Top Five Twins Bounce Back Candidates

I liked this article. Thank you for posting it. There is always hope.

I don't know if the Twins will allow for Rosario and Plouffe to get the available playing time to fully bounce back. If they sign a veteran outfielder, don't you think Rosario is the one to take a platoon/bench spot? And Plouffe, I don't know how much I believe he will be on the team come April, but we'll see. If he is healthy he can contribute, but at what cost to the rest of the roster?

Byung Ho Park would be a wonderful bounce back candidate. If he can get healthy and post some good numbers it could really help. Now, if that happens what to do with Joe Mauer?

Buxton - we started to see the uptick at the end and if he can be the player that we have expected for the last two years it will be a great move forward.

Hughes and Perkins - if either of them comes back to what they were we will have added quality without doing anything but waiting. 

I believe Plouffe will be gone soon. If you keep him what do you do with Vargas/Park? Most major league clubs know this, so he has no value.

Plouffe won't be bouncing back around here.  He's gotta go.

Hopefully Hughes will bounce back, as we need starting pitching to even think of nearing the .500 mark.  Gibson needs to bounce forward also. 

I echo Hughes and Park as good bounceback candidates. So is Plouffe, but for another team LIMO.

I also can't call for a "bounce back" for Rosario, Sanyo or Berries. Not in the classic sense. These guys are so young and still developing that I have a hard time classifying them as bounce back. Rosario and Sano still have less than 800ML AB. Rosario was much better after his recall from Rochester and Sano was still one if the team's top sluggers. I put these guys in a "step forward" colum.

If Rosario can't learn to take a walk it's hard to see him improving. He doesn't have to be a "patient" hitter, but his walk rate would be comical if he wasn't on my team.

I agree that Plouffe should be bouncing back somewhere else next season. Its likely that Berrios and Sano have better seasons in 2017 so expecting more from them makes sense. Unless Rosario has an epiphany and realizes that strike zone control and going into ABs with a plan are important I can't see him being anything other than the guy he was last year. Its disappointing, if he could find a way to reach base more often and his slugging percentage did creep back up near .460 the Twins would have an incredible outfield moving forward. As it stands now he is a solid 4th outfielder/not bad starting LF for a rebuilding team.

I'm not sold on Gibson at all. I think at this point we know what he is; an inconsistent 4-5th starter. 2015 was a good year for him, but it was sandwiched between two uninspiring years. Looking at his 2015 season as the true Gibson and hoping he hits that again is like banking on Hughes repeating his 2014 season. He very well could have runs of success next season but they are almost certain to be followed by equally terrible starts. Seriously, the guy is actually Jekyll and Hyde.   

I don't know if Park qualifies as a "bounce back" candidate since he hasn't really set a baseline to bounce back to yet. He hit some long homeruns and had a couple short stretches that looked competent, but otherwise flailed a lot and was demoted as a result. I'd put him in the same category as the young guys that are still developing and establishing who they're going to be (Sano, Kepler, Vargas, Buxton, Rosario, Berrios, Duffey). Most of them will be ok and find a role on the team, a couple will fizzle out. That's just the nature of the game.

When it comes to guys I think of as actual bounce back candidates (Hughes, Gibson, Perkins, Plouffe, Mauer), I don't have faith that any of them will get back to even their median performance levels. Plouffe likely needs to be moved to clear roster space and save Molitor from himself. The rest of them will get their opportunities but I certainly don't want to depend on them. There needs to be a Plan A that doesn't require gambling on these guys to be key contributors. That kind of "planning" is how we ended up with a persistent tire fire on the pitching mound all year instead of actual big league pitchers.

You could probably make the case to include anyone on the 53-man, with the exception of a handful of guys (Dozier, Santans, Kintzler, Polanco).

I think Park gets healthy and looks a lot better. I could see him hitting a lot of home runs for this team from the 6-7 hole.

Escobar is another guy that I would expect to be better. But, not sure if he'll play.

Tyler Duffey is another I haven't seen mentioned a while lot, but I would bet on him being better.

Gibson, Duffey, May, Berrios, Sano.     Notice 4 of them are pitchers.   Sano just having better at bats in key situations would be a plus.    

Bounce along Gibson.  They don't need an innings eater, nor a .500 pitcher.  At age 29, these should be his best years.   :-(

IDK about Plouffe.  It's a gamble letting him go and a gamble keeping him.  Either way, there's injury and Sano concerns.

Bounce back on Berrios, Rosario and Sano.  If you can actually say "Bounce Back" on 3 young players.  Year 3 of Rosario:  I'm expecting a break through  :-)