Nick Nelson

Likely Starter: Denard Span 2011 Stats: .264/.328/.359, 2 HR, 16 RBI, 37 R, 6/7 SB [ATTACH=CONFIG]407[/ATTACH] Potential Backups: Ben Revere, Joe Benson, Darin Mastroianni A good case can be made that during his first two seasons in the majors, Denard Span was not only one of the most underrated players on the Twins, but in all of baseball. Between 2008 and 2009, Span hit .305/.390/.422 with 41 steals and 63 extra-base hits in 238 games. A young, cost-controlled leadoff man with a .390 OBP, a bit of pop and the athleticism to competently play center field? That's not a solid contributor, that's a stud. Span's drop-off in 2010 was staggering. With Carlos Gomez gone, he assumed full-time duties in center and saw his OPS drop by 130 points, effectively dropping his designation from elite to ordinary. It appeared that Span had reemerged as a true asset at the top of the order last year, as he sat with a .300/.367/.392 hitting line on June 6, but that day he suffered a concussion in a home plate collision and he was never the same afterward. He went on to hit .132 over two stints in August and September, finishing with an OPS nearly identical to that mediocre 2010 campaign. Twins fans know all too well how long the after-effects of a concussion can linger, with Justin Morneau still not right 20 months after his incident in Toronto. Span carries his own concerns, especially in light of the migraine headaches he'd dealt with prior to being concussed, and he admitted recently that he still experiences the occasional bad day. Fortunately, the center fielder's performance in spring training thus far has done nothing but inspire confidence that he can shake off the injury concerns and return at least to the form he showed in the early months of last season. Through 11 exhibition games, Span is hitting .355. He's shown a great plate approach with four walks and only two strikeouts, he's been aggressive on the bases with five steal attempts, and he even came away from a wall collision in the outfield altogether unscathed. We often caution not to place too much stock in spring numbers, but Span's play in Ft. Myers has been about as encouraging as one could hope for. That doesn't mean he's out of the woods, of course. If the head problems become an issue again for Span, or if he suffers a different injury, the Twins will need to be prepared. In a short-term scenario, Ron Gardenhire could probably just shift a few players around and plug in someone like Rene Tosoni, Ryan Doumit or Darin Mastroianni. If the need is more long-term, it's likely that the Twins would call upon Joe Benson, a top prospect in the organization who – like Span – is having a very strong spring. Benson has posted an OPS above .800 in three straight minor-league seasons and got a taste of the majors last September. At age 24, he appears close to big-league ready. He leads the Twins with 10 RBI in Grapefruit League play after blasting a two-run homer against the Tigers yesterday. His high strikeout totals will be an ongoing concern, but his combination of patience, power and flat-out athleticism are quite intriguing. If Span or another outfielder goes down for a lengthy period of time and Benson continues to impress, it's likely that he'd get the call, either in center or in a corner spot with Revere shifting to the middle. He's one of the organization's only high-quality prospects in the upper levels of the minors, making the outfield an area of relative depth for the club. Of course, the Twins and Benson will both be better off if he's able to log some experience in Triple-A – where he's yet to take a single at-bat – and come up on his own terms rather than out of necessity. The hope is that Span can keep the bad days at bay and help facilitate that process. I'm optimistic that he will. Predicted 2012 Hitting Line for Span: .280/.350/.370, 4 HR, 50 RBI

Hughes doing exactly what the Twins need him to do. Coming up against a lefty with runners on base, taking a good at-bat and cranking one.

It's spring training. I think they'd rather have him catch the ball and move the game along. Good opportunity to test his arm anyway.

Solid first inning for Hendriks. Three ground balls and a weak fly out into foul territory. Great grab by Revere.

Sent back to the White Sox. No surprise there, as he's looked awful this spring. P-Mac had a jarring stat: Doyle induced 1 swinging strike on 83 pitches in his last two starts. Yuck. Too bad the Twins couldn't have put that No. 2 Rule 5 to better use, but oh well.

Televised on FSN! Twins lineup: CF Span SS Carroll 3B Valencia 1B Parmelee C Doumit DH Hughes RF Benson LF Revere 2B Casilla SP Hendriks

No reason to rush with him really. He'll be there if Carroll/Casilla get hurt or struggle, might as well get him some tread in Rochester.

Nice write-up, and I agree with your rankings. Burroughs hasn't done much to blow anyone away this spring, but he's been taking good at-bats and Gardenhire would love to have a guy who can come off the bench late and give a good professional AB.

This is the most silly and vague contest question I've ever heard. There are literally dozens of ways it could be answered correctly.

Hollimon has generally been quite a bit better against righties than lefties, especially when it comes to power.

