35-year old righty throwing closer Joe Nathan has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow which he may need Tommy John Surgery to correct. This is a huge blow to the Twins as Nathan is a dominating closer. He pitched in 70 games (0 starts) for the Twins last season in which he was 2-2 with 47 saves, a 2.10 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. Nathan has pitched in 412 games (0 starts) in his six years for the Twins and he is 22-12 with 246 saves, a 1.87 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. No matter who the Twins decide to replace Nathan with there will likely be a huge drop in production at the end of games. 31-year old righty swinging Jon Rauch appears to be the leading candidate to replace Nathan as the closer. He pitched in 75 games (0 starts) for the Twins & D-Backs last season in which he was 7-3 with 2 saves, a 3.60 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. Rauch has experience closing as he has 26 career saves. 31-year old Matt Guerrier pitched in 79 games (0 starts) for the Twins last season and he was 5-1 with 1 save, a 2.36 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. He has 4 career saves and he will challenge Rauch for the closer’s job for the Twins in 2010. This is a huge blow to the Twins as Nathan was as dependable as a closer can be.

The Twins have signed 30-year old righty swinging outfielder Charlton Jimerson to a minor league deal. Jimerson played in 103 games in the Atlantic League (Independent ball) last season and he was 133 for 397 (.335 avg, .953 OPS) with 91 runs scored, 21 homers, 62 RBIs and 38 stolen bases. Before you get too excited about him though his career minor league numbers are not that impressive. Jimerson has played in 914 games in his minor league career and he is 878 for 3,403 (.258 avg, .767 OPS) with 530 runs scored, 144 homers, 459 RBIs and 261 stolen bases. Jimerson last played in the majors in 2008 with the Mariners. He has played in 31 games in his major league career and he is 4 for 9 (.444 avg, 1.556 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 2 homers and 2 RBIs. It never hurts to give a player like Jimerson a chance in spring training as he was once one of the more highly thought of prospects in the minors.

28-year old lefty swinging Jason Kubel had a breakout season in 2009 for the Twins last year. He played in 146 games for the Twins last season and he was 154 for 514 (.300 avg, .908 OPS) with 73 runs scored, 28 homers and 103 RBIs. The Twins are hoping that Kubel’s knees will allow Kubel to challenge Delmon Young for the starting job in LF in 2010. More than likely though Kubel will DH against lefties and play LF against righties. That would allow 39-year old lefty swinging Jim Thome to get his fair share of action in 2010.

Jim Thome played in 124 games for the White Sox & Dodgers last season and he was 90 for 362 (.249 avg, .847 OPS) with 55 runs scored, 23 homers and 77 RBIs. Thome is starting to slow down a little hit as he did whiff 123 times last season. Thome hit .262 with a .881 OPS against righty pitching last season. He cranked 18 homers and 55 RBIs in 271 at bats against righties last season.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE DH IN 2010: A

If the 2010 season started today the Twins would likely platoon 29-year old righty swinging Brendan Harris with either 32-year old switch hitting Nick Punto or 27-year old switch hitting Matt Tolbert. Either way the Twins would have pathetic production at the hot corner. Harris played in 123 games for the Twins last season and he was 108 for 414 (.261 avg, .672 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 6 homers and 37 RBIs. The bad thing for the Twins is that Harris is the best hitter of this bunch. Harris is not a good defensive 3B either as he made 6 errors in 44 games at shortstop last season while showing absolutely terrible range.

32-year old switch hitting Nick Punto appears to have a edge as Harris’ platoon partner if for no reason other than Ron Gardenhire likes him. He played in 125 games for the Twins last season and he was 82 for 359 (.228 avg, .621 OPS) with 56 runs scored, 1 homer, 38 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Punto could be in line for a decent year with the bat as he has hit .284 for the Twins in even numbered years and only .224 in odd numbered years. Punto didn’t make any errors in 5 games at 3B in 2010 for the Twins while showing outstanding range.

27-year old switch hitting Matt Tolbert played in 27 games at 3B for the Twins last season and he made 2 errors while showing slightly above average range.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 3B IN 2010: D-

The Twins hope that 27-year old righty swinging J.J. Hardy just had a off year in 2009. He played in 115 games for the Brewers last season and he was 95 for 414 (.229 avg, .659 OPS) with 53 runs scored, 11 homers and 47 RBIs. The Twins are hoping that Hardy can get back to the player he was in 2007 and 2008 with the Brewers when he hit .280 with 167 runs scored, 50 homers and 154 RBIs. Hardy played in 112 games at shortstop last season for the Brewers and he made 8 errors there while showing slightly above average range. The Twins are excited about the defense they will have up the middle for 2010 with Orlando Hudson at 2B and Hardy at SS.

32-year old switch hitting Nick Punto will likely be sharing time at 3B with 29-year old righty swinging Brendan Harris but he will still likely be available for some time at SS in 2010. Punto played in 58 games at SS last season for the Twins and he made 7 errors while showing good range. Brendan Harris played in 56 games for the Twins at SS last season and he made 6 errors while showing slightly below average range.

With Harris and Punto likely getting most of their time at 3B it could set up a battle between 27-year old switch hitting Matt Tolbert and 25-year old lefty swinging Alexi Casilla for the back up job at SS. Tolbert only played in 3 games at SS for the Twins last season and he didn’t make any errors while showing out of this world range. Casilla played in 2 games at SS last season for the Twins while showing good range. Tolbert probably has a edge on Casilla because he can play more positions.

GRADE FOR THE SS IN 2010: C+