Around the AL Central

Joe Nathan is going to try to pitch on Saturday. That should be interesting....I wonder how long they'll try to make him work before shutting it down and putting him under the knife. The sooner the Twins get this operation done the more likely they have him back next season at full strength to get something out of the final year of his contract.

Will the Twins convert Francisco Liriano to the bullpen? Certainly he as the repertoire of a closer, even a left-handed one. I don't think he'll be overwhelmed by the platoon split in that role. I think their other options are fine as well in Jon Rauch or Matt Guerrier. Sky Andrechuck has a good column today at SI.com about how he feels that losing Nathan isn't the end of the world for the Twins. I've agreed with this stance from the beginning. Maybe a 2-win loss for the them. (Sky says 3)

The Twins also extended Nick Blackburn for 4-yrs. A modestly talented pitcher getting a long term commitment...hmmmmm....see Robertson, Nate. By coincidence Blackburn is having some injury issues right now as well.

I think the Twins move to lock up Denard Span was probably a better long term move as opposed to Blackburn's deal. Span became an OBP demon last year and is looking like he'll continue to be the prime table-setter for Mauer and Morneau. Its always a risk to lock up a guy through his arb-years, but they chose cost-certainty and it seems sensible enough to me.

Come on.....you know they're going to sign Joe Mauer. You know it. It doesn't matter what a ink-stained wretch like Jim Souhan says in the MN paper....the Twins aren't going to take the massive PR hit and not lock up the local legend in Mauer. Simply....won't....happen. 8-yr/$156M at the minimum....plenty deferred as long Mauer will agree to.

I have the Twins at 85 wins right now. We'll see how it shakes out on the eve of Opening Day for an official prediction on the AL Central.