Nick Nelson

Without exception, each spot on a team's 25-man roster is important. In any given week, it is likely that every last one of those players will see action in a game. On a contending team, all 25 openings should ideally be filled by guys who can play a meaningful and valuable role. Those roster spots can also be used to protect assets. A rebuilding team might choose to put a Rule 5 pick in the last bullpen slot, or stash a project who's out of options at the end of the bench. What is puzzling is seeing a future-focused team such as the Twins using its 25-man roster spots in a way that could only be described as haphazard. In their ongoing mission to reassemble veterans who took part in their last successful run, the Twins have repeatedly cast aside young players with potential long-term value in order to roster aging players in decline. First, there was Jason Kubel, who essentially beat out Chris Parmelee despite a poor 2013 and a mostly unimpressive spring. In fairness, that move didn't work out too badly, as Parmelee slipped through waivers. Kubel made good on the decision with a fast start, but he has fallen apart at the plate (28 strikeouts in his last 63 plate appearances) while Parmelee is raking in Triple-A. It's not clear that the correct decision was made here, but it was understandable and nothing was hurt at the end of the day. Giving a roster spot to 34-year-old Jason Bartlett, under the pretense that he'd be an asset as a play-anywhere utilityman despite having no history of doing so (not to mention being a year removed from playing), was much harder to figure. That blunder did hurt. Bartlett looked terrible, got hurt and retired. In order to stage this fiasco, the Twins waived and lost Alex Presley, who -- while no great shakes -- happened to play at a position where Minnesota has turned out to be dreadfully thin. And so we all stared apprehensively at Matt Guerrier's opt-out date on the calendar. To be clear, I have nothing against Guerrier. I liked him when he was here, and he can probably be a perfectly decent middle reliever. But that's no given, considering he's 35, and is coming off a bad year, and wasn't particularly impressive during his warm-up stint in the minors. On Thursday, the Twins called up Guerrier to avoid having him opt out of his contract. To make room for him, they didn't need to waive anyone from the 25-man roster, but they did send down Logan Darnell after a strong debut, and they had to outright pitching prospect Brooks Raley, who was snatched up by the Angels. I'll be honest: I don't know much about Raley. I've maybe seen him pitch twice. I know he's a big, hard-throwing lefty with some control problems and mixed results in the minors. But I also know that he's a full decade younger than Guerrier, and that the Twins liked him enough to claim him just a few months ago. The signings of Kubel, Bartlett and Guerrier seemed fine during the offseason because there is no inherent risk in non-guaranteed minor-league deals. But when the Twins are exposing and losing young, cheap players left and right in order to give these guys chances, all the appeal is lost. If you're going to fill these spots with veterans, why screw around with reclamation projects? Why not spend the money to sign established quality players? This is what's frustrating about the Twins. In many respects, they still operate like a penny-pinching, cash-deficient franchise trying to uncover hidden values that have been overlooked by the rest of the league. Too often they've whiffed on these projects, and the upside -- now and going forward -- with a player like Guerrier isn't great enough to be dedicating playing time and a roster spot to him over younger players with real long-term upside. I have a hard time wrapping my head around what the vision is here.

He's at it again. Chris Parmelee's 2012 season could be looked at in two different ways. On the one hand, you had a rookie hitter who looked overwhelmed against major-league pitching. On the other hand, you had a 24-year-old absolutely demolishing in his first exposure to Triple-A pitching. He was far and away the best hitter in the International League that year. He followed up with a 2013 season that was simply a mess, both in the majors and the minors, and as a result he was outrighted from the 40-man roster this spring. He passed through waivers (somewhat surprisingly, from my view) and now he's back in Rochester. Once again he is looking fantastic at the plate. In 29 games for the Red Wings, Parmelee is hitting .327/.398/.589 with seven homers, seven doubles, 23 RBI and a solid 20/13 K/BB ratio. On Sunday he went 3-for-5 with two bombs and five RBI. He has a .939 lifetime OPS at the Triple-A level. He has mastered it. The problem is that he hasn't proven to be a good enough hitter in the majors. Since an impressive September call-up in 2011, Parmelee has hit .228/.302/.364 in 186 games with the Twins, and that's pretty terrible production for a guy who offers almost no defensive value. Because of the disparity between his numbers in Triple-A and the majors, many have branded Parmelee as a "AAAA player" -- a tweener who's too good for the minors but not quite good enough for the show. Maybe that's what he is, but it seems too soon to affix that label. Keep in mind: Parmelee is still only 26 years old. That's one year younger than Trevor Plouffe, who finally seems to be turning the corner now. And although he's been given several different opportunities with the Twins, Parmelee's MLB experience amounts to 631 plate appearances, which is barely more than one full season's worth. There's a saying that you don't know what you have in a player until he's reached the 1,000-AB threshold in the majors. Parmelee isn't close to that yet, and I'd say some extra patience is warranted in his case considering his age, his status as a former first-round pick and his domination at the highest level of the minors. It's too soon to give up on him being a useful piece. The problem, of course, is that there's no room for him on the major-league roster. The Twins already have Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel, Chris Colabello and Pinto occupying the DH/corner outfielder mix, with Oswaldo Arcia set to return shortly and Josh Willingham not far behind. If Mauer's back injury forces him to the disabled list, it's possible the Twins could bring Parmelee back into the fold. He probably wouldn't be in line for regular playing time, at least not right away, but he could be plugged in against some righties with the opportunity to earn a regular gig. That would be a very beneficial development for the Twins. At the end of the day, regardless of your feelings about Parmelee, he still probably has a better chance to be a long-term asset for this club than Colabello or Kubel. At a time when every decision ought to be made with the future in mind, at least to some extent, that needs to be a primary consideration. What do you think? What should the Twins do with Parmelee?

