Your T2000 is a touring bike. Without looking it up, I'm almost certain the rear over locknut spacing is 135mm. For a 9-speed cluster, that makes the natural rear chainline 45mm (as you know).

My Soma Saga 9-speed rear has the same dimensions. I recently switched to the FC-M590 crank (the 48-36-26 version) to take advantage of the bottom end stiffness of the outboard bearings. My new crank came with three 2.5mm spacers. For the standard MTB setup with a 68mm shell, two of the spacers go on the drive side and one on the non-drive side for a 50mm chainline.

Where you put the spacers in your case depends on what front derailleur and shifter you plan to use. If you want to use a MTB front derailleur, I'd recommend putting one of the spacers on the drive side and two on the non-drive side, giving you a 47.5mm chainline. Some MTB front derailleurs won't shift down to the nearest/smallest chainring with a 45mm chainline since they are really intended to be used with a 50mm chainline. They'll usually work at 47.5mm, though. That's really not a bad chainline if you tend to use the middle chainring for most of your cruising around. At 36 or 34 teeth up front, you'll often find yourself on the outer half of your rear cluster anyway.

If you use a MTB front derailleur, you'll have to friction shift it or switch to MTB indexed shifters (and probably swap your handlebars to MTB diameter ones). The MTB front derailleurs require a slightly different amount of cable pull for indexing than the Shimano road front derailleurs. Many (most?) touring bikes use bar end shifters with the rear indexed and the front friction shifted. If that's the case with you, all is well.

A road front derailleur will work with the FC-M590, but you may want to move the crank over another 2.5mm by placing all three spacers on the non-drive side for a 45mm chainline. Most road front derailleurs have trouble reaching out far enough to shift into the big chainring at a 50mm chainline. The IRD Alpina-d will do it just barely at 47.5mm, but it's easier to adjust at 45mm. I use the M590 crank, Alpina derailleur, and Tiagra STI shifters. It shifts well.