The Twins infield. Really?

[DocBauer]

Soooo much speculation recently about the Twins infield. Some admittedly started by myself with reference to the buy/sell article on Mauer. 

 

For the record, I'm a buyer. If he was stock, I'd put a boat load down.

 

But we talk about Plouffe. Do we trade him or move him around somewhere on the diamond? Santana or Escobar at SS or CF. An extension for Dozier? Nunez is a waste for the final roster spot?

 

Can we backtrack for a moment?

 

I know we've had a few lousy seasons lately. I know a magic 8 ball is probably only second to a fully functional Ouija board in trying to predict this next season.  BUT...and it's a BIG BUT...just look at the capitalization for goodness sake...can we backtrack and reflect for a moment?

 

Ever since Koskie was a stud at 3B we've had who at 3B???? The fact that you have a hard time remembering only proves the point. (kudos to you if you remember Pinto's one really solid season there) SS has been a forgettable who's who that only their mothers remember except for one OK, mostly forgettable season from Hardy. I swear 2B has been an even deeper black hole than SS since Knoblauch played there. At least SS had Guzman and a young Bartlett for a couple years. 2B had....Rivas? Shudder. Honestly, in the last 10-20 years, not to be mean, but he might have been one of the biggest "teases" the Twins have had. 

 

So here we are now. We have a 2B ranked amongst the best in all of baseball by just about every scout and publication, who probably still hasn't hit his ceiling yet, and a 3B who is a former 1st round pick SS who took some time, but has converted to 3B very nicely defensively. He's even produced enough offense to be amongst the top third in all of the ML. And we have a SS who played "mostly" CF last season,defied all odds and expectations, and pretty much kicked butt. 

 

The problem is that one of the top prospcts in all of baseball is looking to take over 3B sooner than later. And while it's early in ST, and he has a ways to go, he's actually looked solid in the field despite an error, has made a couple nice pickups, has shown his re-built arm is just fine, and just powered the first HR of the spring against the wind even.

 

Escobar, the starter at SS most of last season...a season most of us would have hoped and prayed for the past several seasons...is in a battle for the athletic and surprising Santana. And while Santana would seem to offer the best/greatest long term value, the truth is Escobar had a great '14 and is off to a great '15. How do you sort this out properly?

 

And what about the great potential of Polanco?

 

Truth is, other than 1B, where the top potential prospects are in rookie and A ball....no offense to Vargas who projects at DH and backup 1B...Kepler figures as the best 1B prospect. And that's OK. If you have Buxton, Arcia and Rosario in the OF, possibly Walker, it's more than OK if Kepler plays 1B and backs up the OF.

 

I'm not saying we are where we need to be, where we want to be, and where we will be. That might take some or all of 2015.But just a couple of years ago, we were downright desperate for talent to assemble and build an acceptable ML caliber inf. And now, very soon, we may be in a position where we almost have too much talent.

 

Nunez has been much debated. He has his supporters and detractors. For his ML career he has a quad slash of .264/.305/.380/.684. Actually, even with OK defense, his numbers are pretty solid for a utility player. A couple of years ago, we might have actually been excited about his potential at a position. Again, there's nothing great here. But if your arguement/concern is over the last man on the roster, and it's Nunez, then how far, and how fast, has the Twins infield come?

 

You have GOT to feel good about the potential this season, and the next few, of this infield, yes?

 

Where do you see it? How does it shape up?

[jctwins]

Has Torii Hunter taken any of the infielders under his wing? I'm not sure we can speculate on anything until we know that.

[Paul Pleiss]

The infield is trending in the right direction, but this team is going to need the OF defense to improve as well.

 

I know that everyone loves Brian Dozier, and that he makes what seem to be amazing plays at second, but I'm not sold on his defense. The numbers don't paint the same picture as the eye, which isn't to say that he's bad, just that the truth is probably somewhere in between. Plouffe has turned into a solid everyday player, and if he can turn a few more of those doubles into HR in 2015, Sano will have to do serious damage to displace him. I like that. SS is a bit of a question mark. Escobar was solid there last season, but not plus with the glove or the bat. I'm intersted to see Santana handle SS on an everyday basis, and see if his offensive numbers, inflated by a ridiculous BABIP, can stay anywhere near his rookie campaign. And Joe Mauer. God bless him. He plays plus defense at first, and his batting skills are exceptional. He may not hit like a typical first baseman, but he does Joe Mauer things, and he's a remarkably useful ball player.

