PiPress: 3B is Plouffe's to lose

[John Bonnes]

Minnesota Twins' Trevor Plouffe hopes to snare his spot at 3rd - TwinCities.com

 

There was talk about bringing in a free-agent third baseman to challenge Plouffe but the Twins are content to let him seize the job without having to look over his shoulder.

[edavis0308]

If he is able to stick or not at third is obviously up in the air, but that's a refreshing read to say the least.

[johnnydakota]

last january Terry called Trevor and told him to go out back of the house and burry his infielders glove , cause he was now the right fielder.

Trevor struggled at 3b over the year , but showed flashes of ability and enough of a bat ,that the front office should let him run with the position , there were to many other areas that needed improvement or upgrades then trevor....

[stringer bell]

I don't expect Plouffe to be a gold glover, but I think he can be satisfactory and his bat can be a plus. Both defensively and offensively, he fell way off after his thumb injury.

[Rick Niedermann]

I am ok with Plouffe at third. If he can hit .260, drive in 75 runs, pop 18-20 homers he's an asset. His fielding will get better. He's a former shortshop, so the transition to 3rd will come along. I hate wasting a roster spot on Escobar. He can't hit a lick. And you already have Floriman who will hit .220 to .230. Why don't the Twins pick up Tony Abreu just released by the Royals. He can play 2nd and 3rd. Great offensive numbers throughout his minor league career. And he is a switch hitter. He'd be a much better bench alternative to Escobar.

[Nick Nelson]

In one of his recent columns Mackey stated that Plouffe was (paraphrasing) "clearly one of the worst defensive infielders in the majors." Is that something that is widely agreed upon? He certainly had his issues there last year but didn't strike me as flat-out awful.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I called BS when Ryan said he'd bring in competition for Plouffe. Looks like I was right. I also consider it a good thing. This should be a sink-or-swim season for Trevor. The team needs to see what they have moving forward.

 

Also Nick, I didn't think Plouffe was awful, especially in a season and division that had Miguel Cabrera as the Tigers third baseman. Saying Plouffe is one of the worst infielders in baseball is hyperbole and ridiculous. He has a ton of room to improve but most of the screwups I saw looked like a guy uncomfortable playing third base, something that can change with experience. He has the physical tools to play the position.

[nicksaviking]

These contradictory stances the front office keeps taking are starting to get predictable. It's becoming quite clear that despite this seeming like a key off season in terms of rebuilding stratagy, this organization did not exactly have a strong gameplan.

 

I was fine with it being Plouffe's job to lose all along, 3B should never have been a top priority, but then why did Ryan talk about bringing in compition last November? Seems like he had big dreams for the top of the rotation, bullpen help and infield competition but accomplished none of it. Either the Pohlad's pulled his payroll sometime around the winter meetings, or Ryan thought he could fix these areas on the cheap. Either way, this club has egg on it's face.