28 Players, 28 Projections

Happy Twins Opening Day to all of you!! After a disappointing 2011 season, a long, cold offseason, here we are. Opening Day! It's a great feeling as a fan. I can only imagine what's going through the minds of the players who will be making their first Opening Day roster. Guys like Trevor Plouffe, Luke Hughes and Liam Hendriks have never experienced what they will today (or Monday at Target Field, for that matter).

The Twins 25-man roster is set. Kyle Waldrop and Scott Baker are on the Disabled List, and Jason Marquis is in New Britain for a couple of starts.

28 Players. 28 Projections.

[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

If there is one over-riding theme for Opening Day, it's optimism. Or at least it should be. With that in mind, I'll give my predictions for each of the 28 players. Feel free to argue, dispute and add to this with thoughts, comments and predictions.

The Pitchers:

The key for any team is their pitching, so let's start there. It's impossible to predict wins and losses with any certainty, so I'll just give ERA, WHIP, and any other keys for a player.

Carl Pavano:

4.55 ERA, 1.44 WHIP... 195 innings... 3.9 K/9... 1.9 BB/9

Francisco Liriano:

3.31 ERA, 1.19 WHIP... 193 innings... 9.1 K/9... 3.1 BB/9

Nick Blackburn:

4.29 ERA, 1.38 WHIP... 200 innings... 4.9 K/9... 1.9 BB/9

Liam Hendriks:

3.94 ERA, 1.26 WHIP... 7.2 K/9... 2.1 BB/9

Scott Baker:

5.15 ERA, 1.52 WHIP... 6.8 K/9... 3.4 BB/9

Jason Marquis:

4.61 ERA, 1.46 WHIP... 4.6 K/9... 3.1 BB/9

Matt Capps:

3.08 ERA, 1.11 WHIP... 6.8 K/9... 2.1 BB/9 (28 Saves)

Glen Perkins:

2.42 ERA, 1.19 WHIP... 9.2 K/9... 2.6 BB/9 (8 Saves)

Jared Burton:

3.12 ERA, 1.23 WHIP... 6.2 K/9... 3.8 BB/9 (3 Saves)

Brian Duensing:

2.03 ERA, 1.29 WHIP... 7.1 K/9...2.1 BB/9

Anthony Swarzak:

4.53 ERA, 1.39 WHIP... 5.1 K/9...3.1 BB/9

Jeff Gray:

4.10 ERA, 1.31 WHIP... 4.4 K/9... 3.6 BB/9

Matt Maloney:

3.40 ERA, 1.20 WHIP... 7.1 K/9...2.7 BB/9

Alex Burnett:

If he gets to go to Rochester for 2-3 consecutive months, he can come back and be good. If he stays up all year, it could be scary again.

Kyle Waldrop:

3.55 ERA, 1.30 WHIP... 5.5 K/9... 2.5 BB/9

The Hitters:

Denard Span:

.290/.375/.445 (.820) - 28 doubles, 8 triples, 6 HR, 50 RBI, 31 SB

Jamey Carroll:

.275/.345/.325 (.670) - 16 doubles, 3 triples, 0 HR, 30 RBI, 8 SB

Joe Mauer:

.320/.395/.490 (.885) - 38 doubles, 1 triple, 11 HR, 82 RBI

Justin Morneau:

.275/.340/.445 (.785) - 24 doubles, 0 triples, 17 HR, 71 RBI

Josh Willingham:

.255/.340/.465 (.805) - 23 doubles, 0 triples, 27 HR, 88 RBI

Ryan Doumit:

.270/.335/.420 (.755) - 18 doubles, 0 triples, 11 HR, 55 RBI

Danny Valencia:

.285/.335/.460 (.795) - 32 doubles, 0 triples, 19 HR, 75 RBI

Chris Parmelee:

.260/.330/.380 (.710) - 18 doubles, 0 triples, 9 HR, 48 RBI

Alexi Casilla:

.255/.310/.345 (.655) - 16 doubles, 2 triples, 1 HR, 24 RBI, 14 SB

Trevor Plouffe:

.260/.315/.450 (.765) - 19 doubles, 1 triple, 11 HR, 42 RBI

Luke Hughes:

.245/.305/.390 (.695) - 15 doubles, 1 triple, 8 HR, 33 RBI

Ben Revere:

.290/.335/.350 (.685) - 9 doubles, 7 triples, 1 HR, 27 SB

Sean Burroughs:

.270/.315/.350 (.665) - 8 doubles, 1 triple, 2 HR

So, what do you think? Get your predictions into the comments. Who am I too high on? Who am I too low on? We can check back at the end of the year and see how these look!