Supplementary Daily Update

There is a wealth of information available in the latest Twins Notes posts on the Twins website, and I wanted to comment on a number of things. There are also some things I wanted to comment on that are unrelated to the Twins Notes article. As a result, I'm taking the somewhat unusual stop of posting a "supplement" to the notes that I wrote up regarding the game earlier today.

1.) Injuries are taking their toll on the Twins, and the Notes reveal that Alexi Casilla was added to the list of infielders who were unable to play in today's game. That list already included Luis Castillo, Alejandro Machado, Ken Harvey, and Jeff Cirillo - so the Twins are understandably concerned about their depth. With two games to play tomorrow, the Twins have asked Trevor Plouffe to join the team for a stint - my guess is he'll stick around Ft. Myers to play in the "B" game, and I'll also guess that Jeff Cirillo will stay there and play SS if he's healthy enough to play (simply because he doesn't have a lot of experience at the position). That would leave Jason Bartlett, Tommy Watkins, and Alexi Casilla (if he's feeling better) to travel to St. Petersburg to take on the D-Rays.

2.) Carlos Silva and Matt Garza are both scheduled to pitch tomorrow. Another week outing from Silva could legitimately open his spot in the rotation up to the general competition. Meanwhile, another strong outing from Garza would put him in the drivers seat for the fifth starter job. Incidentally, Sidney Ponson will also be making his first start of the Spring in the "B" game, so it's going to be an important day to monitor what's happening in the rotation.

3.) J.D. Durbin, who I would like to see make the team as the 7th reliever, will finally make his spring debut on Wednesday. If Durbin has a terrible spring, then it wouldn't make any sense to keep him - but I'm hoping that he's solid if not dazzling. Keeping him around in the "Willie Eyre" role would let the Twins evaluate him for another month or so in actual Major League games. If he fared poorly, he could be cut then.

4.) Jose Mijares is back in camp, but Dennys Reyes isn't - yet. The Twins should be back to full strength as soon as Reyes is back in camp - excepting injuries, of course.

5.) Minor League camp officially opens on March 8, and there's a good bet that the Twins spring roster could shrink by a few players on or around that day. As the starters are asked to throw more pitches the second and third time out, there will be less need for the guys with no shot to make the roster to stick around. My guess? Jose Mijares, Julio DePaula, Alexander Smit, Oswaldo Sosa, and Jeff Christy will all be heading over to the minor league camp by March 10.

6.) If you're curious about the relief pitcher rankings, I haven't forgotten about them. It's just going to take awhile to get them out. My week's are front-loaded, so by Wednesday night I'm usually free to work on big projects. That's the plan in this case - I won't work any more on that post until Wednesday night, and will hope to get it up by Friday afternoon at the latest.