 

I like the infield. I like them on offense and defense. But there are some question marks. And I hope we see more improvement than regression in 2015.

 

Go twins!

[gunnarthor]

In the long run, they have enough bodies where we will probably be ok.  Among Dozier, Santana, Escobar, Polanco, Rosario, Nunez and Micheal, we'll probably be able to find two able middle infielders over the next few years.  

I think Plouffe does get traded at some point when Sano is ready to come up.  If the Twins are flirting with .500, they might keep him but I think Ryan moves him for prospects and lets Sano take over third for the remainder of 2015 and all of 2016.  At that point, he'll make a decision on his defense and possibly move him.  I don't think the Twins will trade Dozier.  He's sort of the new face of the team, works hard and doesn't have any negative character issues.  And he should be at least a good second baseman for the next few years.

 

Mauer's playing first until his contract runs out.

[TheLeviathan]

I think my opinion of this infield hinges a lot on how this season plays out.  I need to see if Santana is going to regress and, if he does, by how much.  I also need to see his glove every day at SS.  We've all seen how poor defense at that position can cripple a team and it's one of the biggest question marks going into this season.  

 

I also need to see how Dozier does again.  His offensive profile has a high floor, but the ceiling numbers (the power in particular) has been streaky and a bit erratic.  I'd like to see how he adjusts to how pitchers adjust to him.  His defense is pretty solid and he's going to be a solid player either way, but how high his ceiling is matters a lot for this team.  I'm just not sure we've seen a clear long-term picture on him yet.

 

Hopefully both things trend the right way.

[youngpadawan]

The infield is trending in the right direction, but this team is going to need the OF defense to improve as well.

 

I know that everyone loves Brian Dozier, and that he makes what seem to be amazing plays at second, but I'm not sold on his defense. The numbers don't paint the same picture as the eye, which isn't to say that he's bad, just that the truth is probably somewhere in between. Plouffe has turned into a solid everyday player, and if he can turn a few more of those doubles into HR in 2015, Sano will have to do serious damage to displace him. I like that. SS is a bit of a question mark. Escobar was solid there last season, but not plus with the glove or the bat. I'm intersted to see Santana handle SS on an everyday basis, and see if his offensive numbers, inflated by a ridiculous BABIP, can stay anywhere near his rookie campaign. And Joe Mauer. God bless him. He plays plus defense at first, and his batting skills are exceptional. He may not hit like a typical first baseman, but he does Joe Mauer things, and he's a remarkably useful ball player.

 

I like the infield. I like them on offense and defense. But there are some question marks. And I hope we see more improvement than regression in 2015.

 

Go twins!

This is one of the reasons I don't value defensive metrics over the eye test. If you watch Dozier you see an above average to elite defender, not average.

 

I really want to see Santana get some game in center because I think Escobar can be an everyday player at short.

[jimmer]

This is one of the reasons I don't value defensive metrics over the eye test. If you watch Dozier you see an above average to elite defender, not average.

 

I really want to see Santana get some game in center because I think Escobar can be an everyday player at short.

I agree Dozier is better than the defensive metrics say, but got to remember that if you put 20 people in a room and ask them to rate twenty 2Bs on defense, you're going to have, likely, 20 different eye test rankings.

 

I've been a big Dozier fan for a long time, almost since we drafted him, and I don't even think he's an elite defender.  I'd say he's slightly above average who makes some outstanding plays on occasion that give Twins fans lots of joy to see and that might skew our eye test opinion of him.

[puckstopper1]

I certainly agree that the infield is trending in the right direction. No doubt this could be the best infield that the Twins have fielded in years - maybe since Gaetti-Gagene-Lombardozzi-Hrbek.  I also agree that there is room for those with a "wait and see attitude."  We need to see consistency out of Ploufe and Dozier. We need to see if Santana can handle the SS position every day. And we need to see if Mauer can get back to where he was after his down season at the plate last year.  Having Sano, Rosario, Polanco, et.al.  waiting in the wings is a huge bonus.

 

GO TWINS!