John Bonnes

[CENTER][attachment=6983:3699.attach][I]The Twins Greatest All-Stars Countdown is sponsored by Wendy's[/I][/CENTER] Prior to being named to the American League's All-Star squad last month, Joe Mauer would not have ranked above our #5 choice, Tony Oliva, on this list. It's still a close call. Mauer is tied with Oliva with six All-Star game apperances and if Mauer gets a hit, he'll tie Tony O in that category, too. Mauer gets the edge because he accumulated a RBI (on a two-out hit, no less) and a run, neither of which Oliva was able to do. Mauer also has his four hits in just 11 at-bats while Oliva had nineteen to get his five hits. But the separator is games started: Mauer has started four game while Oliva only started three. Those four games ties Mauer with the other Twins catcher on this list, Earl Battey, but that's a little misleading. Battey started two of those All-Star games [I]in the same year[/I]. From 1959 to 1962, MLB held two All-Star games, adding a second one to raise money for the players' pension fund. Battey also didn't have particularly productive All-Star Game appearances... View full article

Aaron and John talk about Glen Perkins' contract extension, St. Patrick's Day craziness, what the plan is for Josmil Pinto and Aaron Hicks, unwanted apartment guests, drinking and eating at Mason's downtown, Ricky Nolasco starting Opening Day, running into KFAN producer Ryan Donaldson and his crew, waitresses in short shorts, out-of-options Twins, and getting too excited about spring training stats. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it atGleemanAndTheGeek.com.

[CENTER][attachment=6960:4221.attach] [I]~~~ Sponsored by [/I][URL="http://www.twinsdaily.com/"][I]Great Clips[/I][/URL][I] ~~~~[/I] [/CENTER] A seventeen year career that included pitching in 694 games with a career ERA of 3.37 – and the poor guy will always need to live down this disastrous haircut. Bob Miller came to the Twins just before the 1968 season. It was not a small deal. The Twins gave up two of their more reliable players – pitcher Jim “Mudcat” Grant and 1965 MVP award winner Zoila “Zorro” Versalles to acquire Miller, fellow reliever Ron Perranoski and aging catcher John Roseboro. Miller did his part to make the trade a success. In 1968 he worked exclusively out of the bullpen, posting a 2.74 ERA. The following year, new manager Billy Martin also had him start eleven games over the second half of the season. Despite his success patching up the starting rotation, the Twins moved Miller following the 1969 season for a more permanent solution. They traded Miller along with a package of players to the Cleveland Indians for starting pitcher Luis Tiant. Miller struggled that year and was traded two more times before he was released by the Cubs. He was never again as effective as he had been with the Twins, but kept pitching through 1974, eventually pitching for eleven different major league teams. View full article

[attachment=6957:4216.attach][FONT=arial]You're standing waiting to be chosen for kickball. Randy Stevens is picked first, of course, because everyone knows he's got a foot made half of lead, I swear to gawd, half-lead. Then Keith Miller is chosen, and then speedy Liz Oster, and then Tim and Chris and Pat and near the end, you.[/FONT] [FONT=arial]A lot of us know that feeling - the sense that people are misjudging you. That you're better than they think. That YOU, at least, believe. [/FONT][FONT=arial] Now imagine being picked 342nd.[/FONT] [FONT=arial]Jason Kubel doesn't need to imagine. He was chosen in the 12th round by the Twins in the 2000 draft out of high school. In the video above, Kubel reflected on his bounceback year with the Twins, why he came back to Minnesota and what it took to overcome the odds and have a successful major league career. [/FONT] View full article

[CENTER][FONT=arial][I]~~~ Sponsored by the Minnesota Lottery ~~~[/I] [/FONT][/CENTER] [FONT=arial] [/FONT][attachment=6956:4215.attach][FONT=arial]It may be the ultimate dream - the only way some of us will ever really compete in the big leagues: owning your own baseball team. Turns out, you don't need to win the [URL="http://mnlottery.com"]Mega Millions jackpot (currently at $400M)[/URL] to own your own professional baseball team. You can become a partial owner of a minor league team for as little as $100,000 [URL="http://www.thesportsadvisorygroup.com/teams-for-sale/"]according to the Sports Advisory Group[/URL]. If you don't play well with others, your very own minor league team can range from $20 million for a well-established AAA or AA team to as little as $250,000 for an independent minor league team. You can even stay close to home. [/FONT][FONT=arial]Apparently [URL="http://www.thesportsadvisorygroup.com/teams-for-sale/"]one of the Low A Midwest League teams, located mostly in Iowa and Wisconsin, is for sale[/URL]. Even closer to home is most of the Northwoods League, which has franchises in Alexandria, Willmar, St. Cloud, Mankato, Rochester, and Duluth. You don't even need to pay professional contracts to these guys: they feature college players performing for scouts and dozens of Major League players are alums, including[/FONT] View full article

That's a very interesting note. I'll look for that.

