Running low on outfielders

The Twins won again Wednesday, and they won with a makeshift outfield for much of the game.

After Eddie Rosario -- playing center with Byron Buxton on the IL and Max Kepler sidelined by a swollen elbow -- sprained his ankle on first base, they sported an outfield of Luis Arraez in left, Jake Cave in center and Willians Astudillo in right. (Late in the game Kepler came in to play center, with Arraez returning to third base, Astudillo moving to left and Cave to right.)

While in right field, Astudillo made a savvy throw behind the runner to help mute a Tampa Bay threat. Man can play some baseball.

Still, things are desperate enough that Nelson Cruz was reminding the manager that he still has his glove. I'm pretty sure that Rocco Baldelli wants to avoid that, however.

All of which led to this early morning -- it is a nooner today, after all -- tweet from a national reporter:

LaMonte Wade called up by first-place #MNTwins

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 27, 2019

No word at that point on how the roster spot was being opened. My guess: Either Rosario is going on the injured list or they're dropping back to 12 pitchers. 

Baldelli downplayed Rosario's injury immediately after the game, and if the Twins really think he'll be good to go in a day or two, they would want to avoid sidelining him. But it's more likely that they will take their time and let the ankle heal rather than push him and risk a more severe second sprain. 

Where they stand: Left field

Presumed regular: Eddie Rosario

Others on 40: Jake Cave, Zack Granite, LaMonte Wade, Michael Hall

Notable nonroster: None

This may be the spot at which the Twins can have the most confidence in what they're going to get. Rosario isn't as good as the "Minnie and Paul" promo ad last summer claimed ("one of the best outfielders in the league," I believe it called him), but he's certainly a productive, useful player.

What Rosario needs to be a real star, the kind of hitter you can build a productive lineup around, is better strike zone judgment. He took a big step forward in that department two seasons ago, but plateaued last season. As long as he's drawing 33 walks and fanning 105 times a year, his on-base percentages will never be particularly good.

Turn another 15 outs into walks or hits, now you have a guy who can belong at the top of the order. Find another five extra-base hits a year, now you have a guy who can belong in the middle of the lineup. Right now, Rosario's just a bit shy both ways. Almost there, not quite.

Maybe I'm picking nits. He is, as it stands, a quality supporting piece. And that's what I expected him to be when he was coming through the minors. Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano were supposed to be the stars. Rosario is probably the best all-round position player on this roster. It's OK to want a bit more from him; his shortcomings are not why this team failed in 2018.

Notes from the weekend

We learned Sunday that Jose Berrios made the All-Star team; "Dos Eddies" -- Rosario and Escobar -- did not, although Rosario is among the "final five" candidates of online voting.

I can't bring myself to be riled up about the so-called snub. There will be enough guys dropping off the roster to get one or both of the Eddies on the roster, and the Twins really don't deserve two All-Stars anyway.

---

The Twins swept the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend, four games, and the O's are 24-65, an incredible 41 games under .500. I say that's incredible because the Birds, while flawed, have some significant talent (Manny Machado, Jonathan Schoop).

And they have Buck Showalter as the manager, and I think he's really good at running a baseball team. The Orioles have been in contention in a difficult division more years than not since the (apparently uneasy) pairing of Dan Duquette and Showalter took over the operation. It's startling to see this team plummet so sharply to the bottom of the standings, especially since they are not among the tankers.

One problem for the Orioles going forward -- they have for some time made no real effort in the international market. It's not that they've tried and failed to make an impact in the Dominican, Venezuela and other hotbeds; they simply don't make any investment in that talent market and generally wind up trading away their international bonus allotment.

The big swing of Eddie Rosario

Eddie Rosario connects for his game-winning homer in
the 10th inning Wednesday night.

We've seen plenty of hitters swing, miss and lose their balance. I don't think I've ever before seen a player hit a ball 415 feet and stagger backwards after impact as Eddie Rosario did Wednesday night.

It was Rosario's 23rd homer of the season. He doesn't lead the Twins in homers -- Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano have more -- but it's amusing to remember that as he made his way through the system there was legitimate concern that he didn't have the power demanded of a regular corner outfielder.

Not an issue.

Thoughts from the Twins opener

* Kramarczuk's is still so good.

* The first-level concourse was almost impassible, a chronic condition on opening day when Target Field is sold out and a goodly number of fans flock to the standing room areas and the heat lamps. It may have appeared on TV that there were a lot of empty seats. I can assure you, the people were there.

* The Kansas City bullpen ain't what it was in their World Series years.

