Goofing On Tsuyoshi Nishioka

The Twins recently won an auction to negotiate with Japanese middle infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who - if he comes to agreement with the team - may well be the starting shortstop or second baseman next season. So of course, being the insightful guy I am, I decided to make jokes about his name.

Here's my weekly post from Twinkie Town: The Top Ten Ways to Mispronounce "Tsuyoshi Nishioka."

Making Up For Lost Time

It has been brought to my attention that I've done a very poor job, as of late, of putting up links on this blog. Rather than go through and rectify that, one post at a time, I'm just going to dump them all in one place and call it a day.

My Twins Offseason Blueprint - Twinkie Town (November 8)
I took on the mantle of Twins GM, and put together my plan for the offseason, which is titled DisasterPen '11. (A week before, I speculated on whether the Twins could keep both Jim Thome and Jason Kubel, which formed the basis for some of my decisions.)

On Firing Brad Childress - SB Nation Minnesota (November 11)
I didn't think it would solve much. A week later, he got fired. We'll see if I was right.

I, Darko, Cannot Hit The Broad Side Of A Fish - Canis Hoopus (November 12)
In the latest installment of my "I, Darko" series, in which I write in the guise of the big center, Darko laments his inability to get the ball in the bucket. (Since then, he's started scoring big. He's my favorite Timberwolf by far.)

Weekend Links - RandBall (November 13)
This edition of the links was written just following Kevin Love's 31-point, 31-rebound performance against New York, which I was lucky enough to see in person. Not surprisingly, I was brimming with optimism, and wrote a short essay about the whole thing. Plus there was a great link about promotions at hockey intermissions.

Cy Youngs And MVPs - Twinkie Town (November 15)
Jesse Lund and I went back and forth, via email, about our picks for AL MVP and Cy Young.

Could The Timberwolves Have Lucked Into "That One Dominant Player"? - SB Nation Minnesota, November 18
In the offseason, the Wolves spoke of needing that one dominant player for their team. They also traded virtually nothing in order to get Michael Beasley. Given how Beasley has played, the latter transaction may have filled the former need.

Weekend Links - RandBall (November 20)
Mostly links, but there's a short essay about MLS team names (along with a link on the same subject which I found to be awesome.)

There were a few shorter updates, too, which I'll merely link to instead of explaining:

• 11/3 - Local BBWAA Twins Award Winners
• 11/5 - Zach Budish Can't Buy A Break
• 11/8 - Twins Fail To Land Japanese Pitcher; Do They Have Tons Of Money Or Something?
• 11/9 - The Wild Are A Little Too Pleased With Themselves
• 11/10 - The Timberwolves Are The Worst At Everything
• 11/11 - Minnesota May Have Pro Soccer After All
• 11/16 - Twins Set To Bring Back Matt Capps

Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekend Links [RandBall]

This week's topics at the weekend links include hits to the head in hockey, goalie masks, the Twins offseason, and Steve Rushin. You would do well to click over to RandBall now.

Kevin Love has a blog, too [SB Nation Minnesota]

Since it's just a short post, I'll make this one even shorter - just a link: Kevin Love Has A Blog, Hijinks Set To Ensue

Twins Offseason Questions [SB Nation Minnesota]

With the offseason in full swing for the Twins, I took a look at the most important questions the team will have to answer this year. I came up with five, and they're over at SB Nation Minnesota.

The Kurt Rambis Decision Making Chart [Canis Hoopus]

I went downtown to see a Timberwolves game in person for the first time in years, last Wednesday. It was the season opener. The Wolves lost by a point. And Kevin Love hardly played at all in the fourth quarter, despite generally being the team's best player.

I was disappointed, and confused, too. So I went home and made a chart to make sense of things. It's from last Thursday at Canis Hoopus: The Kurt Rambis Decision-Making Chart.

Road Trip! [Twinkie Town]

Last Monday at Twinkie Town, I got out the 2011 Twins schedule and started marking off important dates. Road trip possibilities are examined - with San Francisco and an early-June series in Kansas City the highlights - along with a few other important dates.

Weekend Links [RandBall]

It's a classic edition of the weekend links this week. Sure, there's a couple of good links about a local pro sports team (the Timberwolves, this time) buried in there, but those links are surrounded by soccer, economic theory, reader submissions, and people getting run over by deer.