s got a lot of self-confidence, he’s very motivated and directed and has a tremendous amount of poise about him. We just want him to pitch and be a Ray.”

“He’s extremely well-armed with a plus-plus fastball and an extremely sharp slider,” Hickey said. “[He has] a very good feel for a good changeup and a nice delivery, but to me, the thing that is most impressive about him is the type of person he is. He’s a first-class citizen, he’s an extremely hard worker, he’s very coachable. He comes early, he stays late.”

• Rays rookie Jeff Neimann, their first pick in the 2004 draft, went 3 no-hit innings with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts; he has a 0.00 ERA so far this spring. Neimann was 12-6 with a 3.98 ERA with Triple-A Durham last year and could be considered for a spot in Tampa’s rotation.
• Updating an earlier post: the Twins’ Carlos Gomez, acquired in the Johan Santana trade, went 2 for 5 with an RBI triple, a stolen base, and 2 runs scored. He’s got plenty of speed, and confidence to go with it.

Just read these rave reviews about a certain Twins prospect:

“He looks like he’s faster than anybody.” - Twins manager Ron Gardenhire

“He’s got an explosiveness of a track runner. Bam, he’s gone. He’s at full speed after two steps, and that’s something you’re just born with. That first-step acceleration, you just don’t see that very often.” - Twins first-base coach Jerry White

The mystery prospect is of course center field hopeful Carlos Gomez. Phil Miller of Twin Cities.com says that Jerry White thinks Gomez could easily beat out current Major League speed demons like Jose Reyes in a foot race. There is no doubt he would get a lot of steals for fantasy owners if he gets on base, but according to Kelly Thieser of MLB.com that is just the problem - he lacks plate discipline. He’ll need to work on his free-swinging style if he hopes to win the starting center field job over Denard Span and Jason Pridie. However, Gardenhire seems to hint that Gomez will eventually get the job, saying that he’s not afraid to take risks in the leadoff spot. Even if he doesn’t start outright, it will be hard to keep speed like that out of the line-up for long.

Most teams have made their final cuts of spring training over the past few days.  This means that the remaining players not cut will more than likely spend the remainder of the spring with their respective teams.  We’ve listed below the more noteworthy prospects who have been sent back to the minors:

• Wade Davis, RHP, Rays
• Jake McGee, LHP, Rays
• Adam Miller, RHP, Indians
• Chuck Lofgren, LHP, Indians
• Mike Aubrey, 1B, Indians
• Danny Moskos, LHP, Pirates
• Collin Balester, RHP, Nationals
• Tyler Clippard, RHP, Nationals
• Garrett Mock, RHP, Nationals
• Ross Detwiler, LHP, Nationals
• Greg Reynolds, RHP, Rockies
• Casey Weathers, RHP, Rockies
• Max Ramirez, C, Rangers
• Chris Davis, 1B, Rangers
• German Duran, 2B, Rangers
• Elvis Andrus, SS, Rangers
• Justin Masterson,  RHP, Red Sox
• Michael Bowden, RHP, Red Sox
• Deolis Guerra, RHP, Twins
• Jordan Walden, RHP, Angels
• Matt Wieters, C, Orioles

Top Twins prospect Nick Blackburn is making a strong push for the starting rotation. Blackburn pitched 2.2 scoreless innings on Friday, making it 4 scoreless innings total on the spring. During that span he’s only allowed 1 hit, and has the Minnesota coaching staff raving about his results.

Apparently Blackburn has corrected an over-reliance on his fastball, a problem that plagued him during his September call-up last season. The exit of Johan Santana, Matt Garza and Carlos Silva from the Twins rotation has opened up a few spots for newcomers. If Blackburn makes the rotation he could be a sleeper to watch in mixed leagues.

Around the Grapefruit league:

• Roch Kubatko of the Baltimore Sun reports that Scott Moore, the 8th overall pick in the 2002 draft, has been working at third base, first base, left field, and even gotten some time at second. Combining his utility on defense with a .571 BA and 4 RBI this spring is giving the 24-year-old a good shot at making the Orioles’ 25-man roster.
• Interesting background on speedy, switch-hitting Rays prospect Fernando Perez. Joe Smith of the St. Petersburg Times seems to think that Perez, who has hit over .300 in his past two seasons of class A ball, could start the year in Triple-A.
• Twins prospect Nick Blackburn only needed one inning of work to impress manager Ron Gardenhire on Wednesday, retiring the side in the fourth inning while striking out two. It’s a good thing he did, because the Twins’ skipper has a lot of pitching to choose from.

From the Cactus League:

• 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick Luke Hochevar has been impressive in Royals camp, retiring 11 of 12 in two two-inning appearances. This bodes well for his chances to make the club, although manager Trey Hillman has indicated that Hochevar may not be a candidate for the starting rotation.
• Manny Parra threw 3 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts Wednesday, furthering his case for a spot in the Brewers’ rotation.

• The Star Tribune reports that Twins top pitching prospect Nick Blackburn is looking to make the starting rotation this year. The 26-year-old is battling back from cartilage problems dating back to 2002 which forced him to get 90 percent of the cartilage removed from his knee in ‘03. After his weight blew up to 260lbs, he used cycling to get back into shape and dropped 30 lbs. Now his knee is healthy, if his numbers from last season are any indication. Blackburn went 10-4 with a 2.36 ERA at Class AA New Britain and Class AAA Rochester, including a 44-inning scoreless streak at Rochester. Manager Ron Gardenhire likes the way he throws the ball, and if Blackburn breaks into the rotation he could be a deep-sleeper candidate for 2008.
• Carlos Gomez is competing with Jason Pridie and Denard Span for the job of Twins starting center fielder, but its definitely his job to lose. Kelly Thesier of MLB.com says that Ron Gardenhire plans to use all of spring to let the race play out before selecting a winner, however it would appear that Gomez has the upper hand. Through the 4 games he has appeared in he is batting 2-for-8 with 2 runs, 2 RBI, 1 walk, and 2 stolen bases. He also would have had a stand-up triple on Monday if he hadn’t slipped and fell face-first in the dirt rounding second. Gardenhire didn’t seem too worried, saying:
  

  “Sometimes, when you go that fast, you lose your step, I guess. I never went that fast, so I wouldn’t know.”

  Gomez should be a shoe-in for CF this year, and could be very productive in the stolen bases category with his blazing speed.