* The lineup against lefty Danny Duffy was ... restricted. The Twins had, by necessity and choice, four lefties in the lineup, none of whom at this point in their careers should be expected to be productive against a southpaw of Duffy's quality. Joe Mauer slashed .224/.291/.319 against lefties lat year; he hit cleanup. Jason Castro slashed .149/.237/.241; he hit sixth. Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario slashed .203/.273/.322 and .263/.305/.289 respectively; they hit eighth and ninth.

The problem: With Robbie Grossman as the DH, there is no viable right-handed hitting alternative on the roster to Mauer, Kepler and Rosario. Chris Gimenez would be a reasonable platoon mate to Castro, but Paul Molitor has indicated that he's not going with a strict platoon behind the plate. And, to be sure, even Earl Weaver wouldn't be platooning Kepler or Rosario at their ages. So we're likely to see more of this.

* The game itself turned on a pair of bunts, which merits a deep dive.

Bottom of the seventh, 1-1 tie, the Royals pull  Duffy. In 2014 and April of 2015, that probably means the gas-throwing Kelvim Herrera, with Wade Davis for the eighth and Greg Holland in the ninth, and the Twins' best shot at winning is getting to extra innings. But Holland blew his arm out late in 2015, and Davis is a Cub now, and Herrera is the closer. As said above, the Royals bullpen isn't what it was.

So with a switch-hitter (Jorge Polanco) followed by a pair of left-handed hitters (Kepler and Rosario) due up, K.C. manager Ned Yost goes to Matt Strahm, a lefty making his major league debut.

Polanco singles. Kepler is asked to bunt. He fouls his first attempt, and the 2016 Twins pattern of horrendous bunting seems very much in continuation. But his next one is ideal, and Strahm, despite help from the first base ump, can't throw him out. Thanks to replay, two on, no out, and Rosario is asked to bunt. He gets it down for a sac. The Royals put Brian Dozier on, and then Strahm walks Robbie Grossman to force in a run ...

But it's the bunting I want to comment on, not four walks in five hitters. Let's say that Kepler merely got a sac bunt, not a hit. In that case, Rosario has to hit, not bunt, against the lefty and the whole inning changes. A mere sacrifice from Kepler puts the inning squarely on Rosario and Grossman (there's no way Yost was going to pitch to Dozier with first base open). 

For that matter, I question Yost's decision to stick with Strahm after Rosario's bunt with Dozier-Grossman-Byron Buxton coming up -- two righties with switch-hitter who is better against lefties. Peter Moylan (who did come in to strike out Buxton) might have fared better; He couldn't have done worse than Strahm.

Seeing the two young left-handed hitters get the bunt down against a lefty was encouraging, and the inning certainly broke in the Twins favor. But they needed some help to make it work.

The four Twins on Puerto Rico

Paul Molitor was making noises of impatience earlier in the week about getting the four Twins on Team Puerto Rico back into camp. And now that the tournament is over, the Minnesota manager will get his wish.

How did their absence from spring training affect the four? There are, no surprise, four answers.

For Eddie Rosario, the World Baseball Classic had to be a net plus. He played regularly in right field and he impressed with big hits and big throws. He left Fort Myers the presumptive left fielder; he returns the same, only having raised the question in the minds of many: Why is he the left fielder with an arm like that?

For Hector Santiago, it was neither a detriment nor a springboard. He pitched, oddly, exclusively out of the bullpen and fared well, although he did walk a few hitters -- which is Santiago's M.O. It's possible that the Twins would have liked him adding to his pitch count, but he left camp with a rotation berth and he returns with a rotation berth.

For Jose Berrios, it was possibly a minor impediment to his ambitions of making the opening rotation. He pitched twice -- a start against Italy in the first round and a relief outing in the championship game Wednesday night that showed both his impressive talent and his flaws.

That wasn't enough work to help his cause -- but his cause was probably doomed from the start. I doubt that the Twins ever wanted Berrios to open 2017 on the big club. Giving themselves means of filling the rotation without him was part of bringing the now-released Ryan Vogelsong to camp.

For Kennys Vargas, the WBC was unquestionably a problem. He was glued to the P.R. bench, and without playing time and at-bats not only could not make strides toward winning a job with the Twins but couldn't give scouts a chance to see him.  Byungho Park is now the front-runner for the DH job, and Vargas is almost certainly destined for Triple A once again.

For the Twins as a whole, their absences were probably beneficial. Other pitchers got a chance to show their stuff with the starts and innings vacated by Santiago, Berrios and Ervin Santana. The men competing for a reserve outfield job got more at-bats with Rosario gone.

