Seth Stohs

Two weeks ago, I posted version 1.0 of the Roster Projections. As I sit in the Minneapolis airport, with just over an hour remaining before boarding, I thought version 2.0 would be good. I am excited to spend the next eight days in Ft. Myers and I definitely welcome and encourage people to send me questions or specifically any questions you would like me to ask players. Not a lot has changed in the two weeks as far as my projections. There may, in fact, be even more question marks. At this point, I don’t think any more players would be classified as a “given.” So, check out my new roster projection and thoughts, and then fill the comments with your thoughts. The players in red are players that I believe are givens to make the roster (obviously pending injury). Those in black are potentially up for grabs. Catchers (2): Kurt Suzuki, Eric Fryer To this point, I don’t think the catcher situation is any more clear. Suzuki still appears to be the favorite to start, and he will certainly make the Opening Day roster. Josmil Pinto is now playing and appears to be healthy, so he’s back in the mix. With him being 25 already and the fact that a catcher is not going to play every day anyway, I could see a scenario in which he makes the team and catches two or three times a week and DHs once or twice as well. He certainly would, or at least could, be a solid bat off of the bench when he doesn’t play. At this point, I still think it more likely that Eric Fryer or Chris Herrmann head north as the backup. Herrmann is left-handed and has versatility. Fryer is right-handed and has played a bit of outfield in the minor leagues as well. Infielders (5): Joe Mauer, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Pedro Florimon, Eduardo Escobar, No change here. The question seems to be whether or not Florimon will be ready for Opening Day. If he’s not, the question becomes what to do at shortstop and at utility infielder. We know that Escobar is out of options and is a given to make the roster. Would the Twins have him start if Florimon isn’t ready? If so, would they add Jason Bartlett, Doug Bernier or James Beresford to the 40 man roster for a couple weeks to serve as the utility infielder? I think if we know that it’s going to be a week or two that Florimon is out, the Twins would start the season with Danny Santana as their starting shortstop. He would know that no matter what, he would head down to Rochester when Florimon is ready to come off of the DL. He is on the 40 man roster, so that would be cleaner. Outfielders (6): Josh Willingham, Alex Presley, Oswaldo Arcia, Darin Mastroianni, Jason Kubel, Chris Parmelee I’m not changing my outfield projection at this point. Willingham remains the only given. I would like to think that Arcia is a given, but I just don’t know if that is true. I thought Jason Kubel was borderline given, based on him turning down an MLB deal with another team to sign a minor league deal with the Twins. However, as much as spring training numbers don’t mean a thing, he has looked lost at the plate to this point. Obviously a lot can change. My sense is that the centerfield decision is not as much of a given as I initially thought. I believe that Presley is the leading candidate, but I think that Aaron Hicks is going to get a real opportunity to win the job again. Presley is a given in that he is out of options and he would slot into the 4th outfielder job is he is not the starter. If Presley is the starter, Mastroianni likely remains the favorite to be the fourth outfielder although Wilkin Ramirez and Jermaine Mitchell are likely to stick in big league camp and be given plenty of opportunity to win a backup role. Chris Colabello would be a guy who would provide a lot of power from the right-side of the plate as you note that this is a left-handed heavy team. Chris Parmelee is out of options and is showing well in the early stages of big league camp. I think he’s nearly a given as well, but could he win the starting right field job from Arcia (which would push Arcia back to Rochester)? Starting Pitchers (5): Kevin Correia, Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes, Mike Pelfrey, Vance Worley No change at the top of the starting pitching ranks. The top four will be in the rotation to start the season, unless they are not healthy. The fifth starter job is still as much in the air as ever. Worley has been solid. Diamond had a good showing and then struggled on Monday night, though he didn’t get any defensive help. Deduno is working out of the bullpen to this point. He could be being eased back and monitored more closely after his shoulder surgery. Kyle Gibson has been good in his appearances. His wife will be having their first child in the next week, but he will continue to make his spring starts. I think he’s going to have to be a shut down pitcher to win a job, but I think he can be. Same thing with Alex Meyer, though based on his time missed a year ago, I think the odds are even less for him. Bullpen (7): Glen Perkins, Jared Burton, Brian Duensing, Casey Fien, Anthony Swarzak, Caleb Thielbar, Sam Deduno I believe that, barring injury or trade, the first five remain givens. The question becomes how the guys who are out of options affect the bullpen. As you can see, I now have Sam Deduno taking Ryan Pressly’s spot in the bullpen. He could pitch in long relief and Swarzak could be given some more high-leverage situations. I think that Caleb Thielbar will earn, or has earned, a job as well, but since he has two options remaining, he could be squeezed. I think that with all of the left-handers on the 40 man roster (plus Gilmartin and others), Diamond could be a trade candidate if the Twins can find a taker. What are your thoughts? What does your roster look like?

