Twins Must Clear Infield Logjam Quickly

Trade Plouffe--it's so easy to say--but when the whole world knows it, then trading is difficult. Recall Livan Hernandez in '06?--that kind of difficult. Maybe he gets selected in August waivers? if not, non-tender him in the off-season.

Sano at 3B? For this season, sure because then we can see that his real position is DH. Park? Rochester is nice this time of year (I lived there for 3 years). Next year? OH MY--well that's someone else's problem and it can wait.

Nunez? He's this year's Punto, though with much more hitting than Punto ever hit! Fallback for 3B at worst. He should be around until he gets too expensive or (hope!) somebody makes a nice offer for him.

If Ryan can not get any kind of return for Plouffe then waive him. That would be yet another squandered asset but it would be unlikely and pointless to give Plouffe $10mm next year to continue to clog the roster. A half season more of Plouffe in 2016 is of zero value to the Twins. For my part, I would send Danny Santana out the door with him. DS has a great "bag of tools" but has shown no meaningful progress as a hitter. Also there is scant evidence that he possesses a major league infielders glove. That means we are dedicating a roster spot to a pinch runner and third string CF behind Buxton and Kepler. Polanco should get the roster spot and get into a middle infield rotation with Escobar and Dozier. If a quality, almost major league ready catcher can be had for Dozier or Ervin and any other combo of veterans then Ryan should jump on it.

I seriously doubt Rob Anthony would announce that the phone is ringing off the hook and increase the pressure on th FO. C'mon! I would move Plouffe, he is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kind of like whoever was the Vikings wide receiver when Randy Moss arrived. You really have a choice between Dozier and Polanco. That's the reality. It seems Polanco is a pure hitter, Dozier certainly is not. Glove wise, might be closer than some think. I am not on the EE is an above average shortstop train. But I would keep him over Nunez because I trust his glove more. Which is why a SS exists, not for his bat. Nunez goes, sell high for a change. Park? A guy like Kang makes you think it could some day work, but so far he has actually regressed. You could flip him and ABW for a month, and see what you have in each. That's what this season should be about. But remember, while you might fleece a GM desperate for a fill in, they all know that the bats of Dozier, Plouffe, EE, and Nunez for the last month are not real. Each has enough history to go back and look at that far exceeds thirty days. And also remember this is Terry Ryan we are taking about. You'll be damn lucky to see Park go to AAA, trading Plouffe would be over the top for him!

C'mon! I would move Plouffe, he is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kind of like whoever was the Vikings wide receiver when Randy Moss arrived.

Are you referring to Chris Carter? Because unless I was taking crazy pills, I remember both doing well!

I think Jake Reed is the answer to that puzzle.  Carter played with Moss.

The Twins are many players away from being a good team, sad to say. I don't have much confidence in signing free agents to long-term contracts (whether it's Ryan or someone else signing them) to get out of this hole. So if we need about 1/2 the roster to turn over and it's not done through free agency...it's not hard for me to envision that the Twins won't be competitive until today's top 10-20 prospect have grown up and we find out who is legit among them. This is going to take time....it's so rare for any prospect to come up and set the world on fire. It's crazy to think we can have 4 or 5 prospects come up and be above average in the first 1-2 years.

I guess the point is....there's no emergency to open up logjams in days vs weeks. It would be crazy to see Polanco leave via waivers. I can't imagine that happening. Whether he gets starts getting regular playing time in July or August is not going to matter too much. Whether Sano starts getting regular time at 3rd in early July or late July is not going to matter too much.

 

I wouldn't trade Dozier unless they got a really good return. 

I think fans need to change their expectations to as what a player like Dozier could return.  Dozier is probably in the range of the best 5 - 10 second basemen in the majors. 2B is not a real "value position" so I would expect the return on Dozier would be a C+ - B level AA prospect. (from the Sickels scale)

They didn't like the return for Plouffe in the off-season, gave him 7M, and never really considered the possibility that his value would DECLINE.