As April has shifted into May, the Minnesota offense has cooled off a bit but continues to get the job done. On Friday they were shut out for just the second time all year, but they bounced back to score 11 runs in a pair of wins on Saturday and Sunday. The series victory over the weekend brought the Twins back within a game of .500. The offense seems sustainably effective, with Joe Mauer starting to heat up, Oswaldo Arcia preparing to return and several other lineup fixtures continuing to look good. So the club's ability to stay around the .500 mark will probably hinge on the rotation's ability to deliver quality starts, as it did in all three games against the Orioles. There's much change afoot in the starting corps, so let's examine the state of the unit as we head into the second month. * Following another poor start on Thursday, the Twins finally made a move with Mike Pelfrey, placing the righty on the disabled list with a groin injury. Pelfrey said the ailment had nothing to do with his performance, and keeps insisting that there's nothing wrong with his arm, but I'm not buying that he's physically right. He has tallied more walks than strikeouts in four straight starts, and according to Mike Berardino, Pelfrey touched 91 on the radar only six times in his entire start Thursday; this is a guy who averaged more than 92 miles per hour on his heater last year, and is ostensibly supposed to be getting stronger as he moves away from Tommy John. I liked what I saw from Pelfrey in the second half last year, and held the somewhat unpopular opinion that his two-year deal signed during the offseason could turn out to be a decent value, but this year he has been a complete mess and not himself. Hopefully this time away helps him get straightened out so he can return and be an asset, whether in the rotation or bullpen. * Replacing Pelfrey in the starting five is a guy who probably should have been there all along: Samuel Deduno. He was the team's best starter last season and followed up with a brilliant spring, showing no ill effects from offseason shoulder surgery. But Deduno was on the outside looking in during the first five weeks, working in a mop-up relief role where his outstanding work (2.89 ERA with 18 K in 18 2/3 innings) was underutilized. Now that he's back where he belongs, let's see if Deduno can replicate or even improve on his success from a year ago. As you may recall, he joined the Twins rotation in late May of 2013 and put up a 3.17 ERA in his first 13 starts, completing six or more innings in all but two. His play took a turn for the worse in mid-to-late September, but it seems fair to assume the shoulder troubles may have contributed to that. Now Deduno is healthy and coming in with a head full of steam. Should be entertaining to watch. * Deduno is a fun story because he never really emerged as a top prospect and didn't get an extended look in the majors until he was 28, but has proven to be a late bloomer with unforeseen upside. Another guy currently playing in Triple-A is attempting to craft a similar story. After tossing a complete game shutout on Saturday, Yohan Pino is now 5-0 with a 0.84 ERA for the Rochester Red Wings. In 32 innings across seven appearances (three starts), Pino has a 31-to-7 K/BB ratio and has allowed only 15 hits. That's domination. A skinny right-hander, Pino was originally signed by the Twins out of Venezuela and was a solid performer in the system before being traded to Cleveland for Carl Pavano in '09. Pino has since bounced around among a few different organizations. He had a great showing last year while playing in Triple-A for the Reds, so the Twins brought him back during the offseason. He's not currently on the 40-man roster, but if he keeps pitching lights-out in Rochester the 30-year-old is bound to get a chance at making his major-league debut sometime this summer. He doesn't have a high ceiling but with his excellent control and decent stuff, he could make a positive impact. * While Pino is intriguing enough, Alex Meyer and Trevor May are clearly the starters in Triple-A with the best chance to be difference-makers for the Twins rotation. Both pitched over the weekend. May has been inconsistent for the Red Wings, but has looked terrific at times, including his latest start in which he struck out 11 over six innings while allowing only one walk and three hits. Meyer pitched Sunday and came back to Earth after back-to-back spectacular outings, failing to complete five innings. Both need to demonstrate more start-to-start consistency before they'll be in the mix for a call-up to the majors, and the Twins will probably take it extra slow with Meyer for various reasons (he's not on the 40-man, he's coming off an injury-shortened season, Super 2 arbitration status is a consideration), but each is pitching his way toward getting a chance sometime this season. That will keep the pressure on Kevin Correia to keep pitching like he did on Saturday -- as it should be. * Among the three free agent starters that the Twins signed this offseason, the one I was most optimistic about was Phil Hughes. His age, combined with the fact that he'd spent his entire career in a tough pitching environment, made it plausible that we hadn't yet seen him at his best. Everyone was buzzing about Hughes when I was down in spring training and it wasn't hard to see why. His pitches were hard and sharp and one sensed that if he could stay healthy and command his offerings, good things were