Dozier is a tough call. He's 29, you have two more years. He might have a breakout season, but you pretty much know what to expect. Double his numbers this year, you have a tad higher average than ever before but consistency in ALL categories including walks, strikeouts, doubles. His fielding has gotten better, it seems, but that depends on who is playing short. 

Polanco brings youth. He might bring speed, the ability to put a ball in play, draw more walks, strikeout less. You are eliminating the power. Can you have total power weakness up the middle - catcher, second base, shortstop, centerfield? Does the speed you WILL have at second and centerfield offset that loss? Does right and left make up the difference? 

You can run with a year of Polaco as a reserve, filling in as needed at second/short/third. You also have Santana in the reserve category if Rosario comes back to the outfield. You might also find a reason to keep Nunez. You have Escobar. 

After a year of Polanco as a reserve, you need to make a longer-term decision on Dozier, or hope that another team also sees him as a long term solution. Which means you trade him in 2018 at the latest, or extend him (shades of thoughts about Plouffe right now)

You CAN play Polanco as a reserve for a couple of seasons. You are pretty much guaranteed that his three arbitration years would be lower in salary than if you started him at second out of the chute in 2017.

Dozier (and Suzujki) are both making themselves attractive pieces for acquisition. One longer term, the other a short-term fix. 

If the Twins feel that Polanco can play second base and are willing to take what they get over the next few seasons, then you move Dozier. If not, you have a few middle infield pieces to try and pawn, one being a potential prospect. But right now, I would picture most other teams would grab Polanco and put him in a reserve role, too, in 2017 and see where he goes from there. 

If Polanco has true worth (assuming you are keeping Dozier for the term and looking at extending him) would be to package with Nolasco or another salary you wish to rid yourself of. A promising prospect and an expensive player for some more minor league depth.

Yes, the Twins can start turning things around this season. But as other posters have said, even if they play .500 ball, they end up with 90+ losses. ALL the players are smart if they do start producing. It will mean they have jobs with the Twins or elsewhere come 2017. If they continue to stumble, a few will be unemployable. 

And the Twins HAVE to make the decision on the direction they are going, not just play for the possibility of winning today. YOU CAN MARKET a losing team, you can market rebuilding. You just have to accept the fact, adjust some ticket prices, make the event of going to a game even more fun (rather than lame),

What's sad is the stumbling block we will see the Twins have. Do we change front office, field management, stay as we are with internal options, keep things going the Twins Way, addressing problems us armchair fans don't really see or know exist,

Maybe every day they are having meetings discussing direction - on-field and marketing. Maybe there is a plan in place (and they REALLY DON'T HAVE TO SHARE IT with us...because plans can succeed or fail.

Okay, let's get back to discussing who the Twins would lose in an expansion draft!

Have Polanco start at SS in AAA until Nunez is traded. See if he can improve with his glove. Once in the bigs, rotate him between 2B, 3B, and SS, supplanting Santana as the new Utility guy. Santana should be moved, too, and replaced with Rosario. OF of Rosario/Buxton/Kepler/Grossman is the way to go. INF of Sano/Escobar/Dozier/Mauer with Polanco getting reps at 3 INF spots. DH should be Park or ABW (or Palka...I like his LH power bat). That alignment sets us up nkcely for next year. Pitching is a whole other story!

Dozier has had three major slumps in the last two and a half years. And he will return to one as soon as they go back to pitching him outside. This spring he crowded the plate and you could get him out jamming him. Now he's off the plate and still gets an absurd number of inside pitches. Some are missed spots and some are just plain stupid. Our renewed offense is also because we went through the some pretty weak SP opponents. That said, they are hot now. Red hot. Suzuki will definitely return to a pumpkin. Dozier will definitely slump big again. Look at their ages, it's not like they have no history. One last thing about Dozier. His attitude is blatantly selfish, and if anyone wonders why this team has no mojo, no apparent drive, they might look at the team leader. To paraphrase the old saying, 'all for one, and one for me too'! BD has made it clear he only cares about BD, and while Molitor and Brunansky either ignore it, or kiss his butt, the other 24 guys are fully aware of the way him, and Plouffe, are handled. There are a myriad of players in MLB who could hit 20 HR's if given the green light to pull everything with no repercussions when it fails for months. It's not talent that allows Dozier to do this, it's gutless management.

The decision between Polanco and Dozier is an easy one, at least for me. The core of the Twins future--Sano, Buxton, Berrios--are all 22 (and Kepler is 23). If we assume that the prime years of this core (ages 25-30) will be the best years for the Twins, then the Twins should be focusing 3-8 years down the road.

Now, onto Polanco and Dozier. Polanco is also 22, whereas Dozier is 29. 3 years from now, Polanco will be 25, entering his prime. Dozier will be 32, certainly post-prime. 8 years from now, Polanco will be 30, at the end of his prime. Dozier will be 37, probably out of the league.

Quite simply, Polanco's career timeline lines up much better than Dozier's. There's no guarantee that Polanco's career peak will be quite as good as Dozier's, but he is 22, hitting well in AAA, and has hit well at every level of the minors. So we should expect him to be a productive major leaguer. And if he does, he will be much better than Dozier during the prime years of Minnesota's core.

Add in the fact that Dozier probably has more trade value today and Polanco is near MLB-ready and it seems like a no-brainer. Trade Dozier. Insert Polanco as second baseman of the future.

They won't trade Nunez, because he's helping us win now, and is insurance in case Brooks Sano doesn't work out at 3B and is moved to full time DH in 2017.  Polanco can't beat out Dozier, and we have other top prospects in the pipeline. I believe we will package Polanco with one of our better starting pitching prospects and make a trade this off season.

Dozier has been EN FUEGO.  For a month.  ONE month in the last six.  'Nuff said.