Rounding Out the Twins Roster

Baseball's regular season starts in just a few weeks and the Twins, who entered spring training with only a few roster question marks, are in the final stages of determining who makes the 25-man roster. The team will almost certainly keep 12 pitchers, meaning there is room for the starting nine hitters and just four bats off the bench.  One of those bats will obviously be Jim Thome. Another will be whoever loses the third base competition between Nick Punto and Brendan Harris--right now it looks like it's Punto's job despite his sub-.200 batting average and Harris' .400 average this March. A third hitter will be the backup catcher, which will probably be Drew Butera until Jose Morales is ready to roll. That leaves only one bench spot.

As of this morning, the final spot on the pine appeared to belong to Alexi Casilla, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, because he is out of minor league options and, as manager Ron Gardenhire said, "If they're both about in the same place, it (lack of options) makes a huge difference because we don't want to lose Alexi Casilla." I hate to disagree with the skipper, but I fail to see the downside in losing Casilla.  Seriously, he wouldn't be a huge loss. However, the battle has not been decided yet and the struggling Matt Tolbert or even veteran outfielder Jacque Jones (who went yard today) could wind up with that final spot.

I think it will ultimately be a moot point because, barring injury, Casilla or Tolbert would be used for little more than pinch running duty (likely for Thome after he pinch hits) and Jones would only be used to spell one of the outfielders when they need a day off. Moreover, I suspect we're going to see third base prospect Danny Valencia in a Twins uniform by mid-season, meaning somebody will have to go.