I wrote a little ‘where are they now’ post on former Twin Brian Buchanan yesterday: he retired at age 35 and began managing in the minors the next season. A quick glance at his numbers suggest he could have extended his playing career as a power bat off the bench while providing mop-up pitching duties for a young minor-league club, so why didn’t Buck become a player-manager in the minors? There’s a big difference between managing while playing almost daily, like Pete Rose did in 1995, and occasionally saving a young bullpen arm to help foster the development of the prospects the player-manager is charged with.

In 1977, 1979 and 1980, former Twins manager Tom Kelly pitched the first four games of his career career while acting as a minor league manager in the Twins organization. After his first season as player-manager, he only had one plate appearance combined between 1979-80, and played a grand total of one game in the field. In the right circumstances, that sort of arrangement makes sense to me.

The last player-manager in the majors was Rose from 1984-86, although the White Sox toyed with the idea of using Paul Konerko in that role a couple of years ago, before ultimately going with Robin Ventura as manager.

In my spring training preview of the Twins catchers, staff writer Paula Minell opined that catcher Drew Butera should consider converting to pitcher and start prepping for a career as a coach. Butera is a great defensive catcher and calls an outstanding game. By all accounts, the guy is a brilliant baseball mind, is well liked within the organization from the GM down to the bat boys, and we saw last season that he can pitch an emergency inning when called upon.

I’m not saying that Butera should become a minor league player-manager in the next couple of years; contrary to the opinions of some, I believe he provides great value to the Twins as a defensive third catcher, as long as his plate appearances are minimized. But a few years down the line, I would love to have an affable young guy with a brilliant baseball mind working with our young pitchers coming through the minor league pipeline, a guy who could pitch mop-up innings if needed and pinch hit in an emergency. And imagine the value for young, developing pitchers of Drew Butera, manager, catching them for a couple of inning here and there in a game, rather than the bullpen.

Macho Man Randy Savage Played Baseball

Randy Poffo was a catcher signed out of high school by the Cardinals, but played mostly in the outfield over the course of the next four years in the St. Louis, Cincinnati and Chicago White Sox systems. Macho Man hit .344 in rookie ball at age 20, but never rose above Class A. During the baseball offseason in 1973, Poffo began wrestling professionally as The Spider, but returned for a final summer of baseball for the 1974 Tampa Tarpons. After that, he dedicated himself to wrestling full time, and the rest is history. He passed away in 2011 at age 58. The photo at the top of this article is of a young Macho Man.

Antonio Alfonseca, Six-Fingered Pitcher

Known as El Pulpo, or ‘The Octopus,’ because counting is really hard, Antonio Alfonseca was born with six digits on each hand and foot, a hereditary condition shared by his grandfather. Alfonseca was signed by the Montreal Expos in 1989 as a 17-year-old amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic, and last pitched in the Majors in 2007 for the Phillies. Since then, he’s played for teams in Mexico and the independent Atlantic League, and most recently pitched in 2010-11 for the Bridgeport, Conneticut Blufish where he was teammates with former Twin Dan ‘The Man’ Serafini. Alfonseca’s best season came in 2000 with the Marlins, when he led the National League with 45 saves. If you look closely at the image at right, you can see the small, underdeveloped extra digits on Alfonseca’s hands.

This Week’s Number: 34

That’s the number of pitchers scheduled to be in camp Tuesday, one more than last year.

This Week’s Fact: Pitchers and catchers for four teams report today, making this the official start of MLB spring training. The Phillies report on Wednesday, later than any other team in baseball.

What I did this week: I fell on the ice twice again, although on nonconsecutive days this time; one of the times I was throwing a snowball at a second-story window, so I probably had it coming. I also worked on a 3D puzzle, which was really tough, and picked up Renegade for the NES. If you missed it, my article on Kevin Correia got picked up by a national site that picks out the best baseball blogging of the week; if you want to stay inside today and read some more baseball stuff, it’s a pretty solid collection of articles.

With MLB spring training officially underway today, here’s a visual representation of my emotional state:

Later this week, I’ll continue my position-by-position spring training preview, and we’ll take a look at a well-known NFL quarterback who was drafted by the Twins out of high school, but never signed with the team.

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August 14, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Kevin Correia (29) reacts after giving up two runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning at PNC Park. The Los Angeles Dodgers won 11-0. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Why signing Kevin Correia for two years makes sense.

My brother got a raincoat for Christmas this year. If you’ve ever worn a raincoat while biking or hiking around in the spring, you know that a poor quality raincoat can leave you just as damp as if you were wearing nothing at all. A well-made raincoat is actually a pretty nifty piece of engineering.

But my brother didn’t want a raincoat, he wanted a parka. Or new boots. Or a nice pair of choppers. He had asked for this raincoat last spring, but right now he just wanted something to keep him warm. There’s no way that raincoat is going to keep him toasty this winter, and he’s going to have to wait a few months to really put his Christmas present to use.

