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Twins camp report
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Five things to know about the Minnesota Twins:
1. With Johan Santana and Carlos Silva gone, the Twins have nobody who spent the entire 2007 season in their rotation. They signed veteran Livan Hernandez, who has started 30 or more games in nine consecutive seasons, to help make up for the combined 421 innings worked by Santana and Silva. The projected rotation includes Hernandez, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Boof Bonser and Kevin Slowey. "We lost the best pitcher in baseball and another one that ate up 200 innings," manager Ron Gardenhire says. "That's a challenge."
2. There's a lot less of Bonser to love in 2008, and we're not talking simply because he's coming off of a miserable year (8-12, 5.10 ERA). The right-hander, ordered by the Twins to drop at least 10 pounds, hired a nutritionist, worked out harder and shed 35 pounds over the winter. "It's bullpen work and it's still early," pitching coach Rick Anderson says. "But he says, 'I feel more energy. My body's looser.' If you think of tying a 35-pound weight around your midsection and seeing how tough it is to throw like that. ..."
3. Liriano, who won 12 games and compiled a 2.16 ERA in a breakout '06 season before elbow surgery derailed him in '07, still isn't in camp because of visa problems stemming from a drunk driving arrest in Dominican Republic a couple of years ago. The Twins are optimistic that he's raring to go, partly from reports from their people in Dominican Republic. "He's pitched in our academy down there, throwing bullpens and two innings in games," general manager Bill Smith says. "He's healthy and strong. We're going to take it slow with him, but we're optimistic he can return and be a good pitcher."
4. Gardenhire's two biggest concerns this spring: How the rotation sets up after Hernandez, Baker and Bonser -- whether Liriano is healthy enough to win an opening day job and whether Slowey throws well enough to win a job -- and center field. Torii Hunter leaves a crater out there. Carlos Gomez, acquired from the Mets in the Santana deal, could win the job but he's only 22 and has just 58 games worth of major-league experience. But that's 58 more games than either Jason Pridie or Denard Span, the other two candidates for the job, have.
5. "It's always simple around here," Gardenhire says. "We come in as underdogs. We do every year. We come in as underdogs, and a couple of teams are supposed to whack us pretty good. That makes it more entertaining." Oh, the Twins don't have a natural backup for first baseman Justin Morneau, either. And don't expect catcher Joe Mauer to see time there. Gardenhire says it will be important to give Mauer, 24, days off because catchers take such a beating. And Mauer, who hears chirps that he should change positions and move to first every time he's injured, still likes catching. "You're going to get dinged being a catcher," Mauer says. "That's what I'm signed for, and hopefully I'll catch for a long time. People forget, I'm still pretty young in this game."