Twins already going to flex their depth

 I like watching early season baseball games, despite the largely inhospitable climate during the first month or two of the season, particularly here in Minnesota. We spend all the offseason speculating on what, exactly, our favorite team's roster will look like, and really the beginning of the year is the time we should best expect to see the roster as it was intended.

Last year, when the components were where they were supposed to be, the Twins were playing well, and built a buffer in the AL Central. When the team started to break down, it exposed a lack of depth and perhaps a miscalculation of their pitching approach. But as intended, the team was just fine.

This winter, the lack of depth last season was on the minds of the Twins organization. There were some splashy moves that the Twins made in the off season, but a broader theme to what the organization did was improving the depth. Inarguably, the two big moves the Twins made were to resign Carlos Correa and trade for Pablo Lopez, but despite an active offseason, none of the other moves were for players that are expected to be every day options.

Well, as it turns out, all that offseason work is going to be flaunted earlier in the season than we expected. Jorge Polanco is not likely to be ready for opening day, which means newcomer Donovan Solano or Kyle Farmer will likely start the season at 2nd. Nick Gordon will have a shot at the keystone as well, at least for a couple of days.

Alex Kirilloff may not be fully ready by opening day, and Max Kepler is reporting some soreness as well. That opens up regular playing time for Joey Gallo, already pegged as, at the very least, a platoon option in the corner outfield. This likely also means that Trevor Larnach is going to break camp with the team, and that Solano, Farmer and Gordon have more opportunities to see the field. 

Fortunately, none of the various nicks to the regular players sound like they will be long lasting. Maybe the "intended" opening day roster won't show up until May this year. Assumuing nobody else gets hurt, of course.