Patience with Sano in the outfield

The Monday print column lukewarmly defended the Twins decision to move Miguel Sano to the outfield.

Sano's work with guest instructor Torii Hunter on the nuances of outfield play has attracted the attention of the beat writers in Fort Myers, for obvious reasons.

And one universal theme in the accounts: Patience. Sano is going to make mistakes out there. The people who decided to put him there know that, and they are going to accept that -- so long as he's working on the nuances.

How bad does Sano have to be to convince the Twins it's a mistake to put him in the outfield? I believe the Twins will simply reject the premise that it was a mistake. Maybe they'd get there in 2017, or 2018. But not this year.

He going to get a very long rope out there. I doubt the Twins would decide to move him again this year no matter how poorly he plays. Too many other roster decisions were made with his outfield shift in mind. They'll live with whatever blunders he makes and work to improve his outfielding skills. The only way they'll declare it a failure is if the running in the outfield results in leg injuries.