Justin Morneau has been scratched from today’s lineup because of an illness. Brian Buscher will start in his place.

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey will get his big chance tomorrow when he starts against Chan Ho Park and the Phillies in Clearwater. That’s a pretty good test for him - even with J-Roll and Shane Victorino away at the World Baseball Classic.

Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully the Twins will announce their plans to treat Joe Mauer’s sore lower back so we can move on. We all know it’s not a serious or long-term problem, so there’s no reason for this to drag on any longer.

Finally, this man has ranked Prince 10th on the list of greatest Minnesotans. Just 10th? Seth, puhleeze. And that No. 13 pick…

Lineup

Yankees: 1, Brett Gardner, CF. 2. Robinson Cano, 2B. 3. Mark Teixeira, 1B. 4. Hideki Matsui. DH. 5. Jose Molina, C. 6. Shelley Duncan, RF. 7. Eduardo Nunez, SS. 8. Austin Jackson, LF. 9. Ramiro Pena 3B. Pitching; Phil Hughes

Twins: 1. Span, RF. 2. Casilla, 2B. 3. Kubel, DH. 4. Buscher, 1B. 5. Crede, 3B. 6. Young, LF. 7. Gomez, CF. 8. Redmond, C. 9. Punto, SS. Pitching: Perkins, with  Mijares, Jones, Keppel, Duensing, Gosling, Nathan and Ayala scheduled. Wouldn’t be surprised if a couple pitchers pitch in the minor league game today.

Joe C. and I are at Hammond Stadium on Joe Mauer Watch. We’ll have an update if the Twins officially release an update on the All-Star catcher.

Update: Checked with the Twins, and there’s no update today. I’m not reading anything troublesome into the developement. It’s an off day here. No players, coaches or trainers are here. If it takes one more day - and we can talk to everyone involved and finally write the ending to this mystery - that’s acceptable.

We also shot a new video notebook that’s now on the website.

I did make it over to the minor league camp this morning to talk with Bill Springman, the Twins’ minor league hitting coordinator, for a story I’m working on. While over there, I picked up some notes.

Jim Rantz, the Twins director of minor leagues, told me they have just signed another lefthander, Reid Santos, to be in the mix for a spot at Class AAA Rochester. Boy, are they piling up some unheralded/developing lefties. There’s Santos and Carmen Pignatello and Kyle Aselton and Ben Julianel. Mike Gosling and Sean Henn will end up there. And either Jose Mijares or Brian Duensing will end up there, too. And there’s Ryan Mullins, but he’ll probably begin the season at New Britain. He’s still a starter, for now.

Updates

Rantz had a couple notes from yesterday’s games.

Kevin Slowey looked solid in his outing, but Craig Breslow struck out two in an inning or work and really looked good.

Evan Bigley, part of the Elizabethton bomb squad last season, homered and hit two doubles for Beloit against Greenville.

Joe C. asked to pass this along: He ran into lefthander Tyler Robertson a couple days ago and was told that his offseason shoulder rehab went very well and he’s full-go. Robertson, the Twins’ third-round pick in 2006, should begin the season at Class A Fort Myers.

Observations

I had just finished my interview with Springman when I looked to my left and saw 7-1 Dutch hurler Loek Van Mil -and the 5-3 Chris Cates just five feet away. All these minor leaguers roaming around and I see the tallest and shortest ones virtually next to each other. You can’t make this stuff up.

Van Mil would have been part of the Netherlands team for the World Baseball Classic, but injured his elbow just before the Olympics and has been shut down. The Twins are crossing their fingers that rehab is all he needs.

 “He’s doing well and there are no symptoms of having any elbow problems,” Rantz said. “The test will be when we get him on the mound. He’ll throw a bullpen soon. But we don’t expect him to break with the club.”

But if Van Mil has another elbow problem, he’ll have Tommy John surgery.

Christopher Parmelee, who should be at Class A Fort Myers this year, is one broad-shouldered, powerful-looking young man.

Middle infielder Brian Dinkleman, who should start at Class AA New Britain, is put together pretty well, too. Terry Ryan has identified him as one to watch, and others in the organization feel he has leadership qualities.

Steve Singleton came up to me and introduced himself. “I’ve read your stuff on the Internet,” he said.