And nobody got hurt, at least as far as we know. Overall, more good than bad for the Twins out of this.

Rosario, Santiago and Mejia

Eddie Rosario watches his
game-ending sac fly head out to
center field at Dodger Stadium.

Paul Molitor claims that Eddie Rosario gets better in big moments -- "he likes the bright lights," the manager says of the player -- and while I am dubious about that kind of evaluation, Rosario did provide the game-winning RBI Monday night in the 11th inning to put Puerto Rico in the WBC championship game.

He also had a marvelous throw from right field in the bizarre top of the first, in which the Netherlands lost two baserunners before Wladimir Balentien homered. Rosario didn't nail a runner himself, but his throw held a Dutch runner at third and was followed by a Yadi Molina throw to first that caught a celebrating Jurrickson Profar off the base.

Rosario has a better throwing arm than Max Kepler does, which makes it odd that Kepler is the one playing right field for Molitor with Rosario in left. That may be balanced a bit by the fact that left field is a bit more spacious in Target Field (and in most other parks, for that matter).

I noted a few days ago that a Baseball America writer said Rosario was having a breakout WBC. He is having a good one, certainly.

---

Also having a good tournament is Hector Santiago, who threw 3.1 innings of relief Monday, allowing one run. In true Santiago fashion, he walked three in his outing. But he was also pumping his fastball at 93-95. a good bit better than his usual velocity as a starter.

Hector's ERA for WBC: 2.08.

8.2 IP
2 ER
9 H
5 BB
9 K

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) March 21, 2017

All those innings came in relief, I'm a bit baffled that Edwin Rodriguez chose to start less experienced pitchers in this tournment, but it's worked so far; Puerto Rico is not only in the finals, it's undefeated. I'm not sure where this use pattern puts Santiago in terms of being ready for the regular season.

The WBC's pitch count rules make Satinago ineligible for Wednesday's championship game. Jose Berrios is a strong candidate to start against either Team USA or Japan. If he does, it will be the biggest game of his life so far.

---

In the humdrum of Twins camp. Tyler Duffey and Adlaberto Mejia split Monday's exhibition game at the Blue Jays camp. Duffey threw five shutout innings, easily his best performance of the spring, and Mejia threw the final four, allowing back-to-back solo homers but continuing to show impressive stuff. I still like Mejia for the final rotation spot.

Mejia's 4 IP:

66 pitches
45 strikes
9/16 FPS
3 sw/miss
17 fouls
No 2-0 counts#mntwins

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) March 20, 2017

Berardino went so far as to compare Mejia to the young C.C. Sabathia. Other than that they are both left-handed, large and too dark to have played in the pre-Jackie Robinson era, I ain't buying it. Sabathia was a more highly-regarded prospect 16 years ago than Mejia is. But if he has half the career Sabathia has, I'd sure take that.

Notes, quotes and comment

Kyle Glaser of Baseball America says Eddie Rosario is using the World Baseball Classic to emerge as a full-fledged regular.

Certainly the Twins outfielder -- playing right field for Puerto Rico rather than his accustomed left field -- is hitting a ton so far (6-for-11 with two doubles and a triple). It's worth noting, however, that most of Puerto Rico's games have been played at altitude.

Rosario is 25, and maybe he's ready to take the next step.

---

I am truly enjoying a series of videos the Twins have been posting this week, "the Escobar Name Game," in which Eduardo Escobar attempts to identify his teammates. This is Wednesday's, the position players segment, which isn't quite as funny as the pitchers (posted Tuesday):

"Ah, my bad man. Sorry."

The @escobarmaracay Name Game, Position Players Edition pic.twitter.com/c9sccIFBO2

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) March 15, 2017

Speaking of which:

"Gonzal-idontknow."

The @escobarmaracay Name Game, Pitchers Edition pic.twitter.com/CRk79DcHJr

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) March 14, 2017

---

Brian Murphy of the Pioneer Press wrote about Glen Perkins.

The good news: He is throwing without pain.

The less good news: He is nowhere near major league velocity. Not yet, at least, and perhaps not ever.

Bottom line: He's destined to open 2017 on the disabled list.

Perfect timing

Less than a hour after the snow started on Friday, the annual giant spring training schedule postcard arrived from the Twins.

Given what is forecast in these parts this weekend, nothing could sound nicer.

The exhibition games start sooner than usual (Feb. 24), I assume because of the World Baseball Classic, which returns this year. The Twins have two games on their exhibition schedule against WBC teams -- March 8 against Team USA and March 9 against Team Colombia, both in Fort Myers. Team USA should look like an all-star squad; Colombia, not so much, although they have a couple pretty solid pitchers.

