Twins set Opening Day Roster

With Opening Day coming later this week, the Twins gave us the news dump we’ve been waiting for: the final Opening Day roster.

The Highlights:

• Once again, the Twins elected to keep three players with catching experience on the roster, as we’ve often seen under this regime. While Astudillo has also played other positions in the past, I don’t foresee him being used anywhere else except in emergency situations with this roster.
• With the current group of five infielders, the Twins should have one of the best overall infields in the major leagues. It does remain to be seen how Polanco will fair in a large sample size at second base, however.
• Caleb Thielbar claimed the last spot on the roster, beating out Derek Law, who had a very good showing in Spring Training.
• Kyle Garlick rode a hot spring to a spot on the roster, beating out Brent Rooker for what will, presumably, be the righty half of a platoon role with lefty Jake Cave. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
• At a National League ballpark facing a lefty starter on Opening Day, here’s what the lineup could look like:

SP- Kenta Maeda

C- Mitch Garver/Ryan Jeffers (toss-up)

1B- Miguel Sano

2B- Jorge Polanco

3B- Josh Donaldson

SS- Andrelton Simmons

LF- Kyle Garlick (Luis Arraez would be a dark-horse candidate here)

CF- Byron Buxton

RF- Max Kepler

Keep an eye out for more analysis as Opening Day fast approaches. Go Twins!