After the moves that the Twins have made over the last few days, it looks like the team heading north is complete. Barring injuries or some other transaction this week, how does the roster sit? Let's take a look.
Pos | Starting 9 | Pos | Bench | |
C | Joe Mauer | C | Drew Butera | |
1B | Justin Morneau | IF | Matt Tolbert | |
2B | Tsuyoshi Nishioka | OF | Jason Repko | |
3B | Danny Valencia | DH | Jim Thome | |
SS | Alexi Casilla | |||
LF | Delmon Young | |||
CF | Denard Span | |||
RF | Michael Cuddyer | |||
DH | Jason Kubel | |||
Pos | Rotation | Pos | Bullpen | |
SP | Francisco Liriano | RHP | Joe Nathan | |
SP | Carl Pavano | RHP | Matt Capps | |
SP | Brian Duensing | LHP | Jose Mijares | |
SP | Nick Blackburn | RHP | Kevin Slowey | |
SP | Scott Baker | LHP | Dusty Hughes | |
LHP | Glen Perkins | |||
RHP | Jeff Manship |
For position players, the only real question since Morneau came back was which guy would be the bench infielder: Matt Tolbert or Luke Hughes. I made a case for both players this spring, and honestly it's hard to say which guy I would have preferred at this point. Let's be honest: neither player will be so valuable (or not valuable) as to make a significant difference in the overall fortunes of the club. The only way that would have been possible would have been for one of them to pry the starting job away from Alexi Casilla or Tsuyoshi Nishioka...and that just wasn't going to happen barring an act of the baseball gods.
The real interest this spring has been the battles for the rotation and speculation over which arms would flesh out the last three or four spots in the bullpen. Personally I'm glad Kevin Slowey isn't going anywhere, because if he's healthy and the Twins keep him in that role I think he'll excel.
Scott Diamond was one of the final arms in the mix, but with the Twins already choosing to go with three lefties in relief (and Diamond not necessarily pitching all that well anyway) he has already passed through waivers. Now it's just a waiting game to see if the Twins and Braves can work out a deal that would allow Minnesota to assign him to Rochester. I expect the Twins will either send Atlanta a non-prospect or cash, and I'd be surprised if Minnesota would end up having to send him back.
For your reference, here's the opening day roster from last season.