Minnesota Twins Opening Day Roster

at least offensively. Thome alone adds a lot of value in that sense.

I do think Gardy would have found a way to give Ramos more playing time, whether that meant Joe shiting to DH one more time a week or whether that meant Mauer being removed late in any blowout game, but ultimately it’s more important for Ramos to get a chance to see full-blown competition at AAA first. There’s no rush on him at this point, and his impact on this roster would have been minimal right now.

He did that a few times last year when it was Mauer on the bench (I even recall them sacrificing the DH so Mauer could come in as a defensive replacement), so he’s not completely averse to the idea.

Probably rooting for him harder than anyone else on this squad. Go get ’em, Pat.

Or did we just get the names of the 25 man, and assume they’re in these slots? Because if we just have the names, Harris could still be the opening day 3B.

Plug either guy in.

When Glen Perkins gets sent down, you know there were too many bodies for the number of spots available. Slama will see time this season eventually, or he’s just going to waste in AAA.

and said that right now he’s fine. He’ll have to “deal with it down the line”, but apparently Mijares is going to pitch today and doesn’t think it’s serious?

The Twins bench is already strapped—they can’t afford to hide the walking wounded like they did with Crede last season. And if the Twins won’t keep a guy like Crede, who has GG defense, then there’s really no reason to think they’d go after Blalock either.

I don’t think they are willing to spend anymore money. If they were, they would have found someone to replace Nathan by now I would think.

A .269/.329/.465 line would indeed be an upgrade, if Blalock actually had that ability – his offensive success was almost entirely a product of The Ballpark at Arlington. His career road line is .245/.300/.414, which is basically a less-powerful Joe Crede, only Crede is one of the best third basemen in the league while Blalock is a notorious defensive butcher.

Even if Blalock is healthy, I don’t believe he’s an upgrade over the incumbents – Punto provides better on-base skills (yes, at the expense of power, but I believe on-base is more important given the collection of boppers already in the lineup) and far superior defense, and Harris is marginally superior both offensively (again, because of on-base skills, although his career slugging isn’t that far behind Blalock’s road split) and defensively.

The Twins used something like 20 pitchers. Those that didn’t make the opening day roster almost certainly will get their shot sometime this year. Remember that Mijares didn’t make the trip north and Luis Ayala did. The Twins also had Craig Breslow on the team—how many remember that?

I know people are pumped about Ramos, but Butera should be just fine. At this point I’d definitely rather have him than Redmond.

There’s just nothing anyone can do about it. He’s done for the year.

I don’t think his loss alone will cost us more than three wins this year (that would be a lot for a 70 IP guy). That said, it has there will be a major perception issue if middle relief starts to struggle. Every blown lead has the potential to lead to teeth-gnashing. We blow leads every year (often before Nathan starts warming up) but I think there’s a possibility that this year the blown leads will require more explanation.

I guess we’ll see.

Denard knocked someone out.