The Twins are making news.

Joe Nathan signed a contract extension to stay with the Twins through 2011. We are more than a little surprised that the Twins would lock-up an elite closer like Nathan when they might not win more than 70 games this year, but we love the idea that Joe is still going to be the guy to shut down games in the new stadium.

In other Twins news – Carlos Gomez will hit leadoff and start the season as your everyday centerfielder. We find this to be even more shocking than the Nathan extension. Gomez is raw and is going to have a very hard time getting on base consistently this early in his career. Denard Span was probably a better short term answer, but the Twins no doubt felt a need to show they got something in return for Johan Santana and putting Gomez out in center allows then to – sort of – justify the trade.