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FanHouse breaks down the who's who and the what's what of the baseball world each week with our MLB Power Rankings.

Spring Training is always a time of year when false hopes or false assumptions are built based on performance. It might Jeff Francoeur lacing the ball, for instance. Or Yovani Gallardo stinking the joint up. But it is also a time of year when season-altering injuries are revealed. For instance, Alex Rodriguez will miss the first 10 weeks of the season because of surgery. Chipper Jones is dealing with an oblique injury. Oh, and this Manny Ramirez guy signed with the Dodgers. So even though it might seem premature to react in a knee-jerk fashion, it's not.

Hence, we have our second installment of preseason MLB Power Rankings, just to keep your jones going for America's pastime.

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Minnesota Twins.

Last year was supposed to be the season in which the Minnesota Twins finally had to deal with reality. They traded Johan Santana to the Mets because they couldn't afford him any longer, and the heart and soul of the team, Torii Hunter, left for the glitz and glamor of Los Angeles. Then the Twins went out and won 88 games and were one run shy of making the playoffs after losing to the White Sox in a one-game playoff for the Central title. This is just what the Twins do. They defy everyone's expectations but their own, and odds are they're going to do it again this season.

Tough news for Boof Bonser and the Twins Wednesday. Arthroscopic surgery on Bonser's throwing shoulder revealed tears in his labrum and rotator cuff, and, barring a miracle, Bonser will make his return no earlier than 2010.

He was in the running to be the long relief man before this setback, so the Twins will have to look elsewhere on the roster for help. It also means between injuries to Bonser and Pat Neshek, the Twins' middle relief will have a significantly different look than last year.

Generally once spring training begins, managers have two key worries that they put before everything else: get players in shape, and keep them healthy. If the role of fifth starter isn't quite settled by the first game in April, it's not good, but it's not horrible either. The team still has 162 games to figure it out, so there's no real rush.

What's much worse is when a player you were counting on to fill a role on your pitching staff finds out he's going to need surgery, which is what Minnesota Twins pitcher Boof Bonser just found out Tuesday. Bonser is going to have to go under the knife for a some shoulder surgery.

With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.

- The Red Sox, Marlins and Pirates are indeed working on a three-way deal that would send Manny Ramirez to South Florida, Jeremy Hermida and prospects to Pittsburgh and Jason Bay (and possibly reliever John Grabow) to Boston. The trade is still a long way from being completed, however, with the teams expected to haggle right up to the deadline on the prospects heading to the Pirates. The deal is fragile because it involves three teams and prospects from both Florida and Boston, so it could go right down to the wire, and there's always a chance the deal collapses.

But there is also a different feeling in Boston this time around with Ramirez, much like the feeling in 2004 when GM Theo Epstein swallowed hard and got rid of the beloved Nomar Garciaparra. If the three-way deal with the Pirates collapses, it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Red Sox would then deal directly with the Marlins. And remember this: while the Red Sox would love to have Manny Ramirez in their lineup in October, it won't be as difficult as you'd think to replace his production over the final two months of the season because he is so poor defensively.

- GM Kenny Williams has already added future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox's roster, but he might not be done. With Scott Linebrink on the DL and closer Bobby Jenks just off of it, Chicago is looking for bullpen depth. Williams and the White Sox have been connected with Oakland closer Huston Street for a few weeks now, and there are indications from the Windy City that he'll make a final push to acquire him before the 4PM ET deadline. Eamonn Brennan has already covered the Nick Swisher-Street swap speculation already at FanHouse and correctly assumes that a deal is unlikely.

Spot Jobs takes a look at fantasy baseball gambling via sitting a usual starting pitcher for the week and/or starting a usually unused starting pitcher.

Five Up

Ted Lilly -- He's struggled on several different occasions this season, including his last start against what was left of the Rockies' lineup. Still, the wind was screaming out and only one HR appeared it would have left without said wind. Now he gets the Padres in San Diego. Last time he faced them he picked up a win while striking out 11. Now they are in spacious Petco. He's an absolute must-start.

Glen Perkins and Boof Bonser -- No AL squad has scored less runs than the O's. Perkins was dealing until the hiccup at Yankee Stadium last Friday, so you can expect a bounce-back this Wednesday. For Boof, it's a huge gamble because he's been awful. I've just got a hunch he'll make good on his chance this week.

Jered Weaver -- He's struggled to fulfill his promise since a stellar rookie campaign. He's also only 4-6 for the first place Halos. This week, though, he visits the anemic Mariners offense in Safeco. I like him to deal and pick up a win.

