Mike Napoli: The Missing Piece?

No thanks

Pass. Vargas should be primary DH with Sano DHing against lefties and Escobar playing 3rd. I have a bad feeling Napoli will lead to losing Vargas on waivers. 

Absolute hard pass. Falvine is overthinking this thing.

Is he a better pitcher than Giminez? It sounds like it's to take his role.

I don't discount leadership but I know people talked more about Hunter's leadership when he was hitting 3 run homers to win games and not so much when he was taking collars and they were losing games.  

Confidence, swagger and fearlessness.   That is leadership in baseball and while that doesn't usually manifest itself in rookies it doesn't need to be in a 12 year veteran either.     Just from appearances it looked like Rosario, Santana, Escobar and Kintzler had it but I really don't know either.    

No, No he is not.

The missing piece is starting pitching.....still. 

Sigh. The fan base at large is hungry for names they have heard of somewhere someplace. Unfortunately this name fits that bill, and not many others.

I like Napoli, but not enough to sign him for this team. For one thing, Vargas or no Vargas, who I also like, we may end up with Sano as a full time DH for quite some time. I have heard some negative reports on his leg, and his training. That would have to be a consideration. Plus, in this day of a short bench, any non versatile PH type is almost a luxury which I doubt the Twins have room for.

Escobar and Castro can step up and be the Veteran leaders.  4 of the 12 should be enough. Grossman, Polanco, Sano Buxton and Rosario have all been around long enough to have a clue. If not, there should be some trades

The Twins have 5 spots to fill on the bench (plus DH). One of those players has to have options to be easily moved when the need for a 13th pitcher occurs.

Catcher

Middle infield

Sano insurance at 3B

Outfield

13th position player with options.

Without any moves my guess for the 5 would be...

Garver

Adrianza

Escobar

Grossman

Granite

How would Napoli (or even Vargas) fit? Vargas projects better next year but possibly not from the right side.

They could take Grossman’s spot. When Granite is shuttled out Adrianza is the reserve OF. I suppose they could take the spot of Escobar or Adrianza but that is really counting on Sano’s health.

Are there alternatives?

The Twins could bring in a defensive back up catcher and use Garver in the shuttle role. How close is Garver to the bat of Vargas or Napoli?

They could bring in a right handed batting corner OF.

I don’t see how Napoli fits well.

Maybe 32 year old Napoli.  Definitely not 36 year old Napoli.   Maybe Vargas is the answer.    I also don't think Rodney is the answer but Burdi might have been.  

Napoli drunk and shirtless roaming downtown Minneapolis? I'd follow that leader!

Is he the special guy to come off the bench in a pinch-hit situation? But then who replaces him in the field.

Is he better than Vargas? That is the decision the Twins really have to make. Is there then still a need for, say, Grossman?

Longrange, all the names above (including Nap) could be gone anyways come 2019. So it is getting the right pieces.

The elephant in the room, though, is Sano. Will he play third, or be starting his quest towards being a fulltime DH who COULD play third in NL ballparks.

Of course, if we want to have the Twins spend money...they have the money for a temporary bench bat. But is he truly the msot versatile fit for the team.

And they do need a first-rate starting pitcher...no more dumpster diving back-of-the-rotation guys instead of a quality arm.

Leadership, good clubhouse guy and 20+ HR power from the right side. But he can't hit or get OB and is very limited defensively.

No. Just not a fit. A combination of Grossman and Vargas alone outperform him, not to mention others filling in at DH.

Sign someone with a more consistent bat who can play the field somewhere decently or just stand pat.

This is on point. Napoli may be done. We would need an above average right handed bat to supersede what we already have.

A big Pass on this signing.

Per Molitor on mlb.com, the plan next year is to keep Sano fresh by limiting his games at 3B. What this also means is Mauer will be expected to hold his own at 1B.

This means there will be no power bat added who will primarily DH or 1B. DH will be a "platoon" which will regularly be Sano. This bodes well for Escobar and maybe Vargas.

If Sano is a platoon DH that means Escobar is half the platoon. Over his career he has hit left handed pitching much better than right handed pitching. Last year that wasn’t the case but it would be very unwise to use splits in a single season. The sample is just far too small against left handed pitchers.

If Escobar is half the platoon, he will help more batting right handed. Napoli doesn’t help at all. Any gain they might see they simply lose when Escobar is playing mostly against right handed pitching.

If that is the plan, Napoli is a horrible fit.