DALLAS - When the Twins signed Ryan Doumit as a free agent -- a versatile player who has catching in his toolbox -- it appeared that Drew Butera's time as Joe Mauer's backup was near an end.

Not so fast.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, taking his turn during the annual managers' news conferences at the winter meetings, laid out a likely scenario is which Mauer, Doumit and Butera are on the Opening Day roster.

"We could actually go with three catchers," Gardenhire said.

With Doumit around, Gardenhire can use Mauer at first base or as the designated hitter on the days he doesn't catch. Doumit, a career .271 hitter, can start at catcher those days, with Butera able to replace Doumit if he gets injured or as a late-inning defensive player.

Doumit is not strong defensively, which makes having Butera around necessary. Butera is not strong offensively; he has batted .178 in 142 major league games during the times Mauer has been injured.

Doumit can also play first and right field. He is essentially taking Jim Thome's spot on the roster. What the Twins lose in Hall of Fame part-time power they gain in versatility.

"It gives more options with Mauer on the days I don't play him," Gardenhire said. "We'll see how it all breaks down. If one of your catchers is a position player that can go other places like outfield and first base, then it's actually kind of a bonus to be able to have three."

The Twins signed Doumit to a one-year, $3 million contract last month.

Gardenhire's plan is predicated on Mauer being healthy, and the former MVP last week said he felt great after the initial phase of his offseason conditioning program. Gardenhire has not spoken with Mauer during the offseason but is encourage by what General Manager Terry Ryan has said about Mauer's progress.

"Terry told me he's feeling great," Gardenhire said. "He's pumped up and he's a little irritated, which is a good thing, you know."

Gardenhire, on other subjects during his 27-minute news conference:

• On how long it took him to decompress after the season: "Have you ever lost 99 games? Yeah, it was hard. It's never going to be easy. It's not going to go away. You just try to figure out what went wrong and you go from there. So it's a thought process that comes in your head all winter, every day you think about it one way or another, and you just move forward and hope you can improve."

• On if lefthander Glen Perkins is on the path toward becoming a closer: "We'll see how he does. He's got to be able to bounce back on a number of days, back to back, he's proven he can do those things. He's athletic. All those little things he does well, plus the ball is coming out of his hand. Sure, I think he'll be a closer, no doubt, I think he'll be right in the mix. If not this year, some other time."

• On how the AL Central is shaping up, especially after the White Sox decided to rebuild: "You have to look and see how it all finished out here, who has what. ... But Detroit obviously, they thumped a lot of people. They've got a pretty good baseball team, and I don't think they've done anything to hurt themselves and they'll probably add. You look at Detroit as the best in our division, and everybody is going to try to catch them."