North Dakota Preps

Well its getting to be that time of the year. Sounds like they nailed down their starting rotation today:

1. Liriano
2. Pavano
3. Duensing
4. Blackburn
5. Baker

This leaves slowey in the bullpen.

The lineup looks more like this:

1. Span
2. Nishioka
3. Mauer
4. Morneau
5. Kubel
6. Cuddyer (depending on his injury situation...could be Thome here also)
7. Delmon
8. Valencia
9. Casilla

Looks pretty solid. Which bench players and relievers are they keeping up? They gonna go with 13 pitchers or 13 position players? The 2 for sure bench players I know are Thome and Butera. Repko is the backup outfielder right and which utility infielders are they keeping up?

Ben Revere could be the backup outfielder instead of repko but not certain on that. and Capps and Nathan should be a good 1 2 punch at the end of the game this year. i am very excited for this year i love there lineup and i think they will do great this year

Well with one week to go until Opening Day

I'm going to assume that the roster will look something like this:

Starters
C - Mauer
1B - Morneau
2B - Nishioka
SS - Casilla
3B - Valencia
OF - Young
OF - Span
OF - Cuddyer
DH - Kubel

Bench
Thome (DH/1B)
Butera (C)
Repko (OF)
Hughes (2B)
Tolbert (3B/Util)

Pitchers
SP - Liriano
SP - Pavano
SP - Blackburn
SP - Baker
SP - Duensing

Relievers
Nathan
Capps
Slowey
Burnett
Manship

Looks like its 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

Run4Fun2009 wrote:Well with one week to go until Opening Day

I'm going to assume that the roster will look something like this:

Starters
C - Mauer
1B - Morneau
2B - Nishioka
SS - Casilla
3B - Valencia
OF - Young
OF - Span
OF - Cuddyer
DH - Kubel

Bench
Thome (DH/1B)
Butera (C)
Repko (OF)
Hughes (2B)
Tolbert (3B/Util)

Pitchers
SP - Liriano
SP - Pavano
SP - Blackburn
SP - Baker
SP - Duensing

Relievers
Nathan
Capps
Slowey
Burnett
Manship

Looks like its 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

Who is the 11th pithcer? You only have 10. I would say they would have 12 with Mijares and Perkins. They would have to drop either Tolbert or Hughes down to AAA but that wouldn't be bad. Personally I would keep Hughes up. He can play a lot of positions. Also Thome hasn't even had a glove in his locker for many years now. I doubt he plays any first base. haha

gobison#6 wrote:

Run4Fun2009 wrote:Well with one week to go until Opening Day

I'm going to assume that the roster will look something like this:

Starters
C - Mauer
1B - Morneau
2B - Nishioka
SS - Casilla
3B - Valencia
OF - Young
OF - Span
OF - Cuddyer
DH - Kubel

Bench
Thome (DH/1B)
Butera (C)
Repko (OF)
Hughes (2B)
Tolbert (3B/Util)

Pitchers
SP - Liriano
SP - Pavano
SP - Blackburn
SP - Baker
SP - Duensing

Relievers
Nathan
Capps
Slowey
Burnett
Manship
Mijares

Looks like its 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

Who is the 11th pithcer? You only have 10. I would say they would have 12 with Mijares and Perkins. They would have to drop either Tolbert or Hughes down to AAA but that wouldn't be bad. Personally I would keep Hughes up. He can play a lot of positions. Also Thome hasn't even had a glove in his locker for many years now. I doubt he plays any first base. haha

I missed Mijares on the Relievers list...and it has Thome as the 4th string 1st baseman (Kubel was listed 3rd behind Morneau and Cuddyer). I agree I could see Perkins being up and I could see Tolbert go down...Hughes has a little better bat and good speed and its not like he would be used everyday...just sparingly..I was just going off of what I heard through ESPN and the Star Tribune

Run4Fun2009 wrote:

gobison#6 wrote:

