clone52

In an ideal world, it might work to sit Plouffe on games against strong RHP, put Sano at 3B and Arcia in RF. However, we don't really know how Arcia will perform when only playing a couple times a week. We know exactly what we are getting with Nunez, who is used to playing that way. Also, those games when we are facing a tough RHP are also the games you might want to rest Sano or Park.

I hope Arcia bounces back and if he does, thats a great thing. That would let them shop Plouffe, move Sano to 3B and give Arcia RF full time (or at least a great platoon). That would be a best case scenario for the Twins. Can you imagine a lineup of Buxton, Dozier, Mauer, Sano, Arcia Next, I specifically posted Nunez's career OPS of .696 because he did have a great year last year. Thats still better than what Santana would provide, likely better than what Arcia will do unless he gets his head on straight and likely better than what a rookie with no AAA experience playing a couple days a week could do. Also, why are you talking about extended playing time for Nunez? We're talking about 20-25 games at 3B along with filling it at SS and 2B occasionally. He's been a career utility guy which is what he would be doing next year.

I would say the question on Buxton is "when", not "if". I've very confident he will be a great player. I just imagine he'll still have struggles offensively this season. If the backup to Rosario is Kepler, then who is your RF? Plus, Kepler really should get at least half a season at AAA before jumping to the majors. Without Sano in the OF, they have a high risk of having a very pathetic outfield offensively in 2016. Putting Sano in the OF in 2016 really helps out the OF and you know 3B is going to be at least average offensively and defensively. Now in 2017, if Buxton, Rosario and Kepler all pan out, its a different story and maybe Sano moves back to 3B.

Allright, I'm getting confused. I thought we were talking about Sano playing RF versus 3B. Not RF versus DH versus 3B. Really, we're talking about who is going to play 3B for the 20-25 games that Plouffe does not play 3B. Lets assume that that Sano plays 'somewhere' in those 20-25 games. Option 1: Sano plays 3B. Santana, Kepler or Arcia play RF. Option 2: Sano plays RF. Nunez plays 3B Option 3: Sano plays DH. Never mind, that is stupid because you'd have Nunez and Santana/Arcia/Kepler in the lineup with Park/Vargas/Plouffe all sitting on the bench. In Option 1, you are filling a spot in the lineup with a guy with a 2015 OPS of .532, a 2015 AAA OPS of .650 or a rookie who has no playing time at AAA. In Option 2, you are filling a spot with a guy who had a 2015 OPS of .758 and a career OPS as a utility guy of .696. I would rather have Nunez in the lineup than Santana or Arcia easily. If it were a full time job, I'd rather take a shot with Kepler, but it makes 0 sense to have Kepler on the Major League Roster as a sub and its a big risk that he's ready to be an every day major leaguer.

I disagree about the Twins backlog of outfielders. If Buxton reaches his potential quickly and if Rosario doesn't regress in his second season and if Kepler is ready to be an everyday MLB OF with now AAA experience and if Arcia bounces back from 2015, they would have a solid outfield. However, if Buxton is merely mortal and takes longer to acclimate to MLB and if Rosario doesn't improve his strike zone and see's his high BABIP drop and if Arcia doesn't rebound from 2015 and if Kepler struggles in the jump from AA to the majors with no AAA time, the Twins could have one of the worst hitting outfields in the major leagues.

Vargas is not going to be playing RF (most likely). Park is definitely not going to be playing RF. If Sano moves to third, you will be replacing him with Arcia, Danny Santana or Kepler if you decide you don't want Kepler being an everyday player in AAA.

