The Twins are experimenting with players at different positions as they close the last months of a disappointing season, while looking ahead to 2017 and beyond.
Is this Twins-version of musical chairs a big problem?
Or is it a positive the Twins are developing players who can play multiple positions, while rebuilding a roster for future seasons?
First base exemplifies the sorting out process club officials face in coming seasons. Joe Mauer, the $23 million per season local hero, has two years remaining on his contract and is the regular first baseman. Mauer, 33, switched to first base from catching after the 2013 season and his concussion history won’t allow a return behind the plate.
First base is often the favored position for a good-hit, not-so-skilled player in the field. If that sounds like a fit for second-year slugger Miguel Sano, pat yourself on the back. Sano has faltered defensively this year in both right field and at third base. Mostly a third baseman during his minor league career, Sano could improve in the future but his huge frame (6-4, 262) and potential as a 40 home runs guy per season makes him a natural for first base. He has homered in four of his last five games.
Sano is only 23—far too young to be mostly a designated hitter. His path the next couple years might be a mix of third base, DH work and test drives at first where he could replace Mauer as the starter in 2019.
Then there is Byung Ho Park. Remember him? The Twins made headlines last offseason by signing the South Korean slugger to a contract through 2019. Besides being a DH, Park’s position in the field is first base. Park has been a flop in his debut big league season and was demoted to Triple-A Rochester earlier this summer. But at 30 years old with a reported $12 million commitment, the Twins aren’t going to give up on him yet.
The Twins have no choice but to be patient with DH/first baseman Park, and the same is true with Kennys Vargas who is also limited to the same roles as Park. Another guy with a classic first base body, Vargas, 6-5, 289, is in his third try with the Twins. He shows slugger potential but isn’t consistent. After a productive stretch following his recall from Rochester, the 26-year-old Vargas is hitting .218 in his last 15 games.
Deciding who plays where in the infield and outfield is a puzzle Twins management must figure out. Brian Dozier, the team’s leading home run hitter and an American League All-Star in 2014, owns second base. Team president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners Trevor Plouffe is considered the regular third baseman when healthy (which he hasn’t been), but trade speculation is persistent about the 30-year-old whose departure from Minneapolis would open more playing time for Sano. The last couple of seasons Eduardo Escobar has had a lot of starts at shortstop, but Eduardo Nunez took his job for the first half of the season and now rookie Jorge Palanco might claim it. Palanco, whose best position might be second base, has also played third with the Twins.
Center fielder Byron Buxton’s inability to hit big league pitching got him demoted again to Rochester. That outfield position has been unsettled for years and the Twins are now trying to fill the spot with left fielder Eddie Rosario. Danny Santana, a converted shortstop who the Twins turned into a centerfielder, has now been playing left field. And, yes, Santana has played in the infield this season.
St. Peter expressed a positive view regarding players at multiple positions. He talked about how the 25-man rosters of major league teams are top-heavy with pitchers, making it important to have versatile position players.
“There’s no question,” St. Peter said. “I think it’s absolutely critical that a manager has players who are versatile, that can play multiple positions. …Give the manager flexibility over the course of a season to deal with injuries, give opportunities for players to get rest (and) to deal with different pitching matchups, and ultimately just to have more options late in the game to pinch-hit, to pinch run, to put in defensive specialists. All those need to come into play.”
It’s certain, though, that if the Twins are to move forward in the standings in future years, they will need established players at various positions in the field—individuals who can excel and play 150 games or more at their spots. Star players like the Twins had years ago with Mauer catching, Justin Morneau at first base, and Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer in the outfield.
“There’s a lot of young guys who are looking to establish their footing in the big leagues and to earn that opportunity, that privilege to be penciled in every day at a certain position. We’re just not quite there yet,” St. Peter said.
Perhaps it will all work out for the Twins. The club has played over .500 baseball since July and won nine of its last 13 games.
Worth Noting
The 35-year-old Morneau, signed in June by the White Sox, is hitting .300 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI in 70 at bats.
St. Peter said he has daily conversations with Korn Ferry regarding the team’s search for a head of baseball operations. The firm was retained earlier this summer to assist the Twins in replacing dismissed executive and general manager Terry Ryan.
St. Peter said “the interview process will commence soon, but we’re not there yet.” The organization is still defining what it is looking for in a candidate. The goal is to hire a person by season’s end.
Despite all their winning in recent weeks the Twins still have the worst record (46-67) in the American League. The Twins are the lowest ranked American League team in ESPN’s rankings of the 30 major league clubs. The Twins are No. 27, while the Cubs are No. 1 and have been for the last three weeks.
Talented junior Gophers defensive tackle Steven Richardson could be All-Big Ten after this season. “It’s definitely one of my biggest goals,” he said. “I definitely wanted to get it last year and obviously I fell short due to injury. I felt like if I wasn’t injured, I definitely could have been a contender for it.”
Richardson is short, admitting to 5-10 without his football shoes, but he is exceptionally strong and difficult to block. He missed playing time in 2015 with a reported calf injury. He said this offseason the defensive linemen spent more time than in the past on preemptive training including abdomen workouts to prevent back injuries.
Richardson wasn’t the only defensive lineman injured last season and he expects the collective health of the unit to be better this year. “(Expecting) to have a much more durable D-Line because we were dropping like flies out there (last season),” he said.
Gophers senior quarterback Mitch Leidner did some offseason bonding with his receivers when he took them to the family cabin near Cromwell, Minnesota. “It was a great time, just to get to know people,” said senior receiver Eric Carter.