Run4Fun2009 wrote:Well with one week to go until Opening Day

I'm going to assume that the roster will look something like this:

Starters
C - Mauer
1B - Morneau
2B - Nishioka
SS - Casilla
3B - Valencia
OF - Young
OF - Span
OF - Cuddyer
DH - Kubel

Bench
Thome (DH/1B)
Butera (C)
Repko (OF)
Hughes (2B)
Tolbert (3B/Util)

Pitchers
SP - Liriano
SP - Pavano
SP - Blackburn
SP - Baker
SP - Duensing

Relievers
Nathan
Capps
Slowey
Burnett
Manship
Mijares

Looks like its 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

Who is the 11th pithcer? You only have 10. I would say they would have 12 with Mijares and Perkins. They would have to drop either Tolbert or Hughes down to AAA but that wouldn't be bad. Personally I would keep Hughes up. He can play a lot of positions. Also Thome hasn't even had a glove in his locker for many years now. I doubt he plays any first base. haha

I missed Mijares on the Relievers list...and it has Thome as the 4th string 1st baseman (Kubel was listed 3rd behind Morneau and Cuddyer). I agree I could see Perkins being up and I could see Tolbert go down...Hughes has a little better bat and good speed and its not like he would be used everyday...just sparingly..I was just going off of what I heard through ESPN and the Star Tribune

I find it funny that Kubel is higher than Thome on the depth chart at 1st ha. Hughes could even be ahead of him. It is sad that Thome doesn't even have a glove in his locker. I mean didn't he come up as a 3B/1B for Indians when he started playing?

gobison#6 wrote:

Run4Fun2009 wrote:

gobison#6 wrote:

Run4Fun2009 wrote:Well with one week to go until Opening Day

I'm going to assume that the roster will look something like this:

Starters
C - Mauer
1B - Morneau
2B - Nishioka
SS - Casilla
3B - Valencia
OF - Young
OF - Span
OF - Cuddyer
DH - Kubel

Bench
Thome (DH/1B)
Butera (C)
Repko (OF)
Hughes (2B)
Tolbert (3B/Util)

Pitchers
SP - Liriano
SP - Pavano
SP - Blackburn
SP - Baker
SP - Duensing

Relievers
Nathan
Capps
Slowey
Burnett
Manship
Mijares

Looks like its 14 position players and 11 pitchers.

Who is the 11th pithcer? You only have 10. I would say they would have 12 with Mijares and Perkins. They would have to drop either Tolbert or Hughes down to AAA but that wouldn't be bad. Personally I would keep Hughes up. He can play a lot of positions. Also Thome hasn't even had a glove in his locker for many years now. I doubt he plays any first base. haha

I missed Mijares on the Relievers list...and it has Thome as the 4th string 1st baseman (Kubel was listed 3rd behind Morneau and Cuddyer). I agree I could see Perkins being up and I could see Tolbert go down...Hughes has a little better bat and good speed and its not like he would be used everyday...just sparingly..I was just going off of what I heard through ESPN and the Star Tribune

I find it funny that Kubel is higher than Thome on the depth chart at 1st ha. Hughes could even be ahead of him. It is sad that Thome doesn't even have a glove in his locker. I mean didn't he come up as a 3B/1B for Indians when he started playing?

He's played 1st for the Indians and the Phillies

http://espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?pl ... t=fielding

Flip wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg2pnTdCz5A&feature=player_embedded

I love it!

im pretty sure they will keep perkins up becuz he is out of options so if he is sent down he goes through waivers and i think dusty hughes was acquired by the rule 5 draft so he cant be sent down so i would say manship and maybe burnett wouldnt be up

right now the depth chart according to twins official website looks like this
left field: Young and Repko Center field: Span and Repko Right field: Cuddyer and Repko
3rd Base:Valencia and Tolbert. SS:Casilla, Nishioka, and Tolbert. 2nd Base:Nishioka, Casilla, Tolbert.
1st Base: Morneau and Cuddyer. Catcher:Mauer and Butera.
DH: Thome and Kubel
Rotation: Pavano, Liriano, Blackburn, Duensing, Baker
Bullpen: Capps, Nathan, Mijares, Manship, Perkins, Slama, Diamond, Hughes, Slowey