Well it has because next year he's at 10M. 

There's nothing to be done.  He's injury prone, below average hitter, who is overpaid.

They played their hand poorly and are now stuck.

My approach: screw the return.

Getting Polanco and Sano up to speed by 2017 is worth more than trying to leverage a B prospect instead of a C prospect.

Package the infielders with any or all arms, and if trying to get a shiney new toy is so damn important to this club, eat some salary. With all the youth, this team isn't going to have any payroll issues for a half decade at least.

I can get behind your last paragraph but not your first. If I'm the GM, I'm eating salary, or adding a piece to any trade I make to assure that the return is a low minors high-reward/high-risk prospect in every case. We don't need some other team's version of Pat Dean as a return. We should target their versions of Lewis Thorpe instead. The system is full of Jason Wheelers and DJ Baxendales and Ryan Eades and Aaron Slegers. We don't need more of them. Look for the Juan Hillmans, and stoke the fire if you have to.

I think Plouffe is tradeable for a nice piece but we would have to throw in a nice piece with him to get interest. Not sure what that would be but that is where the scouting department comes in. Can our scouts come up with a diamond someone is willing to give up if we package Plouffe with someone else that they want?

Mets, Tribe and Royals all could use a 3rd baseman and in this case I wouldn't hesitate to go within the division. I would make sure I keep Polanco just in case Sano doesn't work at 3rd he might be able to transition there. For 1 year Polanco as utility guy is not the worst thing. Nunez this year proves there are ABs to go around for a utility guy if he warrants it.

Do we know if Sano will be at 3B or RF during the rehab stint? We heard that his "future" is at 3B. One would think if Sano's first game is at 3B, Plouffe may want to get a realtor.

Sano, Escobar and Polanco as our starting infield should be the main motivation right now. This means trading Plouffe, Dozier, Nunez and Santana while they have some value. If we suffer some growing pains through the end of the year, so be it. The only impact would be to solidify our draft position.

It would be not to wait until July. No need to settle for a trade now but they should be (and certainly are) out there by this point looking to make deals. 

 

I wouldn't trade Dozier unless they got a really good return. I really don't know what I'd do. I'd consider dealing Nunez, though he's a guy I wouldn't mind having around as a strong bench guy because I think he can be a strong leader as well as a contributor, and he's not going to be expensive. I'd be fine with trading Escobar, even if it means handing the job at short over to Polanco and accepting his flawed defense there for the rest of the season. Why not?  If he looks like he can maybe handle it, go with it. If not tough decision at 2B in the offseason between Dozier and Polanco. Hate to see Plouffe go, but they just have to do it, though I agree that Park may need a stint in Rochester which allows Sano to DH. 

 

Definitely not easy decisions at all. 

You should be able to get SOMETHING for Dozier. He is a former all-star, good on both sides of the ball, can hit for power and has some speed. He is demonstrating an ability to hit to the opposite field as well, which should help him. He has a contract through his arbitration years that should also make him more desirable to teams. I don't quite understand why you couldn't get a good return on that.

I would also remind folks that many people said the same thing about Plouffe in the offseason, and so did the Twins front office. The team instead tried to shoehorn Sano into a crowded outfield and look where we are. I'm not saying get rid of Dozier for nothing, but he is exactly the type of player the Twins need to look at trading: A good asset, who could offer a lot to a contending team for the next couple of years.

Polanco is in his last option year. He has conquered the minor leagues. He DESERVES a shot at the majors and can no longer be left there. He should also play every day. 

The Twins can control him for longer than they do Dozier, and they are not contending this year. They are not contending next year.

So your choices are to either trade Dozier for prospects to a contending team or trade Polanco in a prospect-for-prospect swap. 

Trade Dozier. It doesn't have to be now. But this team should absolutely look at trading him this offseason.

With the exception of last May this team has been really bad for 5 1/2 years now. I think it's hard to believe that other teams are thinking I want their players.

The phone has likely been very silent.