Johnny Cueto -- Coming off a good outing, he figures to have success in punching out some Marlins Friday.

Jimmy Traina is on fi-ya with the awkward music videos from Major League Baseball teams this week, and today's group of ballers on the mic are the Minnesota Twins. While this video doesn't touch yesterday's Oriole Magic! number, it is worth noting that anytime you get to see Boof Bonser sing "I paint cor-ners of the dish", you've already done a good day's work.



I wonder how many times it took to actually take this vid. Because too many cymbal smashings can't be considered good for your elbow.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

New York Yankees (0-0) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (0-0) - 7:05PM Est.

The Yankees wanted to kick off the final season at Yankee Stadium yesterday, but ol' Mother Nature wouldn't play along, as she instead chose to try and flood the city of New York on Monday. So that means for Yankees and Blue Jays fans opening day is today, as the two teams try and do it all over again. Aside from the significance of this being the last opening day in Yankee Stadium history, it's also the first time the Yankees will be playing a game at the stadium without Joe Torre in the dugout in 13 years. For the Blue Jays, they've kinda become a darkhorse pick in the AL East this season, and a win tonight against a division powerhouse like the Yankees would be a nice way to start off the season. Both of yesterday's scheduled starters, Chien-Ming Wang and Roy Halladay, will be making the start tonight. Wang will try to put his playoff collapse behind him, but he's not going against a team he's enjoyed much success against. In three starts against Toronto last season, Wang went 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA. Roy Halladay on the other hand is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.77 in his last eight starts against the Bombers, suffering his last loss on September 21st, 2004.

One of the stories I'm planning on keeping my eye on this season is the return of Francisco Liriano to the Minnesota Twins rotation. Francisco is one of those pitchers that you have to see to believe, and even then you're still not entirely sure of what you saw or how he did it. After spending many a night in 2006 watching Tivo'd Twins games in which Liriano started, I really missed the kid last season.

Anyway, Francisco made his first appearance of the spring for the Twins this afternoon, and his arm didn't fall off, so it was a successful day. Liriano pitched 1.2 innings, and allowed 2 hits, walked 1, and struck out another as the Twins beat the Red Sox.

If the Twins are going to compete in the AL Central this season, they're going to need Francisco to stay healthy all season and fill the void left by Johan Santana's departure. Unfortunately, I just don't see it happening. It's not because Liriano doesn't have the talent, if he stays healthy he could end up being better than Santana. I just don't see him staying healthy for a full season.

When Liriano came to Minnesota from San Francisco in the infamous trade that also brought Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser to the Twin Cities in exchange for A. J. Pierzynski, the only reason he was included in the deal was because of his elbow problems. The same things the Giants saw in Liriano then are still there today. Great command, nasty stuff, and an elbow that could snap in two on any breaking pitch.

Francisco's delivery is so violent, and his history too alarming, to ever think he's going to be able to maintain his health for an extended period of time. It's a real shame too, because he does things with a baseball that we seldom get to see.

As the Twins enter the offseason unsure of what they're going to do about Johan Santana, Santana let them know yesterday that they do have options. You see, if the Twins decided this offseason that there was no way they were going to be able to re-sign Santana after next year, they may have looked to trade him.

The one problem there being that Santana does have a no-trade clause in his contract. Well, guess what? Santana would have absolutely no problem waiving that clause if it would help the team.

"Everything about the Twins, I love," Santana said. "At the same time, if I have to go somewhere else, and it's for the better, I'll do it. I won't have any problems with that."

The more I read about the Santana situation in Minnesota, the more convinced I become that there's absolutely no chance Santana will be a Twin in 2009. Everything both sides say seems to confirm it.

Now whether or not he'll be back next season, I'm not sure yet. There's no way a team can consider themselves better by trading their best pitcher, but the Twins have a lot of holes they need to fix if they're going to compete in the AL Central next season.

Johan Santana is the kind of player that can bring back a lot of players to fill those holes. I mean, if the Twins managed to get Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser, and Francisco Liriano from the Giants for A.J. Pierzynski, what could they get for Santana?

One of the deals I read about this morning on Buster Olney's blog centers around the Twins sending Santana to the Mets for Jose Reyes. That would be the very definition of a blockbuster trade, but I'm not sure the Mets would be willing to give up Reyes.

Whoever Santana gets traded for, if he does get traded, it's going to be a big name.