Gabbing w/ Gamble: Who do you think should win the starting left field job?

Hello and welcome back to the LAST Friday discussion of the off-season! With the season right around the corner, soon we’ll be caught up in real games and pennant races and all the wonderful things that April brings. Without further ado, here’s the question of the week:

Who do you think should win the starting left fielder job for the Twins?

Earlier in camp, many people, myself included, were rooting for top prospect Alex Kirilloff to win the starting job in left. However, Kirilloff had a rather poor spring, and service time rules really made it make sense to send him down to start the season anyway, so here we are. You’ll have three choices for your “starting left fielder” pick- I’m leaving Luis Arraez out, despite the fact that he will probably soak up some starts in left field.

Jake Cave

Aww, Jake Cave. The Twins’ fourth outfielder for the last few years has been much-maligned by many, but really has acquitted himself well in the corner outfield spots. He is a bit over-matched for the center position, but swings a good enough bat and plays good enough defense to where he’d be at least a platoon starter on many teams. This is not an exciting pick, but not a bad one either. He has had a rather poor spring, but you know what you’re getting from Cave at this point. He will be on the roster- it just remains to be seen if he’ll get a starting job.

Kyle Garlick

The 29-year-old newcomer has had one of the best spring trainings of any Twin this year, despite being written off by most fans at the start of camp. The “depth signing” has a real chance of winning the job coming out of camp. While I think that purely off ability and upside, Brent Rooker has him beat, the Twins may prefer giving the flyer a shot and keeping Rooker as depth.

Brent Rooker

Rooker is my vote for the job. The most overlooked of the Twins’ three stud corner outfield prospects, Rooker came up last year and mashed in limited action prior to a freak injury. Rooker definitely has the highest upside of these three choices, and he has the added advantage of being experienced at first base, where he could spell Miguel Sano while Cave or Arraez spend a day in left field.

All in all, my gut tells me that the Twins will go with Garlick for the starting job off the bat. I think that they should choose Rooker, but the Twins seem to like taking a conservative approach with the prospects and throwing the “flyer” types into the fire right away- they usually come away with two-three good relievers by the end of the year with this strategy.

Now, your turn! Who do you think will win the starting job? Who do you think should win it? Let us know in the comments!