Twins Wrapping Up Grapefruit League

The Minnesota Twins will put the finishing touches on Grapefruit League play with split squad games against the Rays and Yankees Wednesday followed by one last game against their Fort Myers neighbors from Boston Thursday. Then it will be time to pack their bags and head north to the Twin Cities, as they christen Target Field with a pair of exhibition games against the Cardinals on Friday and Saturday.  As the clock winds down on another promising spring training, here are some news and notes from the Twins clubhouse:

In case you missed it, Francisco Liriano has been named the team's fifth starter. He easily won the competition by posting a 2.70 ERA, 30 strikeouts, and five walks in 20 innings of work this spring. Liriano will join Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Carl Pavano, and Nick Blackburn in the rotation and is relieved he will not be forced to take over the closer job vacated by the injured Joe Nathan, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Twins rotation stacks up with the White Sox as the best in the division. The Sox might have a better one-two punch at the top with Mark Buehrle and Jake Peavy, but I have my doubts about their fifth starter, journeyman Freddy Garcia.

Liriano's claim to the fifth starting job means that Glen Perkins was optioned back to Triple-A Rochester and Brian Duensing will move back to the bullpen, joining Jon Rauch, Jesse Crain, Pat Neshek, Matt Guerrier, Clay Condrey, and Jose Mijares. Now, there is a chance that Condrey may be forced to open the season on the disabled list because of weakness in his right shoulder. If that happens, the Twins will likely go with Ron Mahay to fill that final bullpen spot, according to Minneapolis Star Tribune Twins beat writer Joe Christensen. Speaking of the bullpen, here's some good perspective on the closer-by-committee approach the Twins plan to employ this season in the absence of Nathan, courtesy of Around the Majors.

The backup catcher to start the season will not be Jose Morales, since he was placed on the disabled list as expected. As we all know, the Twins will use Joe Mauer just about every day. However, he still needs to give his knees some occasional days off behind the dish. On those days, the light-hitting Drew Butera will be the one donning the tools of ignorance behind the plate. So why did Butera and his .174 spring batting average win the job over Wilson Ramos, who is one of the top catching prospects in baseball and added a bomb over the batter's eye in center field yesterday to complete his impressive spring with a .400 batting average? It's simple, really. The Twins want Ramos to play every day, and he won't get that chance for the next nine years in Minnesota...or until Mauer makes the switch to another position. My hunch is that any plans to acquire a new closer to replace Nathan may involve a trade of Ramos and/or Perkins, who can't be too happy with his demotion.

The Twins key bats have been en fuego for most of the spring. Mauer is hitting .429, Michael Cuddyer is hitting .458, Jason Kubel is hitting .327 with a team-high four home runs, Denard Span is hitting .310, J.J. Hardy is hitting .355, and Jim Thome is hitting .370. Then there's Justin Morneau, who takes a .171 batting average into the final three games of the spring. Morneau is understandably frustrated with his results (just ask the trash can he bashed over the weekend) but Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire doesn't seem too worried per today's Minneapolis Star Tribune.

That's all the Twins notes for now. I'll be heading to the Twins exhibition game against the Cardinals at Target Field on Friday and will have some more notes as well as some new photos (hopefully) of the stadium after that.