The combination of Escober at short and Santana in center or Santana at short at Schaefer in center. Which is our strongest lineup? I believe it is with Escober at short. Santana has a lot of tools as an athlete that makes us stronger in center without hoping that he can play good defence at short and Schafer will hit. What happens "if"Buxton comes up then what becomes of Santana? If Buxton is what they say he should become would an outfield of noth Buxton and Santana not be desireable? Escober and Dozier have those intangebles that good up the middle infields possess. Anyway that's my take this morning (have to kill time time somehow waiting for plane:-) Go Twinkies!

Santana is not a Centerfielder.  Repeat.  Asking for Santana in Center is (almost) like asking for Suzuki in Center. Or Parmelee. 

 

Despite the fact that a former manager (who is currently out of baseball) played both Santana and Parmelee in Center, they are not Centerfielders.

I don't think there's much question that the combo of Santana-Escobar is best for the lineup.

 

Defensively, its debatable.

 

Personally I thought Santana looked just fine in CF last year.

 

If the Twins found themselves in the lucky position of having too many CFers, well they could 1. move Santana back to his original position (SS), where he has logged almost 4000 innings between the minors and majors. Or 2. trade one of them. It would be a great problem to have.

 

Santana is not a Centerfielder.  Repeat.  Asking for Santana in Center is (almost) like asking for Suzuki in Center. Or Parmelee. 

 

Despite the fact that a former manager (who is currently out of baseball) played both Santana and Parmelee in Center, they are not Centerfielders.

Heck, in Parmelle's case, at least he was drafted and played a good chunk of OF in the minors. Not CF of course, but at least OF. Santana had like 25 games in CF in the minors.

Strongest lineup to start the season:

 

Santana

Dozier

Mauer

Vargas

Plouffe

Hunter

Arcia

Suzuki

Shaefer/Robinson

 

Later might be:

 

Dozier

Hunter

Mauer

Vargas

Plouffe

Arcia

Santana

Suzuki

Shaefer/Robinson

 

Edited April 1, 201511 yr by jimmer

Clearly offensively it is a no-brainer. It would be a disservice to Santana to yank him around again. It is good that he can play CF just fine, but he doesn't belong there. 

 

Santana is not a Centerfielder.  Repeat.  Asking for Santana in Center is (almost) like asking for Suzuki in Center. Or Parmelee. 

 

Despite the fact that a former manager (who is currently out of baseball) played both Santana and Parmelee in Center, they are not Centerfielders.

Agree that Parmelee never should have been slotted in center, but he only played 11 innings there.  I don't think that should be equated with the 60-some games that Santana played in center field. 

It's going to be a rude awakening for our AAA pitcher if/when they called up. Their OF defense is going to be FAR superior at AAA than in MLB.