Bloggers and sabrmetricians are sometimes portrayed as treating players as tumbling dice. It's rhetoric meant to discredit and vilify, but it's not totally without merit. I know this because I think I'm about to treat Kyle Gibson and Chris Colabello as tumbling dice. Insiders (players, coaches, etc.) and outsiders (sabrmetrician, bloggers) have vastly different perspective on players and their development in two important ways. First, there is the matter of how much we value our projections. From the outside, we can talk of a player's development curve as an abstraction. We see him as a 22-year-old with an outstanding walk to strikeout ratio and we project him to become a different player four years from now. That projection is a range of possibilities, but it's a statistically backed range. We average them out and derive a destination. However, to the player in that development curve, and to the organization responsible for that development curve, there is no range. There is one spot: where he ends up. The range includes success and it includes failure and he can end up in either. That spot is everything. To them, the range means nothing. The average of that range certainly means nothing. So the first lesson is that player development curves, which are derived from watching groups of players, mean very little to the individual player or their organization. But there is a second and scarier aspect and that surrounds responsibility. We talk about these curves as if the player's progress along it is mandated from some higher forces. But the player and the organization can't count on that. They have to live it. They have to find their way through the obstacles, face the setbacks, make the adjustments. There are hundreds of games, thousands of repetitions, and uncounted adjustments for each player. These are what, when we add them all up, constitute improvement. They do not just happen. From the outside, we see a certain inevitability of improvement. But from the inside, improvement is far from inevitable. It is work and it is risk. However, there is value in being an outsider, too. There is an objectivity that can be lost while working one's way through the maze from the inside of the curve. Maybe some of those improvements, while not inevitable, are very likely. Maybe there are some basic aspects of being human that we eventually overcome. I'm hoping that is the case for Kyle Gibson and Chris Colabello. I talked to each earlier this week about their struggles after they were called up last year. From a distance, I wondered if Gibson thought his struggles were related to arm fatigue after coming back from Tommy John surgery. I wondered if the patience Colabello showed in a few games this week was due to some adjustments he's making in the batters box. They both said I was wrong. Instead, they both listed the same problem and that problem was far more basic and human: they had been nervous. Here's Gibson when I specifically asked him about wearing down at the end of the year. "No, I was just tense. I was not relaxed. I wasn't loose. And I wasn't very aggressive. I fell behind a lot of hitters and when you fall behind guys, big league hitters are pretty good. It makes a big difference. "Even in the starts when I struggled, the hitters who I got ahead of, they didn't really have too much success off of me. But I got behind a lot more hitters than I got ahead of. Getting myself in trouble was a lot of that. That's one thing I've worked on this offseason was being more aggressive and throwing more quality strikes. "I think some of it is confidence and some of it is just getting comfortable and getting used to your surroundings and playing in front of 30 or 35,000 fans every day. About seven or eight starts in, I realized I was gripping the death out of the ball or the life out of the ball. I wasn't relaxed and I wasn't loose. I'm just now figuring out how to transition that from the bullpens to the game because I've never had to really deal with that kind of adrenaline and excitement. I'm starting to get better at it, but it's still a process." This makes perfect sense. I KNOW I'd be nervous. So I wasn't too surprised when later that day Chris Colabello said something very similar. "I think it's a little bit of everything. In terms of just creating a mindset where you're relaxed, allowing yourself to remember how to slow the game down. I talk about that a lot. Last year, coming into this year, that was important to me. Obviously, having been around some guys here for a while now, getting a little bit more comfortable, and trying to know who I am, and them knowing who I am as well. It's more about approaching your at-bats with a little calm." Both players provide a perspective from inside the development curve. Anxiety is one of the challenges with which they have to wrestle. They feel like they're making progress with