Three years ago, during the last WBC, Eddie Rosario and Jose Berrios were reserves on the Puerto Rican squad. This time around, Berrios is expected to be one of Puerto Rico's starters, and I'd expect Rosario to be an outfield fixture. Indeed, with Hector Santiago and Kennys Vargas, the Twins might provide a sizable portion of the island's roster.

---

Let the record of this blog show that Rod Carew's actual transplant surgeries began shortly after midnight Friday -- Thursday was the prep work. The surgeries took some 13 hours and were deemed successful. May it be so.

Contemplating Eddie Rosario

Eddie Rosario cracked his left thumb on this
play in the 10th inning Saturday.

Eddie Rosario is deemed to have fractured his thumb on a dive into first base Saturday and is out for the remainder of the season.

It wasn't a good year for the outfielder. The slash line was pretty stable compared to last year, but the defense was noticably worse (albeit still superior to Robbie Grossman in left field).

The biggest problem: Rosario's walk to strikeout rate is still abysmal. He walked 12 times (and two of those intentional) and struck out 91 times in 354 plate appearances. This is why his on-base percentage is below .300.

You have to really hunt for reasons for optimism in his 2016. Yes, he hit over .300 after spending June in Triple A; but his BB/K ratio after his recall was still 9/60. "Minnesota high school math" here: he had three walks and 31 strikeouts before his demotion, basically one walk for every 10 strikeouts; after the demotion, 1.5 walks for every 10 strikeouts. For all the blather from Dick Bremer about Rosario's improved strike zone judgment, it doesn't show in the stats.

Rosario turns 25 in a week. He's had two partial seasons as more or less the regular left fielder, and it's still not clear that he deserves to be a regular major league outfielder. The Twins have been patient with his talent, but a more sabermetrically inclined operation might not be willing to give him more time to figure out what he's doing at the plate.

Notes, quotes and comment

The losing streak is over! Or, in homage to the opposing team's signature broadcaster (Hawk Harrelson), it's OVAH!

---

A point I should have made explict in the Thursday post comparing Byron Buxton to Jackie Bradley Jr,: The Red Sox handled Bradley in the past much as the Twins have handled Buxton the last two years, with repeated demotions and callups. It finally clicked for Bradley this year, and if it doesn't click for Buxton this month, that neither means that it never will nor that the Twins have mishandled him.

---

Eddie Rosario hasn't started in center field since the game in Toronto in which Max Kepler made an ill-advised dive for a looper that turned into a Little League home run.

The next day Danny Santana started in center; he gave way to Rosario after his injury. The next day Logan Schafer was up and in the lineup, and he played center all three games in Cleveland.

In one of those games, Kepler repeated the ill-advised dive, with the same result -- the ball bounced over him and rolled deep into right field. But this time Schafer was there and held the Cleveland batter to a double. Which prompted this Mike Berardino tweet:

Davis doubles past a diving Kepler in right. Logan Schafer remembers to back up the play. What a concept.

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) August 30, 2016

It's quite possible that when Paul Molitor reviewed the Kepler play in Toronto, what stuck with him was that Kepler got to the ball at about the same time as Rosario did -- which suggests that Rosario was standing around admiring Kepler's effort and not anticipating that the ball might get past him.

The roster shuffle

No holiday in Twins transactions this past weekend.

• DFA'd: Kevin Jepsen.
• Put on the disabled list: Trevor Plouffe
• Reactivated from the disabled list but outrighted to Triple A: Darin Mastroianni.
• Optioned to the minors: Buddy Boshers
• Recalled from the minors: Eddie Rosario and Kennys Vargas
• Reactivated from the disabled list: Trevor May

I commented Monday on the Jepsen move. Let's sort through the rest ...

All told, the Twins have cut down from 13 pitchers to 12 on the active roster. That might suggest that they've grown comfortable with the starters' ability to go six-plus innings, but I suspect that this has at least as much to do with the All Start break coming in less than a week.

May: I suggested in the Monday print column that the Twins might be well advised to return May to the starting rotation. Right now they have every slot filled, and Jose Berrios is probably ahead of May if a rotation spot opens. May rehabbed for relief work, and that's the plan.

Supposedly May has shortened his stride during his delivery to reduce the strain on his back and hips. We'll see how well that works.

Plouffe: Out, they say, for three to four weeks with a cracked rib. In the short term, it opens third base for Miguel Sano, but it also probably keeps Plouffe from being traded this month. Which means that, when Plouffe is healthy again (or at least sound enough to play) there will be two third basemen on the roster.

