The Twins' General Manager has been on the record many times this offseason indicating that he would like to get someone who will "push" Trevor Plouffe at third base. The Twins' field and front office staff are unhappy with Plouffe's defense in the hot corner. Plouffe has had his moments there, but he is still learning the position. Let us not forget that the powers of being who feel that Plouffe is inadequate defensively are the same who gave starting roles at third base to Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris, who, arguable were worse defenders than Plouffe, plus Buscher has played the position all his life. Regardless, for some reason getting another player who can play third base is a priority for Terry Ryan for the Twins to rebound from consecutive 99 and 96 loss season.
Who would that player be?
There are three internal options: Jamey Carroll, Deibinson Romero and Mark Sobolewski. I have already discussed that last two here. For some reason, it seems that Terry Ryan does not like these options (Only Carroll was invited in Spring Training) and had an offer out to light hitting 33 year old Jack Hannahan whose greatest claim to fame is that he is Minnesotan; he snubbed the Twins and elected to sign a 1 year $2 million dollar contract with the Twins. I suspect that Ryan will not be bringing back Nick Punto or sign Chone Figgins. The pickings out there at the major league level are really slim and all remaining are aging utility players with very weak bats plus Scott Rollen who is old but serviceable mulling retirement or returning to the Reds. But, this would be the team to take 24 HRs away from a RHB (Plouffe) to install a light hitting third baseman.
Are there any other possibilities?
Looking at the list of the minor league free agents, here are the ones who are still available and at least decent defensively and offensively at third base. I suspect that unless Ryan chooses any of the aforementioned internal options, one of these folks would be it:
Shawn Bowman, 29, RHB
Audy Ciriaco, 26 RHB
Brooks Conrad, 33, SHB
Mike Costanzo, 30, LHB
Ruben Gotay, 30, SHB
Michael Hollimon (re-sign) 31, SHB
Kevin Howard, 32, LHB
Tug Hulett, 30, LHB
Andy LaRoche, 29, RHB
Mario Lisson, 29, RHB
Matt Mangini, 27, LHB
Jimmy Swift, 26, RHB
Your guess is good as mine
Who would that player be?
There are three internal options: Jamey Carroll, Deibinson Romero and Mark Sobolewski. I have already discussed that last two here. For some reason, it seems that Terry Ryan does not like these options (Only Carroll was invited in Spring Training) and had an offer out to light hitting 33 year old Jack Hannahan whose greatest claim to fame is that he is Minnesotan; he snubbed the Twins and elected to sign a 1 year $2 million dollar contract with the Twins. I suspect that Ryan will not be bringing back Nick Punto or sign Chone Figgins. The pickings out there at the major league level are really slim and all remaining are aging utility players with very weak bats plus Scott Rollen who is old but serviceable mulling retirement or returning to the Reds. But, this would be the team to take 24 HRs away from a RHB (Plouffe) to install a light hitting third baseman.
Are there any other possibilities?
Looking at the list of the minor league free agents, here are the ones who are still available and at least decent defensively and offensively at third base. I suspect that unless Ryan chooses any of the aforementioned internal options, one of these folks would be it:
Shawn Bowman, 29, RHB
Audy Ciriaco, 26 RHB
Brooks Conrad, 33, SHB
Mike Costanzo, 30, LHB
Ruben Gotay, 30, SHB
Michael Hollimon (re-sign) 31, SHB
Kevin Howard, 32, LHB
Tug Hulett, 30, LHB
Andy LaRoche, 29, RHB
Mario Lisson, 29, RHB
Matt Mangini, 27, LHB
Jimmy Swift, 26, RHB
Your guess is good as mine
3 comments:
The ;pain is that there is really no one who hits as many homers, and they all bat about the same. if you want to improve defense, then you have the weakest infield in the majors for offense, heaven forbid if you would flip Morneau and replace him with Parmelee. Plouffe, if he hits 20-25 homers and bats .230 is servicable, for now. But the flipside is the Twins 2013 lineup construction. Who bats 1-2, who follows whom, how weak is 8-9 in the batting order.
Still a lot coming. And ST will tell a lot more. My point is that Plouffe has yet to enter his prime and he is learning the position. He can be as good as Koskie (who was horrid on the field), and has some power. Actually more power than Cuddyer had. The Twins should not give up on him.
I think that the CF will bat lead off, regardless if he is named Mastroianni, Benson on Hicks. And a MIF will bat second. Remember who the manager is... The other MIF will be the number 9 in the order.
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