that. They feel like that progress is a big part of changing where they land on the development curve for the better. But from the outside, I don't know if I believe what the dice are telling me. I believe they are being totally honest. I know they have put a lot more thought into their development than I. I know they have a lot more data from which to base their conclusions. I believe that discomfort was a factor in their struggles. But ultimately, I still wonder if Colabello had trouble making adjustments to big league stuff because it's hard for 30-year-olds physiologically to make adjustments to big league stuff. And I wonder if Gibson wasn't as aggressive because he was getting hit when he was aggressive, and he was getting hit because his arm had been through a hell of a couple of years. It is also not surprising to me that neither player would concentrate on these factors because both are out of their control. Colabello cannot become 24. He can only approach each at-bat more mindfully, which he is demonstrating. Gibson couldn't do anything about what his arm has been through, other than resting it this offseason, which he did. The players don't care about those things for the same reason the bloggers and sabremetricians treat them as dice: you don't focus on on that which you cannot control. Both groups, inside and outside, look for truth based on their position in the curve. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in-between.

Well, that was brutal. Instead, let's focus on something else: tonight marked the start of the Twins second turn through the rotation, and their seventh spring training game. The roles for players are clearer as are the spring training battles. So what do several Twins positional hopefuls need to do to make it to Chicago for Opening day? THE LINEUP Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Kurt Suzuki, Alex Presley What the need to do: Stay healthy. Pedro Florimon What he needs to do: Get healthy. For what it's worth, he took grounders with the rest of the infielders today. He looks like he's getting close to returning. Jason Kubel What he needs to do: Stay healthy and show he's not completely done. He hasn't done the latter yet, but there's a lot of time. Oswaldo Arcia What he needs to do: Last week, I would have said just be normal. As in, don't struggle too much, don't get too angry, don't go to cray-cray. The job in right field is his job to lose, but he can lose it. (Boy, can he lose it.) That was last week. Today, I'm not so sure. If Arcia does NOT win that spot, he will not be on the bench. He'll be in AAA. That takes care of he starting nine. If the Twins carry 13 position players, which would seem likely, it leaves four spots. Interestingly, assistant GM Rob Antony wasn't committing to that yesterday, saying "it hasn't been determined." If they only carry three spots, those spots are going to a backup infielder, catcher and outfielder. More to the point - a backup shortstop, catcher and center fielder, since there is nobody in the starting nine that can back up those spots. Keeping that in mind, let's look at some other names: BACKUP INFIELDERS Eduardo Escobar What he needs to do: He's the default choice, because of his age and flexibility. Bartlett hasn't demonstrated that he can play third base, and the Twins haven't tried him there this year yet, either. Doug Bernier can play second base, shortstop and third base like Escobar, but he's also eight years older than him. Doug Bernier What he needs to do: Escobar would need to get hurt or do something else for the organization to completely lose confidence in him. Jason Bartlett What he needs to do: First, he needs the Twins to carry at least 13 position players because if he's the shortstop, the Twins are going to need to also bring up either Escobar, Bernier, Deibinson Romero or Brandon Waring to back up third base. However, He makes a somewhat intriguing 13th player in that he can be a backup infielder AND could theoretically be a bat off of the bench. It's not totally clear the 34-year-old can do either, but he might at least be able to get on base. He also looks pretty good as a possible substitution for Florimon late in the game. Chris Colabello What he needs to do: There might be a couple of ways he makes the team: At DH - He needs two of Kubel, Arcia and Parmelee to look very, very bad while he looks very, very good. Even then, I'm not sure it's enough. He likely needs two of them to be unable to play, frankly. He makes another interesting 13th man candidate. With as many left-handed bats as the Twins have, it makes sense to have a right-handed bat that they can plug in occasionally. To win that spot, he needs to look quite a bit more appetizing than Jason Bartlett and Wilkin Ramirez, who we'll get to in a second. James Beresford, Deibinson Romero, Brandon Waring, etc. What they need to do: