With Opening Day just a couple of days away, the Twins have finalized their 25-man roster to start the 2011 Major League Baseball season.
↵The Twins will go with the standard five-man rotation, and Carl Pavano will get the call on Opening Day for the Twins in Toronto. He'll be followed in the rotation by Francisco Liriano and Brian Duensing. Nick Blackburn and Scott Baker will take up the other two rotation spots, which means that Kevin Slowey has been moved to the bullpen.
↵Speaking of the bullpen, despite a bit of a rough spring, the returning Joe Nathan has secured the closer's role over last year's mid-season acquisition, Matt Capps. Capps will likely occupy the eighth inning role for the team, and can easily step into the ninth inning spot should Nathan experience any issues in his return from Tommy John surgery.
↵Your starters around the infield will be Justin Morneau at first, newcomer Tsuyoshi Nishioka at second, Alexi Casilla at shortstop, and Danny Valencia at third. Matt Tolbert has remained on the roster as the utility infielder. The outfield will consist of Michael Cuddyer in right, Denard Span in center, and Delmon Young in left. Jason Kubel will see some time in the outfield, but would ideally spend more time at DH. . .as long as he doesn't take too many at bats away from JIMMER and his tater-mashing ability. Jason Repko is also on the team as an outfield reserve.
↵At catcher, Drew Butera will be the backup, and if you're not quite sure who the Twins are starting at catcher, you're likely in the wrong place.
↵You can learn all the ins and outs about your 2011 Minnesota Twins roster right here.
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