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In Monday night’s Twins game, the team had 14 pitchers on their 25-man roster. That means - do the math with me - they had just 11 position players. That meant a bench of just two players. While in most games, that will be just fine, it’s certainly not an ideal situation over the course of the season. Very soon, the Twins will likely make a move to get down to 13 pitchers which is still more than they would like to have, or than they started the season with. So, which hitters could be on the verge of a promotion to the Twins. How They Got To 14 As Nick wrote on Monday afternoon, the Twins got into this situation with a series of transactions. They activated Danny Santana, recalled Alex Meyer and optioned both Byron Buxton and Max Kepler to Rochester. The other issue right now is the physical status of pitchers Ervin Santana and Tyler Duffey. Duffey was promoted to the Twins to make the start on Sunday in place of Santana who was experiencing a stiff back. If the Twins knew that Santana would be able to make his next start, Duffey could be sent back to Rochester. However, the fact that Duffey took the line drive off of his shoulder means that the Twins couldn’t just send him back to Rochester without making sure he was OK. As much as there are other pitchers in Rochester who could (maybe even ‘should’) come up to the Twins, right now is not the time. Current Situation - Hitters Here are the hitters currently on the Twins 25-man roster: Kurt Suzuki - Catcher John Ryan Murphy - Catcher Joe Mauer - First Base Byung Ho Park - First Base Brian Dozier - Second Base Eduardo Escobar - Shortstop (Third Base, Second Base) Eduardo Nunez - Third Base (Shortstop, Corner Outfield) Oswaldo Arcia - Left Field (Right Field) Eddie Rosario - Left Field (Center Field, Right Field) Danny Santana - Center Field (Right Field, Third Base, Shortstop) Miguel Sano - Right Field (Third Base) (Secondary positions listed in parentheses) No need for a catcher right now.No need for a first base/DH/Corner outfield guy right now.Santana and Rosario can play center field.There isn’t one single position where they don’t have at least 2-3 options, so it’s really just about adding depth, allowing for managerial decisions, feeling more comfortable with substitutions, etc. PROMOTION OPTIONS Darin Mastroianni - 55% - I would say the most likely to be added to the 25- and 40-man rosters would be Mastroianni. He had a tremendous spring training. While he is hitting just .200 (in 71 plate appearances), he’s been on base 35.7% of the time. And, as it relates to the Twins, he would immediately come in and be their second best outfielder, behind only Eddie Rosario. James Beresford - 35% - This is where a blogger can admit his bias. I would really like to see James Beresford get an opportunity with the Twins. Consider, he signed with the Twins in August of 2005. He’s gradually worked his way up the system. Last year in Rochester, he was a midseason and postseason All-Star. He returned to the organization this offseason for the third time when he could have left as a free agent. He has primarily played second base in the last couple of years, but the Twins played him mostly at third base and first base in spring training. He, along with Mastroianni and Juan Centeno, spent the entire spring training with the big league club. Despite a slow start, he is now hitting .288/.333/.385 (.718) with three doubles and a triple. In other words, if the Twins chose to call up the 27-year-old, it would NOT just be a courtesy call-up. He’s earned it. Wilfredo Tovar - 10% - The Twins signed Tovar as a 6-year minor league free agent in the offseason. He is known for his glove at shortstop, but he’s played all three infield spots in his career. In 54 plate appearances this year, he is hitting .292/.358/.333 (.692) with two doubles. He’s also just 24 years old. Also note, Byron Buxton, Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco can’t be recalled to the big leagues for ten days (from when they were sent down) unless a position player were to be added to the disabled list. The Twins may have been surprised when David Murphy decided to opt out of his minor league contract rather than join the Twins, but in my mind, any of the above three players would make more sense to the Twins 25-man roster than Murphy would have. So now it comes down to whether you believe the Twins need to add an outfielder or an infielder for depth. If they want to get down to 12 pitchers again, it’s possible two of these guys could come up for bench depth, but then there would need to be another 40-man roster decision too. Click here to view the article