At least this will give his wonky groin a chance to heal.

Mastroianni: It was easy to forget that Mastro was officially on the active roster, but he was hitless in nine official at-bats. He has the right to opt out of his contract, but he's expected to forgo that and remain in the organization.

Rosario: Optioned out because pitchers were exploiting his inability to gauge the strike zone, he hit .319 and slugged .538 in Triple A. He also drew just seven walks, which suggests that Triple A pitchers aren't good enough to exploit his free-swinging ways -- which further suggests that he's going to have to learn at the major league level.

Question: Where do his at-bats come from? He played left field on Sunday and Monday. Robbie Grossman was the DH in one game and sat the other. Presuming Byron Buxton and Max Kepler are to be in the lineup (and they should), Rosario and Grossman will be dueling for left field time.

Vargas:  The big switch-hitter was, according to the radio guys Sunday, leading the International League in RBIs when called up. Statistical luddite Dan Gladden finds that significant. Those of us with a better understanding of how to interpret the stat line don't.

This might be Vargas' last chance with the Twins. They have plenty of DH alternatives, and I have to believe Byung Ho Park still ranks ahead of Vargas in their long-range thinking. And the DH slot offers a chance to feed at-bats to one of the young outfielders, so his opportunities may be limited.

Boshers: Never thought I'd be irritated to see him sent down, but he has a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings with 14 strikeouts. His demotion flies in the face of the Greg McMichael Rule (If you get outs, they'll find a role for you.) He got outs, and he's going back to Rochester.

For now. He'll be back before August, whether to fill a gap created by a trade, an injury or because they need to go back to 13 pitchers. Boshers lost the job not because he failed, but because he was a spot with roster flexibility.

The 16 percent factor

This is baseball math: 8-20 -- the Twins' won-lost record -- and 16-4 -- the score of Wednesday night's debacle --add up to 16 percent -- the apparent amount of roster churn to be announced today.

The Pioneer Press' Mike Bernardino with the first word on Twitter:

Breaking: #MNTwins place Tommy Milone, Casey Fien on waivers, per 2 sources w/direct knowledge. https://t.co/SUQr4q9jDE

— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) May 5, 2016

In the coming hours came word that catcher Juan Centeno and outfielder Darin Mastroianni are to meet the Twins in Chicago today. While the waiving of Milone and Fien opens a pair of 40-man roster spots for those two, the Twins are not likely to replace two pitchers on the active roster with two position players.

Presumably John Ryan Murphy and his .077 batting average (40 at bats) and Eddie Rosario and his .188 batting average are headed to Rochester. I say presumably because the Twins as of the early morning today had made no announcements.

The Twitter speculation last night about pitcher recalls was about J.T. Chargois and various non-roster arms. I suspect that one of the pitchers added today will be Ervin Santana off the disabled list. If Centeno and Mastroianni are added to the 40, there's no available slot for somebody like Buddy Boshers or Nick Burdi. Chargois is on the 40, so his call-up would work. If that's the pitcher turnover -- Milone and Fien out, Santana and Chargois in -- J.R. Graham gets a reprieve that I'm not sure he deserves.

I assume Milone is more likely to be claimed on waivers than Fien. He's left-handed and a starter, and in that context his $5 million salary is more palatable than Fien's $2,28 million (those are full-season numbers, the actual amount for a claiming team would be less).

I'm surprised the Twins pulled the plug on Milone, but I am hardly upset. It signals a commitment to Tyler Duffey and Jose Berrios in the rotation, which is a plus. Somebody from the veterans pile had to go to make room. And when Kyle Gibson returns, whenever that is, another change will be needed, but that's a move for later.

Outfield options: Eddie Rosario

Eddie Rosario
led AL left fielders in
assists, double plays
-- and errors.

As the Twins made their ultimately futile playoff push in September, Paul Molitor essentially went with three outfielders: Eddie Rosario in left, Aaron Hicks in center, Torii Hunter in right.

Today Hunter is retired and Hicks is a Yankee -- and Shane Robinson, who spent the entire season on the roster, has signed with Cleveland.

So Molitor's 2016 outfield is going to be markedly different than the one he went with at the end of 2015. 

Start with the one certainty for April's lineup: Rosario.

Rosario's plusses: He's a good defensive corner outfielder and probably passable in center, although the Twins have better options in the middle garden. He hit for more power (.459) than might have been anticipated and led MLB in triples with 15. He didn't fall off against lefties -- in fact, his slash line stats were all better against southpaws than against righties.

