Friday, March 23, 2007

Twins/Blue Jays lineups

Minnesota
Luis Castillo 2B
Jeff Cirillo SS
Mike Redmond C
Michael Cuddyer DH
Justin Morneau 1B
Torii Hunter CF
Rondell White LF
Jason Kubel RF
Luis Rodriguez 3B
Johan Santana P

Toronto
John McDonald SS
Aaron Hill 2B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Matt Stairs DH
Jason Phillips C
Jason Smith 3B
Jeff Duncan CF
Aaron Matthews RF
Eric Nielson LF
Gustavo Chacin P

Mauer and roster moves

Good morning, all.

First thing -- take a deep breath.

Despite all the concern immediately surrounding Joe Mauer's stress reaction in his left fibula, it really doesn't seem this is going to be an issue. If this had happened during the season, Mauer said this morning, he would have played through it. Since it's spring and they can, the Twins are being extra cautious.

Mauer was in the clubhouse this morning and said his phone and email account were overloaded with messages from family and friends concerned about his injury, but it's clear this was caught early and is really a quite common occurence for athletes.

Next things: Some roster moves bright and early in Fort Myers ... the Twins optioned righthanded pitcher Scott Baker, infielder Alexi Casilla and infielder Garrett Jones to Class AAA Rochester.

Jones had a bit of a rough camp, but did play well last night in St. Petersburg. It's likely you will see Scott Baker at some point this season, and Casilla as well. The speedy little shortstop is manager Ron Gardenhire's first callup if Jason Bartlett needs long-term help at short.