Since I did my first projection, a few developments have come to light to change my thoughts on a couple of the spots.
WHAT'S CHANGED?
5th STARTER
I swapped Randy Dobnak for Jhoulys Chacin in the fifth starter spot. While there's still a chance Chacin makes it due to not having any minor league options, I think that Dobnak has slightly better odds at this point. He has pitched much better this spring than Chacin has, although Chacin has faced slightly better competition. Dobnak has only given up one run and two hits in 6 innings, while Chacin has given up six runs on seven hits in 8 innings. It is probably close to a toss-up, but I'm giving the slight edge to Dobnak at this point.
BENCH
I swapped out Willians Astudillo for Jake Cave on the bench. There is still some uncertainty in whether Byron Buxton will be completely recovered from off-season shoulder surgery by Opening Day, which would give the Twins incentive to keep another true outfielder around. While rumors have Buxton returning sometime in the next week, Opening Day is only a couple weeks away. At the very least, I would expect Buxton to be on a pitch count for the first couple weeks of the season. This could be enough reason to keep Cave up for awhile.
JUST MISSED THE CUT
Lewis Thorpe was jettisoned from this group. After taking a leave of absence from camp, Thorpe never saw any game action and was optioned to minor league camp on Monday. While we likely will still see some of the Aussie this year, he was not close to making the cut.
I'll have the privilege to catch a Twins spring training game in person next week! I'll definitely be sharing some observations from the day, so come back and check it out!
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