Paul Molitor, with a complete coaching staff now in place, and having the corner outfielders set with Hunter in right and Arcia in left, can now start playing with the most important outfield position, center field. What are his current choices? Who is he looking at?
A signing this week may give us an indication. The Cardinals cut Shane Robinson this week rather than lose him to arbitration. He's been a reserve outfielder for St. Louis the last 3 seasons. He doesn't hit that well (.231 lifetime average) but he is known for his speed and defense. He's not great at anything but the Twins see enough value in him to sign him to a minor league deal with a guarantee to be invited to spring training. He's definitely a viable candidate for centerfield and our reserve outfielder.
Danny Santana is also still in the mix. I think that Molitor would like him to go back to his natural position of shortstop this season, but he realizes, just like Gardy, that we currently don't have a lot of better options in center. Escobar played shortstop well enough last year to leave Santanta in center. Since we tendered Eduardo Nunez an arbitration deal this week, the Twins are looking at HIM as the backup shortstop and our utility infielder. If that's the case, it looks like the Twins are leaning toward keeping Santana in center.
The Twins are also going to pay Jordan Schafer (lifetime .229 average) over a million dollars to keep him around this season as we offered him arbitration. Aaron Hicks is still in the mix as well. He's too young to give up on at this point in his career, but his stock has really went down the last two seasons. He says he's a switch hitter, but let's face it, the jury is still out on that one.
Hicks, Jordan, Schafer. At least one of these guys will be around when the Twins break spring training. Perhaps two. So the question everyone is asking is what about Byron Buxton?
At this point he probably won't be in the Twins plans this season. Unless he makes a major impact in spring training he's going to spend another year or two in the minors for seasoning. He also has to prove that he can stay healthy. He's always on the disabled list.
Best bet? Santana will be our center fielder at the start of the season. Hicks and Schafer will be around. And Robinson will be a quick call-up if anyone gets hurt or falters.
Buxton, if he can remain healthy, is our future. Just like Sano. The Twins gave Trevor Plouffe arbitration this week, too. That means Sano has to stay healthy and impress us in the minors for at least a few more months. Plouffe is pencilled in at third for the foreseeable future. He deserves it. He was great on offense last year and his fielding was considerably improved. You reward effort. The Twins are doing that.
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