Friday Links-N-Thinks

This past week might be one of my favorite weeks of the year with the Winter Meetings spitting out a new rumor or story every couple of seconds. Baseball can be forgotten about in the midst of the conclusion of the college football regular season, the start of the college basketball year, and of course the playoff races of the NFL. For a few days in December, baseball can come back to the forefront and be on the lips of fans everywhere.

The Twins made a few moves this week but there are still other things left to accomplish in the rest of the offseason. Matt Capps is the closer, Kevin Slowey is a member of the Rockies, and the Twins have a three-year offer on the table for Mr. Michael Cuddyer. There were plenty of Twins talking points this week and here are some of my favorite links from across the baseball universe. 

• Last night Liam Hendriks was on Seth Stoh's podcast and I even got to ask him a question.
• Even with the Twins offer on the table to Cuddyer, the Rockies are still in pursuit of the free agent All-Star. It seems many of the Rockies players are trying to sell Cuddyer on Colorado. 
• Last month, a statue of Albert Pujols was erected in St. Louis and now that statue has a body guard.
• The Twins had the second pick in the Rule 5 Draft and they took a right-handed pitcher from the White Sox organization.
• I find it amusing that the Brewers offered arbitration to K-Rod with the thought that he would reject it and they could scoop up a draft pick. He did not...
• Ron Gardenhire had a media session as part of the Winter Meetings and here's the transcript.
• Who should win the Sophomore of the Year Award? The Platoon Advantage tries to pick out the players that avoided their sophomore slump.    
• Apparently baseball beat writers are all slobs and they needed some guidelines handed down by MLB.
• Cuddyer's wife gave birth to twins this week. Could that be a sign that he should stay in Minnesota?

• Fanatic Jack invited me on to his podcast on Thursday night where we discussed a variety of Twins topics.
• Baseball America put together a piece looking at the Rochester Red Wings and how their city will host two teams next season.
• Seth Stohs has been busy with multiple podcasts this week. Check out his interview with Brian Dozier from Monday.
• Former Twins pitcher Jim Kaat fell just two votes short of making it into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• The Twins are serious about college hockey and the 2014 All-Star game at Target Field.
• Could Ben Revere and Trevor Plouffe form a left field platoon? Puckett's Pond has your answer.
• K-bro did a great job of compiling the information from the recent season ticket holder conference call with Terry Ryan. 
• Pedro Florimon Jr. was claimed by the Twins from the Baltimore Orioles and The Tenth Inning Stretch profiled the new infielder at his site. 

My posts from this week:

• Monday: Twins have plenty on Winter Meeting wish-list
• Tuesday: Was Capps worth losing another prospect?
• Wednesday: Slowey saga ends in Minnesota
• Thursday: Cuddyer resolution, Rule 5 Draft emphasized in Dallas

Video of the Week: As mentioned earlier, Gardenhire spoke to reporters in Dallas. Here is a clip of him discussing the health of Justin Morneau and the 2012 version of the Twins.