in store. After six starts, Hughes has been pretty much everything I'd hoped. His control has been excellent and he has attacked the strike zone, even after some bad fortune early on (opponents hit an absurd .409 on balls in play in his first three starts). As that has begun to normalize, Hughes has quickly emerged as the team's best starter. In fact, he's head-and-shoulders above the rest. While an inability to last deep into games was one of the marks against him in New York, Hughes has completed at least five innings and kept his team in the game every time out, and that's not true for anyone else on the staff. Also, in a rotation where -- very disturbingly -- no other starter is averaging more than 4.7 K/9IP, Hughes is providing a much-needed change of pace at 7.6. He is striking out nearly five hitters for every one he walks; every other starter's ratio has been close to one to one (or in Pelfrey's case, tilted in the wrong direction). Simply put, Hughes has been everything the Twins need him to be, and there's no doubt that right now they're feeling pretty good about having the 27-year-old locked up for the next three years. ~~~ Sunday's win was big because it gave the Twins a series victory heading into a long and difficult road trip. It was also big because it gives YOU 50% off your order from PapaJohns.com on Monday with the promo code "TWINSWIN." By the way, we've been giving away tons of free pizzas on our Facebook and Twitter pages, and will continue to do so. Make sure you're following along for your chance at a free dinner, along with all sorts of other baseball goodness.

Although offense has hardly been a problem for the Twins here in the early going, finding a viable solution at shortstop remains a top-ranking priority for the long-term success of the club. It's one of the most important positions on the field and it's been a frustrating problem area for this franchise for many years. Rarely has the deficiency at short been more noticeable than it is now, with Pedro Florimon batting .115 and sporting a horrendous .366 OPS. At a position where the offensive expectations are relatively low, Florimon has been beyond inadequate. The lowest qualifying OPS for a shortstop is Zach Cozart's .473 in Cincinnati; that still beats Florimon's present mark by more than 100 points. No amount of defensive aptitude makes up for that kind of anemic production at the plate. The Twins need to upgrade. And what's most worrisome is that they don't really have any appealing replacement candidates lined up, now or in the remotely near future. Eduardo Nunez doesn't field well enough to be a regular MLB shortstop, especially on a contact-heavy staff that induces lots of ground balls. After a strong offensive showing in spring camp, the defensively erratic Danny Santana is hitting .268 with a sub-.700 OPS in Triple-A. Jorge Polanco, whose bat looks far more promising, is currently at Single-A and he has committed 11 errors in 21 games at short, suggesting that his glove is a long way from big-league ready (I still think he ends up at second). So if the Twins are truly interested in addressing their shortstop problem with authority, they need to look outside the organization. To that end, Stephen Drew has been a popular name. He's still sitting out there in free agency as clubs have scoffed at the idea of meeting his asking price while also giving up a high draft pick. Here's the problem with trying to sign Drew: either you try to make it happen now, which would require forfeiting a second-round pick in this June's draft, or you make a play for him after the draft, which would remove the pick compensation from the equation but would force you to compete with many other teams who will also be bidding more aggressively. And here's the bigger problem: it's not clear that Drew is all that good. Last year he was a solid offensive contributor, hitting .253/.333/.443 with 13 homers. Quality production from a shortstop, and perhaps quite enticing if you believe he'll match it year in and year out. But in the two seasons prior, Drew hit just .238/.313/.373 with 12 home runs total. He strikes out a ton. And he's already on the wrong side of 30. While he's almost certain to be an upgrade over Florimon, Drew doesn't strike me as being worthy of a sizable investment. So if you want to take the free agency approach, the alternative is to wait it out until the offseason. Try to find some workable stopgap for the rest of this year -- whether that's Santana, Nunez, Eduardo Escobar, or someone else -- and then put some of those hefty cash reserves to use. Who will be available? Let's take an early glance: Asdrubal Cabrera, CLE Cabrera hasn't been able to back up his breakout campaign in 2011, when he was an All-Star and Silver Slugger with 25 homers and 92 RBI. His numbers have sagged in each of the last two seasons and this year he has really struggled to get going. He also isn't considered a particularly great defender. However, he's still only 28, and even with his numbers dropping off in the past two campaigns he has still managed to total 30 homers with a .732 OPS that is perfectly solid for a shortstop. He's also almost certain to be available, since Cleveland will be transitioning to top prospect Francisco Lindor soon. In fact, if Lindor (currently in Double-A) forces the issue it's possible that the Twins could pull off a midseason trade for Cabrera and then work out an extension. Hanley Ramirez, LAD Here's an interesting