Twins have some RH relievers to sort through

FORT MYERS, FLA. -- The latest information found on the Internet involving the career of right-handed reliever Brayan Villarreal is that he signed with the Twins in mid-December. Villarreal did not sign with the Twins, nor did he take a physical as a precursor to signing with the Twins.

As of mid-week, there was no information that Villarreal had signed with any team. There doesn't seem to be a big chance that the 27-year-old remains a pitcher of interest with the Twins – not with the abundance of right-handed candidates for the bullpen.

Anthony Swarzak and Jared Burton have departed, and yet there remains a platoon of right-handers for manager Paul Molitor and pitching coach Neil Allen to sort through as they choose a bullpen.

Let's start with this: The first four starters will be right-handers Phil Hughes, Ervin Santana, Kyle Gibson and Ricky Nolasco – and presumably in that order, unless Nolasco is a completely different pitcher this spring than he was in his abysmal first season with the Twins.

The Twins continue to raise the possibility of Tommy Milone as the fifth starter, which would give the rotation one lefty. Yeah, except it would be way too kind to say that Milone was awful in his brief time with the Twins after he was acquired from Oakland last summer.

He was so bad, so unwilling to throw the ball over the plate, that I was surprised the Twins chose to tender Milone a contract. That made him eligible for arbitration and the Twins agreed to a one-year deal of $2.775 million to keep Milone from going through with it.

There are no other serious left-handed options for the rotation. I'm guessing the fifth starter is going to come down to right-handers Trevor May, 25 and entering his eighth professional season, or Tim Stauffer, 32, and last a full-time starter for the Padres in 2011.

Mike Pelfrey is another possibility, but the Twins also might have to write off that two-year, $11 million contract signed before the 2014 season as wasted money.

Alex Meyer? I've heard from what you might term "secondary sources'' that the 6-foot-9 Meyer, also 25, is likely to be with the Twins this season – but out of the bullpen. The idea would be to allow Meyer to blow away hitters with his fastball and slider as the co-setup man with Casey Fien, while working on an off-speed pitch with Allen and bullpen coach Eddie Guardado during the course of the season.

It could be the Twins finally have come around to the thinking that making an inexperienced big-leaguer with an outstanding arm a short reliever at the start of his career doesn't preclude him from eventually being a starter.

The Twins will start the season with 13 position players and 12 pitchers – that's pretty much a given. That means seven relievers.

A minimum of two will be lefthanders: closer Glen Perkins and Brian Duensing. Caleb Thielbar has been with the Twins since May 2013, but I think he's up against it this spring.

Meyer or Pelfrey will get one of the two remaining right-handed spots, but not both. Meyer could go back to the minors (even though he's 25 and it's time to see him in the big leagues), or Pelfrey could be designated for assignment. I'm guessing Meyer stays and Pelfrey goes.

That would leave this collection for the final right-handed spot: Rule 5 draftee J.R. Graham, non-roster invitee Mark Hamburger and last year's disappointment Michael Tonkin, plus outside contenders Lester Oliveros and Stephen Pryor.