Paulie 3k, meet LoMo.
That's the nickname first baseman and designated hitter Logan Morrison gave his new boss upon arriving in Fort Myers, Fla., for spring training.
Twins manager Paul Molitor, whose 3,119 career hits inspired the nickname, hadn't yet been introduced to Morrison when the newest member of the Twins hosted his initial press conference.
"I'm just going to be me. And I think if I'm me, we're going to have a lot of fun, we're going to win a lot of games, and if I'm DH-ing or playing first, whatever," Morrison told reporters.
So far, so good.
Morrison broke out last season, his second with the Tampa Bay Rays, hitting 38 home runs and finishing the season with a .246/.353/.516 slash and a .868 OPS.
There was a time when a 30-year-old's sudden ascension was cause for alarm, but the scouting report on Morrison checks out.
After hitting 84 home runs in seven seasons as a run-of-the-mill first baseman, Morrison embraced advanced stats. He altered his swing, adjusted his launch angle, upped his fly-ball rate and started murdering the ball. He started walking more, finishing eighth in the American League with 81, a figure that would have led the Twins.
Once a 22nd-round draft pick of the Miami Marlins back in 2005, Morrison was in-and-out of the minors until 2009, when he spent 62 games with the Marlins. He caught on full time in 2011, appearing in 123 games and hitting .247 with 23 home runs, a career high that would stand until last year.
The Marlins traded him to the Mariners in 2013, where he was reasonably productive, hitting .241/.307/.398 with 28 home runs in parts of two seasons.
The Mariners dealt him to the Rays in 2015, where he was a regular at first base, hitting .238/.319/.414 with 14 home runs before a wrist injury cut his season short in mid-September. He returned to the Rays on a one-year, $2.5 million contract a year later, when the breakout began.
Morrison elevated his launch angle from 12.1 degrees in 2016 to 17.4 degrees in 2017, developing an uppercut-like swing and hitting 38 home runs.
What does that sort of production cost you in 2018?
Just $6.5 million guaranteed.
That helps explain why, after upgrading their bullpen and starting rotation, the Twins opted to address a position that wasn't exactly a huge need coming into 2018. The Twins have plenty of bodies at both first and DH heading into the season, but none of them are likely to even approach 38 home runs.
The move could mean the end of Kennys Vargas' Twins career, while Robbie Grossman will also be hard pressed to earn DH opportunities with a guy like Morrison on the roster.