Rosario's minuses: His walk-to-strikeout ratio was abysmal: 15 walks, 118 strikeouts. His on-base percentage was a lowly .289, and that makes ludicrous the notion floated by some that he belongs at the top of the order.

Keith Law, the ESPN prospect writer, said in a recent chat that he expects Rosario to eventually be the odd man out of the Minnesota outfield. And if Rosario's inability to control his strike zone persists, Law's right. It's not possible to be a productive hitter striking out eight times for every walk.

But I'm not sure that what we saw in 2015 is what we'll see in the future.

The scouting word on Rosario as a minor leaguer was always: Outstanding hit tool, probably a bit shy on power. That was part of the motivation for the second base experiment in 2012-14, that a good singles hitter's bat plays better in the middle infield than in an outfield corner. But Rosario in the majors was more a power hitter than a singles hitter. The level of production was essentially what one might have expected; it simply took a different shape than projected.

Rosario is young -- he turned 24 in September -- and his development as a hitter was certainly detoured by his half-season suspension in 2014 and possibly by the position uncertainty. There's growth possible here. And, considering the talent the Twins have among young outfielders, he'll need to grow. But he is first in line for the chance.

More on Hunter and the outfield choices

The Monday print column examined Paul Molitor's September reliance on Torii Hunter and the possibility that the veteran's resurgence would result in his return in 2016.

On Sunday, the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo's notes column contained this paragraph:

7. Torii Hunter, RF, Twins — He has said he’s going year to year, but the Twins want him back for at least one more season, according to a team official. The impact Hunter has made in the clubhouse and leading a team featuring some younger players has been off the charts. Hunter, 40, is hitting .242 with 20 homers and 74 RBIs. He also has played a good right field.

I would dispute the last sentence, but the rest is plausible -- especially if Molitor, Terry Ryan and the other evaluators doubt that Bryon Buxton is ready to hit major league pitching. Plausible but essentially self-defeating, unless (as I said in the column) there is an explicit understanding that Hunter is not expected to be a regular.

It's a numbers game. Leaving Hunter out of the 2016 equation for now, the Twins have Buxton, Aaron Hicks and Eddie Rosario as presumptive regulars, plus Southern League MVP Max Kepler pounding on the door. The four young guys have their flaws, but so does Hunter -- and the foursome have futures. I want them to play. Hunter, if he expects to be in the lineup six days a week, is in the way.

It may well be that Hunter's two-month slump in July and August was connected to a shoulder injury, and some may argue that his season stats should be discounted as a result. I would say otherwise. Injuries happen, and they happen more often to, and persist longer for, 40-year-olds than for 25-year olds. (I would also suggest that if Hunter hit .130 in August because of an injury, playing with the ailment hurt the club.)

Contemplating the left field situation

This swing looks awkward, but
Eddie Rosario got a double
out of it at Kansas City.

About a month ago, in discussing the Twins outfield, I noted that Baseball Reference listed Eduardo Escobar as the Twins primary left fielder and declared: "If he's still so listed after the All-Star break, (Paul) Molitor is doing it wrong."

Well, we're at the All-Star break, and Eddie Rosario is now listed as the primary left fielder.

Primary, not regular. Molitor has divvied up playing time in left field to a high degree. Rosario has just three more starts and less than 40 innings more than Escobar. Five players have gotten starts in left, and four of them have more than a dozen (the other two being Shane Robinson and Oswaldo Arcia).

Arcia, of course, opened the season as the regular left fielder. He got hurt and then was optioned out to Triple A Rochester, where he has been on a home-run binge for about a week and a half. Still, he doesn't appear to be on the verge of recall. His flaws -- bad to horrid outfield defense, problems with left-handed pitching -- remain.  I think he's more likely to be traded this month than returned to Minnesota.

Which is, in the abstract, fine by me. (What the return is in such a trade is, of course, the key to whether trading him is a good idea.) I have been claiming for months that outfield defense is a key aspect to the Twins' surprising rise in the standings, and playing both Arcia and Torii Hunter in the outfield corners is detrimental to the outfield defense. Rosario is a much better fielder than either.

But the superior defense comes at a price. While Rosario's batting average (.279) looks good, he has taken just eight walks, so his on-base percentage is barely above .300. He doesn't have Arcia's power either, and his OPS+ -- On base Plus Slugging in the context of league and home field -- is a mere 93, 7 percent below average. And while Molitor may talk up Rosario to the broadcasters as a hitter against left-handers, the early returns on him don't back it up (.239/.294/.304 in his first 52 plate appearances versus southpaws).

