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I didn't expect the Twins to be active today, and so far they've come through for me. Which is nice. We all have Christmas or holiday things to do. But let it not be told that Twinkie Town will not give you your Twins fix! Feel free to sneak away from the family and/or friends for a few minutes and catch up on the latest.
Can Mark Reynolds Be a Fit In Minnesota?
#MNTwins contact on whether FA DH/1B/3B Mark Reynolds is realistic: "Realistic if we want him. There's no consensus on marginal players."
— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) December 24, 2013
Reynolds, in terms of the kind of player he is and what he brings to the table, is a good fit for the Twins. He could back up Trevor Plouffe and Joe Mauer at the corners, provide some power in a DH platoon with Jason Kubel, and provide some power off the bench.
The real question is whether or not he's a fit for the roster. Even if we don't pencil in Kubel for a spot, since he still needs to earn it, we could give the DH spot to Chris Parmelee - leaving Kurt Suzuki, probably Eduardo Escobar, probably Chris Colabello, and then one additional spot that previously would have been assigned to Darin Mastroianni.
How does a team struggling and hoping to get to even 75 wins make decisions for their bench? While we're still a long way from Opening Day and things can and will change between now and then, adding Reynolds would make it more difficult to have another player on the 25-man roster capable of playing center field. You'd also need 1) a catcher, 2) someone to play the middle infield positions, and then 3) someone to play all three outfield positions. Essentially, adding Reynolds would mean Parmelee or Colabello would lose their roster spot.
Man, we just keep beating those guys up this week. Not literally, but whenever we talk about roster construction issues, there they are. Sorry, gents. Merry Christmas?
Center Field
With Maestro getting the DFA stamp yesterday it seems like the Twins are freely handing the starting job in center field to Alex Presley. On the 40-man roster, the only other player capable of playing center field is Aaron Hicks. And Hicks, as much as I'd like to believe otherwise, isn't a safe bet for anything other than Triple-A to start the season.
Hicks fell so far out of favor with the club last season that, following his demotion on August 1, he didn't receive a callup in September. He didn't deserve it, hitting .222/.317/.333 in 22 games with the Rochester Red Wings down the stretch.
The last time the Twins opened the season with just one player capable of being any kind of center fielder was in 2009, when Denard Span owned the role while surrounded by Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer, and Jason Kubel. At some point this is something that will need to be addressed, but it doesn't need to be right now.
That's it for tonight. We'll see you tomorrow!