TheBlackFreighter

Remember the recent nights of tucking in your children and excitedly telling them stories of the rebirth of our beloved Wild? When the golden boy returned home to lead his home state? When his buddy from across the border joined him in his quest to bring a Cup to the State of Hockey? When every awesome Wild prospect ever became even awesomer than we could have ever imagined? Remember??? Well none of that is going to happen. Poof. The dream is gone. Eklund has anointed the Wild "Next Year's LA Kings." We're screwed. Here's to four more years of groin injuries, concussions and Warren Peters. Huzzah!

How does Hockey's Future compare to our Hockey Wilderness reader list? Who's rated too high? Too low?

Great Q&A of Coach Yeo on AM1500.com. He's very articulate and incredibly likable. Here's hoping he succeeds here!

If that's not the "Twins way," then I don't know what is.

Via @SpearsNBAYahoo: "Wolves to trade Jefferson to Jazz for future 1st rd pick, 1st rd pick from Mem in Brewer trade and a trade exception, Y! Sports has learned." Here's hoping they use that trade exception and turn the #1's into some more players! I like this deal for Kahn and the Wolves.

It's crazy how good Morneau has been so far this year... here's hoping he can keep it up!

It was pretty neat being part of the standing ovation for Jacque this weekend. Personally, I feel that it is more than Jacque that we've been applauding, though. He represents the Twins teams of 2001 and 2002 who shoved contraction talks down Bud Selig's throat by scoring thrilling victories and bringing fans back to the seats. So here's to Jacque, Dougie Baseball and the rest of the Soul Patrol who made Target Field possible by winning the Twins way.

Like any good son, he ran into the stands to console her until help arrived! Thank goodness she is okay.

As a Marketing/Advertising guy, I started to think about sponsorship ramifications when Joe Nathan went down with an injury. Did anyone have a significant sponsorship with Joe Nathan this season and if so... what do you do now!?! Well… I found this press release while scoping out the food selections at Target Field (don’t judge) and looks like Caribou will be the sponsor scrambling to find a backup plan. Could you imagine having a press event at Target Field on the 4th and then Nathan goes down on the 6th! What’s worse is that they are going "closer by committee" which means there isn’t a clear alternative to Nathan. Nathan saved about 40-45 games a year, so they’ll be looking for a similar number of trafficked radio spots. If I were them, I’d go for team triples. They hit 40 in 2009 and Denard led the club with 10. Triple works with coffee perfectly anyway… triple espresso! Regardless… what a headache! 03/04/2010 3:19 PM ET Minnesota Twins Announce Partnership with Caribou Coffee at Target Field The Minnesota Twins today announced a partnership with Minneapolis-based coffee company Caribou Coffee. The multi-year deal includes radio advertising voiced by Twins closing pitcher Joe Nathan, with all saves by the closer being "fueled by Caribou Coffee." The multi-year deal also includes in-stadium signage at Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins, among other benefits. "The Twins are proud to partner with another great locally-based company to provide our fans with quality coffee," said Dave St. Peter, Twins president. "We are proud to be a part of the Twin Cities community and all the excitement around the new home of Twins Baseball," said Alfredo Martel, senior vice president of marketing, Caribou Coffee. "Fans will enjoy the best home town coffee in specially designed "cups of Joe" with Twins inspired Bou-isms". Fans can learn more about Target Field's concessions and dining offerings at www.TasteOfTwinsTerritory.com.

The Twins have signed center fielder Denard Span to a five-year, $16.5 million contract with a $9 million club option for 2015. Here's a breakdown of the contract: 2010: $750,000 2011: $1 million 2012: $3 million 2013: $4.75 million 2014: $6.5 million 2015: Club option for $9 million ($500,000 buyout) "It's a great feeling," Span said. "I'm definitely not angry today." Good for Denard and love that quote!

Fangraphs has introduced a new section on their website for splits. One of the first players they checked out was Joe Mauer and he has some crazy hitting stats. Dave Cameron suggests a bizarre fielding arrangement to counteract Mauer's tendencies.

Not sure if anyone has caught this series, but it is actually entertaining. I've seen episodes with Dwayne Wade and Tony Hawk and they've been pretty good. If you follow the link to ESPN, you can also get tickets to the event. Here's hoping they discuss a major announcement in the future!

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Love the work you all do and look forward to joining the community! Jerry Crasnick of ESPN wrote an interesting piece about the remaining free agents and the Twins are mentioned in several places. It sure looks like the Twins just might get a steal in February on one of the remaining players.