Notes, quotes and comment

Josh Willingham's
final plate appearance
came in the World
Series.

Josh Willingham made it official Monday: He's retiring.

No real surprise there; Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press wrote it about two months ago. He goes out with 195 home runs. His best season was with the Twins in 2011; his worst, at least by OPS+, was also with the Twins in 2012.

He finished with Kansas City, of course, and had just four at-bats in the Royals' postseason run. But the Hammer had a big hit in the wild-card game against Oakland: a leadoff pinch-hit single in the bottom of the ninth that set up the tying run.

---

Twins new, if still unofficial, bullpen coach Eddie Guardado is among the 17 newcomers on the Hall of Fame ballot. No, he's not going to get in, or even make it to a second year on the ballot. He'll be one and done.

The big names among the newbies: Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz.

There are a lot of highly-qualified candidates on the writers ballot, and the BBWAA has done a lousy job keeping up with the crowd. But even this crowd will vote in Johnson and Martinez. Maybe they'll get around to Craig Biggio too.

---

Berardino reported Saturday that the Twins had placed the high bid for the posting rights to Hyeon-jong Yang, a left-handed pitcher who was voted the top Korean pitcher in the KBO this year. On Sunday another report said the Texas Rangers had placed the high bid.

The winning bidder, whoever it is, won't be officially notified (and the clock started on the negotiations with the pitcher) until the Kia Tigers actually accept the bid, and the word is that the team expected more.

I'll get interested in this one if and when the Twins are confirmed as the rights winners.

The post-Willingham lineup

Monday's trade of Josh Willingham certainly clarified the likely lineup -- at least until the possibility of September call-ups.

Joe Mauer came off the disabled list Monday to claim Willingham's roster spot. He and Kennys Vargas figure to split first base and designated hitter, probably with Mauer getting the bulk of the first-base time.

Oswaldo Arcia (current sore back permitting) should be a fixture in right field. Kurt Suzuki and Eric Fryer will handle the catching, Trevor Plouffe third base and Brian Dozier second base.

The remaining three positions -- shortstop, center field and left field -- will be divided among Danny Santana (center or short), Eduardo Escobar (short), Chris Parmelee (left) and Jordan Schafer (left or center).

This leaves a bench of Eduardo Nunez, whichever catcher isn't starting and whichever of the outfield-shortstop nexus isn't starting.

I told Jim Gullickson in my radio appearance earlier Monday that the Twins didn't appear to have the same imperative to move Willingham that they did with Kevin Correia. Correia blocking younger talent in the rotation. Willingham wasn't. If Willingham were playing ahead of a healthy Arcia or Vargas, that would be a problem.

It never got to that point, and now it won't.

Goodbye, Willingham

Josh Willingham (16) leads Sam Fuld (1) off the field
late last month. Neither remains on the Twins.

The Twins clearance sale continues, with Josh Willingham dealt Monday to Kansas City. He follows Kendrys Morales, Sam Fuld and Kevin Correia out the door.

I am struck by the notion that the best return so far has been for Fuld. The Twins got a established, but not old, major league starter (Tommy Milone) for the career fourth outfielder.

Willingham brought a minor league pitcher, Jason Adam. This scouting report on Adam says he has a decent fast ball and slider, but struggles with his curve and change. The Royals had moved him to the bullpen, and he was doing well in Triple A after struggling at Double A for a year and a half  as a starter.

So naturally the Twins are sending him back to Double A to be a starter. I speak sarcastically, but there is method to this madness. Starters are more valuable than relievers, and maybe somebody in the Twins operation thinks they can get him the offspeed pitch he needs to be a starter.

Baseball America rated Adam the ninth best prospect in the Kansas City system during the past offseason. I rather doubt he'll be in the Twins top 20 this winter.

So he's a lottery ticket. That's fine. Willingham's contract runs out at the end of the year, and I don't imagine the Twins will strive to bring him back. He's 35 and over the past two seasons he's hit .209 with a slugging percentage of .380. Getting somebody with a chance to be something for seven weeks of Willingham is a good move.

The Royals are emphatically in go-for-it mode, and they should be. They moved ahead of the Tigers in the standings Monday night. Anibel Sanchez is already on the disabled list, and Justin Verlander left his start Monday after two innings with shoulder problems. Suddenly the vaunted Detroit rotation doesn't look so darn imposing.

It's a good bet that Willingham will be limited to DHing with the Royals. Alex Gordon, the KC left fielder, is their best player; Willingham isn't moving him aside. The Royals' regular DH, Billy Butler, might wind up playing a lot of first base now than Eric Hosmer is sidelined. So there's a place for the Hammer.

The Twins outfield mess

Chris Parmelee heads back to the dugout Sunday
after another strikeout, one of four from the Twins
outfielders for the game.