Then we do what so many people have been advocating all winter. Trade Plouffe for pennies and put Sano at 3B. Its entirely possible that will happen. No need to assume it will happen and create a hole in the OF that needs to be filled with a guy who had a .532 OPS in the majors last year or a guy with a .650 OPS in AAA last year or a rookie. Lets be honest. Sano is a risk in RF and a risk at 3B. Nobody really knows for sure if he can handle either position full time. I grant you, he is a bigger risk in RF than at 3B. However, by taking the risk in RF, you fill the hole in your lineup with a proven commodity rather than Danny Santana, Oswaldo Arcia or Max Kepler. Even though Kepler is a very promising prospect, he still has no time in AAA and you don't have a sure thing with Eddie Rosario on LF who could be due for a big sophmore slump. Plus, Buxton didn't set the world on fire last year and might take awhile to adjust to the majors in CF. Lets say Buxton improves a little, hits .250 with a .650 OPS. Lets say Rosario's BABIP drops to a more reasonable .300. Lets say Kepler comes in and has a good rookie season with a .725 OPS. You'd be looking at a Twins outfield with an average OPS of .685. That would make the Twins one of the worst, if not THE worst hitting outfield in baseball.

Sano is going to be playing those 20 games no matter what. The real question is are we better off Nunez playing or a guy who had a .630 OPS in AAA last year.

You reveal your cards this early so that your players know what is expected of them. Sano spends all of his fielding drills with the OF instead of splitting time with the IF. If you don't reveal your cards and reporters notice Sano is not taking defensive reps at 3B, they are going to keep asking the questions and it becomes a distraction to the team. If you don't want to reveal your cards early and have Sano take reps at 3B, you are just wasting his time if you have no plans to play him there. Might as well have Rosario take reps at 2B just in case. Its not like other teams are going to game plan around whether Sano is in RF or at 3B. If you really think its about strategy, then maybe the strategy is raising the value of Trevor Plouffe. Maybe there are teams out there sniffing around Plouffe thinking the Twins have Sano at 3B and thinking they can get Plouffe on the cheap. If the Twins convince those teams that they are committed to Sano in RF, those teams make make more significant offers for Plouffe.

Thats a good problem to have. Lets say Sano turns into an above average RF and they want to keep him there for the next few years at least. Lets also say that Rosario and Kepler prove they are starting level OFs in the majors. Then you've got a nice trade piece in the future.

Nolasco won't be blocking anyone unless he actually produces. He has the history of being very bad, so on the off chance he makes the rotation, he'll be on a very short leash. Hughes on the other hand does have some history of being pretty good, will start in the rotation and would be on a much longer leash before pulling the plug. You're right about Milone, though.

Exactly. Neither of those things are likely to happen. It makes no sense to have Sano switch between 3B and RF and be ready to play both if he would only make 20 starts at most at 3B. Better to concentrate fully on RF. Not to mention that pitchers are going to adjust to Sano and he is going to have to work on adjusting to pitchers on top of that. Better to give a rookie fewer things to worry about. I don't understand why most people don't get that.

50% of his AAA runs were given up in his first 3 starts. Sounds like he started figuring the league out. Maybe you should dig into the stats a little deeper before criticizing someone for cherry picking their stats.

I agree. If they trade Plouffe or Plouffe goes on the 60 day DL, I bet we see Sano move over. If Plouffe is healthy or minor injuries, it will be Eduardo Nunez. I've been saying this all offseason. Keeping Plouffe and putting Sano in RF is the best option for the Twins in 2016. If Sano bombs in RF, they can move Plouffe and put Sano back at 3B. If they had already traded Plouffe and Sano bombed at 3B, they didn't have any fallback option. That said, I think Sano will be fine at 3B and at RF.

The original poster was absolute about it. Molitor only said it "wasn't expected" that he'll play 3B. Molitor had to say something when the reporter asks "Will Sano play 3b when Plouffe takes a day off?"

If you're planning on him being your everyday RF and the outfield is new to him, then you want him to put all of his focus learning RF and practicing RF. You don't want to divide his attention and time preparing to play 3B when he would only play there 20 games at most. If the Twins get a great offer for Plouffe during the season, its entirely possible that they shift Sano to 3B full time midseason, but if they don't, they NEED Sano to spend all of his time honing his RF skills.

I agree with this, although I am concerned about Perkins, just based on his injury issues the last 2 years.

Because have unrealistic expectations for their favorite teams and typically are unable to see the bigger picture. I remember last fall defending Gibson against people who were saying he was a #4 starter at best and after looking through the stats, he was clearly a #2 overall and if you only looked at the playoff teams, he would be the third best starter on I think 8 of the 10 playoff teams.