I told him I wrote about him in the minor league report last year.

“Yeah that’s how it started,” he said. “My dad read that and told me about it.”

You never know who’s reading…

Finally, an announcement

I regret to inform you that there will NOT be a weekly minor league report in the newspaper this year. There just isn’t any space available to do it the right way.

But there will be a weekly report here. We still trying to figure out the best day to post it. This will allow me more space to write longer on the weeks I have really good stuff. I can also use a week to rank stuff like the top second base prospects. I can check in with people like Springman and talk about hitters. I can bug minor league managers like Stan Cliburn and Jeff Smith.

This could be a good thing. I don’t think I can match the prolific coverage of Seth Stohs, but I won’t be encumbered by a newshole, either. Â

I’m wandering around the Lee County Sports Complex while Joe C. covers today’s game. Walked into the coaches’ dressing room and found Tony Oliva opening up a box of brand new Nike shoes - given to him by Denard Span.

“Oooh, these are nice,” Oliva said. “You know, these guys always do nice things for me. Mauer. Justin Morneau. Denard. Good guys.”

I went over to the minor league side of the complex and found Twins director of minor leagues Jim Rantz explaining to Harmon Killebrew why Aaron Hicks is considered a top prospect.  Hicks is playing a Red Sox farm team on the other side of town today, or I would have watched a couple innings.

 Now I’m back in the pressbox to share a few thoughts.

LINEUPS

Many of you seem to be hung up over what the daily lineups are. Take it from someone who is covering his 15th spring training: The lineups don’t matter until the last week of camp.

Managers are looking at different players during the first few weeks of camp. Some players want to get an extra at-bat, so they ask to hit higher in the order a couple of times. Joe Crede reported to camp and told Twins manager Ron Gardenhire that he needed as many at-bats as he can get during spring training. That’s why Crede has hit in the No. 3 hole. That’s why Jorge Posada led off against the Twins on Sunday.

Who cares if Carlos Gomez is batting seventh and Brendan Harris ninth? Wait until the last week of camp, when managers play to win. I remember 2000, when Todd Walker batted all over the place during most of spring training. Suddenly, he was in the leadoff spot on the Monday before camp broke. I asked Tom Kelly about it, and I could tell by his response that he was planning to use Walker in that spot. I wrote it pretty hard for the next day’s paper, and Walker opened the season as the Twins’ leadoff hittter.

The final week of camp is when you get an idea of what batting orders managers are thinking about.

ODD-MAN OUT?

That said, don’t use the Opening Day lineup to figure out who’s going to play in the outfield. I think Gardy’s lineup will be a moving target all year because of the outfield situation.

My story in today’s ink edition pointed out how Gardy is using Span this spring. Go-Go, Del and Cuddy have played one position all spring. They all will get their at-bats, and I think it’s a good idea to move Span around. I’m sure there will be times when Span is out of the lineup and Alexi Casilla is leading off.

I think the only position that’s a lock is Justin Morneau as the cleanup hitter. Who knows when the catcher will get on the field?

AS FOR THE CATCHER..

I was standing in the clubhouse this morning when I heard a voice behind me, “Good morning, La Velle.”

It was Joe Mauer after a whirlpool session. He exists!

Mauer indicated that he still hasn’t heard from the doctor in Baltimore who examined him on Saturday, but he wasn’t surprised it is taking this long because it was a pretty extensive examination. That was it, as he was off to grab a meal. For now, Mauer is doing as much conditioning work as he can while he waits for answers.

I’m getting a lot of e-mails wondering if the conspiracy is on. All I can offer at this point is that we’re covering this as well as we can and there are no indications of a conspiracy. If we find out something, we’ll let you know.

Update: Since my talk with Joe, the Twins have indicated that an update on Mauer’s condition could happen by tomorrow - if not later today. Joe C. is the official Mauer injury writer today, so he’ll have more on it.

But we’re hearing that this will NOT be a long-term issue.

ONE LAST THING

This has nothing to do with the Twins, but a National League scout who’s recently seen Jonanthan Papelbon pitch expressed concern that the Red Sox closer is battling a shoulder problem. Who knows if it’s true, but it’s worth tracking. And Papelbon may be the kind of pitcher who’s not afraid to pitch with soreness (see Huston Street).

