FORT MYERS, Fla. — One month from Thursday, the Twins will be in Baltimore preparing for their season opener at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. There remains plenty to be decided until then.

This year, certainly more than in recent years, there are roster spots up for grabs. Here’s a look at four areas that remain unsettled a month before the regular season begins.

Minnesota Twins pitcher Mick Abel throws the ball against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/David Banks)

Rotation

The Twins were already talking about a rotation battle before camp began, with eight starters in the mix for five spots. That’s down to seven after Pablo López’s right elbow gave out in his first official spring training session. He had season-ending Tommy John surgery on Wednesday.

Behind Joe Ryan and Bailey Ober, the Twins have a group of starters with varying levels of major-league experience in camp: Taj Bradley, Simeon Woods Richardson, Zebby Matthews, David Festa and Mick Abel.

Bradley and Richardson seem to be relatively safe bets; each has spent consistent time in the majors. If they break camp with the team, that leaves the remaining three to compete for the final spot.

Festa has yet to appear in a spring training game as he works his way back from thoracic outlet syndrome, which required Botox injections in his shoulder late last year. Matthews spent much of last season in the majors with the Twins; Abel debuted last season and has the least major league experience.

Bullpen

Rebuilding the bullpen after the Twins dealt five relievers at the trade deadline was a major focus of the offseason. But many of the roster moves to address it were completed over the past month. As things stand, it seems like the Twins have a couple open spots in the ‘pen.

Justin Topa and Cole Sands return from the right side, and Eric Orze, acquired in a trade this offseason, seems like a likely option, too. Southpaw Taylor Rogers rejoined the team in free agency, and the Twins added fellow lefty Anthony Banda just days into camp. The Twins also added left-hander Andrew Chafin on a minor league deal.

If Chafin breaks camp with the Twins, that could push Kody Funderburk back to Triple-A to begin the season. Funderburk had a strong finish in 2025, but the Twins seem unlikely to carry four left-handers.

That leaves two bullpen spots up for grabs. Veteran closer Liam Hendriks joined the Twins as a non-roster invite, and he would seem to have a good chance to break with the team if he proves he’s healthy.

If not, the Twins have a number of non-roster invites with major league experience, and young prospects such as Marco Raya, they could turn to. There’s also a question whether the Twins will carry a long-man to begin the year, such as Travis Adams or another converted starter.

Austin Martin #16 of the Minnesota Twins steps on second for a double in the sixth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Sept. 05, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

Backup outfielder

Byron Buxton will play center and Matt Wallner right. Who the Twins carry beyond that is up in the air.

Trevor Larnach played just 60 games in the outfield last season, spending most of his time at designated hitter, something which seems likely to be the case this year, as well.

Including Wallner and Larnach, the Twins have a number of left-handed corner outfielders in camp. Austin Martin, a right-handed hitter, seems likely to grab a spot, and the Twins could wind up choosing between lefties James Outman and Alan Roden late in camp.

Outman, a veteran acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers last July, is out of minor league options, which means he cannot be sent down without being exposed to waivers.

The Twins will need to carry someone who can play center behind Buxton, and with Buxton scheduled to play in the World Baseball Classic next month, the Twins should get a good look at their options there, including Martin, Roden and Outman.

Backup infielder

The Twins are pretty set in the infield with Josh Bell at first, Luke Keaschall at second, Brooks Lee at short and Royce Lewis at third. Kody Clemens can move around on the right side of the infield, but the Twins still need someone who can slide in at short when Lee is out.

Ryan Kreidler, who has played parts of the past four seasons with the Detroit Tigers, is a strong defender at short — and could also head out to center. He seems most likely to grab hold of this. Tristan Gray, picked up in a trade this offseason with the Boston Red Sox, has played some short — as well as first, second and third — in limited major league opportunities.

Both Kreidler and Gray are on the 40-man roster, while former all-star Orlando Arcia has extensive shortstop experience at the major league level and is in camp on a minor league deal.