Major League spring training has been running for two weeks now. The team has played five games already (with four wins). Today (Tuesday), minor leaguers will need to report to Ft. Myers for the start of camp. They will undergo physicals on Wednesday, and their first official practice will on Thursday. 72 pitchers (25 left-handed) and 54 hitters who have not been at big league camp this year will be throwing bullpens, taking ground balls, shagging fly balls and taking some batting practice. Today, I want to give a bit of a spring training preview from the minor league perspective with some interesting things to look at. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] By early next week, the Twins will start sending some of the players from big league camp down to minor league camp. You may read the phrase, “Sending them across the parking lot.” If you have been to the Twins camp in Ft. Myers, the phrase makes sense. If not, the Twins minor league facilities are literally on the other side of a big parking lot, just a hundred yards or so from Hammond Stadium. After about four days of work- outs and practices, the minor league teams will start playing some games. The Rochester roster will play the New Britain roster. The Ft. Myers roster will play the Cedar Rapids roster. The teams will also play some games against affiliates from other organizations. As players are removed from big league camp, they’ll likely move to the Rochester roster and players there will move down to New Britain and so on until the last week in March when the affiliates' opening day rosters will be set and travel plans made. The Coaching Staffs Rochester: Gene Glynn (Mgr), Tim Doherty (hitting coach), Marty Mason (pitching coach) New Britain: Jeff Smith (Mgr), Chad Allen (hitting coach), Stu Cliburn (pitching coach) Ft. Myers: Doug Mientkiewicz (Mgr), Jim Dwyer (hitting coach), Gary Lucas (pitching coach) Cedar Rapids: Jake Mauer (Mgr), Tommy Watkins (hitting coach), Ivan Arteaga (pitching coach) Elizabethton: Ray Smith (Mgr), Henry Bonilla (pitching coach) GCL Twins: Ramon Borrega (Mgr), Riccardo Ingram & Rudy Hernandez (hitting coaches), Ehren Wassermann & Luis Ramirez (pitching coaches) The big change in the Twins minor league coaching staff is that Ivan Arteaga and Gary Lucas are switching levels this year. Lucas has been in the Midwest League for many years and he moves up to Ft. Myers. Arteaga has changed teams several times in the past few years. He will be tasked with working with some of the Twins' top pitching prospects in Cedar Rapids in 2014. For their Elizabethton rookie team the Twins will still need to hire a new hitting coach for 2014. Former big leaguer Jeff Reed had been the hitting coach for 12 years. Of course, since the Elizabethton season doesn’t start until mid-June, the Twins have some time to make that decision. Injury Update Top relief pitching prospect Zack Jones had successful surgery last Monday. Doctors had found an aneurysm in his shoulder which was cutting off circulation. He said he will not be able to start throwing for six or seven weeks, so his season will be delayed. JT Chargois had Tommy John surgery last September and will begin 2014 on the disabled list. The timing of his surgery is in line with that of Kyle Gibson's and Alex Wimmers'. If he maintains the same timeline, he could be throwing off of a mound by early June and possibly pitch some rehab games in the GCL in July. Adam Bryant continues to have problems with his toe. Nate Roberts has been running in Ft. Myers. I think we’re all hopeful that he can stay healthy. Alex Wimmers and Chris Mazza are already throwing bullpens in Ft. Myers. Position Changes Each year there are typically a couple of position changes. A year ago at this time, Tyler Grimes came to camp as a catcher after spending the first two years of his professional career as a middle infielder. This year, there are a couple of cases worth watching. Travis Harrison will be spending quite a bit of time in the outfield in 2014. He actually played quite a lot of outfield in summer ball during his prep years, but the Twins had him play third base since drafting him in 2011. He made some strides in 2013 in Cedar Rapids, and he will see time at third base in 2014, but he will also be playing a lot of outfield. Mike Kvasnicka has played a few different positions since the Astros drafted him in the first round out of the University of Minnesota. They tried him at third base, and behind the plate. Last year with Ft. Myers, he played in right field. He is going to get some time behind the plate again in 2014, though he will also play in the outfield. When the Twins drafted Dereck Rodriguez, they knew they had an intriguing prospect. The son of future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez is quite athletic. Because he has all of the five tools, the Twins played him in the outfield. Unfortunately, he was frequently injured and didn’t show a lot with the bat. Arguably his best tool is his arm. Because of that, there was always talk that he could be moved to pitcher. That transition began during the offseason in Puerto Rico and will go into full effect in 2014. Brad Steil begins his second season as the Twins Director of Minor League Operations. There is a lot of talent throughout the system, and the organization has been recognized by national sites as one of the best in baseball. Each affiliate will have several players with big league potential. As you know, each year, there will be a handful of prospects who will take big leaps forward. Who will those be this year? Twins Daily strives to be the best place on the internet for Minnesota Twins minor league information. As we have done in previous years, we will continue to post daily game updates and reports. We will attempt to stay ahead of any news and information throughout the system. Please let us know if there is any more information or storylines that you would like us to follow.