Ervin Santana

The Twins knew Ervin was suffering toward the end of last season. All became aware of it with that horrible playoff start.

Ervin has since had surgery on the middle finger on his pitching hand. He is expected to be out all of April and MAYBE a little into May. It all depends on his response to the surgery and normal recovery time.

The Twins do not have a deep starting rotation, but Santana's recovery will give the Twins an opportunity to see some of their young prospects get some starts at the major league level. Those kinds of starts are invaluable to the future of the Twins starting rotation.

Maybe one of them will turn out to be another Berrios. Probably not, but at least they can show everybody what they're made of.