Ron Gardenhire on Sunday deployed an outfield of infielders — two shortstops and a first baseman — all of whom opened the season in the minors. Eduardo Nunez, Danny Santana and Chris Parmelee combined to go 2-for-10 at the plate and make a hash of several catchable flyballs.

It was just another day in the continuing disaster that has been the Minnesota outfield, which has been rangeless and mistake-prone in the field and punchless at the plate.

Today the Twins get back their "regular" corner outfielders, Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia.

Willingham and Arcia aren't a defensive upgrade, but at least they figure to hit. Minnesota's outfielders have been abysmal at bat, a truth that has been largely overlooked amid the well-based complaints about the slipshod fielding.

According to Baseball Reference on Sunday evening, the average American League outfielder has a slash line of .255/.322/.395, an OPS — On-base Plus Slugging — of .717. (This is referring to players who are playing left, right or center; it would include, for example, Chris Colabello's at-bats as a right fielder but not his at-bats as a first baseman.)

The Twins' outfield slash line: .214/.301/.298, OPS .599.

The Twins' left fielders (mostly Jason Kubel) entered Sunday hitting .250/.340/.331 — a solid on-base percentage, but little power. The AL left field average is .262/.327/.416.

The Twins' center fielders (mostly Aaron Hicks) were hitting .190/.306/.225. There's no way to find a positive in that slash line. The AL average: .251/.326/.379.

The Twins' right fielders (Colabello with the most PT in a very divided field) were hitting .202/.260/.303. That's almost as bad as the center fielders. The AL average: .253/.314/.391.

The outfield production has been so bad that all three positions have a lower OPS than shortstop (.678) — and shortstop for much the season was Pedro Florimon making outs.

---

Colabello and Chris Herrmann were optioned out to make roster space for Arcia and Willingham. The Herrmann demotion led to this tweet from the Pioneer Press's Mike Berardino:

Gardy said Chris Herrmann will play center field in games this time for @RocRedWings. Herrmann asked if he's still a catcher. He is.
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) May 25, 2014

Great. Playing shortstops in center hasn't worked, so let's try a catcher.

It's easy for me to excuse Herrmann's confusion. He's spent most of the season so far on the big league roster but he hasn't had even an inning behind the plate. And now he's going to spend time in center field.

Adventures with a misshapen roster

Jason Bartlett: Not
an outfielder.

Strictly speaking, the Minnesota Twins didn't need a legitimate bench outfielder Sunday.

It only looked that way.

The Twins were without Oswaldo Arcia from the get-go. Arcia missed Saturday's game with his sore wrist, which was checked by a doctor in Cleveland and pronounced nothing serious. He sat out Sunday and supposedly is to test it with some swings today but not play then either. (I groaned when I read Ron Gardenhire's statement that if Arcia can't play by Wednesday he'll go on the disabled list because "we're not going to play shorthanded this year." Listen, Gardy: You already are.)

Then Josh Willingham took a Justin Masterson pitch off his wrist and came out of the game an inning later.

Cue the Jason Bartlett experiment. Cue the Jason Bartlett embarrassment: Two badly overmatched at-bats with men on base (both strikeouts) and a third plate appearance for which Cleveland walked Joe Mauer in order to get to Bartlett only to plunk him. And a horrid inning in which he kept diving for balls he couldn't catch and risking further damage.

To be fair, I don't know that he's a worse defensive outfielder than Willingham, who is essentially immobile. Bartlett can run. But he's a career shortstop almost completely lacking in outfield experience, and he clearly doesn't know where his capabilities end and the risk begins. Willingham wouldn't have gotten close to either of the balls Bartlett dove for, but he also wouldn't have left his feet.

Bartlett didn't finish the game; Eduardo Escobar pinch-hit for him (and struck out) and stood in left field for a couple of innings without incident.

The word Sunday evening was that Chris Herrmann, catcher-outfielder, was on his way to the Twin Cities for the home opener. Presumably he'll be activated today for one of the Arcia-Willingham duo. Which would still leave the bench shorthanded, but not as shorthanded as it would have been. And there'll be a reserve who has played a full professional game in the outfield.

Josh Willingham and Nelson Cruz

Nelson Cruz's venture into free agency
wasn't as lucrative as he expected.

Earlier this month I cited Nelson Cruz's free agency travails in discussing why the trade market for Josh Willingham might be limited this summer.

At that point, Cruz was still on the market. Last week, Cruz signed a one-year deal, worth (depending on bonuses) between $8 million and $9 million, with the Baltimore Orioles. Cruz had at the start of the free agent season rejected Texas' qualifying offer of $14.1 million for one year, but he clearly overestimated his appeal to the market.

Now, Willingham and Cruz aren't perfect matches. Cruz is two years younger. His home run production has been more consistent than Willingham's. Cruz has also spent his career in much more hitter-friendly home parks than Willingham has; Willingham draws more walks and thus has a higher on-base percentage, and, of course, Cruz served a 50-game suspension last year because of his involvement in the Biogensis PED scandal.