 Today is not a good day for me. I heard last night about the cuts at the Kansas City Star but didn’t see the list until this morning. Found out that several people who were with The Star before I arrived there in 1989 are being let go.

We all know where the economy is. We all know the direction this industry is headed in. It’s still tough to see your friends suffer. And that’s a one-newspaper town, too.

Back to regular programming….

The Twins optioned five players and reassigned six to the minor league camp today

Optioned: Pitchers Armando Gabino and Anthony Swarzak,  infielders Trevor Plouffe and Steven Tolleson to Rochester and third baseman Deibinson Romero to Fort Myers.

Reassigned: Pitchers Rob Delaney and Ben Julianel, catcher Danny Lehmann, infielder Toby Gardenhire, third baseman Danny Valencia and outfielder Dustin Martin.

Update: Nathan won’t pitch here. He’ll head down to the minor league side and pitch two innings. Wilson Ramos will be his catcher.

No Mauer update. Mauer has been seen working out, so at least he hasn’t been totally shut down. The Twins are waiting for the doctors to figure out how to treat his inflamed right sacroiliac joint.

Denard Span is in left today, and has played all three outfield positions this spring. That’s a pretty good indication that manager Ron Gardenhire wants to keep Span at the top of the order as much as possible, and that Delmon Young, Carlos Gomez and Michael Cuddyer might have to sit to make that happen.

Span has struggled to get his timing down at the plate, but had two hits yesterday - and Gardenhire didn’t hesitate to point that out this morning.

Lineups 

Twins: 1. Span, LF. 2. Casilla, 2B. 3. Crede, DH. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5. Cuddyer, RF. 6. Buscher, 3B. 7. Gomez, CF. 8. Morales, C. 9. Harris, SS. Pitching: Baker. Guerrier, Nathan, Mijares, Duensing scheduled.

Red Sox:  1. Ellsbury, CF. 2. Lowell, 3B. 3. Ortiz, DH. 4. Baldelli, RF. 5. Bay, LF. 6. Varitek, C. 7. Wilkerson, 1B. 8. Jed Lowrie, SS. 9.  Nick Green, 2B. Pitching: Beckett.

MINOR LEAGUE NOTES 

Spring training games for the minor leaguers begin tomorrow. Twins officials spent today handing out awards from last season.

The 2008 Elizabethton team received their championship rings.

Ben Revere and Anthony Slama received their organizational player and pitcher of the year awards, respectively.

Topps now has an award for the top rookie league players. E-Town’s Angel Morales, who led the Appalachian League with 15 homers, and reliever Kelvin Mota, who had 12 saves for the Gulf Coast League team, were honored.

That E-Town team, by the way, hit 88 homers in 66 games last season.

The Twins also have a new minor league award for defense. Jason Pridie won one for outfield play. Drew Butera (catchers), Mike McCardell (pitchers) and Yancarlos Ortiz (infielders) also won defensive awards.

by the end of the presentation, Ben Revere had five pieces of hardware: Twins minor league player of the year, the Man of Steal (led the org with 44 stolen bases), Midwest League MVP, Midwest League all-star team and Midwest League best prospect.

QUESTIONS
Lots of Minnesotans here on a very warm day. I ran into several while walking to and from minor league headquarters.

The two questions I got from everyone: 1. How is Joe Mauer. 2. What’s with Joe Crede?

There’s no Mauer update as of this writing. He did seem to be rather chipper this morning in the clubhouse.

As for Crede and his .083 average, it’s early. Crede told the Twins he needed plenty of at-bats this spring. Looking at the results so far, now we know why.

Breaking news: Crede hit a two-run homer on the third inning. He’s ready!

SEAMHEAD SUMMIT

Met Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun last night for a beverage at at Fort Myers Beach establishment  - and to watch Team USA play the Fighting Blylevens. We decided to pick the best USA team possible.

The starting rotation discussion was pretty good. I’m a big Roy Halladay supporter, so he topped my staff that included C.C. Sabathia, Cole Hamels, Brandon Webb and Roy Oswalt.

Conno - as we call him in the business - had Tim Lincecum on the team instead of Oswalt.

Lincecum is the man, but I prefer Oswalt, who has a longer track record and who, by all accounts, is someone you want in the foxhole with you.

What’s your top five?