There needs to be a series of small miracles. It was interesting that Bereford started tonight at second base when most of the other starters were going to be in the Opening Day lineup. Dozier got to sit because he made the long trip to Jupiter yesterday, but that doesn't explain why Escobar and Bernier weren't there. Beresford also played third base yesterday. He would likely be option C as the utility infielder. BACKUP OUTFIELDERS Darin Mastroianni What he needs to do: Ideally, he would show he still has the wheels, if not the instincts, to play center field. He would show he has the wheels to do something when he's on base. He would show that he can get on base. But he doesn't need to do any of these things. He just needs to play center field passably enough that nobody panics. The center field situation is petty dire until Hicks finds himself or Buxton charges up here. Mastroianni is the default fix for now. Wilkin Ramirez What he needs to do: Ramirez is an interesting contrast to Mastroianni. He's less of a center fielder, but more of a hitter. If Mastroianni can't outplay him defensively, he could theoretically be the backup "center fielder," though I'm not totally sure the Twins would want to do that to him. He did play several games there for the Twins last year. But Ramirez has another way to stick on the roster if Mastroianni beats him out. He could be the 13th man. He's right-handed, has some power and gives the Twins a fifth outfielder. His primary competition would be Colabello. Aaron Hicks What he needs to do: Defensively, he's superior to everyone on this list including the starter Alex Pressly. But the Twins would need to be desperately worried about Mastroianni's and Ramirez's defense to limit Hicks' playing time to that of a backup (or short-side of the platoon) in the majors. They have to want him playing every day in AAA. Chris Parmelee What he needs to do: Parmelee's best chance to make this roster is probably to beat out Kubel or Arcia at a spot in the lineup. It's not as far-fetched as I might have thought. Gardenhire has batted Parmelee higher in the lineup than Arcia and Kubel a couple of times. Tonight, Parmelee started in right field while Arica came off the bench. It's clear that Gardenhire has confidence in Paremelee - provided Parmelee has confidence in himself. "I don't worry about where I put him in the lineup," Gardy said after a recent game. "If he's confident, he can hit. It's all about a confident thing with him and not getting too deep into his own head and just going up there and swinging. When he does that, he's got no problems. And right now, he's not worried about a thing. He's just up there swinging. If we can keep that, we've got a good player." Parmelee has one other thing going for him: he's out of options. If he doesn't make the roster the Twins could lose him to another team, especially if he has a nice spring. He can't play center field, so his only other option is to be the 13th man. Even being out of options, that's an uphill battle because he bats left-handed and a right-handed hitter makes a lot more sense with this lineup. Perhaps if Ramirez is the right-handed center fielder, then maybe Parmelee would be an option. But maybe not even then. BACKUP CATCHERS This comes down to the Twins deciding which of three values do they want to embrace? Josmil Pinto Value = development. It's hard to tell if Pinto holds his own destiny in his hands this spring, but there is no doubt he does long-term. His goal right now is to show the Twins that he's ready, primarily defensively, or at least that he can continue to learn on the job from Suzuki. Even then they might want to keep him in AAA to play every day. I would think his odds go up if Kubel struggles, since Pinto could play there when he's not catching and learn defensively from Suzuki. If he does make it, he could also be the right-handed bench bat the Twins would like, which is a nice benefit. That might open a door for Bartlett (for another right-handed bat with defensive chops) or Parmelee (as a left-handed bat who is out of options) to be the 13th man. Eric Fryer Value = Veteran defense. On the one hand, they might think they already have this with Suzuki on the roster. On the other, I would never underestimate the Twins to value veterans who play strong defense. Chris Herrmann Value = Flexibility. If only he could also play center field. He can play first base or corner outfield, so keeping him opens the door to all kinds of mix and match possibilities with Bartlett, Colabello or Mastroianni and Ramirez as the 13th man. It would likely be bad news for Parmelee, because they would still need a right-handed bat. If I had to guess right now, I think I'd say that if Parmelee wins right field, the bench is Escobar, Mastroianni, Fryer and ... let's go with Bartlett. And if not, maybe they try to stash him as the 13th man.

