As expected, Joe Benson will take a few swings for Rochester to start the year. Photo by Brad Barr-US PRESSWIRE

The roster keeps shrinking, with four more cuts Tuesday. Joe Benson, Jeff Manship, Rene Rivera, and Pedro Florimon all got pink slips this morning, bringing the total down to 34.

Each of these players is a special case, so the cut does not mean the same thing for any two of them.

Benson was never expected to make the team or even to compete seriously for a slot. He is one of the team’s top prospects, and he earned a call-up to the Show last September. He even showed some flashes of talent during that stint, but his high strikeout and low on-base rates showed that he still needs some time in the minors. His spring performance was solid – .262/.319/.429 with a pair of homers – but he still whiffed 13 times in 42 at bats. Benson is a member of the Next Generation of Twins, and he just needs to improve his contact rate a little bit to get there.

At the beginning of Spring Training, Manship looked like a safer bet to compete for a Twins job. Like Benson, he is on the 40 man roster, and at age 27, Manship has already proven that he can pitch in the Majors. With a ton of relievers in camp, the bullpen, Manship seemed as likely as anyone to win a job. Alas, it was not to be, as he racked up a 5.19 ERA in 8 games (8.2 innings). The good news for Manship is that he is likely to return to Minnesota at some point during the season: he has pitched at least a few games for the Twins every season since 2009. Unless the Twins bullpen is miraculously healthy and surprisingly effective, Manship will be back.

The Rivera cut is significant in that it clarifies the backup catcher role somewhat. Drew Butera remains the odds-on favorite to win the job, but Rivera and J.R. Towles had both been in the running as well. Now it’s a two man battle between Towles and Butera. After a 1-4 performance yesterday, Towles is hitting .263 this spring with a couple of homers. Butera is hitting .294, but given his M.O. as a talented fielder, nobody is expecting Butera to win the job with his bat.

Florimon was brought in from the Orioles this offseason because the Twins had some gaping holes in the middle infield. Like Benson, Florimon had never played an inning above AA ball before he got his cup of coffee in the Majors last year. Also like Benson, Florimon has a penchant for the strikeout: he went down on strikes 120 times last year in 530 plate appearances (114 at AA and six with the O’s). Unlike Benson, Florimon will never be a power threat, but he has put up some decent OBPs for a shortstop, and he can steal an occasional base.

With the roster down to 34 players, there are only nine more cuts remaining. Things should get pretty tense this week.

Former Red Matt Maloney is one of the early winners in the Twins bullpen battler. Photo by Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

Another day, another four relief pitchers on the mound. Even with about three dozen pitchers in Fort Myers, we’re getting plenty of opportunities to watch (or listen to) their performances. Most of those pitchers are fighting for bullpen slots, so let’s have a quick recap on the bullpen situation. Right-handed closer Matt Capps and lefties Glen Perkins and Brian Duensing are probably guaranteed slots. The Twins usually like to carry 12 relievers on the roster, so that means there should be space left for one more lefty and three righties.

It’s starting to look like the lefty slot will go to Matt Maloney. The 28 year old shut down the Marlins for the last two innings to pick up the win Saturday, allowing just a ninth inning single to Aaron Rowand before a game-ending double play. With two punchouts in that effort, he now has eight in 7.1 scoreless innings. Maloney has some big league experience with the Reds, and that will be another plus. True, his numbers with the Reds were hardly inspiring (5.40 career ERA), but he has been a little better as a reliever than as a starter, racking up 7.9 K/9 and a somewhat lower 4.88 ERA out of the ‘pen. The numbers also hint that he’d make a decent LOOGY: lefties have a batting average .68 points lower against Maloney than right-handed hitters.

Kyle Waldrop has been impressive as well, matching Maloney’s 0.00 ERA through four innings. Parker Hageman of Twins Daily analyzed Waldrop’s mechanics earlier this week and concluded that his high release point makes Waldrop a potentially effective pitcher in the mold of Jon Rauch (but with a better sinker). Waldrop will never be a strikeout threat – he whiffed just 5.0 per nine at AAA last year – but he has to be near the top of the list of contenders so far this spring. Interestingly, Waldrop came from the first round of the 2004 draft, the same round where Minnesota selected Glen Perkins and Trevor Plouffe. The Twins had five picks in the first and supplemental rounds (Jay Rainville and Matt Fox were the others), but until very recently that draft was looking like a complete bust. Now we might wonder if they’re all just late bloomers. If Waldrop and Plouffe could have a breakout season in 2012 as Perkins did in 2011, the 2004 draft starts looking a lot better.

