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As of yesterday, the Minnesota Twins and the Rochester Red Wings unveiled who would be starting the season at triple-A. A few names you could quite easily guess, and there might be a name or two missing. Here's how their roster looks as the season opens.
Pos | Player | Pos | Player |
C | Drew Butera | RHP | Sam Deduno |
C | Rene Rivera | RHP | Cole DeVries |
C | J.R. Towles | LHP | Scott Diamond |
IF | Aaron Bates | RHP | Casey Fien |
IF | Ray Chang | RHP | Carlos Gutierrez |
IF | Brian Dozier | RHP | Jeff Manship |
IF | Michael Hollimon | LHP | Tyler Robertson |
IF | Tsuyoshi Nishioka | RHP | Anthony Slama |
IF | Matt Rizzotti | RHP | Daryl Thompson |
OF | Joe Benson | RHP | Esmerling Vasquez |
OF | Matt Carson | RHP | P.J. Walters |
OF | Brian Dinkelman | RHP | Brendan Wise |
OF | Rene Tosoni |
Who's Missing?
Darin Mastroianni - With his defensive versatility, his speed, his on-base skills, and the fact that he's on the 40-man roster, I kind of assumed he'd be a sure shot.
Lester Oliveros - Aside for Mastroianni and Deolis Guerra, Oliveros is the only other player on the 40-man roster who isn't at Triple-A or the Majors. Most people thought he has a pretty good chance to break camp with the Twins this spring as one of their right-handed relievers. But he's starting the season in Double-A? That counds as a surprise.
Pedro Florimon - Okay, this may have been a bigger surprise a couple of months ago, before Nishioka, Hollimon and Rizzotti essentially claimed spots. Florimon was on the 40-man roster when he initially came into the organization last winter, but even though he was eventually removed it's interesting to note he's really not in the organization's view at all in terms of infield depth.
Phil Dumatrait - The team really liked him last year and stuck with him in spite of his underwhelming peripherals. He was brought back again this season, but seems to have been passed on the southpaw reliever depth chart. In fact - is he even still under contract with the organization? I can't find that he's been released.