John Shipley, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. –
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Twins all but officially set their 25-man roster on Sunday, April 1, promoting Chris Parmelee from Class AA New Britain and naming infielder Sean Burroughs to his first Opening Day roster since 2005.
“We have a couple more paper moves,” general manager Terry Ryan said.
But those are technicalities relating to starters Scott Baker and Jason Marquis, both of whom will remain in Fort Myers when the team moves north for Friday’s season opening in Baltimore.
“We’ve got the 25 we’re comfortable with right now,” Ryan said.
In many ways, the 2012 team is similar to the one that won Central Division titles in 2009 and 2010, anchored by former AL MVPs Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau and featuring starters Baker,
Francisco Liriano and Nick Blackburn. In others ways, it’s very different, with eight members who didn’t play an inning for Minnesota last year and five who weren’t on the 2011 Opening Day roster.
The Twins started camp Feb. 18 with 67 players in major league camp.
“They’ve done a good job here; this camp has been pretty smooth,” Ryan said.
The roster is as follows:
— Catchers Mauer and Ryan Doumit
— Infielders Morneau, Parmelee, Alexi Casilla, Jamey Carroll, Danny Valencia, Sean Burroughs and Luke Hughes
— Outfielders Denard Span, Josh Willingham, Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere
— Starting pitchers Pavano, Liriano, Hendriks and Blackburn
— And relievers Matt Capps, Glen Perkins, Brian Duensing, Anthony Swarzak,
Matt Maloney, Jeff Gray, Jared Burton and Alex Burnett.
Parmelee, who started raising eyebrows with a September call-up last season, will play first base, while Morneau eases into his season as the designated hitter. Back from his second season-ending concussion in as many years, Morneau likely will return to the field at some point – he’ll have to play first in road interleague games – but for now is comfortable as a more-or-less full-time DH.
“Right now, he’s very happy with it; he’s comfortable with it,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He’s staying healthy, which is huge. He’s not diving around. He’s happy, and we want at-bats. But as we go along, eventually he’s going to have to play first base.”
Hendriks made the team as a spot starter, but Ryan said he will be given every opportunity to stay with the team. He’ll start Sunday’s game at Baltimore because Marquis has been with his family for the past few weeks while his youngest daughter recovers from a serious bicycle accident.
Baker (elbow) will be put on the disabled list Wednesday, when teams must submit their active rosters to Major League Baseball. Marquis likely will be placed on the league’s bereavement list, allowing the team to use his roster spot for three to seven days, though that hasn’t been decided.
“I don’t want to say anything until we get him here,” Ryan said. “It’s tough to see where he’s at. He keeps telling me he’s in good shape, he’s been throwing, he’s up to 90-some pitches. Well, that’s good and I’m glad to hear that, but until we see him throw, I think I’d just as soon see him throw. Otherwise, I think we’re out ahead of this thing too far. We just want to see where he’s at.”