This summer's theme of the tension between contention and transition is well illustrated by Rosario's playing time. Keeping Rosario in the lineup is obviously good for his development. But it also probably means having a below-average bat at a position usually counted on for hitting. Rosario has spent a good deal of time hitting fifth, which is not ideal for him or the team.

Ranking the Twins outfield priorities

Byron Buxton was 0-for-4 in his debut Sunday with a
pair of strikeouts and a failed sac bunt attempt.

Other than his highly anticipated and greatly heralded presence, Byron Buxton didn't have a great impact on Sunday's game in Arlington, Texas. Yes, he scored the winning run, but scoring from first on a two-out gapper would be routine for most baserunners. He ran down a potential gapper in the field, but I suspect Aaron Hicks would have made that play also, if not as easily.

Hicks, of course, wasn't available Sunday; the Twins put him on the disabled list as the move to get Buxton on the active roster. With Torii Hunter serving Game Two of his suspension, Paul Molitor deployed an outfield of Shane Robinson in left, Buxton in center and Eddie Rosario in right, and that is a pretty close to optimal defensive alignment.

The Twins have a bunch of outfielders now -- on the active roster, on the disabled list, and in the minors but still seen as significant pieces. Let's sort through the priorities.

1) Buxton. Yes, he has all of one game in the majors. He's still the single most important piece of this team's puzzle, the cornerstone player for the anticipated success ahead. He's here; he's playing.

2) Hunter. He's 39, but the team didn't commit $12 million to him to sit on the bench. I'd prefer to see him DHing than playing right.

3) Rosario. Debuted May 6 and has played in all but a handful of games since. Has so far lived up to his minor league billing, with arguably more power (three homers in his first 100 at-bats) than should be expected. Between his youth/developmental needs, his bat and his defensive skills, he should be in the outfield on a near-daily basis. Despite being in the running in training camp for the center field job, he has been strictly in the corners since his call-up, which is proper.

4) Oswaldo Arcia. Spluttering with a .167/.189/.229 slash line in Triple A, he appears to have been eclipsed by Rosario in the corner outfield plans. He's a better hitter than that .418 Rochester OPS suggests, but so what? His fielding woes negate the hitting, and between Hunter and Kennys Vargas, there's not much room available at DH. He's still only 24, but he's out of options after this season. A trade seems inevitable, and right now his value is probably as low as it's ever been.

5) Hicks. Buxton pushes him out of the center field job. His bat pushes him out of a regular corner outfield role. That makes him a fourth outfielder, which is not what he was drafted in the first round to be. Is the organization willing to accept that, or will they dump him? He's also out of options after this season.

6) Shane Robinson. Too flawed to be an outfield regular, but he does enough things well to use him. A prototype reserve outfielder.

7) Jordan Schafer. Rosario has already garnered 40 more plate appearances than the Opening Day center fielder. Schafer wasn't anywhere near the player this year that he was in August-September last year, and I don't see a role for him after he comes off the disabled list. Hicks and Robinson rank ahead of him as reserve outfielders, and nobody needs four center fielders on the roster.

8) Eduardo Escobar. I'll list him here because Baseball Reference has him as the regular left fielder so far. If he's still so listed after the All-Star break, Molitor is doing it wrong. Even if the Twins decide to turn to Jorge Polanco or Danny Santana at short, Escobar shouldn't get outfield time ahead of the first five on this list. He's an infielder. Use him as such.

Rosario vs. Hicks

Eddie Rosario got the
call Monday and
arrived at Target Field
during the game.

The Twins put Oswaldo Arcia on the disabled list Monday and called up Eddie Rosario. The choice of Rosario over Aaron Hicks was loudly questioned in the Twins blogosphere/social media, with the critics noting that Hicks' slash line at Triple A Rochester is .289/.375/.495 to Rosario's ,242/.280/.379.

But there's good reason for going with Rosario.

As I see it:

• Arcia hits left-handed; so does Rosario. Hicks is a switch hitter, but he's much better hitting right-handed than left. If you want an outfielder to play against righties, Hicks is a poor fit.
• One month's numbers aside, I don't believe anybody in the organization believes Hicks is a better hitter than Rosario. Nor should they.
• Hicks, I suspect, made a bad impression in spring training with repeated lapses in concentration. In this piece on the reasons for going with Rosario, Terry Ryan offers a set of generic questions about call-ups, including these: "How's he going about his business? Is he listening?" He doesn't specifically rap Hicks on any of these points, but one can safely assume Ryan and Paul Molitor haven't forgotten March.
• This figures to be a short-term stint. There's a line of thought that the Twins want Hicks' next return to the majors to be lasting, not a yo-yo.

