AaronGleeman.com

I thought I had come up with a brilliant plan, thanks to the help of one of my loyal readers. You see, Twins games are not on TV here thanks to the ongoing "negotiations" between the Twins' new TV channel, Victory Sports, and the cable and satellite providers.

Many people suggested to me that I buy MLB.TV from MLB.com, where you can watch games on your computer. The problem with that, of course, is that Twins games are blacked out for people in Minnesota on MLB.com, just as they are on the Extra Innings Package or similar things.

But then a little light bulb popped into my head and I said, "What would happen if someone living in another region 'bought' the MLB.TV package for me?" They won't black out the Twins games for me if they think I'm living in, say, California, right?

It was a good plan, in theory. The problem is that, apparently, MLB.com is able to see where you are actually viewing the games from. So, even though you sign up for the package outside of Minnesota, they could tell that I was sitting in Minneapolis, trying to watch yesterday afternoon's loss to the Indians.

So much for that, huh?

Meanwhile, while no one was watching, the Twins designated their third pitcher for assignment in the last two weeks. First it was Sean Douglass, who was cut at the end of spring training. Then, last week, it was Mike Nakamura, who was let go in order for the Twins to clear a spot for Seth "20.25 ERA" Greisinger. Yesterday, the Twins DFA'd Brad Thomas in order to make room on the 25-man roster for...are you ready for this?...Terry Mulholland.

Yes, the same Terry Mulholland who turned 41 years old last month and hasn't had an ERA that was better than league average since 1999.

Honestly, I don't get it. Douglass, Nakamura and Thomas are no great shakes themselves (although I really think Nakamura can be a solid reliever), but they are all relatively young and have various levels of potential. Meanwhile, all three will have been lost (assuming someone takes Thomas from them) because the Twins wanted to keep Joe Roa, Seth Greisinger and Terry Mulholland.

This makes very little sense to me. Why keep Roa over Douglass, if all you needed was someone to eat innings? Why lose Nakamura in order to call Greisinger up, when Nakamura could have been called up himself? Why lose Thomas to pick up Mulholland, when Thomas, despite being 14 years younger, was doing a perfectly good job as "horrendously bad lefty" out of the bullpen himself?

Sometimes it's tough to be a Twins fan. For a well-run organization that has a lot of success (at least of late) they sure do make a lot of moves (and non-moves) that have me shaking my head.

New article at The Hardball Times: All Eyes on Barry

Today's picks:

Florida (Penny) -120 over Montreal (Vargas)

Los Angeles (Weaver) +140 over San Diego (Eaton)

Tampa Bay (Abbott) +250 over New York (Brown)