Santana, Vargas and draft day

Danny Santana has a batting average of .218 at the plate
and 12 errors in the field.

The Twins demoted Danny Santana after Sunday's game and recalled Kennys Vargas.

I suspected from the get-go that Santana wasn't going to retain the shortstop job. He displayed this season the flaws his minor league stats and reputation indicated: Erratic in the field, lacking in strike-zone judgment at the plate.

So Eduardo Escobar gets the everyday job at short, at least for now. He hasn't hit as well this year as he did last season, and it's entirely possible that in a month or so Jorge Polanco will get a trial. Or they may try again with Santana.

Recalling Vargas doesn't do much for me. Vargas as DH means Torii Hunter in right field, with either Eddie Rosario or Shane Robinson in left (supplanting Escobar there.) Hunter's been doing a lot of DHing lately, including four times in the past five games (with a misplayed fly ball in the one game he was in the field).

Ultimately, and obviously, Vargas has to hit. My opinion remains: the Twins are better off using the DH spot to hide Hunter and deploy a superior defensive outfield.

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Today begins the annual draft. Baseball America has consistently projected the Twins to take a high school outfielder with the No. 6 overall pick, but which one (Dez Cameron or Kyle Tucker) has fluctuated.

A lot depends on who goes ahead of the Twins, of course, and this is regarded as a particularly difficult draft to handicap. There's no real consensus about who should go first, so the teams at the top are believed to be trying to pre-negotiate below-slot deals with possible candidates. Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press:

Asked at midday Sunday if he knew yet who the Twins would pick, general manager Terry Ryan shook his head. 

“Not yet,” he said. “Somebody is going to fall.”