Our first alternative would be go with Mike Redmond and probably Matt LeCroy. Certainly, we'd have to keep an eye on anybody that might be available through the course of spring training. So far so good. Mauer is doing fine and going through all the drills. We haven't had any problems.

Punto hasn't shown he can be healthy enough yet, durable enough. The shortstop position is wide open. At second base, we have confidence Rivas can take the next step, we'll give him every opportunity to do that.

He has had a number of things happen to him this winter. Wisdom teeth removed, appendix removed -- he had chicken pox and now's he got a little bit of a lung problem. He should arrive today or tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll get him enough strength to be ready by Opening Day.

I would say he will provide some depth at third, first, catcher and DH. He's a left-handed bat off the bench.

No -- he'll rotate amongst others. He'll play left, center and right. And he'll DH.

I certainly read Baseball America, Baseball Weekly, The Sporting News and the Internet. I read newspapers every day from around the country. Most baseball books on the market -- "Moneyball" is a good baseball book. Any scouting information you can get is good.

If I had known that Jason Kubel was going to go up there in that situation and have a panic at-bat, I would have done something else. He hadn't done that the whole time he had been here. He had been right on the ball and was on Mariano Rivera the last time he faced him, and not many others had been. You think about that all the time.

[Kubel] had perhaps the worst at-bat I've ever seen. Facing Rivera with the game tied at five and runners on second and third with one out in the eighth inning, Kubel took a first-pitch strike right down the middle of the plate and then swung at consecutive pitches that were literally above his eyes. Just a brutal effort in a crucial situation.

There are not many open. We have to see who will come off our bench, third base and shortstop. We think we can fill them with what we have here in camp. A pitching spot is open, depending on Joe Mays. We want him to be that starter. He'll have a good shot. There's not too much after that.

We have some veterans from other ballclubs who can give us some depth, and that could be huge.

[Cuddyer] could still play second if Luis Rivas comes in and doesn't play well. I could put Cuddy over at second. Then I can put [Eric] Munson at third or Terry Tiffee. I've got options. There's lot of things that could happen here, but I want Cuddyer over at third. I think it is time. I think he is comfortable in the major leagues and has been able to make adjustments to different roles. I think he likes second base a lot, but he also understands the opportunity to get 400-500 at-bats at third, and I think he's ready for it.

He's got nothing wrong with his knee, but we want to make sure he gets through the early part of this camp. We'll see how it goes, because there's a lot of work for catchers the first part of camp. We will take it slow and protect him as much as we can. We've got extra catchers here. He looks great, but we still have to use some caution.