That last really doesn't matter to me. I don't envision Hicks ever hitting well enough to be a regular center fielder, much less a regular left or right fielder. I think his ceiling is reserve outfielder, as is the case with Jordan Schafer and Shane Robinson. That's not the role Rosario is being called up to fill.

'Clarity,' indeed

Tommy Milone
gets the fifth
slot in the rotation.

I suppose I could have waited a couple hours to post.

The Twins this morning optioned out Aaron Hicks, Eddie Rosario and Trevor May and reassigned Mark Hamburger. They also announced that Tommy Milone will be the fifth starter.

This sets up a center field platoon of Jordan Schafer and Shane Robinson, which I saw coming a few days ago. I'm fine with this. After the last two springs, nothing Hicks did in Florida was going to sway my view of him, and while I have high hopes for Rosario, I don't think center field in April 2015 is the right job at the right time for him. Schafer and Robinson aren't much of a much, but that just makes it easier to decide that it's Byron Buxton's time in June or July.

Ron Gardenhire would have made a different decision. Gardy never ran a true left-right platoon for more than a month or so. He'd have picked one center fielder to open the season, probably Hicks, and changed to somebody else in late May when Hicks didn't hit, and we've seen this movie before.

Hamburger's departure was also foreseeable. He opened eyes early in camp but faded late; he didn't make either of my bullpen projections this week. He's got a real good chance of coming up at some point this season, though.

I'm glad Milone is in the rotation, even more pleased that Mike Pelfrey isn't, and a bit discouraged that May is not. As I said earlier this morning, May probably needed some veteran injuries to get a rotation spot. The front office stacked too many contracts in front of him. Milone is a good starter with a better track record than Pelfrey or Ricky Nolasco. We didn't see him pitch that way last year.

So what decisions still await? The backup catcher has yet to be determined. One or two or even three bullpen jobs are still in question. We know Glen Perkins, Casey Fien and Brian Duensing are safe, and it would be a shocker if J.R. Graham didn't come north. That leaves three jobs for Tim Stauffer, Caleb Thielbar, Pelfrey, Blaine Boyer and maybe somebody not currently in the Twins organization.

Center field revisited

Aaron Hicks' stat line
is less impressive than
it was a week ago.

When I wrote here last week about the center field competition, Aaron Hicks was sporting a .330 spring training average. He had maybe one hit since then and dropped to .207 -- which, really only illustrates the silliness of relying on spring training stats to evaluate players. The sample sizes are small, the competition is uneven, the numbers are essentially meaningless.

Even if he were still hitting three-something, so what? He did that in spring trainings 2013 and and 2014, and it didn't prove indicative of anything. Hicks has 150 regular season games, 538 regular season plate appearances, in which he's hit .201. Letting a couple dozen spring training at-bats outweigh that would be silly.

Meanwhile, Eddie Rosario's spring training stats display a red-flag glitch: 40 plate appearances, no walks. He still has a batting average (.256 per Baseball Reference) higher than his on-base percentage (.250). His minor league stat line hardly reveals a Kevin Youkilis-type base-on-balls machine, but it's not that bizarre.

My take on this is that he's trying too hard to impress. There used to be a cliche about Dominican players and their hacking tendencies: You can't walk off the island. The idea was that these players were encouraged to swing at everything because they had to hit the ball to get the scouts' attention. Rosario is from Puerto Rico, not the Dominican, but the concept holds.

Hicks and Rosario are the two young guys in camp who can be seen as full-time center fielders. Veteran fringe players Jordan Schafer and Shane Robinson are more likely to be platoon mates, and that increasingly looks like the direction the Twins will take. Terry Ryan doesn't sound very enthused by that prospect, while Paul Molitor this week expressed openness to platoons and invoked the success Earl Weaver had with platoons back when Molitor was a young player.

One difference, of course, is that Weaver platooned aggressively. His Orioles collected players like John Lowenstein and Benny Ayala specifically to use in such roles. A Schafer-Robinson platoon would be more a passive platoon, chosen out of a lack of better options not for a strategic advantage. Robinson's career splits actually suggest he's a bit "backwards," meaning better against right-handed pitchers, although I don't think 200 or so plate appearances over five seasons each way proves a whole lot. He's probably not the right-handed outfielder you'd pursue if you wanted to build a center field platoon.

Still, Schafer-Robinson is more palatable to me this spring than either Hicks or, I'm sorry to say, Rosario. (If Rosario does come north, I will not complain, but I won'be have high expectations; if it's Hicks, I will complain.) Schafer-Robinson are acceptable until Bryon Buxton arrives, and I hope that's sooner rather than later.