Clare Chen

Great week to start off the season.

Hughes should probably make it. Both Nishioka and Hughes are on Seth's projected 25-man roster, though. http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?298-Projected-Twins-Roster If Burroughs makes it, then Nishioka likely goes to AAA.

Ah, that makes sense. I was thinking of other relievers' injuries as a possibility too. Thanks for the replies, this answers a lot.

I think Liriano could likely perform similarly to his 2010 season, as he's not going to be suffering from dead-arm. Baker, hopefully, will continue right where he left off last year, and I think he has a pretty good chance of that. As for Blackburn, he could either get injured again and perform terribly, or he could be reasonably effective, like in the early 2011 season. If he doesn't have his control or command due to injury, he's just going to give up home runs and walk too many, like last year. I think that, with the use of his slider back, as well as a better changeup than in 2008 or 2009, he could be the least of the Twins' worries. Pavano and Marquis might not look so great, though. While Liriano/Baker/Blackburn have upside this year compared to their last two seasons, I'm not too sure about the older two, but I'd err on the side of caution.

Do you know why the Twins promoted Burnett to the major league team in each of the last two years despite the fact that he's barely pitched more than 50 innings in AA? I mean, his stats were great there, but he's only had about 20 innings at AAA, too. Or would they have put him there if one of Crain or Guerrier had been retained?

My guess is that Blackburn's elevated home run rate from last year was because of his greatly-diminished command, like his walk rate. I think a similar thing happened to Baker in '09 and '10.

Why do you ever post?

Well, that seems like a bit of a questionable assertion.