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By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The World Trade Center’s final office tower will start construction as soon as this spring and become American Express’ new headquarters, Gov. Kathy Hochul and the company said Wednesday, marking a milestone nearly 25 years after the Sept. 11 attacks destroyed the site.

The 2 World Trade Center building will round out the long, tortuous redevelopment of the original 16-acre trade center property. There remains no construction date for a neighboring apartment building to replace another 9/11-damaged skyscraper.

But the 2 World Trade Center announcement represents a big step, physically and symbolically, in fulfilling a pledge of renewal at ground zero. Hochul and other officials also trumpeted the project as a sign of New York’s continued vitality as a business hub. It comes as Florida and other states have been trying to woo companies from New York.

“Building 2 World Trade Center will bring another iconic skyscraper to Lower Manhattan, create thousands of good-paying union jobs and provide billions in economic benefits to New Yorkers,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement.

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American Express CEO Stephen Squeri called the skyscraper “an investment in our company’s future, our colleagues and the Lower Manhattan community,” where the credit card giant has been based for nearly 200 years. Its current headquarters is just west of the trade center.

The trade center was decimated when al-Qaida hijackers crashed jets into its twin towers, part of a coordinated attack that also sent planes into the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed, mainly at the trade center.

Fraught with physical, financial and political complexities and public debate over what to build, redevelopment unfolded gradually and hit numerous roadblocks. But over time, the signature 1 World Trade Center skyscraper, other towers, the Sept. 11 memorial and museum, a transit hub-shopping center and a performing arts center were built on the property, owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The 55-story, roughly 2-million-square-foot 2 World Trade Center building is planned at the site’s northeastern corner. The spot is currently occupied by a low placeholder building, covered with colorful graffiti-style murals, and a beer garden.

American Express declined to discuss the cost of the new building — which the company will own, leasing the underlying land — but said it doesn’t involve any tax incentives. Messages seeking further information about the costs and financing of the project were sent to officials.

Plans once envisioned a skyscraper soaring as high as 80 stories, and News Corp. and the former Twenty-First Century Fox were among companies that at points eyed moving there. Like some other trade center components, the project labored for years to secure financing and an anchor tenant. The task grew tougher when the coronavirus pandemic emptied offices in 2020 and raised questions about companies’ future space needs.

Developer Larry Silverstein always insisted the project would happen, however.

Silverstein Properties CEO Lisa Silverstein, who is the 94-year-old developer’s daughter, hailed American Express as “an iconic institution embodying the strength, resilience, and global significance of the project.”

The company plans to occupy the entire Norman Foster-designed building, a sleek structure of glassy sections interspersed with landscaped terraces and gardens. It’s expected to accommodate up to 10,000 workers; American Express declined to say how that compares to its current headquarters.

Completion is expected in 2031.

By ED WHITE, Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — China’s government intervened and helped get charges dropped against three Chinese scientists at the University of Michigan who were accused of helping a colleague smuggle biological materials into the U.S., defense lawyers said.

The materials turned out to be mostly tiny, transparent worms — nothing dangerous — though U.S. officials last year hailed the arrests as a victory for national security. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the government must be vigilant when foreign nationals try to “advance a malicious agenda.”

Xu Bai and Fengfan Zhang were charged with conspiring to help another scientist who shipped packages to them from China before she arrived in 2025 for temporary lab research at the University of Michigan. A third man, Zhiyong Zhang, was charged with making false statements to authorities.

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Bai, Zhang and Zhang were in jail for more than three months while the case was pending in federal court in Detroit. A judge suddenly dismissed the charges on Feb. 5 at the Justice Department’s request and the three traveled home to China.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit said it would not comment on China’s role or the government’s retreat. An email seeking comment from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago was not immediately answered Wednesday.

“The dismissal came as a pleasant surprise,” defense lawyer John Minock said. “We don’t know the details. What we were told was there was some kind of intervention by the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.”

