Drtwins

I like Florimon, I feel a better option may be Escobar. Although they have both played well defensively, I will admit Florimon appears better on defense. I think Escobar's batting this spring has more than made up for Florimon being better on defense, but when Gardy makes up his mind before spring he doesn't change it, even if one player is outplaying the other in an "open competition."

I agree Correia would be 8th or 9th on my list of starters, I am taking price into consideration in my list though. If he was getting paid around 1 mil a season I could see him as the no 4 or 5 as I feel most of our pitchers are 4 or 5's. - Worley, Diamond, Pelfrey are easily ahead of Correia. - Hendriks (has done well at AAA and is younger) and Deduno (has shown he has good stuff and pitched well in majors and wbc) would be ahead of Correia. - DeVries is younger and at best could be a No 3 or 4 starter (200 innings type pitcher) but for a lot less money would be a better option. - Gibson would be a better option but coming off tommy john and no major league experience makes since for him to be in the minors - Heck since Blackburn was already getting paid big money and had solid no 5 numbers (4 - 4.5 era and 150+ innings) in 3 of the past 5 years I'd give him a chance if not injured over Correia for 4+ mil. (not suggesting blackburn should start either as more then 5 players are listed above) Also, have perdomo, meyers, and may in the next year or two

The whole Hicks has outplayed Mastro is a joke, unless you are basing your judgement solely on HR's. They have both played really well. Hicks may have a slight edge in the field with a little stronger arm, both have a quick first step and are fast. Mastro has a better batting avg., obp, and ops. Mastro has also drawn more walks in half the plate appearances, has struck out 10 less times in 23 less appearances, and leads in steals 6 to 2. In addition, mastro has been solid throughout spring even while missing a week with an injury. Hicks started off hot and has been slumping a little lately. As a leadoff hitter to this point Mastro looks like the better option. Potential and fan excitement I would agree with Hicks, but to this point who deserves it I would lean slightly towards Darin. Let Benson be the 4th OF and pinch hitter with power call Hicks up in May or June when someone gets hurt or is playing poorly.

Although I agree you can't argue with the price it will cost the Twins to have Florimon, "if he is as good defensively as we saw last year" he probably wouldn't be worth keeping on the roster. Comparing his fielding percent to other shortstops that played in at minimum 40 MLB games at short last year he ranked 38th out of 45. (Out of the same 45 players he only had a better batting avg. than 6 of them and OPS better than 5 of them) You may say well he got to more balls then other shortstops and those harder balls make for more errors, however, Florimon's dWAR was 1 which is consider to only be a below average starter/reserve quality defensive player.

I still don't understand why everyone says we don't need a 5th starter until the 10th? We need one on the 7th unless all of them are going to go 1 day short on rest from the 7th through the 10th as the 2nd is the only off day. April 1st: SP1 April 2nd: OFF April 3rd: SP2 April 4th: SP3 April 5th: SP4 April 6th: SP1 (on regular rest bc day off on the 2nd) April 7th: SP2 (on 3 days rest, 1 day short of regular rest) April 8th: SP3 (1 day short rest) April 9th: SP4 (1 day short rest) April 10th: SP1 (1 day short rest)