Well, that was brutal. Instead, let's focus on something else: tonight marked the start of the Twins second turn through the rotation, and their seventh spring training game. The roles for players are clearer as are the spring training battles. So what do several Twins positional hopefuls need to do to make it to Chicago for Opening day? THE LINEUP Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham, Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, Kurt Suzuki, Alex Presley What the need to do: Stay healthy. Pedro Florimon What he needs to do: Get healthy. For what it's worth, he took grounders with the rest of the infielders today. He looks like he's getting close to returning. Jason Kubel What he needs to do: Stay healthy and show he's not completely done. He hasn't done the latter yet, but there's a lot of time. Oswaldo Arcia What he needs to do: Last week, I would have said just be normal. As in, don't struggle too much, don't get too angry, don't go to cray-cray. The job in right field is his job to lose, but he can lose it. (Boy, can he lose it.) That was last week. Today, I'm not so sure. If Arcia does NOT win that spot, he will not be on the bench. He'll be in AAA. That takes care of he starting nine. If the Twins carry 13 position players, which would seem likely, it leaves four spots. Interestingly, assistant GM Rob Antony wasn't committing to that yesterday, saying "it hasn't been determined." If they only carry three spots, those spots are going to a backup infielder, catcher and outfielder. More to the point - a backup shortstop, catcher and center fielder, since there is nobody in the starting nine that can back up those spots. Keeping that in mind, let's look at some other names: BACKUP INFIELDERS Eduardo Escobar What he needs to do: He's the default choice, because of his age and flexibility. Bartlett hasn't demonstrated that he can play third base, and the Twins haven't tried him there this year yet, either. Doug Bernier can play second base, shortstop and third base like Escobar, but he's also eight years older than him. Doug Bernier What he needs to do: Escobar would need to get hurt or do something else for the organization to completely lose confidence in him. Jason Bartlett What he needs to do: First, he needs the Twins to carry at least 13 position players because if he's the shortstop, the Twins are going to need to also bring up either Escobar, Bernier, Deibinson Romero or Brandon Waring to back up third base. However, He makes a somewhat intriguing 13th player in that he can be a backup infielder AND could theoretically be a bat off of the bench. It's not totally clear the 34-year-old can do either, but he might at least be able to get on base. He also looks pretty good as a possible substitution for Florimon late in the game. Chris Colabello What he needs to do: There might be a couple of ways he makes the team: At DH - He needs two of Kubel, Arcia and Parmelee to look very, very bad while he looks very, very good. Even then, I'm not sure it's enough. He likely needs two of them to be unable to play, frankly. He makes another interesting 13th man candidate. With as many left-handed bats as the Twins have, it makes sense to have a right-handed bat that they can plug in occasionally. To win that spot, he needs to look quite a bit more appetizing than Jason Bartlett and Wilkin Ramirez, who we'll get to in a second. James Beresford, Deibinson Romero, Brandon Waring, etc. What they need to do: There needs to be a series of small miracles. It was interesting that Bereford started tonight at second base when most of the other starters were going to be in the Opening Day lineup. Dozier got to sit because he made the long trip to Jupiter yesterday, but that doesn't explain why Escobar and Bernier weren't there. Beresford also played third base yesterday. He would likely be option C as the utility infielder. BACKUP OUTFIELDERS Darin Mastroianni What he needs to do: Ideally, he would show he still has the wheels, if not the instincts, to play center field. He would show he has the wheels to do something when he's on base. He would show that he can get on base. But he doesn't need to do any of