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Shane Robinson. He's a 30-year-old career backup with a .612 OPS in the majors, and he hit .150 last year with St. Louis.
Blaine Boyer. He's a 33-year-old who was out of big leagues for two years, between a trip to Japan and a brief retirement, before returning last year to throw 40 decent innings for San Diego.
Chris Herrmann. He's a 27-year-old with a .196 average and .548 OPS in 276 MLB plate appearances. He plays a lot of positions, but none of them all that well, and he's a catcher who rarely catches. He's mostly been an emergency valve at the position, in fact.
These are players that should generally be viewed as backup options, if not backup backup options. They are the guys who should be stashed in the minors or at the very end of the bench. But each has clutched a spot on the Twins' opening day roster and each is in line to play a fairly significant role from the get-go.
Robinson, who struggled mightily in 47 games with the Cardinals last year before being released in November, is the only option in center field other than Jordan Schafer, who himself profiles as a backup. Paul Molitor has said he won't be straight-up platooning the two, but Robinson still figures to see some time.
Boyer has a great story and an intriguing fastball, but there's not a whole lot of reason to believe he's going to be an above-average reliever. It's one thing to have a guy like that at the very bottom of your bullpen chain, but Boyer is not that. The Twins are also carrying Mike Pelfrey, who has zero experience as a reliever and whose usage will be tightly restricted early on. And also J.R. Graham, who hasn't pitched an inning in the majors or Triple-A. And also Tim Stauffer, who's been flat-out horrendous this spring. Boyer, at this point, looks like the No. 2 righty option out of the bullpen.
Herrmann is not without value, and probably is a better hitter than he's shown in his altogether short big-league time. But with the rest of the bench looking rather thin, and with Herrmann's versatility, he's going to get some tread. As Kurt Suzuki's only backup, he'll probably start once a week behind the plate, where he played all of one inning in the majors last year.
In fairness, it should be pointed out that there were some extenuating circumstances at play in all these cases.
Herrmann may have only won his job because Josmil Pinto suffered a concussion late in camp that set him back. Chances are he won't be around long.
Robinson was the fallback plan when Aaron Hicks was deemed unready. He was the best defensive option to complement Schafer and the Twins are trying to help their pitching staff, which is fair enough.
Boyer probably wouldn't have stuck around if he didn't make the team, and for whatever reason the Twins want to get a look at him.
I will say that much of the outrage about certain demotions this spring, often alluding to things like upside and age, strikes me as overblown. None of the moves mentioned above are permanent, and younger players like Trevor May and Michael Tonkin -- who were most likely better options than those that beat them out -- will head to the minors, where they'll wait in line and be available when the time comes.
Still, the Twins are coming out of the chute featuring a roster that is overly dense with journeymen and long shots; players you expect to find on a last-place team. Like, say, the Twins in August. But, the Twins in April?
Obviously, I hope some of these odd experiments work out. But if they don't, will Molitor show the same type of unwarranted patience that his predecessor tended to exercise in such situations?
That could be a key area for the new regime to differentiate itself.
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