Most baseball fan’s favorite part of spring training is projecting your teams opening day roster. With new free agent acquisitions and minor leaguers with dreams of making it to the show, both players and fans are excited to get things going. Halfway through spring training do we really know more now than we did 3 weeks ago about projecting the opening day roster? With more rounds of cuts on the way and the possibility of signing another player, or two, there are a variety of opinions and here is mine: Starting Lineup: Aaron Hicks, CF Brian Dozier, 2B Joe Mauer, C Josh Willingham, LF Justin Morneau, 1B Ryan Doumit, DH Chris Parmelee, RF Trevor Plouffe, 3B Pedro Florimon, SS Nothing has changed since before camp began with the starting lineup from my perspective. In many opinions, including mine, Hicks has widened his lead for the starting center field position. However, he could still relinquish the position if Mastroianni finishes the spring strong and Hicks falls apart as Benson has done to this point. Keep in mind that if Hicks were to be demoted to AAA Rochester and didn’t make his debut until May it would save the Twins a year of service time. Other possible changes to the starting lineup could include Parmelee and Plouffe with their nagging injury situations as well as Dozier and Florimon with their inadequate hitting. Bench: Darin Mastroianni, OF Jamey Carroll, IF Eduardo Escobar, IF Chris Colabello, 1B What do you know I threw in a surprise, Colabello. With Gardenhire possible on his way out after this season it appears he may be pushing for a bat on the bench, Colabello could be just that. Batting .333 this spring with zero home runs, Colabello has taken off for Team Italia with a .429 avg, 2 HR, and a 1.324 OPS. Leading to speculation of possibly keeping an extra bat is Gardy trying to get Escobar time as an emergency third catcher, as he was in Chicago. If Colabello doesn’t make the roster as a strong bat off the bench I will go with the obvious assumption that Butera will be on the roster opening day. Carroll is his old durable self, solid in the field at multiple positions, capable at the plate, and won’t start because he is too valuable as a utility player. He will still play over a hundred games with Plouffe having nagging injuries, like last year, and Dozier and Florimon’s inconsistencies at the plate. Escobar is the wild card to me. I believe he still has the possibility to be the starter at 2nd or short with his slick fielding, and quite frankly he is actually hitting the ball (.367 avg.) compared to Dozier (.226) and Florimon (.222) who aren’t. Starting Rotation: Vance Worley Mike Pelfrey Kevin Correia Cole DeVries Samuel Deduno This is where most of you are going to think I’m crazy. The obvious starters are Worley, Pelfrey, and Correia. Diamond is not going to be ready for the start of the season. Some fans feel the Twins may start the year with a four-man rotation as they don’t necessarily need a 5th starter until April 7th, but with Pelfrey and Worley coming off injuries and unsure when Diamond will return I believe they will still go with five guys. Although not sexy options in many fans minds, DeVries and Deduno have looked better this spring than Hendriks and Gibson. Gibson will also be on an innings limit this season and would be better off starting the year in AAA where he can be limited (This would also keep him from acquiring service time and keep him under team control for an extra season). DeVries has pitched well this spring given up only 2 hits in 7 scoreless innings. Strictly from a numbers standpoint he was one of the most effective Twins starters last year as well with a 4.11 ERA (2nd among starters) and a 1.21 WHIP (1st). Deduno outperformed Hendriks at the major league level last year and looked good in his lone start this season in the WBC against Spain, pitching four shutout innings to go along with 5 strikeouts. Thursday will be a great test for Sameul pitching against Team USA. Finally, Diamond, when ready, will take over for whoever is less effective between the two. Bullpen: Glen Perkins Jared Burton Brian Duensing Alex Burnett Casey Fien Josh Roenicke Ryan Pressley Perkins, Burton, and Duensing are locks barring injury. Pressley has looked good and as a rule 5 draft pick would have to be sent back to the Red Sox if not on the roster (unless the twins traded for him). Roenicke has pitched solidly this spring and is out of options. The final bullpen spots are coming down to Alex Burnett (almost a lock before spring, not so sure now), Casey Fien, Tim Wood, and Anthony Swarzak. Burnett was solid for the Twins last year and I expect him to turn things around by the end of spring. Swarzak will probably start the season on the DL, or rehabbing in extended spring training (as will Rich Harden and Rafael Perez). Wood, who is out of options, may overtake Fien just because he has an option remaining. Although the first 3 weeks of spring training have made a few players standout, Aaron Hicks, and have made others fallout, Kyle Gibson, not much has been settled. The remaining 3 weeks are sure to have a more significant impact on the opening day roster as the players fighting for spots will see more time.