If the season began today, I have to believe that Maloney and Waldrop would win jobs. The rest of the contenders do not stand out as starkly, though there are a few who have done well. Casey Fein has allowed just one baserunner in 3.1 innings. Jeff Manship lowered his ERA to 1.69 Saturday, and he has eight strikeouts. Jared Burton was lights out until running into some trouble Friday. And Luis Perdomo has impressed some with his blazing fastball.

Several other relievers have been roughed up, and they’ll need to turn it around quickly if they want to win a spot. Alex Burnett, Terry Doyle, and Jason Bulger all have WHIPs over 3.00, which is the kind of comically exaggerated stat you can only find in Spring Training or Little League. Bulger has actually settled down in his last couple of outings, but he still has an ERA of 22.50. Anthony Swarzak, whose performance as a long reliever and spot starter in 2011 made him an early favorite for a bullpen slot, has been hit hard as well.

The good news for those players is that we still have a couple more weeks of Spring Training, so there’s time to turn it around. The same cannot be said for Tyler Robertson, Deolis Guerra, Lester Oliveros, Scott Diamond, or Aaron Thompson, who were cut and sent to the minor league camp earlier this week. More cuts are sure to follow soon, so we’ll have a little better idea of what the Twins bullpen will look like after that.

Hard to believe that there are still 48 long winter days until Twins pitchers and catchers report to sunny Ft. Meyers for Spring Training on February 18, 2012.  The only other team reporting that early is the World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, so the Twins are in pretty good company.

If Terry Ryan and the Twins do not make any additional moves leading up to Spring Training, the starting roster should look something like this:

C – Joe Mauer

1B – Justin Morneau

2B – Alexi Casilla

SS – Jamey Carroll

3B – Danny Valencia

LF – Ben Revere

CF – Denard Span

RF – Josh Willingham

DH – Trevor Plouffe

With Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Luke Hughes, and Ryan Doumit on the bench.  That leaves room for an extra positional player, such as Joe Benson, Chris Parmelee, Drew Butera or Rene Tosoni to make the team.  With questions about Morneau’s health and ability to play 1B on a regular basis, Parmelee could have the inside track after a strong showing at the end of last season that led to a 1.035 OPS in 88 plate appearances.  With Doumit serving as a potential 3rd catcher, the team will be able to give Mauer’s knees some rest playing 1B, and moving Morneau to DH, leaving Revere and Plouffe to platoon in Left Field.  However, Butera has been with the team each of the last two seasons, pitchers have apparently enjoyed his low catching target, and Ron Gardenhire seems enamored with the light hitting catcher, so it will be an interesting Spring Training for fringe bench guys.

While there is really only one spot open for a positional player heading into Spring Training, things are much more uncertain among the 12 man pitching staff.  The Twins’ projected starters are:

Carl Pavano – RHP

Scott Baker – RHP

Francisco Liriano – LHP

Jason Marquis – RHP

Nick Blackburn – RHP

Blackburn is arguably the weakest of the five starters, but if he can stay healthy he is not a terrible option as a #5.  Marquis pitched well in the first half of last season before breaking his leg, and if he can return to that form and eat up innings 200+ innings in 2012 then he will earn every penny of his $3 million dollar 1 year contract.  Liriano comes into 2012 with huge question marks.  After a successful 2010 campaign Liriano was unable to find the strike zone consistently with his fastball, and was pitching from behind in counts, allowing opposing hitters to lay off of his slider.  Liriano didn’t pitch winterball this year, instead working out at the Twins’ Dominican facility.  Carl Pavano needs to continue to avoid injuries and eat innings.  He should benefit from an improved defense behind him, but his inability to strike hitters out could come back to haunt him if either Jamey Carroll or Alexi Casilla can’t hold down their starting spots.  (more…)