September 25, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer (7) during the game against the New York Yankees at Target Field. The Twins deafeated the Yankees 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

More than half of the Twins positional starters are basically set in stone, but we’ll take a look at the contenders where there is competition; many of the more interesting battles in camp will play out for backup spots as the spring progresses. And while even a strong camp will still mean relegation to the minors for a lot of these guys, they’ll be just an injury away from seeing time with the Twins at some point over the course of the season.

Today, we’ll start with the catchers, and move our way around the diamond over the course of Spring Training.

PROJECTED STARTER: Joe Mauer

After coming off an injury-plagued 2011, Baby Jesus played a smaller percentage of his games at catcher than in any previous season, and it led to career highs in games played and plate appearances. Mauer started just over half of his games at catcher–splitting the rest between first base and DH–and 2012 ended with Mauer battling for a batting title into the last few games of the season while leading the league in OBP. Mauer makes everyone around him in the batting order better, so look for this trend to continue in 2013, with the team’s backup and third catcher continuing to be of significant importance to the team. Mauer’s defense may be slipping somewhat, but it’s difficult to truly gauge how much of that is on Mauer’s shoulders and how much of it is on the pitching staff, as caught-stealing rates fell across the board for Twins backstops in 2012.

PROJECTED BACKUP: Ryan Doumit

The switch-hitting Doumit is good at the plate, and not so great behind it. He has the sort of defensive flexibility that manager Ron Gardenhire loves…although he doesn’t play any position on the field particularly well, and will serve as the team’s primary DH again this season. Still, the Twins feel he hits well enough to offset his defensive liabilities behind the plate, and not only did Doumit’s presence help keep Mauer in the lineup, but catching fewer games helped Doumit—who has his own history of injuries—stay healthy, too.

THIRD CATCHER: Drew Butera, Chris Herrmann

Butera is a horrendous hitter and a great defensive catcher; I’m not going into the numbers, but he hits like a pitcher…and in a single appearance last season, pitched like one, too. Both the Twins and the fans—and I assume Butera himself—know what he is as a player. There is certainly value in a backup catcher that can play high-caliber defense and call a solid game, and with Doumit on board, Butera had the fewest plate appearances of his career last season.

September 16, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins catcher Chris Herrmann (23) during the game against the Chicago White Sox at Target Field. The White Sox defeated the Twins 9-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Precipitated by injuries to Mauer and Doumit, Chris Herrmann was a late September call up last year after a solid campaign at AA New Britain. Herrmann has only been playing catcher since 2010, and while his defense behind the plate will need to improve, he did throw out 44 percent of base runners last year, so there’s a possibility that the Twins will find him a solid enough backstop to take on the role of third catcher, a position the Twins have traditionally demanded exceptional defense from. Herrmann is versatile enough to play the outfield, and beyond the injuries to Mauer and Doumit, the Twins may have given him a September call up in part to take an early look at him as competition for Butera this spring. At this point, however, he’s likely to start the year in AAA and be the first call up if an injury strikes. Looking forward, Herrmann’s defensive versatility will come in handy as the Twins start to craft a contender in the coming seasons.

LONG SHOTS

Josmil Pinto is the only other catcher on the 40-man, and his chances of heading north with the team are slim to nil. With so many pitchers in camp, the Twins are also bringing in non-roster invitees Eric Fryer, Kyle Knudson, Danny Lehmann and Dan Rohlfing.

CONCLUSION

Mauer and Doumit are set and, while Butera probably comes north as the third catcher, he may be facing his strongest competition in years for his roster spot.

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So as you can see, I expect Mauer to have another big year, though I think he’ll be putting in a lot of time at first base. I see Doumit playing a little less, with a bit less time at catcher and a bit less in the outfield with Parmelee taking that time, but about the same amount of time at DH. And I expect Chris Herrmann and Drew Butera to see about the same amount of time, with Butera getting his time at the start of the year and then Herrmann taking over the backup catcher role by the end of the year.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka looks like he is going to attack us with that bat. But that is not why he was cut today. Photo by Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Topping the news on this brand new week is the latest round of roster cuts. The list of cuts is dominated by one big name: Tsuyoshi Nishioka. As TWIT noted last Monday, Nishioka’s fielding was not quite up to snuff this spring. His hitting did not help, either, as he batted a subpar .240 in 25 Spring at bats. This is obviously a big setback for a player who generated so much excitement when he came to the Major Leagues last year, but it is the right move. Nishioka is a talented, athletic player who just needs to build confidence and work on his mechanics for awhile. I think a year at AAA is the right prescription for him, and I look forward to seeing what he learns by next spring.

Carlos Gutierrez, Rene Tosoni, Jason Bulger, Luis Perdomo, Daryl Thompson, Dan Rohlfing, Esmerling Vasquez, P.J. Walters, Chris Herrmann, Aaron Bates, and Wilkin Ramirez also got cut. Minnesota now has a leaner (meaner?) locker room, occupied by only 45 players. The non-roster invitee list, which Puckett’s Pond has been following very closely, is now down to 15 names.

The remaining Twins start their week with a game against the Red Sox today. Before the week is onver, they’ll also play the Orioles, Yankees, Rays, and Cardinals, and they’ll enjoy their only off-day of the Spring on Tuesday. But the highlight of the week will be Wednesday, when the Twins face off against the division-rival Tigers for the first and only time in 2012 Grapefruit League play.

Weekly Winners:

Twins Pitching. At first glance, it seems silly to congratulate the Twins’ pitchers when they allowed two blowout losses: an 8-2 stomping against Toronto and a 17-6 debacle against Pittsburgh. Dig a little deeper, though, and both of those were flukes. The Toronto game was marred by one bad inning from Francisco Liriano, who more than redeemed himself on Sunday. And the Pirates game just got off to a bad start, thanks to a 10 run first inning. Ignore those two games, and the Twins allowed just 11 runs in the other six games this week, culminating in yesterday’s one-hit gem. Also of note: Liam Hendriks silenced the Red Sox for three innings on Friday. The Australian prospect has not allowed a run in seven innings this spring.

Mike Hollimon. Hollimon has become a Puckett’s Pond favorite, and if he keeps up his hitting tear, he ought to become a Twins favorite as well. The infielder went 4-4 plus a walk on Saturday, and he ends the week with a stellar .533 batting average.

Weekly Weaklings:

Terry Doyle. The Twins’ Rule 5 pick just did not have it together in his start against the Pirates. It resulted in the aforementioned 10 run inning. The Twins obviously saw some potential in Doyle when they selected him, but his Grapefruit League performance makes it clear that he is not ready to stay on the Major League roster for a full season. Presumably, the reason the Twins have not cut him is that they are thinking about working out a trade with Chicago to keep him.

Jason Marquis. Marquis has been battered by opposing hitters so far, yielding 14 hits and seven walks in 8.2 innings. If we were to decide roster spots based on stats alone, we would have to axe Marquis and pencil in Hendriks at this point. But wait! If you look at Marquis’ history, it is perfectly normal for him to get knocked around in the spring. He has posted a spring ERA above 9.00 in two of his last three seasons, including 2009, when he had a  10.08 Spring ERA then went on to win 15 games with a 4.04 ERA at Coors Field in the regular season. Conversely, his ERA in the spring of 2006 was a dazzling 1.96; that year his regular season ERA ballooned to 6.02 for the Cardinals! In other words, when Marquis gives up a lot of hits and runs in Spring Training, it might actually be a good thing.