these things. He just needs to play center field passably enough that nobody panics. The center field situation is petty dire until Hicks finds himself or Buxton charges up here. Mastroianni is the default fix for now. Wilkin Ramirez What he needs to do: Ramirez is an interesting contrast to Mastroianni. He's less of a center fielder, but more of a hitter. If Mastroianni can't outplay him defensively, he could theoretically be the backup "center fielder," though I'm not totally sure the Twins would want to do that to him. He did play several games there for the Twins last year. But Ramirez has another way to stick on the roster if Mastroianni beats him out. He could be the 13th man. He's right-handed, has some power and gives the Twins a fifth outfielder. His primary competition would be Colabello. Aaron Hicks What he needs to do: Defensively, he's superior to everyone on this list including the starter Alex Pressly. But the Twins would need to be desperately worried about Mastroianni's and Ramirez's defense to limit Hicks' playing time to that of a backup (or short-side of the platoon) in the majors. They have to want him playing every day in AAA. Chris Parmelee What he needs to do: Parmelee's best chance to make this roster is probably to beat out Kubel or Arcia at a spot in the lineup. It's not as far-fetched as I might have thought. Gardenhire has batted Parmelee higher in the lineup than Arcia and Kubel a couple of times. Tonight, Parmelee started in right field while Arica came off the bench. It's clear that Gardenhire has confidence in Paremelee - provided Parmelee has confidence in himself. "I don't worry about where I put him in the lineup," Gardy said after a recent game. "If he's confident, he can hit. It's all about a confident thing with him and not getting too deep into his own head and just going up there and swinging. When he does that, he's got no problems. And right now, he's not worried about a thing. He's just up there swinging. If we can keep that, we've got a good player." Parmelee has one other thing going for him: he's out of options. If he doesn't make the roster the Twins could lose him to another team, especially if he has a nice spring. He can't play center field, so his only other option is to be the 13th man. Even being out of options, that's an uphill battle because he bats left-handed and a right-handed hitter makes a lot more sense with this lineup. Perhaps if Ramirez is the right-handed center fielder, then maybe Parmelee would be an option. But maybe not even then. BACKUP CATCHERS This comes down to the Twins deciding which of three values do they want to embrace? Josmil Pinto Value = development. It's hard to tell if Pinto holds his own destiny in his hands this spring, but there is no doubt he does long-term. His goal right now is to show the Twins that he's ready, primarily defensively, or at least that he can continue to learn on the job from Suzuki. Even then they might want to keep him in AAA to play every day. I would think his odds go up if Kubel struggles, since Pinto could play there when he's not catching and learn defensively from Suzuki. If he does make it, he could also be the right-handed bench bat the Twins would like, which is a nice benefit. That might open a door for Bartlett (for another right-handed bat with defensive chops) or Parmelee (as a left-handed bat who is out of options) to be the 13th man. Eric Fryer Value = Veteran defense. On the one hand, they might think they already have this with Suzuki on the roster. On the other, I would never underestimate the Twins to value veterans who play strong defense. Chris Herrmann Value = Flexibility. If only he could also play center field. He can play first base or corner outfield, so keeping him opens the door to all kinds of mix and match possibilities with Bartlett, Colabello or Mastroianni and Ramirez as the 13th man. It would likely be bad news for Parmelee, because they would still need a right-handed bat. If I had to guess right now, I think I'd say that if Parmelee wins right field, the bench is Escobar, Mastroianni, Fryer and ... let's go with Bartlett. And if not, maybe they try to stash him as the 13th man.