No, thats not the gist of it. First off, the Pohlad's don't save money so they can spend it later. They spend some % of their revenue on their team to ensure they make a profit. If they decide not to spend $10 million this year, that doesn't mean they'll spend an extra $10 million next year. They aren't that cheap either. They were #11 in payroll for 2015 as a percentage of the team's revenue. Everyone on here has a reasonable argument. Trying to sign an Ace this winter is a valid strategy. I just feel that the Twins are more than just an Ace away in 2016 and the risks of a 6 or 7 year contract for an ace at this time don't outweigh the rewards. If an Ace really does put the Twins in the World Series in 2016, then I'm wrong and my premise falls apart. What Berrios delivers this summer, Duffey follows up well on last year and Gibson remains solid. Then the Twins have a nice rotation in 2017-2018 of Berrios, Duffey, Gibson, Hughes and Santana with May potentially back in the rotation as well. By not spending $125 million this year, maybe that allows them to go out and get a Matt Weiters, Francisco Cervelli or Jonathan LuCroy in 2017. Maybe it allows them to get a star RF when they trade Plouffe and move them Sano to 3B. Maybe it allows them to sign Stephen Strasburg as a free agent.

Did I ever say that strategy has worked? Does doubling down and spending twice the money work?

I assumed Ervin, However, you are kind of out there on a limb saying there is a good chance they will be better in 2016-2017 than in 2018. I don't think any baseball expert would project that. Ervin Santana is 33 and no one expects a pitcher that age to actually improve. You think there is a good chance of Mauer miraculously recovering in 2016-2017 then falling off a cliff in 2018? Dozier and Plouffe are in their prime but aren't game changers. Its much easier to project them to be better in 2018 than 2016, but obviously not guaranteed.

I would have been up for a trade last year. I was pushing for a Cole Hamels trade. Similar yearly cost as Cueto but 2 years less risk. I just really dont' like the 6 year deal for a pitcher for the Twins.

I'm sorry, but when you are using Dozier, Mauer (who people are killing), Plouffe (who everyone seems to want to trade), Park (who hasn't played an inning of MLB) and Santana (Ervin? Danny???) as the reason they need to strike while the iron is hot, then I just don't think there is any argument to be made.

If they could move one of their starters to find a spot, it would make more sense. Milone is the obvious choice. No one is going to take Santana or Hughes, probably. I'm not saying rent an ace. I'm saying a blockbuster deal with someone who has a few years on his contract left. It would take some prospects, but they can part with some of their prospects for the right guy.

Good point. However, I understand taking the risk and spending the money (or trading prospects) when its likely that you're very close to winning right now. I just think there are too many question marks this year to take the risk of signing a guy like that right now. Do the Twins have a catcher? Is Mauer completely washed up? Will Park be a bust. How quickly will Sano transition from Adam Dunn to Miguel Cabrera as pitchers adjust to him and he adjusts to pitchers. How long will it take for Buxton to adjust to the Majors? Is the bullpen an achilles heel? So next year or 2018, the Twins will know the answers to most of those questions. They'll know what they have with Sano and Buxton. The Plouffe, Sano, Park, Mauer logjam should loosen up. They'll know what they have in house in the bullpen. Also, waiting a year or 2 to make the splash isn't going to hurt anything. Are the Twins missing out on players in their prime who are going to start declining? Catcher isn't going to decline. Mauer is already declining and maybe would retire or become a bench player later on. Dozier and Escobar could decline, but they aren't the type of talents where you say "win now" at all costs. If Sano, Buxton, Kepler, Rosario, Berrios, Duffy, Park are the kind of talent that are going to win a World Series for the Twins, they're more likely to do it in 2017, 2018 or 2019 instead of 2016. Its not like they are in a situation where if they don't win in 2016, they're going to lose their window to win a World Series. So the Twins didn't sign Cueto for 2016. If they really missed out on an Ace, they can go out and get one for 2017 or dip into their minor leagues and trade for one.