Scott Baker made a start in a minor league game today and threw 49 pitches in 3 innings. Word was that he was not real sharp and labored a bit but Joe Christensen had an update relaying the news that he made a big enough step to stay off the DL and hopefully get in a minor league start on Sunday. This could enable him to hop on the end of the rotation for the regular season.

Baker is coming off an extended bout with the flu and a sore back and has not pitched in a Grapefruit League game since March 8th.

Will keep you posted….

Carlos Gomez came out of today’s spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays in the top of the 5th inning after making a catch in center field. After he made the catch he bent over grabbing his lower hamstring area behind his left knee. Reports by Dan Gladden during the radio broadcast indicated Carlos sustained a left hamstring cramp.

Joe Christensen got word from a clubhouse staffer after the game that Carlos told him “I want to play tomorrow, Friday and Saturday,” so at least Carlos is talking like it’s nothing that will keep him down.

Doing a little digging in Carlos’ history I found that he had a left hamstring injury in May of 2007. That injury only kept in out 3 days and then he was back and playing for the Mets without missing any games again.

La Velle E Neal III is reporting that Denard Span,  Brian Buscher, Jason Pridie, and Philip Humber have all been optioned to Class AAA Rochester this morning. That means Carlos Gomez will start the year out in center field this year and Matt Tolbert will make the squad as a utility player.

Denard Span had a nice spring training but Carlos Gomez just shows so much more of an upside. Carlos will be a bit raw in center and over-matched at times at the plate, but he will no doubt provide excitement and speed we have never seen in a Twins uniform. There is a legitimate chance that Carlos could break Chuck Knoblauch’s stolen base record of 62 in 1997 for the Twins.

Coming into spring training this year odds were that Brian Buscher would make the team as a backup 3rd baseman and utility guy. Brian just didn’t get things going this spring though batting just .143 with a .250 OBP and .229 SLG. With Buscher not stepping up it was Matt Tolbert that caught the eyes of Ron Gardenhire and is showing solid all around play and ability to play many positions. Matt is batting .250 this spring with a .314 OBP and .281 SLG.

The 25 man roster is about sewn up now, just a couple pitching spots to solidify. The biggest question that remains now is whether Francisco Liriano will make the rotation. There is also question about whether Scott Baker will be ready for the start of the season after a bit of a set back with a sore back and a bout of the flu. My guess is he will be ready and jump into the end of the rotation coming out of Spring. I also think Liriano will get his pitch count up enough to make it. That would give the Twins a rotation of Hernandez, Bonser, Baker, Liriano and Slowey.

Reports have come out that the competition for the Twins starting center field spot is now only between Carlos Gomez and Denard Span. It makes sense that Jason Pridie is out of the race seeing how Gomez and Span each have 7 starts in center compared to Pridie’s 2. Pridie is being looked at as a possible 4th outfielder and is usually coming into games in all outfield positions as a backup. Gomez and Span have alternated at center in the last 4 games and only Span(not Gomez) is on the trip for todays matchup against so that continues the alternating trend for now.

Here’s a look at their stats so far this spring. Keep in mind these numbers don’t include 2 B games and one rain out that had 4.5 innings in.

 HITTING

FIELDING 

It’s hard to come to any conclusions with a limited number of AB’s but the big thing is that sticks out is the on-base percentage. Span is at a .435 vs Gomez’ .167. In the minors with 1291 at-bats Carlos has a .278 AVG /  .339 OBP . / .399 SLG. Denard’s minor league stats show 1939 AB’s with .283 AVG / .350 OBP / .348 SLG.  In 125 AB’s with the Mets Carlos had a .232 AVG / .288 OBP / .304 SLG. Gomez obviously has not been able to bring his moderate minor league success into the majors or this year’s spring training with him.

So here’s the deal. Gomez has a huge upside with his speed and athleticism. If the Twins can get him on base with any amount of success his speed and fielding will be fantastic. The Twins want him to win the spot. Span does not show this kind of upside but he can at least get on base at this point. If Carlos can’t figure out how to get on base in any consistent way this spring I don’t see how he can start the season in center for the Twins. Span will have to start the year in center and Carlos will go down to AAA to get things sorted out. And that’s exactly what I think will happen. I don’t think carlos will figure things out at the plate quickly enough, Gomez will go down to AAA and Span will get to start the year at CF. I don’t think Pridie will make the 25 man roster, Monroe will get that spot with Kubel at DH.

Francisco Liriano got his 2nd start of the spring and didn’t fare so well. Francisco made it through 2+ innings today against the Red Sox and gave up 3 earned runs with 4 hits and 2 base on balls. Francisco said he didn’t have command of his pitches but did work up to throwing at 90-95% of full throttle. He also said he think he will be ready for t he rotation by end of the spring. Probably the best thing we heard  was that Francisco felt great after the game. Below is francisco’s line. Boxscore

Scott Baker’s sore back is going to keep him out longer than once thought. Ron Gardenhire said Scott would not be able to make the start in a minor league game this weekend as they had hoped. It all started in the Boston game on March 3rd he felt a tweak in his back. During his next start against Pittsburgh, Baker experienced tightness in his back and they shut him down after two innings and decided to have Nick Blackburn get the next start in Baker’s place.

