Jacque Jones Topic Page

The Twins, on Saturday, optioned Matt Tolbert to AAA and informed Jacque Jones that he will not make the opening day roster. That leaves the final bench spot to Alexi Casilla.

It doesn't come as much of a surprise that, despite Casilla's underwhelming spring, he got the final nod. Casilla was out of options, meaning he would have had to clear waivers in order for the Twins to keep him. Jones had a far better spring, but hasn't shown much in recent seasons at the big league level and the Twins could freely send him to Rochester.

MLB's globalization efforts are turning baseball into a year event. March brought us the World Baseball Classic and November will see the inaugural Japan All-Star Series featuring a team of MLB "All-Stars" against Japan's best players. Taking a look at the MLB roster, it's clear that the term All-Star might be an exaggeration, but what more can you expect after a long regular season has just ended?

The biggest issue facing the Twins in 2006 isn't necessarily whether they have improved or retreated from their 2005 team, but rather how much better the White Sox and Indians will be in 2006. The Twins are going to have some tough competition this season and the AL Central may become one of the stronger divisions in baseball. Nevertheless, it's worth discussing how the Twins have changed in each area from 2005 to 2006.