Another attorney, Ray Cassar, said lawyers were working toward a misdemeanor plea deal to resolve the case when prosecutors simply dropped it.

“We get this phone call saying China is negotiating with the U.S. over these three students. Serious talks,” Cassar said. “These were kids studying for their Ph.D.s. The last thing you want to do is destroy their careers. … Was it the proper thing to do? Absolutely.”

Bai, Zhang and Zhang were research scholars admitted to the U.S. to temporarily work at the University of Michigan.

Cassar said the worms had a limited lifespan. The packages, he added, were not properly labeled because Chengxuan Han, the woman who sent them, likely didn’t want to have them held up by U.S. inspectors.

“There was no intention of doing anything nefarious,” Cassar said. “The worms have been consistently used for studying chemical reactions, light sensitivity.”

In September, Han pleaded no contest to smuggling and making false statements and was deported to China after three months in jail. In a separate case, Yunqing Jian, another temporary researcher at a campus lab, pleaded guilty to similar charges involving a common plant fungus. She was deported after five months in custody.

Roger Innes, an Indiana University expert who looked at the evidence for Jian’s attorneys, said there was no risk to anyone in the U.S.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a new Justice Department division dedicated to rooting out fraud said Wednesday he would pursue prosecutions “without fear or favor” as questions grow about how the new unit will operate free of political influence from a White House that has declared a “war on fraud.”

The proposed National Fraud Enforcement Division has raised eyebrows not only because fraud is already prosecuted by the agency’s Criminal Division but because the White House has suggested it will have an unusual role in overseeing the new division’s work.

Colin McDonald’s nomination to serve as the first assistant attorney general in charge of the new division comes as the Trump administration has put fresh attention on allegations of widespread fraud in Minnesota. During his State of the Union speech Tuesday, Trump announced that Vice President JD Vance would lead the “war on fraud,” accusing members of Minnesota’s Somali community of having “pillaged” billions from American taxpayers.

McDonald didn’t directly answer when pressed during his confirmation hearing Wednesday whether he would follow an order from the president to open a certain investigation. McDonald, a seasoned prosecutor who works in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office, would only say that he follows the facts and applies the law in all cases.

“The vision that we have is a division that is large enough where no fraud is too big, and no fraud is too small, so that we can reach all actors within the chain of criminal culpability and no one more than that,” McDonald said. “Those are the ones that we are going to be looking after, investigating and following the facts — without fear or favor.”

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Even for an administration that has broken down many barriers designed to insulate the Justice Department from White House influence, Vance’s announcement in January that the new fraud assistant attorney general would report directly to the White House came as a shock to many in the department.

The administration has since indicated that McDonald would instead report to the deputy attorney general — like all other division heads — though his confirmation hearing left open many questions about exactly what role Vance will have in overseeing investigations and prosecutions.

Federal prosecutors have been scrutinizing staggering amounts of fraud in Minnesota for years and dozens of defendants have been charged — most of them of Somali descent — under the Biden and Trump administrations. But the scope of the alleged fraud came under an intense spotlight in recent months during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. A federal prosecutor has said that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen.

If confirmed, McDonald could immediately face a challenge in recruiting prosecutors to investigate fraud as the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota has been gutted by resignations in the wake of high-profile fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents during the immigration enforcement surge. Among those who have resigned during a period of tension in the office over the Justice Department’s response to the shootings is Joseph Thompson, the prosecutor who had been leading the sprawling Minnesota fraud probe.

Critics have questioned the true purpose of the new division, given that the department already prosecutes fraud through its Criminal Division. The division’s fraud section last year charged 265 people, up more than 10% from the year before. Those cases amounted to more than $16 billion in intended fraud losses, a record high for the section and more than double the total from 2024.

Even with those successes, McDonald told the committee there is much more work to be done “to ensure that our taxpayer funded programs are free of fraud.”

“The problem is massive,” McDonald said. “And so President Trump and the attorney general were right to identify this as a place where we needed to put significantly more focus.”