The full squad reported on Sunday (except for one minor leaguer who is apparently missing in Venezuela. Yikes!), and the race is on to turn a 40-man roster and a huddle of non-roster invitees into a contending team. I'll break down the battles for the open spots in future posts, but for now, let's just look at who's in the mix:
* - non-roster invitee
| Pitchers | Catchers | Outfielders |
| Scott Baker | Rob Bowen | Michael Cuddyer |
| Ricky Barrett * | Kyle Geiger * | Lew Ford |
| Boof Bonser | Chris Heintz | Torii Hunter |
| Jesse Crain | Joe Mauer | Jason Kubel |
| J.D. Durbin | Kyle Phillips * | Jason Pridie |
| Willie Eyre | Mike Redmond | Josh Rabe * |
| Dave Gassner | Shawn Wooten * | Tim Raines * |
| Ryan Glynn * | Alex Romero | |
| Matt Guerrier | Infielders | Denard Span * |
| Adam Harben | Jason Bartlett | Shannon Stewart |
| Justin Jones | Tony Batista | Andres Torres * |
| Francisco Liriano | Luis Castillo | Jason Tyner * |
| Kyle Lohse | Juan Castro | |
| Darrell May * | Jason Hart * | Designated Hitters |
| Jose Mijares | Garrett Jones | Rondell White |
| Pete Munro * | Luis Maza * | Ruben Sierra * |
| Joe Nathan | Justin Morneau | |
| Pat Neshek | Nick Punto | |
| Glen Perkins * | Luis Rodriguez | |
| Brad Radke | Terry Tiffee | |
| Dennys Reyes * | Tommy Watkins * | |
| Juan Rincon | Glenn Williams * | |
| Johan Santana | ||
| Carlos Silva | ||
| Errol Simonitsch | ||
| Gabe White * |
And the guys who are pretty much a lock for the final roster:
| Pitchers | Catchers | Outfielders |
| Jesse Crain | Joe Mauer | Michael Cuddyer |
| Matt Guerrier | Mike Redmond | Lew Ford |
| Kyle Lohse | Torii Hunter | |
| Joe Nathan | Infielders | Shannon Stewart |
| Brad Radke | Jason Bartlett | |
| Juan Rincon | Tony Batista | Designated Hitters |
| Johan Santana | Luis Castillo | Rondell White |
| Carlos Silva | Juan Castro | |
| Justin Morneau | ||
| Nick Punto |
That's 21, right there. The rest of those guys will be fighting for spots as: a starting pitcher, a lefthanded reliever, a reliever, and a reserve outfielder/pinch hitter/bench rider.
Who's got the edge? More on that another day.
I'll predict that Baker, May, and Sierra also make the cut. And I'll guess that management will have a preference for another veteran (White, Reyes) to fill the last bullpen slot, unless J.D. Durbin looks really awesome this month. I believe TR and Gardy have already decided they want Liriano to begin the season in the Rochester rotation.
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