Opening day and off days.

The Twins got down to their initial 25-man active roster Wednesday by deeming Jorge Polanco's balky shoulder ready to go and putting three relievers -- Addison Reed, Gabriel Moya and Matt Magill -- on the injured list.

So Tyler Austin stays around, although I have no idea what he's going to do. He has no purpose as long as C.J. Cron, Nelson Cruz and Marwin Gonzalez are all sound enough to play.

But soon enough the Twins will get to the point where they feel the need for 12 or 13 pitchers, And then either Austin will go or Cron will. And the Twins have a lot more invested in Cron than in Austin.

---

I doubt the early start to the regular season is accomplishing what the players wanted, at least in these northern climes.

The players wanted more offdays during the season, and got that in the current labor deal. That required

• cutting games out of the schedule, which means reducing revenue; or
• making the schedule longer at the end of the season, which means a World Series played after Halloween, which nobody wants; or
• adding games at the start of the season, which means playing games in March

The third option was reckoned the least bad.

But too many of the added offdays are slated in April (and March) because of interleague play and unbalanced schedules. A high percentage of series for any team involves the given rival's only visit to town. The offdays are there to accomodate those days that get weathered out.

An offday in April is less useful in a rest and recuperation sense than an offday in August. But there are bound to be more cancellations in April.