Thoughts on Butera, Burroughs and Plouffe

Drew Butera is to
open 2012 in the
minors.

The Twins optioned out Drew Butera this morning and told him they were going to carry two catchers.

J.R. Towles remains in camp, and I believe fellow non-roster invitee Danny Lehmann does as well, but their status will change in the coming days.

Reading between the lines, it is increasingly obvious that Justin Morneau is going to spend most of his time as the designated hitter, which means Ryan Doumit will get most of his at-bats playing a position. This is not going to help the defense, but many of the Twins decisions of the past week have been in the direction of sacrificing defense for offense.

* The chatter this morning has Sean Burroughs making the 25-man roster. I don't see a good reason for this.

What is his role? Burroughs is not -- or shouldn't -- going to play third ahead of Danny Valencia. He's not -- and even more emphatically shouldn't -- play first ahead of Chris Parmelee. While there was chatter all spring about running him out at second base, that hasn't happened, nor should it.

Sean Burroughs has
a career slugging
percentage of .357
in more than 1,800
MLB at-bats.

Burroughs profiles as a pinch-hitter. Left-handed, hits for average, almost no power, limited on defense to the corner infield. (Not that he's good there either; on Friday, playing first base, he allowed a Boston runner to score from second on a sac bunt.) That makes him a reasonable fit on a National League roster, not so much on an AL squad -- especially one that doesn't have a legitimate middle infield backup.

* In connection with that last point, Trevor Plouffe is starting Saturday's exhibition game at second base. This is apparently to prepare him for such use after pinch-hitting for Alexi Casilla or Jamey Carroll.

It's perfectly logical. He has established that he's an awful middle infielder, so the Twins had him spend the   winter and spring focusing on becoming an outfielder. This is bound to make him a better infielder. How can it not?