Right now that is 28 players so my guess would be that Manship, Slama, and Luke Hughes would be sent down. And it is Diamond that they got from the Rule 5 Draft not Dusty Hughes

Burnett is optioned to Rochester, as is Revere. Revere needs to play every day, not be a 4th outfielder.

Scott Diamond is the guy that was a Rule 5 pickup from Atlanta. He's had blister problems on his finger and will probably start the season on the DL, which buys them time before they have to decide to keep him on the 25 man roster or let him go back to Atlanta.

They are keeping at least 12 pitchers:

Starters - Pavano, Liriano, Duensing, Blackburn, Baker
Relievers - Nathan, Capps, Slowey, Mijares, Hughes (unless he flops at the end of spring training), Perkins (as stated earlier, he's out of options), and either Manship or Hoey

Bench will be Repko, Butera, Thome, and Hughes and/or Tolbert.

So, there only real decision left is whether they need 8 relievers or 2 backup infielders.

Looks like Gardy thinks Nathan is good after sitting out last year from surgery. Named him closer. Just think Capps in the 8th and Nathan in the 9th. Deadly

gobison#6 wrote:Looks like Gardy thinks Nathan is good after sitting out last year from surgery. Named him closer. Just think Capps in the 8th and Nathan in the 9th. Deadly

Yeah let's hope the starters can go 7 innings so we can skip over the rest of the bullpen.

Pretty good guess on Opening Day roster

Starting lineup
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Tsuyoshi Nishioka, 2B
3. “Golden” Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Delmon Young, LF
6. Jason Kubel, DH
7. Michael Cuddyer, RF
8. Danny Valencia, 3B
9. Alexi Casilla, SS

Bench
Drew Butera, C
Jim Thome, DH
Matt Tolbert, IF
Jason Repko, OF

Rotation
Carl Pavano, RHP
Francisco Liriano, LHP
Brian Duensing, LHP
Nick Blackburn, RHP
Scott Baker, RHP

Bullpen
Joe Nathan, closer, RHP
Matt Capps, RHP
Jose Mijares, RHP
Dusty Hughes, LHP
Glen Perkins, LHP
Jeff Manship, RHP
Kevin Slowey, RHP

They should have a very good lineup. If Mourneau can stay healthy and Delmon has a year like last year, it will be one of the deepest in the league. I think the pitching staff will be alright even though I think that Slowey should be a starter over Baker and Blackburn. Pavano probably won't have a year like last year but Duensing and Liriano will each have better years which I think will compensate for that. I think the bullpen will be a major problem. Nathan is not the Nathan he used to be and is coming off an injury, Capps blew a few saves down the stretch last year and may be angry with the switch to a setup man. Slowey hasn't been in the bullpen for a long time and Perkins has struggled for a couple of years.

I think Slowey will find himself in the rotation by mid-May (June at the latest).

Run4Fun2009 wrote:I think Slowey will find himself in the rotation by mid-May (June at the latest).

are you looking for another Blackburn meltdown?

nodaker wrote:

Run4Fun2009 wrote:I think Slowey will find himself in the rotation by mid-May (June at the latest).

are you looking for another Blackburn meltdown?

I'm just not sold on Blackburn being a major league starter right now...I like Baker and Slowey as the #4 & #5 starters

Run4Fun2009 wrote:
I'm just not sold on Blackburn being a major league starter right now...

me either

This game is getting ugly. 5th inning and its 8 to 0. Wow. Not a good start to the year.

yeah rough start to the year...nothing has been impressive tonight

From what I actually watched, today wasn't any better.

The twins look like a bad National League team.