Twins Must Clear Infield Logjam Quickly

I would have moved Dozier last winter.  Polanco needs to play up here at least next year, so if not this year this winter.  Hopefully Dozier will have a great second half, so have some great value.  Yankees are talking about going both ways so Dozier might be a fit there.

For the time being you can move Park to Rochester until July 31 and hopefully the logjam plays itself out.

The problem with trading Dozier right now is finding a buyer. Almost all of the good, contending teams are getting solid production from 2B right now, so there isn't an obvious fit. The best fit is probably KC, and Dozier might be a marginal improvement for Toronto. In a vacuum, it is easy to say that Dozier is worth X. But other teams aren't buying X; they are buying the marginal improvement that X provides over their current Y. And for most teams, X-Y is pretty small and not worth paying a lot for.

 

And I don't understand than consternation that Polanco needs a starting MLB spot right now. Don't get me wrong, he's a good prospect. But he has less that 300 PAs in AAA under his belt, and had a .719 OPS in AA. Maybe his new power is real, or maybe it is a fluky spike. Given the past history of recent callups, hitting well at AAA for a couple hundred at bats should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

My vote is to trade Nunez for whatever either this deadline or during the offseason, keep Dozier a more advantageous trading scenario arrives, and have Polanco as the primary infield backup until Dozier is traded or leaves via FA. 

He doesn't need it right now. But he will need to be on the roster next year. And while that could very well be a utility player, he has also demonstrated enough in his short time in the majors, and in AAA, that he can hit. Is he guaranteed? Nope. No prospect is. But neither are major leaguers. Plouffe has an OPS of under .700 this year.

You can easily wait until the offseason to look for the best possible trade for Dozier. And maybe they can't trade Dozier, but I think they can, and I think the return would be decent.

This team is on pace to lose 110 games. They need to look at their veteran assets and see what they can get for them while favoring playing time for younger players. Had the Twins been contending, I'd have used Polanco to fetch some help at the deadline. But they aren't. 

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.

Agreed there isn't really an easy decision. I'm hoping they can turn Nunez into something by the trade deadline. The contract is cheap, but that guy is going to come back down to earth at some point and it would be nice to see the Twins try to cash in. I don't particularly want to see Escobar traded. Nunez can't be a regular at SS and Polanco's defense is in question as well. If Polanco can't handle SS then you're right back where you started, trying to find room for him to play, but this time you have to either force Dozier out or trade Polanco. 

He (Ryan) won't.  It's not his modus operandi.  Never has been.  

Now one would think at the very least that Plouffe would get traded making room for Sano at 3rd, but some folks here forget the FO love for Trevor Plouffe, Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer and Glen Perkins.  These guys have wormed their way into the inner circle and are now Twins for life.  

I think that Park gets demoted at or shortly after the all-star break and Sano shifts to DH for the rest of the season.  This allows Ryan to keep Plouffe around.  Now whether or not he's offered a contract (via arbitration) this off season is debatable. I think that if his number is upwards of 10 million (which it could be), I think Terry might scoff at that, but we'll see. 

Regarding Polanco.  I hate to say it, but the Twins kinda made their decision when they bought out Dozier's three seasons of arbitration and signed him through 2018.  

Polanco is clearly not a shortstop based on his fielding stats.  Now the FO has been trying to force him into that mold but it's clear he's not SS material at this point based on errors alone. With the emergence of Escobar at SS and Nunez as a bench bat / spot starter he's even less likely to receive playing time.

Great article. I have no clue how anyone defends hanging on to Nunez while he is at the absolute peak of his career right now. And Plouffe already peaked. 

He (Ryan) won't.  It's not his modus operandi.  Never has been.  

 

Now one would think at the very least that Plouffe would get traded making room for Sano at 3rd, but some folks here forget the FO love for Trevor Plouffe, Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer and Glen Perkins.  These guys have wormed their way into the inner circle and are now Twins for life.  

 

I think that Park gets demoted at or shortly after the all-star break and Sano moves over to DH for most of the remained of the season, which allows them to keep Plouffe around for the remainder of the season.  Now whether or not he's offered a contract (via a arbitration) is debatable.  

 

Regarding Polanco.  I hate to say it, but the Twins kinda made their decision when bought out Doziers final three seasons of arbitration and signed him through 2018.  Polanco is clearly not a shortstop based on his fielding stats.  Now the FO has been trying to force him into that mold but it's clear he's not SS material based on errors alone. With the emergence of Escobar at SS and Nunez as a bench bat / spot starter he's even less likely to receive playing time.

