Today's Bullpen Competition - Monday

There are nine pitchers scheduled to pitch today. Worley is starting, but there are four other starters on the list. Those include DeVries, Deduno, Vazquez and Hernandez. Burnett, Fien, Guerra, Tonkin and Augenstein are the bullpen candidates scheduled to pitch.

As the home team, the Twins will need at least nine innings from their pitchers. Worley will take two innings. That leaves 7 innings to be divided among 9 pitchers. At least one of those 9 will be held in reserve for the 10th inning if the game goes into extra innings. But, if they give another starter 2 innings, they can't fit an inning for all the rest.

Burnett and Fien are certain to get one inning each. Deduno and DeVries should also get at least one inning, although DeVries may get two. Guerra, Vasquez, Hernandez, Tonkin and Augenstein will take the other 2 or 3 innings. Hernandez came to the Twins in the Liriano trade, so this would be the first time the major league staff has seen him in a game situation. All five are likely slotted for minor league rosters. Tonkin is a hard throwing minor league prospect who could get a chance in the Twins bullpen later this year if he shows well this spring.

The Twins have a lot of pitchers in camp and its clear finding game opportunities for all of them is a challenge. That challenge will get greater for bullpen candidates as the starters get stretched out and pitch more innings in each game.