name. Ramirez was one of the best hitters in the league last year and garnered MVP votes despite playing only 86 games. He's raking again here in April, with an .857 OPS and a league-leading 11 doubles. There were some reports earlier this spring that the Dodgers and Ramirez were talking extension but it's been all quiet since. If the 30-year-old does hit the market, he's sure to be very expensive but he has the potential to be an offensive centerpiece and one of the most dramatic upgrades imaginable. J.J. Hardy, BAL The Twins misguidedly dumped Hardy after the 2010 season because they wanted to change directions and go with Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who they felt better fit their shortstop mold. Hardy has since won two Gold Gloves and bashed 77 homers in three seasons with the Orioles. It was, without question, one of the most blatantly and inexcusably horrendous personnel decisions this organization has ever made, but there's no use dwelling on it. The question at this point is whether it would be worth exploring the idea of bringing Hardy back. The answer is probably not. He'll be 32 after this season and although his purported lack of traditional athleticism hasn't stopped him from being a high-end shortstop over the past three years, it might be a sign that he won't age particularly well. Plus, would Hardy really want to return to a team that clearly never valued him as they should have? Jed Lowrie, OAK Lowrie is currently making $5.25 million in his final year of arbitration, and is set to hit free agency for the first time in the offseason. He's been a very good hitter in each of the last two years and has looked phenomenal in the early weeks this season, with a .286/.423/.429 slash line that is driven in part by a 13/20 K/BB ratio. He's a switch-hitter with a consistently successful track record, and he's only 30. He's also highly unlikely to re-up in Oakland, with top prospect Addison Russell on the way and the A's typically averse to big-money deals. There are a few older and less interesting names slated to be available, such as Jimmy Rollins, Rafael Furcal and Mike Aviles, but those mentioned above are the ones worth focusing on. Assuming that those guys don't sign extensions, they'll comprise one of the more intriguing free agent shortstop crops in recent memory. With the Twins grasping for answers at the position, and likely to be working with an enormous cash surplus, the timing could hardly be better.

A right wrist injury that bothered Oswaldo Arcia late in the 2013 season flared up again earlier this month, causing the young outfielder to miss a couple weeks of action just as his season was getting started. Now, Arcia is by all accounts ready to put the wrist ailment behind him. He took batting practice on Target Field without incident Friday and then headed to Rochester, where he began his rehab assignment by going 3-for-3 as the DH on Saturday. He played six more innings Sunday. It looks like Arcia is almost ready to return. But are the Twins ready for him? The offense has been surprisingly productive in Arcia's absence, thanks in large part to contributions from Jason Kubel, Chris Colabello and Josmil Pinto. Those three have been regularly occupying the corner outfield and DH spots, leaving no obvious landing spot for Arcia when he comes off the disabled list. In the big picture, you can certainly argue that Arcia is more important to the team's offensive success than any of Kubel, Colabello and Pinto, but right now there is -- dare I say? -- a logjam of quality bats. Could the hard-swinging 22-year-old be left in Triple-A when he's activated from the DL? Arcia's emphatic reaction after a key late-game triple in the season-opening series against the White Sox will go down as one of the month's highlights, but he hadn't done much outside of that in early action. In 18 plate appearances, he had six strikeouts, one walk and two hits. That's obviously too small a sample to base much on, but he was swinging out of his shoes a bit, and now he's coming back from a prolonged absence, so the Twins might just want to see him demonstrate in Rochester for a while longer that he's got his timing and he has reined in his swing. He needs to be playing every day and right now that would be hard to accomplish without drastically altering a formula that's working in Minnesota. Josmil Pinto has been one of the team's best hitters and he should probably stick mostly at DH for now, since his defense has been erratic and Kurt Suzuki has been very good all-around behind the plate. Condensing Jason Kubel and Chris Colabello into a platoon in left field is an option. That would make sense for Kubel, who is characteristically struggling against southpaws with a .192 average, but Colabello has actually been better against righties, as is typical for him. Also, how do you demote a guy who has been as crucial to your offense -- and as unbelievably fun to watch -- as Colabello to a part-time role? The Twins essentially have to keeping riding him unless he cools off substantially. If one of the players currently in the mix gets hurt or hits a wall, or if Arcia rakes in Triple-A to a degree that it's no longer palatable to keep him there, a switch can be made quickly. Right now, the Twins are in a position where they can afford to be very patient with their uber-talented young slugger. One thing they cannot afford to do is put him back on the MLB roster if he won't be playing almost every day.