Most baseball fan’s favorite part of spring training is projecting your teams opening day roster. With new free agent acquisitions and minor leaguers with dreams of making it to the show, both players and fans are excited to get things going. Halfway through spring training do we really know more now than we did 3 weeks ago about projecting the opening day roster? With more rounds of cuts on the way and the possibility of signing another player, or two, there are a variety of opinions and here is mine: Starting Lineup: Aaron Hicks, CF Brian Dozier, 2B Joe Mauer, C Josh Willingham, LF Justin Morneau, 1B Ryan Doumit, DH Chris Parmelee, RF Trevor Plouffe, 3B Pedro Florimon, SS Nothing has changed since before camp began with the starting lineup from my perspective. In many opinions, including mine, Hicks has widened his lead for the starting center field position. However, he could still relinquish the position if Mastroianni finishes the spring strong and Hicks falls apart as Benson has done to this point. Keep in mind that if Hicks were to be demoted to AAA Rochester and didn’t make his debut until May it would save the Twins a year of service time. Other possible changes to the starting lineup could include Parmelee and Plouffe with their nagging injury situations as well as Dozier and Florimon with their inadequate hitting. Bench: Darin Mastroianni, OF Jamey Carroll, IF Eduardo Escobar, IF Chris Colabello, 1B What do you know I threw in a surprise, Colabello. With Gardenhire possible on his way out after this season it appears he may be pushing for a bat on the bench, Colabello could be just that. Batting .333 this spring with zero home runs, Colabello has taken off for Team Italia with a .429 avg, 2 HR, and a 1.324 OPS. Leading to speculation of possibly keeping an extra bat is Gardy trying to get Escobar time as an emergency third catcher, as he was in Chicago. If Colabello doesn’t make the roster as a strong bat off the bench I will go with the obvious assumption that Butera will be on the roster opening day. Carroll is his old durable self, solid in the field at multiple positions, capable at the plate, and won’t start because he is too valuable as a utility player. He will still play over a hundred games with Plouffe having nagging injuries, like last year, and Dozier and Florimon’s inconsistencies at the plate. Escobar is the wild card to me. I believe he still has the possibility to be the starter at 2nd or short with his slick fielding, and quite frankly he is actually hitting the ball (.367 avg.) compared to Dozier (.226) and Florimon (.222) who aren’t. Starting Rotation: Vance Worley Mike Pelfrey Kevin Correia Cole DeVries Samuel Deduno This is where most of you are going to think I’m crazy. The obvious starters are Worley, Pelfrey, and Correia. Diamond is not going to be ready for the start of the season. Some fans feel the Twins may start the year with a four-man rotation as they don’t necessarily need a 5th starter until April 7th, but with Pelfrey and Worley coming off injuries and unsure when Diamond will return I believe they will still go with five guys. Although not sexy options in many fans minds, DeVries and Deduno have looked better this spring than Hendriks and Gibson. Gibson will also be on an innings limit this season and would be better off starting the year in AAA where he can be limited (This would also keep him from acquiring service time and keep him under team control for an extra season). DeVries has pitched well this spring given up only 2 hits in 7 scoreless innings. Strictly from a numbers standpoint he was one of the most effective Twins starters last year as well with a 4.11 ERA (2nd among starters) and a 1.21 WHIP (1st). Deduno outperformed Hendriks at the major league level last year and looked good in his lone start this season in the WBC against Spain, pitching four shutout innings to go along with 5 strikeouts. Thursday will be a great test for Sameul pitching against Team USA. Finally, Diamond, when ready, will take over for whoever is less effective between the two. Bullpen: Glen Perkins Jared Burton Brian Duensing Alex Burnett Casey Fien Josh Roenicke Ryan Pressley Perkins, Burton, and Duensing are locks barring injury. Pressley has looked good and as a rule 5 draft pick would have to be sent back to the Red Sox if not on the roster (unless the twins traded for him). Roenicke has pitched solidly this spring and is out of options. The final bullpen spots are coming down to Alex Burnett (almost a lock before spring, not so sure now), Casey Fien, Tim Wood, and Anthony Swarzak. Burnett was solid for the Twins last year and I expect him to turn things around by the end of spring. Swarzak will probably start the season on the DL, or rehabbing in extended spring training (as will Rich Harden and Rafael Perez). Wood, who is out of options, may overtake Fien just because he has an option remaining. Although the first 3 weeks of spring training have made a few players standout, Aaron Hicks, and have made others fallout, Kyle Gibson, not much has been settled. The remaining 3 weeks are sure to have a more significant impact on the opening day roster as the players fighting for spots will see more time.

I agree with the starting predictions for the most part, baring any injuries Diamond, Worley, Correia, and Hendriks should start the season in the rotation. The fifth spot will go to someone that wasn't mentioned in the article Rich Harden. However, If he hasn't completely recovered from rotator cuff surgery or has any setbacks I hope Deduno can follow-up on his strong finish last season and win the final spot. By the time Pelfrey is ready to take a spot in the rotation (May/June) either Harden will be injured or Correia will have pitched so poorly they will move him to the bullpen. Gibson will be ready to start on the big league club around the all-star break taking the spot of whoever has been the least effective by the mid-summer classic. Post all-star game rotation: Diamond, Worley, Pelfrey, Gibson, Hendriks (Deduno would be the replacement if any of these pitchers are injured)