2016 Twins Opening Day Roster

This morning the Twins announced four moves, locking in their Opening Day roster for 2016. Barring another 12th hour gut punch in the mold of a starting pitcher getting suspended, this is how Minnesota will look as they head north.

Here's how that compares to Opening Day rosters for the Twins over the last five seasons:

40 and 25-man roster implications

The first thing to note is that there is no official long reliever on the roster. May has started and could no doubt go multiple innings, but traditionally the long role is given to a pitcher who will be expected, in most circumstances, to give the team three or four innings when the starter has given up a lot of early runs. This doesn't seem like the best use of May's abilities. Instead, Paul Molitor will have five relievers from which to patch together innings in order to get to Jepsen and, ultimately, Perkins.

In spite of not having a traditional fourth outfielder on the roster, the Twins do have a good deal of flexibility on the position player side of things. Santana appears to be transitioning into a super utility role, meaning that he, Rosario, and even Escobar could back up Buxton in a pinch. Outfield corner spots can be fielded by Arcia, Nunez, and of course Santana. Plouffe will be backed up by Sano, Santana, Nunez, and Escobar; Dozier by Santana, Nunez, and Escobar; Escobar by Santana and Nunez; Mauer by Park and Plouffe. If Molitor ever needs to shift things around, he has plenty of options.

Speaking of options: Tonkin, Santana and Arcia are out of them. If any of these players stumble for an extended period, the Twins either have to hang with them or risk them on waivers. Just because of the depth of the system, Tonkin might have the shortest leash and Santana the longest, but that's all guess work.

It's worth noting that the 40-man roster is full with the addition of Abad. This means that, aside from being limited on how the team addresses players who are out of options, it means that these are the players the club can freely call up when the need arises:

Starters: Tyler Duffey, Pat Dean, Alex Meyer, Taylor Rogers
Bullpen: J.T. Chargois, J.R. Graham, Mason Melotakis, Ryan O'Rourke
Catcher: John Hicks
Infield: Jorge Polanco, Kennys Vargas
Outfield: Max Kepler, Adam Brett Walker

That's a group of players who are very talented in their own right, and yes - I did exclude a couple of 40-man options who are definitely too raw to contribute in 2016.

How does the roster look to you?

A few notes...

• The longest tenured starters are Hughes, Gibson, and Nolasco, who have all been a part of the last three Opening Day Twins rosters.
• Dozier, Escobar, and Fien are making their fourth consecutive Opening Day rosters for the Twins.
• Plouffe is making his fifth roster in a row. Back in 2011, he made the Opening Day roster as the club's backup third baseman and corner outfielder.
• The last time Pressly made the Opening Day roster was in 2013, when he was a Rule 5 draft pick.
• Perkins is on his sixth consecutive Opening Day roster. The last time he didn't make the cut was 2010.