Justin Morneau signs

[Alex]

A year or two ago, sure. But not in 2014.

 

What's the point of moving Mauer to third when Sano has improved drastically and looks to be in Minnesota by mid season?

 

Or at worst, 2015. Good point, too.

[jokin]

Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp A year or two ago, sure. But not in 2014.

 

What's the point of moving Mauer to third when Sano has improved drastically and looks to be in Minnesota by mid season?

 

 

 

Or at worst, 2015. Good point, too.

 

Hire a legit 1B/DH through FA or trade. Have Mauer play 3B until Sano arrives. Once Sano arrives to play 3B in either mid- or late-2014 or 2015, move Mauer to 1B, the previous 1B to DH. Problem solved- offense starts out 2014 better than 2013 instead of worse, as it will now....and then gets successively better as Sano moves into the lineup.

 

I really think that if the Twins thought Mauer had the range to play third, they'd have tried that out

 

How much range does one really need to play 3B? Especially with a very rangy SS to your immediate left in Florimon? Mauer has always been terrific chasing down foul popups behind the plate and at 1B, no reason to forsee any deficiencies in that area for him at Third. Mauer has all the requisite tools to play the position, and would clearly be a defensive upgrade from Plouffe from Day One, just his length alone would allow him to double the number of chances compared to Plouffe going to his left....perhaps with the exception that he'd have a learning curve relative to Plouffe on charging the bunt and weakly hit balls, but he'd pick that up in no time.

[Alex]

Hire a legit 1B/DH through FA or trade. Have Mauer play 3B until Sano arrives. Once Sano arrives to play 3B in either mid- or late-2014 or 2015, move Mauer to 1B, the previous 1B to DH. Problem solved- offense starts out 2014 better than 2013 instead of worse, as it will now....and then gets successively better as Sano moves into the lineup.

 

 

 

How much range does one really need to play 3B? Especially with a very rangy SS to your immediate left in Florimon? Mauer has always been terrific chasing down foul popups behind the plate and at 1B, no reason to forsee any deficiencies in that area for him at Third. Mauer has all the requisite tools to play the position, and would clearly be a defensive upgrade from Plouffe from Day One, just his length alone would allow him to double the number of chances compared to Plouffe going to his left....perhaps with the exception that he'd have a learning curve relative to Plouffe on charging the bunt and weakly hit balls, but he'd pick that up in no time.

 

Jokin, I love the idea in principle, but do you legitimately think the Twins are completely ignorant of this possibility and haven't even discussed or evaluated it?

[Monkeypaws]

Canadien rediscovers power in Rocky Mountains - book it.

 

We gave them a batting champ, how about an RBI champ to boot.

[Halsey Hall]

The point would be Plouffe would be gone, and Mauer would play a better 3rd base. When Sano is ready, he could move to first.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Why would the Twins spend so much time and effort jerking around their best player for what will probably amount to three, maybe four months at third base?

 

The ship has sailed on Mauer at third.

[jokin]

Why would the Twins spend so much time and effort jerking around their best player for what will probably amount to three, maybe four months at third base?

 

The ship has sailed on Mauer at third.

 

This does make a huge assumption that Sano can stick at 3B long-term. His body is still changing and he very well could end up with a body more like David Ortiz than David Justice (which is his current body-type).

 

But I agree, that ship has sailed, and the Twins offense will suffer for it in 2014.

[Brock Beauchamp]

This does make a huge assumption that Sano can stick at 3B long-term. His body is still changing and he very well could end up with a body more like David Ortiz than David Justice (which is his current body-type).

 

But I agree, that ship has sailed, and the Twins offense will suffer for it in 2014.

 

Every report I've seen on Sano in the past 12 months has talked about improvement on defense and the likelihood that he'll stay at third, at least for awhile.

 

By the time Sano proves he can't play third, Mauer will probably be too old for the position anyway.

 

So, at the end of the day, we're still talking about 3-4 months, tops. A non-issue.

 

Besides, there's no reason to think Mauer would be better defensively than Plouffe, particularly in his first year or two. Trevor has been an infielder his entire life. Mauer has exactly zero career innings at third base.

[jokin]

The point would be Plouffe would be gone, and Mauer would play a better 3rd base. When Sano is ready, he could move to first.

 

Yep. I've proposed as such previously. Your defense is better, your offense is better. The only thing you don't fully utilize is Sano's arm and the "wasted" years of training to turn Sano into a third baseman, still worth the trade-off, net-net.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Why is everyone so confident that Mauer would be a better third baseman than Miguel Sano?

 

The only dig against Sano is his (potential) size. His athleticism has never been in question; he's been playing the position for years and is in his early 20s.

 

On the other hand, Mauer is in his early 30s and has zero innings at the position and previous to 2012, zero innings any ANY position other than catcher.

[Alex]

Why is everyone so confident that Mauer would be a better third baseman than Miguel Sano?

 

The only dig against Sano is his (potential) size. His athleticism has never been in question; he's been playing the position for years and is in his early 20s.

 

On the other hand, Mauer is in his early 30s and has zero innings at the position and previous to 2012, zero innings any ANY position other than catcher.

 

I don't get it either. Like I said before, I've been critical of a lot of what the Twins seem to value in players but I don't see them completely being ignorant here. I think this is a case where we probably need to give them the benefit of the doubt. IE if Mauer would better defensive third baseman than other options, be they Sano, Plouffe or whatever, they've evaluated the risk reward. That is unless we really think they are complete idiots, which I don't.

 

As to how much more you need at 3B than at 1B (a previous point), I think it's obviously significantly more. The most common 3B transition you see are previous SS. If it were that easy. I think you'd see a lot more good defensive 1B moved there. For example, Morneau was considered by many to be an excellent fielding 1B for a long time yet he never played 3B.