When fans talk about Twins starting pitchers, it seems like they fixate on Francisco Liriano, Carl Pavano, the cluster of right-handers who came up at roughly the same time, and then the potential of the Kyle Gibson. Call us crazy, but it sometimes feels like Brian Duensing -- who tossed three more shutout innings yesterday -- is the forgotten man. And that's a shame because he could play a major role in how the Twins' future shakes out.

For the past two seasons, Duensing's calling card has been his versatility. Reliever or starter, it hasn't mattered -- he's always seemed to do the job when called upon. A little closer look, however, reveals that he hasn't merely been good. Duensing has been close to dominant as a starter over the past two seasons, and he is assured of being in that role full-time to start the season in 2011.

The career numbers as a starter, over parts of the past two seasons: 22 starts, 12-3 record, 138.1 IP, 2.93 ERA, opponents have a .688 OPS against him. That's a very quality starter who is basically giving up an average of 2 runs while working 6.1 innings every start. While it would be silly to make direct comparisons to the more dominant and strikeout-oriented Johan Santana, who was a combined 18-6 in 2002-03 as a part-time starter in both of those seasons before jumping into the rotation full-time in 2004 and winning the Cy Young Award, it is not unreasonable to think Duensing could be a top of the rotation guy -- a solid No. 2-3 starter capable of winning 15-17 games a year when given the chance.

And who knows? We've been guilty of waiting for the other shoe to drop on Duensing for two years. Will batters catch up to him as they see him more? Perhaps. But it hasn't happened yet. Maybe it never will happen, and we'll keep underestimating him right up to the point where he develops into something more than solid. For now, at least, we're vowing to stop pigeonholing him as versatile and to start thinking of him as a possible top-end guy.