Despite the fact that more than half their games have been on the road and five of their seven series have been against clubs that finished with winning records last year, the Twins are above .500 after 21 games. They've managed to win despite starting pitching that has been astonishingly bad. Nearly everyone expected improvement from the rotation after large offseason investments were made, but so far the Twins have gotten a 5.91 ERA from their starters, a regression from last year's 5.26 mark. The key to the early success has been outscoring the opposition, specifically by getting on base more often. This was well exemplified in Thursday's series-clinching victory against the Rays. Three of the first five hitters to face Erik Bedard reached on a free pass, and all three ended up scoring to give Minnesota a lead it would never relinquish. As we approach the end of April, the Twins are leading the Majors in walks taken. This continues a shift toward increased plate patience that we've seen in the past few seasons. As you can see below, the lineup has been gradually reshaping its reputation. Here are their MLB ranks in walks since their postseason run began in 2002: 2002: 25th 2003: 20th 2004: 17th 2005: 19th 2006: 22nd 2007: 19th 2008: 22nd 2009: 12th 2010: 8th 2011: 27th 2012: 10th 2013: 7th 2014: 1st During their glory years, the Twins frequently had one of the better team batting averages in the league, but they almost always ranked in the bottom half in terms of walks. The lopsided philosophical emphasis on limiting walks for pitchers versus a lack of emphasis on drawing walks for hitters always seemed to represent a blatant contradiction in the coaching staff's approach. The Twins have always viewed the base on balls as a dangerous weapon for the opposing offense, but consistently failed to deploy it as a featured component of their own offensive attack. Now they are, and it's paying off. One of the central concepts in sabermetrics is that the most important aspect of scoring runs is getting on base. The Twins are reinforcing that now. They currently rank second in the American League in scoring despite ranking eighth in batting average and 10th in slugging. But thanks to their propensity for drawing the free pass, they lead the league in on-base percentage. The high volume of base runners has created plenty of opportunities to drive in runs. Obviously guys like Chris Colabello, who leads the AL in RBI, have been taking advantage, but as a team the Twins are hitting only .256 with runners in scoring position. The bottom line is that if you put enough men on base, you're going to score runs, even if your lineup lacks a bunch of dominant hitters. Is the increase in walks reflective of the Twins embracing this notion? Tom Brunansky, who took over as hitting coach last year, was a guy who relied on the free pass during his playing days, helping him put together an impressive career as a batsman despite a .245 lifetime average. When you consider that the Twins have had their two highest MLB ranks for walks in the last 13 years during Brunansky's two years as an instructor, it's hard to downplay his influence. That's especially true when you look at some of the specific examples. Trevor Plouffe, who has struggled with plate discipline for most of his career in the Majors (and Minors, for that matter) has 14 walks in 21 games and a .412 OBP. Brian Dozier had a 7 percent BB rate during his first two years with the Twins; he's at 16 percent early this season. Perhaps the most noteworthy is Josmil Pinto, a rookie who entered this season with only 40 games played above Double-A. He's drawn walks in nearly a quarter of his trips to the plate (22.5 percent), which not only gives him the team lead but ranks second in the majors behind Jose Bautista. As spring came to a close, it was clear that the Twins weren't going to dominate offensively based on talent alone. Under such circumstances, a good team with smart coaches alters its overall approach to gain advantages in other ways. That's what we've seen from the Twins. Brunansky, the rest of the coaches and certainly the hitters themselves deserve a lot of credit for that. Hopefully they can continue to utilize that edge this weekend against the Tigers, who (somewhat surprisingly) have the fourth fewest walks of any AL team.