Escobar Needs To Be Everyday Shortstop

There comes a time when the player with lesser talent simply becomes the better player due to consistency. Despite a disappointing year, Escobar has still shown greater flashes of production and consistency than Santana. He deserves to be given the job at this point.

mumoo13, on 22 Jul 2015 - 01:29 AM, said:

What should be done with Santana? Polanco needs to be at AAA, so should Santana be a bench player or go to AA?

AA to figure out how to play better defense & hit consistently.

Escobar as SS?  That shows that SS is a higher priority now.  Last night's game won't be in his "highlight reel".

What should be done with Santana? Polanco needs to be at AAA, so should Santana be a bench player or go to AA?

Back to centerfield, where he was successful last year?

From what I've read about Polanco, his arm plays out much better at second base.

Short of Tulo, the Twins either need to move Escobar to SS or call up Polanco and hope for the best at SS. Santana needs to be in AAA. At SS (though they should give Beresford another chance there too) if no Polanco, or all over if Polanco is still there. Danny Santana's ceiling might just be a super utility player. It's possible that he ends up hitting as well as Escobar, but with much better speed. That would be good.

Right now, his *basement* as a MLB SS is really, really low.

I completely agree.  Escobar at least for the rest of this year makes the most sense at SS.  An in-house option to make SS "not a black hole" anymore.  Tulo would be cool, but the chances of that happening are minimal in my opinion mainly due to the cost in dollars and prospects it would take.  So just plug in Escobar this year and hope Polanco can take over next year.

if Escobar continues starting, shortstop will no longer be a negative WAR position. Catcher will likely remain a negative WAR position until Suzuki is replaced.

Which position is a higher priority again?

SS

Escobar as SS?  That shows that SS is a higher priority now.  Last night's game won't be in his "highlight reel".

Last night's game won't be in any Twins players' "highlight reel"

That doesn't make sense any way you look at it. Escobar has been an average shortstop (or better) whenever he gets the chance to start. Kurt Suzuki has been below replacement level for most of the season and is 31 years old.

 

Even if Escobar fails, the Twins have other players to fill in at short. I'm not much of a fan of any of them, but they exist.

 

The Twins options at catcher are:

 

Kurt Suzuki.

Most teams suffer offensively at Catcher.  On a relative basis the Twins aren't hurt as badly as they are at SS.  Defensively, well to put it mildly the position isn't up to snuff.  Suzuki is at least competent at C, whereas SS has been disappointing to say the least.

Pitch framing by Suzuki?  It doesn't seem to have been a concern this season.  The bullpen failures aren't as a result of "poor pitch framing"--just "poor pitching".  My point:  on a relative match-up basis (position vs position) I am convinced the Twins suffer more at SS than Catcher.  Sadly, I suspect the position the Twins are "worst" in comparison to others--is 1B.

Back to centerfield, where he was successful last year?

 

From what I've read about Polanco, his arm plays out much better at second base.

While I applaud Santana being such a team player and going out there to CF and giving his all, he was horrible out there.  His offense, with a BABIP over .400, was predictably unsustainable and he came back down to earth.