Shortstop

A much as it LOOKS like the Twins have a starter at short this season, this position is still wide open for at least a couple of players. Eduardo Escobar had a pretty good year at the plate last year for Minnesota. He's also listed slightly above average on defense for his position in major league metric lines. Normally this would give a shortstop a pretty much guaranteed spot in the lineup.

But that's not the whole story. Escobar's year at the plate was his first real year in the majors. He never hit that well in the minors. The same goes for the his defense. He's never had great range, and you never base a shortstop's defensive skills on just one season of play. So basically he needs to show Twin's management that last year wasn't a fluke.

Now if you listened to Molitor and upper level Twins officials during the off season, they praised Escobar non-stop. They were bragging up Eduardo to everyone that listened. That's an old-time baseball trick that's been around since Babe Ruth was a pup. It was sending the message to other ball clubs that Escobar was available for the right price. The Twins were probably still looking for a reliable fourth or fifth starter at the time, and they figured that Escobar's trade value would never be higher. They were just waiting for someone to bite.

No one did.

You'll notice that LATELY Molitor has changed that strategy and is now talking about the Twins center fielder, Danny Santana, possibly being the Twins shortstop of the future. The problem with that is that we still don't have a current answer for centerfield if Santana displaces Escobar at short. We'll talk about the whole centerfield situation at a later date. As for now, Santana is better at the plate than Escobar. It's generally acknowledged that he's the better athlete as well. BUT when it comes to defensive skills at short, Escobar is still ranked higher. One of the reasons Gardy played Santana in center last year was that he knew Escobar was the better defensive shortsop. With Santana's athleticism and Molitor's mentoring, Santana could still become a pretty good shortstop. And I think that's what Molitor would like to do. Maybe next year...

With Pedro Florimon gone, that leaves only Jorge Polanco as a possible third man in the mix. But Polanco is the Twin's utility infielder with more second base experience. He's not really in the running unless there's an injury.

I guess a lot of what the Twins are this year (and next) depends on how quickly mega-prospects Sano and Buxton are ready to join the majors. MOST say that's at least a year away. Both are coming off major injury seasons and they need minor league playing time to get ready again.

We don't need another Aaron Hicks. We need another Kirby Puckett. To do that the Twins and their fans will have to show patience.