1. Sano out until May(ish) - Blargh. So he... slipped on some stairs celebrating a DWL win and cut his leg and it keeps re-opening and also got infected? This is obviously bad news, but it does make it more likely that Willians will break camp with the team since Marwin Gonzalez is likely to take over at third. The bummer about Sano's career to this point is that there's a non-zero chance the Twins are better for this - but that depends on Cron/Austin outhitting Sano, which is plausible but actually the good kind of problem. More good players is good news. Anyhow, this awesome article pulled the most Twins-fan move ever and pointed out that Mauer didn't join the 25-man roster of the 2009 Twins until May and he won an MVP so eat it, nerds:

https://www.mlb.com/news/miguel-sano-returns-to-camp-to-start-rehab

2. Speaking of Willians, he played leftfield (resulting in a picture I embarassingly misidentified on my phone as Bartolo Colon) and hit a homerun yesterday. I think Astudillo showing up regularly in corner outfield duty during spring break is a sign he's the current pick over Adrianza for that 25th man slot. Adrianza didn't help his case by getting picked off in a hidden ball trick the other day. And Tyler Austin has been hitting well enough that he may be an offense-first play for a bench role. I still think Austin's better than Cron but I recognize I may be biased by my utter distaste for Cron's game. Here's video of Astudillo's homer:

https://www.mlb.com/video/astudillo-s-solo-smash-c2523659183

3. Addison Reed has apparently looked like utter garbage, topping out in the low 90s and working in the 80s. I still remember the days of Joe Nathan freaking everybody out by throwing like a highschooler in spring training, so maybe it's not a big deal - but Reed wasn't real good last year and Addison Reed who doesn't throw hard is...not helpful. I'm sure Reed makes the team since they're paying him real money and it's easy to kick the bullpen can down the road in April, but if you want to dream big then Ryne Harper's curveball has apparently been the talk of camp so far this spring. He's a 30 year old righty who hasn't ever played at the MLB level, but he struck out over 11/per last season in Chattanooga and Rochester. Sometimes when you've got a veteran who carves up minor leaguers you can just call it a Crash Davis situation and say he's getting by on savvy and grit and possibly cheating. But there's video of his deeply disrespectful curveball(s) in the article and things get a little bit realer when you can go "oh, that seems really difficult to hit"

https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/ryne-harper-looks-sharp-for-twins-this-spring

4. I was skeptical about the Martin Perez signing at first, almost *because* he's a player I used to admire and covet and having one of those guys wind up on your team when he's old and shitty is often a weird and terrible feeling as a fan. Or as a GM, as Ken Williams using the mid-00's to pick up the stars of the mid-90s and roster them in Chicago demonstrated. I wish I had been more vocal about how fun he was back in the day, because then I could congratulate myself now for making Johan Santana comps then because... that's exactly what observers are saying about him now. It's pretty much an aesthetic observation, as he never had Santana's changeup and that's like saying he's Mike Trout without the power - a real talent, but not a HOLY SHIT one. He's a lefty with a pretty similar delivery - and in his prime had a really nice slider. Now, he's pinging 96-97 again, and has apparently been working with Santana to find that extra few ticks. That article was in the PiPress, which has gone subscription so here's a dumb CBS article about how he hasn't sucked. It's like two paragraphs. Don't read it:

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/twins-martin-perez-continues-strong-spring/