Maybe we can squeeze Polanco into RF and negate his bat?

Gotta love it when this team has a logjam and needs to clear things out.  A year ago we had a logjam in the OF.  Or so we as fans thought.  Could we trade an infielder to ourselves for John Ryan Murphy?  Amazing how we went from logjam in the OF to moving infielders to the OF--Sano, Santana, hell even Rosario used to be a 2B (and probably should still be).  The last 3+ months of this season needs to be about seeing what certain guys can do in certain spots.  Sano at 3B.   Polanco at one or both middle infield spots.  Maybe even Santana with a real shot at SS.  Buxton, Kepler, Rosario in the OF or maybe Rosario at 2B.   Trevor May and Jose Berrios as starting pitchers.  Any of a half dozen young guys as relievers.  The rest of this year needs to be about finding out who is capable of contributing at what level for 2017 and beyond.  We can't afford to have a 29 year old defensive liability at a variety of positions as our All Star or needing to sign a 26 year old off the scrap heap to be an every day OF.  P.S.:  Sell high on Grossman before the glass slipper shatters.

 

And I don't understand than consternation that Polanco needs a starting MLB spot right now. Don't get me wrong, he's a good prospect. But he has less that 300 PAs in AAA under his belt, and had a .719 OPS in AA. Maybe his new power is real, or maybe it is a fluky spike. Given the past history of recent callups, hitting well at AAA for a couple hundred at bats should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

My vote is to trade Nunez for whatever either this deadline or during the offseason, keep Dozier a more advantageous trading scenario arrives, and have Polanco as the primary infield backup until Dozier is traded or leaves via FA. 

He is out of options next year, which means the Twins need to give him ABs to find out what they have or history (Arcia) is doomed to repeat itself. There is no point in bringing Polanco up to waste away on the bench. If the Twins won't clear a spot for him then he should be in AAA playing every day.

He is out of options next year, which means the Twins need to give him ABs to find out what they have or history (Arcia) is doomed to repeat itself. There is no point in bringing Polanco up to waste away on the bench. If the Twins won't clear a spot for him then he should be in AAA playing every day.

Or they should trade him, while they still have time to do so.

Would have been nice to demote Park to AAA before outrighting Arcia... but whatever.

I would trade Dozier, but I don't think the Twins would. He's become "their guy."

I would trade Nunez for a bullpen piece.

My solution for the time being.  Have Nunez play left field.  It should help his trade value getting more time at another position.  Infield will be Sano, Escobar, Dozier and Mauer.  Plouffe, Sano and Mauer can rotate at DH.  Grossman can be the 4th outfielder, unless Buxton is sent back down then he can play everyday with Kepler in CF.  Park goes down to AAA.  In a few weeks, we can trade Nunez and Plouffe.  For Plouffe we are probably looking at a Morneau type of return.  For Nunez, may be something more.  Well got Palka for Hermann, so I suspect we should get something similar.  Going forward we can have Polanco play 3B and Sano DHing.  I am fine with trading Dozier, but I would want a teams top 15 prospect at a minimum.

Dozier is gone 3 years from now and is on the wrong end of an extension curve 3 years from now.  I think he should be traded.

Absolutely!  Dozier refused a contract extension beyond his first year of potential free agency--he wants out unless the Twins choose to place him in a golden cage. Even then, he will have acquired financial independence for life and the chance to play for an every year contender for the World Series will likely be a powerful issue in his decision. The Twins will not be an every year contender, and Dozier knows that!

Too bad our IF logjam is so full of underwhelming options.

Or they should trade him, while they still have time to do so.

The entire point of the rebuild the past 5 (4 really) years was to stock up on young talent and let it take over. Waiting to trade those players until they are ready for a shot in majors makes no sense.

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.

The elephant in the infield is still Joe Mauer. What do you do with him?

Sano is the most valuable asset the Twins have.  Why is he being shuffled around between RF/3B/DH?!?  If his position is 3B, put him there and sit Plouffe.  He isn't going to bring anything in trade, the FO blew that opportunity in the offseason.  You got a few okay years out of Plouffe.  If Sano is a big part of the future, start acting like he is.

Trade Dozier while he's hot.  Maybe you can get a decent middle of the rotation starter for him.  If Polanco is waiting for an opening, he can hit as well as Dozier and is close defensively, why not get something for Dozier and open up 2B?

I don't think any of these guys are good enough to call it a "logjam."

I mean, I guess you could say there is a "logjam" at every position on every team in the league of this is a "logjam."