Ron Gardenhire Maintains Silent Treatment on Starting Outfielders

With Joe Mauer making steady progress and guys putting their resumes on display for a bullpen job, the most heavily asked question has been, which three outfielders will start on Opening Day against Seattle?

Last season the extremely young and energetic trio of Denard Span, Delmon Young, and Carlos Gomez manned the outfield spots in the absence of Michael Cuddyer. But with Cuddyer returning to his spot in right, Span must now find somewhere else to start. The most fitting would be center field where he played in the minors.

But Gomez occupied center last year. Gomez can play in left, but Young was there last year. Speculation has it that Gomez and Young will compete for the final spot.

Although none of the spots have been pinned down and all are seemingly up for grabs, it appears that with the season Span had last year and what Cuddyer does for the team, it's hard to cast either one of them aside.

Young played in right in Tampa Bay, so the good news is that the young guns can all play in different spots. Cuddyer will likely stick to right due to a problem in his left ear that can make it hard to hear if a teammate is calling him off. One solution was possibly going back to third base, but that is no longer an option with the Joe Crede signing.

Young does not have the speed a manager would like to see in a center fielder, but is a sensational corner outfielder, recording 11 assists last year. One of his first memorable moments last year was in a Spring Training when a Yankees player rounded first but fell down when he saw that the ball he hit to the corner was now almost in Nick Punto's hand.

What hinders Carlos Gomez is his over-aggressiveness. Gomez had 142 strikeouts and committed eight errors in the field. Knowing when to swing and not to swing along with knowing when to dive and when to let it drop and keep the runners in one spot will go a long way in his quest to start.

According to Kelly Theiser, the MLB.com reporter covering the Twins, Young appears to be the wild card in the picture. But it's how Gardenhire is handling the process that may be the most effective.

The Twins skipper has been mum on the process of finding his starters. He started only two of the four to keep media and fans from causing speculation. Even the players have little inside knowledge, according to Theiser.

Players are now doing all they can to make an impression.

"I've been shagging in left field, center field, and right field," Span said. "Nobody told me to do it, I just did. My thought is I'll do whatever I have to do to play."

Michael Cuddyer was upset by his injury-plagued season and vowed to make it up to the team.

"Not being able to help the team last year was tough," Cuddyer said. "It's an opportunity that I don't want to let go again."

Gardenhire is still committed to let the players choose the Opening Day starters for the team.

"They're going to tell me who's going to play because I'm going to let them decide it out on the field," Gardenhire said.

For most fans it will come down to either Young's power or Gomez's discipline, and which the team can rely on more. The players themselves want to be the best teammates possible but still would love to start even more.

"We all know that we're in the mix," Span said. "Whoever is the odd man out and doesn't start Opening Day, it doesn't mean that they aren't going to play the whole season. We all want to be good teammates to each other and we root for each other, but we all want to play, too."

There are many things the team must look into this spring: the strength of their starting rotation, the health of Joe Mauer, who will fill in for Pat Neshek, who will occupy Boof Bonser's spot, and the strength of Joe Crede's back. But the most watched will certainly be what three players will run into the outfield on Apr. 6.