Still, the two have a similar skill set: Slow right-handed sluggers with little defensive value.

Willingham is to get $7 million this year. The Orioles are not only paying Cruz more than that, they surrendered their second-round draft pick when they signed him. (It would have been their first-rounder, but they gave that up earlier when they signed Ubaldo Jimenez.)

I don't know what the Twins would be offered if they tried to shop the Hammer around right now. I rather doubt it would be the equivalent of a second-round pick. (In baseball, of course, there is no trading of draft picks.)

But from here, Willingham looks like the better player, and certainly the better contract.

Willingham and the future

Josh Willingham's
2013 slash line:
.208/.342/.368.

Mike Berandino of the Pioneer Press had an item Monday: Josh Willingham's agent says the outfielder is eager to re-up with the Twins and finish his career in Minnesota, "but nothing's ever been discussed."

Nobody should be surprised that Matt Sosnick is angling for an extension for his client already, or that the Twins are not jumping at the opportunity.

One of my pet theories on free agents is that the guys who start campaigning for an extension with a year left on their deal are the guys to stay away from. They're the guys who can feel the game slipping a bit from their grasp and have a legitimate fear that their upcoming season will likely hurt their value in the market. Better to get what you can now.

Willingham is 35 (his birthday was Monday). He was never fast, and he's coming off knee surgery. And he and Sosnick must have taken note of how little interest there's been in free agency this year for Nelson Cruz, another right-handed corner outfielder with power and limited defense.

Willingham and Cruz are not perfect matches, to be sure. Cruz's market is held down by the draft-pick compensation attached to him, by his link to performance-enhancing drugs, by the fact that, having turned down a $14 million qualifying offer, he's looking for at least twice Willingham's current salary. These are all reason Cruz remains unsigned.

Still, it figures to be a daunting market for Willingham next winter. One cannot blame him for hoping the Twins will bite early. But given the wealth of outfield prospects in the Twins system, and the limitations to Willingham's game and expectations, one also should not expect the Twins to take the bait.

Eye on 2014: Left field

Josh Willingham
hit 35 homers in 2012
but fell off to 14
last year.

We know this: Josh Willingham, if healthy, will be the Twins left fielder to open the season.

Whether he will be there at season's end is another matter.

Willingham turns 35 this month, and this is the last year of his contract. Outfield is one of the minor league system's strong suits, and I don't expect the Twins to make a strong push to retain him past 2014.

Even healthy, he may not be particularly valuable. He doesn't help a team in the field or on the bases, and his offense is basically limited to the long ball. Power is a valued commodity, of course, and if the Hammer is healthy and productive this summer, there might be a trade market for him.

That's the best case scenario for the Twins with him: That he's fully recovered from last year's knee injury and hitting well into the summer, making him a useful trade chip. But we shouldn't delude ourselves into believing that he could be traded for a high-end pitcher, or even a high-end prospect. At his best, Willingham is a flawed player, and there's a limit to what teams will surrender for a two- or three-month rental.

Heck, he's basically the same player as Nelson Cruz — right-handed slugger, an "outfielder" of minimal defensive value — except that Willingham is two years older. Cruz can't find a taker on the free agent market, although a big part of that is that he will cost a draft pick and presumably he's seeking more than twice Willingham's salary. (Cruz turned down a qualifying offer from Texas, which would be something in excess of $14 million for one year; Willingham is to get $7 million this year.)

OK: Say the Twins do move Willingham in July. Who's in line to take the job?

(This speculation is based on the theory that the corner outfield spots to open the season will be manned by Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia with Jason Kubel as the DH.)

One possibility would be that this is the trade that opens a lineup slot for Miguel Sano. Trevor Plouffe moves from third to the outfield, and Sano steps in at third.

A non-Sano possibility — or a non-Plouffe one — would have Chris Parmelee or Chris Colabello gaining playing time, Parmelee most likely as an outfielder and Colabello as a DH, with Kubel playing in the field.

And there's Aaron Hicks. He may not open the season in the majors, but in that case he may well be a mid-season callup.

There's also the possibility that Byron Buxton will pull a Mike Trout and so dominate Double A that the Twins feel compelled to bring him to the bigs ahead of their preferred schedule.

All this, of course, assumes that Willingham is productive enough that somebody else will want him for the stretch drive. That's not guaranteed.

Notes, quotes and comment

Yu don't say

I really thought Friday that Yu Darvish was going to get his no-hitter against the Twins. Through six innings, Darvish appeared literally unhittable — it's truly astounding to see a major league hitter like Trevor Plouffe miss a pitch by that much.

And then, in the seventh, a walk and boom, boom — Chris Herrmann and Justin Morneau go deep, and the unhittable is hit.

