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.

According to the Twins 40 man roster, new Twins Carlos Gomez and Philip Humber have their new numbers with the Minnesota Twins.

• Carlos Gomez is # 22
• Philip Humber is # 38

Kevin Mulvey has been assigned spring training non-roster invitee number 88 and Deolis Guerra non-roster invitee number 89. It shouldn’t take long to start seeing Carlos Gomez jerseys walking around the Twin Cities.

With the Santana deal now complete, new Twins prospects Carlos Gomez and Philip Humber have landed on the Twins 40 man roster, while Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra are listed as non-roster invitees for the 2008 Twins spring training. I think we can venture a guess as to where these guys will end up in the Twins system.

• Carlos Gomez saw 58 games and 125 at-bats for the Mets last year. He also had 36 games and 140 at-bats for the Mets AAA New Orleans Zephyrs. Carlos has speed and dynamic fielding ability but he is suspect at the plate with a lack of discipline and poor walk to at-bat and walk to strike out ratios. My guess is that he will stick with the big league Twins and platoon in center field.
• Philip Humber pitched 7 innings for  the Mets and 139 innings for the AAA Zephyrs last year. He should get a good chance to show what he has in spring training but will most likely be with the Twins AAA Rochester Red Wings.
• Kevin Mulvey does not have any innings pitched in the Majors but moved up quickly to the Mets AAA last year and was named the Mets 2007 pitcher of the year. His minor league career of 2 years produced 173 innings pitched and a 3.02 ERA. With the Twins approach to young pitching he is bound to start at AAA and maybe get a call up mid season.
• Deolis Guerra is the youngest of the bunch and has 178 innings pitched and a 3.28 ERA for the Mets A teams over the past 2 years. People have high hopes for this youngster with his blazing fast ball clocked in the mid nineties. Maybe Deolis can make the Twins AA New Britain Rock Cats this season.