La Velle E Neal III noted last night that Michael Cuddyer went on  the DL with a dislocated right index finger and laceration. Denard Span was called up to take his spot. Doctors have said it should take Cuddy two weeks to recover so he should be back after his 15 day stint. It will be interesting to see what Denard will do with a chance in the bigs.

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.