Ty France

Miranda is sitting even though Ty France is getting his first day off of the year, opening up first base. Mickey Gasper was chosen to start there, though. Edouard Julien is making his fifth straight start, so it seems like he's overtaken Miranda in the Twins' eyes, even as it very obviously was tilted the other way a week ago. Miranda is off to a 4-for-24 start at the plate, while Julien is 2-for-14.

The 30-year-old southpaw needed just 13 pitches (nine strikes) to get the job done on Thursday, getting Byron Buxton to foul out to the catcher, Trevor Larnach on a swinging third strike and Ty France on a foul pop to first. He has now successfully converted each of his first three save chances on the season while registering a 3.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and a 3/2 K/BB ratio over three frames. He remains one of the game's truly elite closing options.

The Twins utilized four two-out RBI singles in the sixth inning to transform a 3-0 deficit into a 5-3 advantage, with France smacking the second one off of Penn Murfee and then scoring on a two-run knock by Jose Miranda. With Royce Lewis shelved, France has been locked in as the team's everyday first baseman with Miranda covering the hot corner. He'll need to hit better than this though to keep the gig when Lewis returns, as he's slashing .167/.250/.167 with zero homers and just the one RBI.

The Twins couldn't get anything going through the first 5 2/3 innings against Shane Smith in this one, but they chased him as Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach worked a pair of two-out walks. Ryan Jeffers, Ty France and Edouard Julien then followed with RBI singles to tie the game before Miranda knocked in a pair with a single of his own to give the Twins a 5-3 lead. The 26-year-old is off to a slow start at the dish this season, hitting .167 (3-for-18) with zero homers and two RBI.

France finishes the spring with a remarkable .477 average and 1.261 OPS. He should be locked in as the Twins' everyday first baseman early on, and while we don't imagine he'll offer mixed-league value all year, he could be a decent enough injury stopgap for the short term.