Friday Links-N-Thinks

It has been a strange weather week across the Midwest with temperatures in the 50s at one point of the week and snow falling by the end of the week. Three days ago I was sitting on my deck enjoying the beautiful day and now I find myself under a blanket on my couch. Gotta love a weird winter in Twins Territory.

The Baseball Hall of Fame announcement kick started the baseball news cycle on Monday. Twins World Series hero Jack Morris missed out on being inducted but he is getting closer to reaching the magic level of 75%. There were plenty of other baseball related topics from throughout the week so let's jump into this week's edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks."

• Last night news started to filter out about the Twins being in line to lock-up the 2014 MLB All-Star Game at Target Field. I threw together this logo in anticipation of the event:

• Nate Gilmore over at Puckett's Pond has been examining the Twins non-roster invitees to spring training. Here's his post on Minor League Player of the Year Brian Dozier.
• The Twins jumped on an international signing this week and here's what Baseball America had to say about Mauricio Silva.
• Baseball America's top Twins prospect list was also released. Miguel Sano is at the top but who else makes the list?
• MLB.com updated their top ten Twins prospects and there are some definite differences in the two lists.
• Speaking of prospects, the 2012 Twins Prospect Handbook will soon be available for pre-order. Make sure to check out Seth Stohs site for all of the details. Below you can see a preview of the cover put together by Josh Johnson.

• JC over at Knuckleballs joined the fun and posted his top 10 prospects in the Twins system. 
• Seedlings to Stars has been posting their lists of players that were snubbed from their top 100 prospect list. Here is a link to the AL Central version with a lot of Twins prospects. 
• Are you ready for spring training? Big League Stew posted the reporting dates for all 30 MLB teams.  
• If you watch Parks and Rec, you will love this list of players who would make it into Ron Swanson's Hall of Fame. 
• Who is the father of Twins mascot TC? Veteran fans of the Twins will be familiar with this character.
• Seth Stohs and Travis Aune had a great offseason edition of Twins Minor League Weekly. It is a 90-minute edition so make sure to listen back to the episode.
• Seth also made last weekends list of the Top 50 Must Follow Baseball Twitter Accounts as compiled by Top Prospect Alert.
• Andrew at Twins Fan From Afar examines the Twins starting rotation for 2012.
• 30 years ago this week, the Twins drafted a man by the name of Kirby Puckett. The franchise would never be the same...

My Weekly Rundown

• Monday: Morneau Chronicles: Ideal Results
• Morris falls short of induction
• Tuesday: Morneau Chronicles: Switching to DH
• Wednesday: Morneau Chronicles: Pushing for retirement
• Thursday: In pursuit of a white spherical object
• Target Field will host 2014 All-Star Game

Video of the Week: Jack Morris made a push closer to the HOF earlier this week. In this video in the MLB Network Studios, Morris discusses his career and the possibility of making the Hall in the future.