This doesn’t sound like a major injury but Joe Christensen has quotes of coaches saying things like:

"Pitching coach Rick Anderson “says if this goes on for another week or so, we’re going to have to start making other plans,” Gardenhire said. “That’s what we’ve got to find out, whether, it’s going to push on.”

Hopefully he just misses the one start and can come back for the next one. Will keep you posted.

For a little fun today Patrick Reusse of Star Tribune and Joe Soucheray of the Pioneer Press,  and both of AM1500, are going to provide the radio call of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings of today’s Twins game. John Gordon and Dan Gladden will step aside for three innings of radio play by play and analysis to let Pat and Joe do their thing. Sounds like they will each take an inning of the play by play then see who gets to do the third.

Today’s game against the New York Yankees is also on FSN North giving folks a shot to see the spring Twins on TV. Game time is 12:05pm ct.

Today’s lineup is:

Boof Bonser(R) gets the start against Phil Hughes(R) who was included in the Santana trade talks with the Yankees. Other pitchers scheduled to get in some innings today are Randy Keisler (L), Joe Nathan (R), Matt Guerrier (R), Carmen Cali (L), Ricky Barrett (L), Mariano Gomez (L).

1. Span, CF. 2. Gomez, RF. 3. Young, LF. 4, Morneau, 1B. 5. Monroe, DH. 6. Buscher, 3B. 7. Redmond, C. 8. Punto, 2B. 9. Everett, SS

Interseting note is Gomez in right field. Looks like they are trying to both Span and Gomez in as many games as possible.

Livan Hernandez had a tough outing in today’s Twins win 8-7 over the Baltimore Orioles in a Spring Training game at Hammond Stadium. Livan’s line was

• On a positive note Delmon Young is heating up going 3 for 3 and getting his average up to .615. Delmon also knocked in 2 runs.
• Craig Monroe saw action today again after sitting out much of this early spring with a sore calf muscle. Craig went 2 for 2 and drove in 2 runs also.
• Alexi Casilla stole his 4 base of the spring and went 1 for 2 bringing his average up to .333

Check out todays boxscore of the Twin 8-7 win over the Orioles.

Today’s game vs the Tampa Bay Rays is one of the few spring training games where we don’t get to listen on the Twins Radio Network. If I remember right just a few years ago we were lucky to get just a handful of games during Spring Training. Now we get pretty nice coverage. Will have to follow the MLB boxscore. So far 0 -0 after 1 and a half innings. Boof has pitched 2 innings with 2 SO, 0 BB and 1 H. I wonder if he will go 3 IP today?

La Velle E Neal III reported earlier that Francisco Liriano was going to throw BP again today. Now I see Joe Christensen just posted that the session went well without any pain. Joe also said

"Liriano said he feels like he’s throwing his fastball and slider well but is still holding back with his slider. That explained what those of us behind the batting cage saw, as his fastball and change-up looked pretty good, while his slider was wild and ineffective."

One thing I have heard about pitchers coming back from Tommy John surgery is that strength and pain is not usually a problem. The arm has been so well rested and has gone through a lot of physical therapy so the arm is quite strong and healthy. Endurance for pitching 7, 8 and 9 innings and control are bound to be what Francisco will have to overcome.

The Boston Red Sox picked up where they left off last year and pounded out 8 runs against the Twins while all the Twins could muster was 3 runs late in the game. A few notable items worth mentioning include:

• Boof Bonser started the game with 2 strong innings: 2.0 IP   1 H   0 R   0 ER   0 BB   1 SO   0 HR   0.00 ERA
• Kevin Slowey started strong but could get his last out giving up back to back shots by Youkilis and Varitek.:1.2 IP   4 H   3 R   3 ER   2 BB   2 SO   2 HR   16.20 ERA
• Philip Humber pitched one shutout inning : 1.0 IP   1 H   0 R   0 ER   0 BB   1 SO   0 HR   0.00 ERA
• Denard Span led off the game with a nice single and looked comfortable. He was 1 for 2 at the plate.
• Carlos Gomez came in for Denard in the fifth and showed off his arm gunning down Pedroia at the plate. Carlos also had a questionable play where he chose to throw home again attempting to throw out Kottaras who easily scored. This allowed Coco Crisp to trot into 2nd base. Carlos was 0 for 2 leaving 3 guys on base.
•  Brian Buscher had a good game with a nice play in the field and the Twins first spring training homerun.
• Delmon Young made his first appearance and was 1 for 2.
•  Adam Everett also made his first appearance for the Twins and was 0 for 2 with 2 flyouts.
•  Neither Jon Lester nor Jacoby Ellsbury who were much talked about in possible trade packages for Santana made an appearance in the lineup today.
• Boxscore

The Twins get their second game tomorrow of three in a row against Boston. Randy Keisler will start for the Twins against Jon Lester. My guess is we will see Jacoby Ellsbury in center for the Red Sox too. Game time is 12:05 CT.