Twins pitchers and catchers report to camp

Chief baseball officer Falvey outlines upcoming player meetings

February 14th, 2017

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Twins officially opened camp on Tuesday with all 37 pitchers and catchers reporting to the CenturyLink Sports Complex, although formal workouts don't begin until Wednesday.
Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey said the organization has been conducting meetings over the last two days leading up to the first workout, and that there haven't been any issues with players arriving late to camp. In fact, many position players are already working out at the complex, including Max Kepler, Byungho Park, Robbie Grossman and , even though the report date for the full squad isn't until Saturday.
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"We're good -- I haven't had any phone calls so everybody should be in town," Falvey said with a smile. "I haven't heard anything different."
Falvey spent the last two days conducting meetings with the organization's entire Major League staff, including coaches, trainers and strength coaches to make sure they're all on the same page. They went over all 62 players scheduled to be in Major League camp to get a feel for each player and how the roster could look come Opening Day. They'll shift to more of a pitching summit over the next week to bring together the organization's pitching coaches to get a feel for how to improve the pitching system-wide.
Falvey will also meet individually with each player in camp along with manager Paul Molitor and general manager Thad Levine. Falvey said it's to give the players a feel for what's expected from them this spring and this season, and a chance for a player's thoughts to be heard. The individual meetings, which are scheduled to last 10 to 15 minutes, are a new wrinkle brought over by Falvey, who also plans to have breakfast with Molitor each morning in the clubhouse.
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"I'm not sure how to compare it to how it's been in the past, but I'm a guy who looks to be around and accessible to the players and to the coaches daily," Falvey said. "I plan to be in the clubhouse quite a bit. Get breakfast with Paul, and be around the players."
Falvey, though, won't take center stage when the Twins host their first team-wide meeting on Sunday before the first full-squad workout. He said he'll leave it to Molitor to send a message to the players instead.
"I'm not much of a big speech guy," Falvey said. "We had our meetings as a staff and there were some opening remarks on how we want to operate, but with the players themselves, that's Paul's domain."
So while the Twins have more than 60 players in camp, Falvey said the Twins also might not be done, as they continue to look at pitching help. They've been rumored to be in the market for another bat, but Falvey essentially shot that down.
"I think we're probably more focused on the pitching side," Falvey said. "I think it would be unlikely [to sign a position player]. But anything can happen with waivers and things like that as other teams add guys. I wouldn't say impossible, but there are have been some non-roster guys we've been in contact with."