We all wanted the Twins to sign a big-name free agent starting pitcher this off season, but instead we got Kevin Correia under the Christmas tree. Kevin Correia is not going to keep us warm this winter. He’s not going to lead a rotation, even one as bad as the Twins’. But if we can have a little patience and put it in perspective, I truly believe this signing will pay big dividends for this team in the long run.

We’ve got a pretty good idea of what we’re getting with Correia, right? A back-end starter, plain and simple. But every potential starter in the Twins rotation other than Correia has major question marks surrounding him coming into the season. Let’s take a look:

• Scott Diamond had minor off-season surgery and will probably regress from 2012

• Vance Worley had surgery in September and may have difficulty transitioning from the NL

• Kyle Gibson has pitched a total of 6.2 innings above high-A since returning from Tommy John surgery

• Mike Pelfrey is returning from Tommy John surgery and is switching leagues

• Liam Hendriks has struggled in the Majors to this point, particularly with consistency

• Rich Harden has had a rash of injuries the past few years, and would need to be on an innings limit if starting

With this mess of injuries, inning limits and other question marks, the Twins are going to need a solid long reliever. In fact, looking at the second half of 2013 and into 2014, the Twins may be more in need of a long reliever than any other team in baseball. That’s when we can expect to start seeing the likes of Trevor May and BJ Hermsen, and possibly Alex Meyer breaking into the big leagues.

In an ideal world, 2014 will see five talented but young pitchers in the Twins rotation, some sort of mix of Diamond, Worley, Gibson, Hendricks,

July 2, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire (35) takes the ball from starting pitcher Liam Hendriks (62) during the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

May, Meyer and Hermsen. Young pitchers get to the majors early because they have the talent to get the job done. But they also tend to be inconsistent.

That’s where signing Correia for two years really starts to make sense. Someone like, say, Trevor May might be lights-out one night, but get knocked out after three innings in his next start. With so many young pitchers, these short starts could easily become a semi-regular occurrence.

Who do you want going out to the mound in the third or fourth inning on a semi-regular basis to try to give a bunch of young batters a chance to put some crooked numbers up and steal a win, Anthony Swarzak? No thanks. Don’t get me wrong, I like Swarzak, but consistency is not his strong suit. A veteran presence on a young team will help when these young starters undoubtedly get beat up early in some games.

Kevin Correia has experience as a reliever, and has actually put up decent numbers in that role. Not great, but decent, and he’s been pretty consistent, which is the sort of thing that comes with experience. Through the first four innings, Correia sports a career ERA of 4.00. I can live with that from a long reliever. It’s after those first four innings that he starts to fall apart.

I want Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia, Chris Parmelee and company to feel that they have a chance to turn a game around when the going gets tough, and I believe that’s where Correia will show his true value. Like it or not, the Twins are going to have an increasing number of young, talented position players learning on the job in the big leagues, and the importance of confidence for young hitters―the mental part of the game―shouldn’t be underestimated.

Look, if Kevin Correia ends up in the starting rotation for the next two years, then it’s going to be a very long two years. But if he ends up as our long reliever sometime around the middle of 2013 and beyond, he could be exactly what this team needs. As cold as it is right now, the spring rain isn’t too far off, and my brother bikes everywhere he goes. It’s all about perspective and a little patience. The Twins just need Kevin Correia to get in where he fits in.

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And then Minnesota fans went a little crazy on Twitter.

Correia debuted in 2003 with the San Francisco Giants and stayed with them until 2008. He then played two season with the San Diego Padres and two seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Baseball-reference.com lists his career ERA as 4.54, his strikeouts per nine innings as 6.0, and his walks per nine innings as 3.2. He certainly doesn’t seem like a player that will inspire enthusiasm in fans, some of whom are already on edge following the Span and Revere trades.

Here’s one of my favorite summaries of the (assumed) new Twins starting pitcher:

Last month I wrote of Correia: “He doesn’t miss bats, doesn’t induce tons of ground balls, doesn’t have great control.” bit.ly/UhJvLJ

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) December 11, 2012

Terry Ryan has reminded us many times in the last month or so that it takes two to make a deal. It seems realistic to worry if Correia is the best caliber of pitcher that is willing to tango with the Twins. Unless another trade is made and a Justin Morneau or Josh Willingham plus prospects are put on the trading block, it seems like the Twins are going to have a hard time signing anyone to the #1 or #2 spots on the rotation.

I get that, it makes sense. It’s difficult to persuade someone to sign with a team that has struggled mightily for two seasons. Maybe Correia is just as frustrated about signing with the Twins as fans are about the Twins signing Correia. What worries me is the two-year part of the deal. The recent transactions have tacitly, though not formally, declared 2013 is a “rebuilding” year, and the team has made moves that show glimmers of promise for 2014. They are now saddled with an undesirable starter that will still be around in 2014. In all likelihood, even Correia had enough of an upper hand to insist on that second year of guaranteed money before he would agree to a deal.

It may be that a wise Twins fan is one who would lower his/her expectations of the next two or three years a few more notches.