Spring Training Update: Day 5

There are some interesting stories coming out of Twins camp today that I'd like to expand on a bit as we reach reporting day for position players.

1.) Ramon Ortiz is in camp and will participate in workouts tomorrow. That should be enough time to get him ready to pitch in one of the first two games of the spring, on Wednesday or Thursday. I for one am particularly interested to see how Ortiz looks this spring, and whether Rick Anderson and the calming presence of Joe Mauer can help Ortiz find his slider and keep the ball in the ballpark.

2.) News out of Twins world is that Garrett Jones is being asked to concentrate on playing the outfield. This makes sense, because Jones wasn't going to displace Justin Morneau and crash the big league club, so adding the ability to play in the outfield would make him a little more likely to eventually get up to the big leagues. This also means that Doug Deeds and Ken Harvey will probably get the majority of playing time at 1B for Rochester this season, with Jones playing some in the outfield, some at DH, and possibly some at 1B. Jones, by the way, is entering his third and final option year - so he'd best learn how to play outfield quickly if he wants to have a chance to stay with the Twins next year.

3.) Sounds like J.D. Durbin looked good in his most recent bullpen session. That's good news, but we won't know much until he actually pitches in a game. When he'll be healthy enough to that is debatable, but it sounds like he's progressing quickly. Meanwhile, the only other injury situation in camp still seems to be Josh Rabe's back, which feels good enough that Rabe is going to start participating in workouts again tomorrow.

Those are the highlights for today - first full-squad workout is tomorrow, and the countdown to the first game of the spring is at just 5 days. I can't wait!