FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Twins right-hander Scott Baker will not get the Opening Day start, as originally expected, having been placed on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday morning with right shoulder stiffness.

Left-hander Francisco Liriano will start in place of Baker on Monday, when the Twins host the Mariners for Opening Day at the Metrodome.

"It stinks," Baker said of missing what would have been his first career Opening Day start. "The timing is just not great. I would have loved to throw Opening Day, but that's not the best thing for the team."

Twins general manager Bill Smith said that the club doesn't expect the shoulder stiffness to keep Baker out for longer than his DL stint, meaning that he'll likely miss one or two starts.

Baker last pitched in a Grapefruit League contest on Friday, so he'll be eligible to come off the DL on April 12.

"We think it is a very short-term thing," Smith said. "We just want to make sure that he's 100 percent."

Baker's stiffness is in the back of his shoulder. The issue first popped up "a couple of starts ago," the pitcher said, when he felt a little more soreness than usual following his outing.

So the Twins took some precautions with Baker, which included starting him in a Minor League contest on Wednesday. The right-hander pitched five scoreless innings against Triple-A Norfolk in the start, but he found it difficult to get the shoulder loose between innings. After throwing just 58 pitches, Baker cut the outing short due to the stiffness.

Despite the shortened outing, Baker said he still felt that he could start on Opening Day. He said that the possibility of him starting the year on the DL wasn't even raised until the club met with him on Thursday morning.

"I could have done it, there is no doubt in my mind," Baker said of making the start on Monday. "But, obviously, no one can guarantee it's going to get better if I continue to pitch. It possibly could stay the same or get worse."

It was after Baker arrived at the ballpark on Thursday with his shoulder still feeling a little stiff and sore that the team decided it wasn't worth having Baker make that first start and risking his long-term health.

"It's the right thing to do," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We'll make sure that we protect him and get him back as soon as we can."

Liriano will now get the nod for Opening Day and will be pitching on three days' rest after tossing three innings against the Red Sox on Thursday. The left-hander will be followed in the opening series against Seattle by Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey and Glen Perkins.

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey is then slotted to get the start on April 10 in Chicago against the White Sox, making him the club's No. 5 starter for now.

Blackburn had originally been scheduled to start that first game in Chicago, but rather than shifting all of the other starters, the Twins moved him behind Liriano to pitch on six days' rest and keep all the other pitchers in line.

"It was the easiest move," Gardenhire said. "So rather than him stay down here on Sunday and have a [Minor League] start, we're doing that with our knuckleballer. R.A. is going to stay down here and stretch out on Sunday."

Baker, who went 1-2 with a 6.85 ERA in six Grapefruit League starts this spring, will also remain in Fort Myers when the team departs for Minnesota. He won't throw over the next couple days and will be reevaluated by doctors on Saturday.

The hope is that the pitcher will rejoin the ballclub right after his DL stint has ended. It's unlikely that the Twins would have Baker's first start come on the 12th in Chicago, where he'd likely be pitching in cold weather, so there is a greater chance that he'll rejoin the rotation during the following series against the Blue Jays at the Metrodome.

For Baker, who signed a four-year, $15.25 million contract this spring, it certainly is not the way he had hoped to begin the season. But he understands why the team made the decision it did.

"Obviously, now I'm kind of an investment, so they are going to treat their investments how they feel best," said Baker, who went 11-4 with a 3.45 ERA in 28 starts for the Twins last season. "That's perfectly fine and I respect that. It's just unfortunate. There is not a lot that I can do about it or that they can do about it. We just have to make the best of the situation."

In addition to Baker, two other Twins players were also placed on the 15-day disabled list: Catcher Joe Mauer (inflammation in his right sacroiliac joint) and right-hander Boof Bonser (rehabbing from surgery to repair a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder). Both of those moves were expected.