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All too often, poor outcomes that have struck the Twins this year can be traced back to questionable judgment. Let's take a look at five particularly troublesome examples:
1. The handling of Miguel Sano.
Sano has endured ups and downs, as most 23-year-olds do. That should be factored into the plan. Yet, the team's outward-facing actions regarding the slugger – from publicly questioning his work ethic to needless benchings and drops in the lineup – have projected disappointment and frustration.
The kid does have an ego, which often comes with the territory of legendary talent. But I don't think it's a particularly harmful or provocative one, and to imply that he's not focused on being great is flatly absurd.
Sano's defensive miscues are understandable with his lack of reps at the position in recent years, thanks to all the time spent at DH and right field. His alleged unwillingness to put in extra side work might be related to elbow pain that has relegated him to DH lately.
Except, when an MRI on the elbow came up negative, he returned to third in his first game back, so the injury must not have been that bad? Right? Who knows.
If there has been any real plan in place regarding Sano, at any point this year, it's hard to tell.
2. Signing Byung Ho Park
The meandering trajectory of Sano was put into place by the signing of Byung Ho Park during the offseason. That moved seemed a bit perplexing at the time, and now with the benefit of hindsight it looks absolutely flabbergasting.
Because they were compelled to outbid the competition and bring Park aboard while keeping Trevor Plouffe on, the Twins left Sano in the lurch. The idea of sending him to the outfield unsurprisingly didn't take, nor did Park's transition to the major leagues. Outside of the power, the KBO star's offensive dominance did not carry over. Park batted .191 with the Twins and .224 in Triple-A before having his season ended by wrist surgery last week.
Meanwhile, Kenny Vargas – whom the Twins implicitly gave up on by signing Park – is proving to be worthy of a longer look. Unfortunately, with Joe Mauer entrenched at first and Sano in positional limbo, there's no room for the big switch-hitter. He was optioned to the minors despite a .955 OPS.
So, the Twins will head into next year with Mauer at first, Sano lacking a defensive home, Vargas out of options, and Park making millions to play first base in Triple-A.
3. Michael Tonkin's odd role assignment.
After first reaching the Triple-A level in 2013, Tonkin cemented his standing as one of the organization's top relief prospects by flat-out burying hitters there. In 118 innings with Rochester spread over three seasons, the lanky fireballer put up a 2.65 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 128-to-25 K/BB ratio.
He did so while throwing in short bursts. Tonkin was typically asked to get three outs or less, working in a setup or closer role. Of his 102 appearances at Triple-A, he threw 30-plus pitches in only 10. As a high-effort hurler who brings it in the mid-90s consistently, that approach made sense.
So what did the Twins do this year? They decided to turn him into a long reliever, for some reason. Despite his superior performance in the minors, and solid results in past MLB chances, the right-hander has been largely used as a spare part and workload sponge in the bullpen. He has thrown 30-plus pitches in 11 of his 56 appearances, even pushing to 40 a couple of times and 50 once.
Should we be surprised that his performance is deteriorating here as we head into the latter part of the season? Tonkin has a 9.75 ERA in August, with a 1.060 OPS allowed. It sure looks like he is worn down. As a result, he's turned from an encouraging relief story to a suspect fringe piece in a bullpen picture that is filled with them.
Tonkin is another in a long line of players who simply wasn't put in a position to succeed by this club.
4. Trevor May's aimless path.
In 2014, May emerged as an impact MLB-ready starting prospect with his brilliant efforts in Triple-A. Last year, he began fulfilling his promise as a starter before the Twins shifted him to the bullpen. They elected to send him back there this spring.
The line of thinking made sense only under these conditions: the Twins were competitive enough to require a shutdown late-inning arm, and the rotation was strong enough not to require his upside as a starting pitcher. Neither of those things have been true. That became apparent very early, but the Twins have shown no urgency to stray from their course.
May's body has not reacted well to the overhaul in a routine that had been set over many years in an exclusive starting role. He has spent two lengthy periods on the disabled list, with Paul Molitor only hinting that he'll revisit May's usage during the offseason. Next year the right-hander will probably be reacclimating to a different regimen, once again.
Seems like a logical way to treat one of the best arms on an atrocious pitching staff.
5. Top prospect turmoil
Where did the Twins go wrong with Byron Buxton and Jose Berrios? I can't purport to know. I don't think any of us can. But clearly, nothing is clicking for the club's two brightest young talents. While both have mastered the minors, the organization has been unable to help facilitate the next step.
Buxton is the more disturbing case; he has failed to make any meaningful progress through 100 MLB games, spread across four different opportunities. Berrios is greener still, with only nine big-league starts under his belt, but none have even approximated excellence.
When run prevention is far-and-away your biggest issue, the importance of ushering in your best pitching prospect and a ballhawk center fielder who catches everything in his zip code cannot be overstated.
Given what we've seen from the team so far – bewildered remarks, hasty demotions, coaching overload – it's tough to have faith in things getting figured out. At least, with this current group.
These are but five notable instances of poor planning that stand out among many. I haven't even touched on the curious decisions surrounding players like Jorge Polanco, Tyler Duffey and Eduardo Escobar, nor the complete lack of vision at the catcher position.
There's an old saying that goes, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
That phrase seems to summarize this abject failure of a Twins season pretty well.
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