Here's what you really need to know about this game: Jupiter, Florida, where the Marlins play, is a long three-plus hour bus trip from Fort Myers. The bus leaves at 7:30 in the morning. It gets back something like 8:00 that night. The Twins, like every other team, tries to protect their best (veteranish) players from this as best they can. (And in the Twins case, they had a split squad game yesterday, meaning that nearly every veteran also played yesterday.) There was even a question in the pregame press conference with manager Ron Gardenhire about whether it meant anything that a veteran (and a high-priced veteran, at that) like today's staring pitcher Phil Hughes, had to make this trip. Like whether the team was sending Phil Hughes a message by making him take that trip. Gardenhire - who does every road trip, including the split squad days, by the way - said that the Twins expect their players to be pretty businesslike. "They didn't have a choice," Gardenhire replied bluntly. "We try not to send veterans on long bus rides, but when it comes up your turn, and you're lining them up to start the season, sometimes you've just got to suck it up." Just so I'm clear, there is no indication that Hughes had any problem with this. He said after the game he came down the night before to prepare. Failure to Detonate The story of the game was supposed to be Byron Buxton's first start, but Buxton went 0 for 5. The only thing that he did to impress was almost beating out a routine grounder just because he's so crazy fast. But he was still out. That didn't stop the Buxton frenzy. Gardenhire was asked about Buxton several times before the game and again after the game. Assistant GM Rob Antony was asked about Buxton in a pregame press conference. Phil Hughes was asked about Buxton after Hughes' start. And Buxton had a throng of reporters waiting for him after he dressed. One question: "Were you safe on the grounder?" You know what this means? Nothing. Or at least not to Buxton and not to the Twins. All it means is that a lot of writers aren't going to get the compelling story they wanted to write and a of Twins fans aren't going to get the compelling story they wanted to read. I'm confident we'll all get through this rough spot. Lineup Notes I Sam Deduno pitched but not until the fifth inning. It was assumed that Deduno would be legitimately competing with Scott Diamond and Vance Worley for the last spot in the rotation. But Diamond started a game already, Worley started a game already - and Deduno didn't pitch until after Phil Hughes and Ryan Pressly? Really? For what it's worth, when I asked Gardenhire before the game if everything in Deduno's shoulder was OK, Gardenhire replied "Everything's been good. No problems whatsover." After the game, when we asked for an evaluation of Deduno's performance, Gardenhire restated their goals. "We just want to make sure he's healthy, get him through his innings, and as we go, we'll stretch him out and see where we go from there. Right now, it's all about the health part and get through his innings." In my mind, I don't think the Twins know if Deduno is healthy, or at least if he can get healthy. If that sounds Deduno is going to have trouble grabbing that fifth spot, I think you're right. Lineup Notes II Eduardo Escobar started at third base today. That is likely because of the long trip, but it's worth noting that everyone seems confident that Escobar can play third base. (In fact, according to Gardenhire, the Twins thought that was his best spot when he was with the White Sox.) With a limited roster, an infield backup player is likely going to need to be able to play second base, shortstop and third base. Escobar can. Doug Bernier can. Today James Bereford showed that he can. But it's not clear yet that Jason Bartlett can. If we don't see him at the hot corner within the next couple of days, I have to think the backup infielder spot is Escobar's to lose. Barlett's hopes hang on the Twins decision whether to carry a 13th position player or 13th pitcher. A Bright Spot Chris Colabello got on base three times today, including two walks. That's his fifth walk in five (shortened) games this season. Colabello has made some mechanical adjustment, but after the game, he wanted to talk about being more comfortable and less anxious than he was last year. "It's more about just approaching your at-bats with a little more calm."