on that, I disagree with you. With the wild card it might only take a season with something like mid-80s wins to find yourself in contention. The Twins did that last year by accident. Although I agree I wouldn't necessarily call them a contender next year, but wild card should be the minimum goal every year for most teams.
Polanco is (or was) a top organizational prospect behind Buxton and Sano, so benching him sounds like a terrible idea. Is Antony dictating to Molitor or is Molitor telling Antony this stuff? Because I also heard Antony say that when Plouffe comes back, Sano will be the guy being moved around again.
That could have been said of Mauer his first season at first, I'm sure you realize. I guess to me passable means does his bat justify him playing there? It might mean something different tomorrow. For now it means Sano and Nunez both played passable defense at their positions this year--and you already know I think Sano is better than passable with the glove anyway, fielding % notwithstanding.
Depends on who you ask? The folks already giving up on Sano are likely to be as quickly disappointed with Polanco, at least based on Seth's report of his errors. I don't mind if Polanco moves around but the only open position in the infield is shortstop, and it is wide open now with Nunez gone.
I can't tell if Kintzler would be a good 9th inning guy over a full season. Despite his lack of velocity, I think he might have a year or two in him as a closer.
in Rochester this season: 22 singles, 11 walks, 2 hit-by-pitch, unknown number of reached by error, four stolen base attempts. That doesn't seem like much base stealing work for a guy with Buxton's speed and inexperience.