TFD: Ideal Twins pitching staff in February vs. real staff right now

Optimistic view of the Twins pitching situation in mid-February:

BULLPEN

*Matt Capps holds down the closer role

*Glen Perkins can keep up his 2011 pace as a strong lefty set-up guy

*Joel Zumaya can come back from chronic injuries and give the Twins a flamethrowing late-inning righty.

*Anthony Swarzak and Brian Duensing can provide depth and innings

*A couple other reliable arms will emerge from a camp battle

*Francisco Liriano will be his 2010 version

*Carl Pavano will be the stabilizer, eating innings and winning more games behind an improved defense

*Scott Baker will be healthy and a top-3 guy

*Nick Blackburn will get his sinker going and eat innings

*Jason Marquis will be dependable at the end of the rotation

Current view of the Twins' pitching situation, as of 5 p.m. today:

BULLPEN

*Capps has two saves in the team's only two wins, but one was mighty shaky

*Perkins has two rough outings in a row and now has arm questions. He is not with the team in New York.

*Zumaya was shut down for the year before February was over.

*Duensing has an ERA of 6.00 and took the loss Saturday.

*The other guys (Jared Burton, Matt Maloney, Jeff Gray and Alex Burnett) actually have a 2.87 ERA combined

STARTING ROTATION

*Liriano has an ERA of 10 in two starts and has been all over the place.

*Pavano has pitched at least 6 2/3 innings in both starts but has also allowed at least 4 runs both times.

*Blackburn is going to miss at least one start after coming out with a shoulder cramp in his last outing. His ERA is 5.56.

*Marquis hasn't pitched yet while dealing (quite understandably) with his daughter's bicycle accident.

*Swarzak, as noted, has been quite functional as a spot starter.

*Liam Hendriks had food poisoning, finally made his debut Sunday, and delivered the team's first "quality start" (6+ innings pitched, 3 ER or fewer) of the season.