No major moves were announced last weekend for the Minnesota Twins; maybe that’s because everyone in the state was partying at TwinsFest 2009.
In what could only be called a huge success, thousands upon thousands flocked to the Metrodome to catch a glimpse of their favorite players and take part in the many events and attractions the event had to offer. Even the line getting into the stadium formed hours before the doors were opened. But those willing fight frostbitten hands and frozen feet were rewarded with prized autographs from Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and about 50 other current and former Minnesota Twins.
Even Harmon Killebrew came out to sign for the fans all weekend.
Lines ranged from being 3.5 hours at the longest for Mauer and Morneau, to lines where you could walk right up to the players and within seconds have a signature. It all depended on who was signing at what times, 
locations, and even who was signing after that group at the same location.
Lines could look deceptively long at any point because everyone could be queuing up for the group signing after the current one. This made for some comedy when the Carlos Gomez line (who was signing after Casilla and Slowey at the same location) was wrapping around the bottom of the stadium prior to him signing, leaving a massive queue for Alexi Casilla and Kevin Slowey with literally no one coming up to ask for their autographs as fans would be jeopardizing their spot in line to grab a Gomez sig (Carlos Gomez is quite the draw among Twins fans). On average the lines would take 45 minutes to get through depending on the time you arrived at the queue, but there was quite a big variation from line to line.
If you were an autograph seeker, ‘hurry up and wait’ was the name of the game all weekend.
Guys who seemed genuinely excited to be there for the fans: Joe Nathan, Ben Revere, Alexi Casilla, and Ron Gardenhire come to mind; and there didn’t seem to be a bad egg among the bunch. It helps that in Minnesota that you seem to always be rooting for a group of ‘good guys’ (not to be confused with Hawk and DJ’s misinterpretation of ‘good guys’).
TwinsFest was an excellent event that certainly raised its share of money for the community fund it sponsors. Nearly every player gave up their weekend to sign autographs, take pictures, and talk with the local radio station. It’s a wonder why more teams don’t do this.
A quick photo diary of the weekend:
View of Twinsfest from inside the Metrodome. Thousands of fans showed up for the event raising a substantial amount of money for the local community.
Local sports writer La Velle Neal chats with former members of the Twins.
Justin Morneau signing autographs in the press box. Morneau’s line took many over 3 hours on Sunday.
Joe Mauer signing autographs in the press box. Mauer, fortunately, will be ready for opening day.
Harmon Killebrew, the greatest Minnesota Twin ever, signs autographs. Killebrew’s line was relatively short on Sunday taking less than 30 minutes.
Carlos Gomez signs autographs in the center of the stadium. This area was the chaotic part of TwinFest as hundreds of people lined up for these autographs caused lines and bottlenecks all over the Metrodome floor.
An upstairs queue where you would typically find a Mauer, Morneau, or Killebrew signing. These lines were massive and you had to make sure you were close enough to the player in the queue, because when their time for signing was up, everyone who was still in line gets shut out.
In other news:
The team reports to Florida in a few weeks!
Jason Kubel’s deal is rumored to be 2 years and $7M dollars. Solid signing for the Twins.
Brandon Lyon and Russ Springer seem to have signed elsewhere, leaving Eric Gagne as the last remaining free agent reliever with rumors tying to Minnesota.
Joe Crede is still a large target on Minnesota’s radar. He will work out next week for the Giants and Twins. MLBTradeRumors.com believes that he will be in Minnesota when it’s all said and done. We’ll see how much a year on our concrete turf plays a factor as his aging body hasn’t faired too well in recent memory.
Fans have thrown Ben Sheets’ name around with the Twins a few times this week, but there really isn’t any traction there.
Joe Mauer will be ready to go on Opening Day after minor kidney surgery. Good news for the Twins faithful as a fast start would be a welcomed change for Minnesota.
Other than that everything’s been pretty quiet in the AL Central this week.
