The first injuries

A sign of spring (training) in Fort Myers.

The Twins, or at least the pitchers and catchers, held their first official workouts of the spring Monday in Fort Myers, Fla. As usual, Day One brought news of previously undisclosed ill health.

Most prominent: Regular shortstop Pedro Florimon had his appendix removed Monday in a minimally invasive manner. He'll be out a couple of weeks. Considering that position players don't officially start for another week, this isn't likely to be an issue.

Meanwhile, Ron Gardenhire declared that Florimon is his shortstop. Had the manager made that statement a few weeks ago, he would have saved this blogger the mental exertion required to generate this analysis of the possibilities for the position.

Edgar Ibarra, a 24-year-old lefty reliever from Venezuela who was added to the 40-man roster early in the offseason in a move to keep him from becoming a minor league free agent, was diagnosed a few weeks ago with Hepatitis B. He didn't throw his scheduled bullpen and will be limited for a while. Ibarra had a strong 2013 split between Double A and Triple A, a season markedly better than anything he'd had before, but he wasn't particularly likely to crack the Opening Day roster even if healthy. Which he isn't.