Minnesota Twins: Five Things to Watch This Spring Training

3. Fransico Liriano

Liriano was one of the most electric players in baseball in 2006 and was a major part of the incredible comeback that the Twins made to take the division that year. In the late part of the season he injured his elbow and had Tommy John surgery. He sat out all of 2007 recovering from that.

While his innings will be closely monitored, he could take over as the ace of the staff. In his incredible 2006 campaign, some say he was more dominant than Santana.

Early reports out of Florida state that he reached 97 mph on his fastball, while consistently throwing 93-95. He just has to get his stamina back now.

4. The other starters

The Twins lost three of their starters this offseason—Santana and Garza due to trades, and Carlos Silva to free agency. With that, there are a lot of pitchers competing for starting spots this spring.

Scott Baker looks to start the season as the No. 1 pitcher. He has experience and looked good during the second half of last year. While he's not the dominating ace that you traditionally look for at No. 1, he's likely just holding the spot down until Liriano is back at 100 percent.

Boof Bonser had a disappointing sophomore year, but he has worked hard this offseason and dropped 30 pounds. Hopefully his better conditioning is reflected in better pitching. He has the potential to be a top of the rotation pitcher.

Livan Hernandez was brought in to eat up innings. He has pitched 199 innings or more each of the last seven years. While he is not as dominant as he once was, he will still be an adequate back-end starter who can give the bullpen some rest.

Kevin Slowey is a pitcher in the mold of Brad Radke—not overpowering, but great at locating. While he got rocked last year, he showed flashes of what he could be and will probably make the squad out of Spring Training this year.

Glen Perkins is another pitcher who had surgery last year, though he returned at the very end of the season. He was used from the bullpen last year, but he is a starter and will be competing as such. If he doesn't make the rotation he will be a long reliever in the bullpen.

Nick Blackburn will make a push for a spot, but will likely be sent to AAA or the bullpen.

Philip Humber was acquired in the Santana trade, and will start in AAA.  

5. The other newcomers

It was a busy offseason with quite a bit of roster changes. Besides the on the field play, it will be interesting to see how the chemistry of the team changes.

While to the public, Torii Hunter was the leader of the team, apparently he wasn't that highly thought of in the clubhouse. But who becomes the public face of the Twins now? Morneau and Mauer don't seem to like being in the spotlight too much.

Delmon Young comes in with questions about his character. You may remember hearing a couple years ago about the minor leaguer who threw his bat at an ump. Yeah, that's Delmon. He wasn't happy in Tampa Bay last year, but has seemed to turn a corner with the Twins. He has been saying all the right things so far, and hopefully that will continue.

Will Everett and Lamb be able to hold onto the left side of the infield? Everett is a great fielder with questionable offense, and Lamb is a good hitter with questionable defense. 

This team has a lot of questions going into Spring Training, and it will be very fun to watch. This team doesn't look to make a playoff run this year, but with all of these young players, the future is very bright.   

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