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When the Twins signed Jason Marquis to a one-year, $3 million contract back in December, Terry Ryan offered this description: "He's a groundball machine and he throws the ball over the plate." That characterization was only partially accurate. While the sinker-balling right-hander has induced grounders at an extreme rate, painting him as a consistent strike-thrower never passed the sniff test. As Aaron Gleeman astutely noted when the Twins signed him, Marquis' career walk rate is identical to that of Francisco Liriano, who is no one's idea of a control artist. Sure enough, the 33-year-old's control problems have been on full display this spring. After an erratic outing today in which he walked two and hit a batter in four-plus innings, Marquis leads the Twins with nine walks (against only five strikeouts) and three wild pitches in 12 2/3 frames, contributing to an ugly 8.53 ERA. When he stumbled in his Twins debut, the hope was that Marquis would rebound rapidly and start to settle in as March progressed. Unfortunately, we haven't seen that. He's routinely falling behind hitters, resulting in multiple walks in every start and tons of hits allowed. Through four turns, Marquis owns a 2.21 WHIP and still hasn't been able to record an out in the fifth inning. He's well behind where he needs to be at this point and the coaching staff has to be growing concerned. With three weeks left to go until Opening Day, he's going to need to work closely with Rick Anderson to get the command issues sorted out. [ATTACH=CONFIG]352[/ATTACH]

We'll see how Hollimon's playing time changes after this move. Thus far he's only gotten 15 AB all spring and I think he's only started once or twice -- that's just not the treatment you give to a guy you're taking a hard look at for a roster spot. I maintain that the Twins might not take a true "utility guy" north. They've got some guys who can back up SS in a pinch, and could call someone up quickly in the event of an injury.

Heck yeah. He came close several times last year -- gotta happen. Good question, and I don't really have a specific answer in mind. If he could get to .700 (which seems feasible with a .350 OBP and SLG) I think he'd a be a serviceable starter. In order to take a walk, you need pitchers to throw the ball outside of the zone. How many guys are going to be afraid to throw it over the plate with three balls to a guy who can't hit it over the outfielders' heads?

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Likely Starter: Ben Revere 2011 Stats: .267/.310/.309, 0 HR, 30 RBI, 56 R, 34/43 SB [ATTACH=CONFIG]346[/ATTACH] Potential Backups: Trevor Plouffe, Darin Mastroianni, Brian Dinkelman Last year the Twins were the least effective team in all of baseball at converting batted balls into outs. With a pitching staff that allows a ton of contact, that's an enormously troubling statistic. Lining up Ben Revere as the regular left fielder should certainly benefit the Twins on the defensive front. He and Denard Span can team up to track down almost everything hit in the air to the left side of Target Field's spacious outfield. But how much are the Twins giving up offensively by going with Revere as their starter in left? And if he doesn't start reaching base with greater frequency, how long will his leash be? I've seen plenty of skepticism regarding Revere's long-term outlook, and it's not hard to see why. Lacking power, patience and arm strength, his skill set is clearly limiting – particularly for a corner outfielder, which is what he'll be as long as Span is holding down center. Yet, I'm pretty bullish on Revere, for a number of reasons. While his weaknesses are well established, he also has some promising strengths. He's a contact hitter who gets out of the box and down the line with extreme quickness, and he is blazing fast. He set a Twins rookie record with 34 stolen bases last year, and his range in the outfield is truly spectacular. At 23, I think he still has room to grow. Even if he's one of the best defensive left fielders in the league, the .619 OPS that Revere posted in 2011 simply won't cut it. He needs to elevate that number, and since he's not likely to start drawing walks or racking up extra-base hits, he'll need to do it by significantly improving his batting average. He can help himself in that area by lifting the ball more (his 68.5 percent ground ball rate led the Twins last year) and bunting for hits (he's only attempted 16 career bunts). The alternative to Revere in left, when the Twins face a tough lefty or when Ron Gardenhire wants more offense, will be Trevor Plouffe. A first-round draft pick back in 2004, Plouffe had a breakout season in the minors last year, posting a 1.019 OPS in Rochester, and he showed decent pop during his time in the majors with 27 extra-base hits in 320 plate appearances. Defensively Plouffe is a major question mark, given that he'd never played in the outfield prior to 2011, and his bat is hardly a proven commodity. He does offer some interesting offensive upside, though, and at the very least he's a nice guy to have around as a pseudo-platoon partner for Revere. I'm probably higher than most on both Plouffe and Revere, but there's no denying the fact that one is a converted shortstop who never hit much prior to last year and one profiles as a prototypical fourth outfielder. It's difficult to envision left field as a major strength between these two, but both are young players who offer very different benefits and I'm fairly intrigued to see how this little experiment will turn out. Predicted 2012 Hitting Line for Revere: .280/.330/.340, 1 HR, 30 RBI

Most likely scouts or front office people. Buster Olney is a veteran national reporter, I doubt he uses "bloggers who like to watch spring training" as sources. Or Twins sources just aren't saying anything about the situation publicly, which would make sense.

If it's considered to be a short-term thing, I just can't see them going with Hendriks, even though he might be the best choice. Duensing or Swarzak seem far more likely, since the Twins see them as swing men.

I agree. He had his struggles there last season, especially early on, but he actually has the physical skills to play the position which is more than can be said about most of the alternatives. I'm referring to professional talent evaluators more than bloggers and fans. A guy's teammates aren't exactly the most objective source of information either.

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