Waiver followups

Former Twin Jason Kubel, designated for assignment earlier in the week by Arizona, wound up with the Cleveland Indians. And Josh Willingham remains with the Twins.

I didn't really see the Twins claiming Kubel; their outfield shortage, even with Wilkin Ramirez out the rest of the way after fracturing his tibia, is center-field specific. At no point in his career was Kubel ever a center field option.

And I never viewed the Twins as a motivated seller on Willingham. The Orioles, who are reported to have won the claim on the Hammer, instead swung a deal for Mike Morse, another right-handed slugger with defensive issues. Unlike Willingham, Morse is a free agent after the season, so the O's aren't financially committed past next month.

Miguel Sano crushes a double in the seventh inning Friday.
This image was tweeted by Scott Blanchette, the
RockCats' team photographer.

Miguel Sano

I caught part of a Terry Ryan radio interview late Friday morning. One of the topics was why mega prospect Miguel Sano won't get a September callup.

Ryan talked a little about the 40-man roster implications of such a move, then said something curious: Sano, he claimed, is struggling in Double A.

If only the Twins hitters were as deeply mired in woe as Sano and his .890 OPS with New Britain.

I don't want to be too sarcastic here. I accept Ryan's belief that Sano isn't ready for the majors right now, and I understand why Ryan wishes to avoid unnecessarily tying up a 40-man roster spot this winter. Sano's batting average with New Britain is under .240. The OPS is driven by his extra-base hits (33 of 'em, including 17 homers, in 260 plate appearances) and his walks (35). The stat line shows a lot of errors and a lot of strikeouts.

For the record, Sano on Friday hit a pair of home runs and a double. He'll get to the majors soon enough.

The outfield without Willingham

Josh Willingham went on the disabled list Tuesday with a torn meniscus and a bone bruise in his knee. The problem really began, methinks, when he tried to steal second (on his own) in April and executed an awkward slide.

A bum knee goes a long way toward explaining his statistical downturn this season. Apparently he had hopes of returning soon after the 15 days, but after Tuesday's game it was announced that he will have the knee scoped..

It's now unlikely that there will be an trade market for Willingham this month. Not that one should have expected much of one anyway. He's a 34-year-old low-average slugger with limited defensive value (if any); I don't think he'd have fetched a prime pitching prospect even if he were duplicating last season's numbers.

Aaron Hicks was reinstated from the disabled list to fill Willingham's roster spot. Terry Ryan had been saying that Hicks had to produce on his rehab assignment to return to the majors, and Hicks hadn't. But here he is again anyway.

Hicks started Tuesday's game (and had a couple of hits), with Clete Thomas taking a seat. It bears watching how Ron Gardenhire handles this situation. Thomas has been more productive than Hicks, but Hicks is a more significant piece of the puzzle and needs to play. If Gardy would rather play Thomas, Hicks should be returned to the minors.

One silver lining to Willingham's injury is that it should make more playing time available for Chris Parmelee. Oswaldo Arcia has (as he should) one corner outfield job; like Hicks, there is no point to having Arcia in the majors if he's going to sit. Unlike Hicks, Arcia is producing. Center field belongs to Hicks and Thomas, of course. Parmelee came into Tuesday's game with unimpressive numbers on the season (.234/.318/.400) but he'd hit three homers in his last eight games -- eight games with a slash line of .320/.433/.800. (And then he went hitless Tuesday -- not just hitless, but with three strikeouts in his four at-bats.)

It's been a odd, frustrating season for Parmelee. He's been better defensively in right than anticipated, and he's pretty consistently going deep into at-bats. Both are pluses. But at least until the past week or so, he's come up empty too often in those at-bats. I believe that process leads to results, and based on that theory, I still have hopes for Parmelee. I don't want to see the Twins give up on him too soon.

Bunting Josh Willingham

Bunting drills are a staple of the early days of spring training.

One of the fixtures of Twins spring training in recent years has been Rod Carew teaching bunting. There may be no man alive better qualified for the task.

The sight of slow-footed slugger Josh Willingham working his way into the bunting instructionals Monday morning set off a minor Twitter flurry from a couple of the beat writers.

This appeared to be completely Willingham's idea. Manager Ron Gardenhire, asked about Willingham bunting later, said he'll have Willingham bunt when he's trying to get fired, and as far as having him sacrifice, that's the mindset I'd want the manager to have.

The most recent of
Josh Willingham's
two career sac bunts
came in 2008, when
he played for the
Marlins.

So why was Willingham volunteering for bunting drills? One possibility that entered my noggin is that he has the notion of coaching (even if only on the youth level) after his playing days end, and that he recognizes that the bunt is an art he's not very familiar with — and why not learn something of it from a master?

A more immediate purpose might be the wish to make infielders play him honestly — or at least pay a price for taking exaggerated defensive positions.

The reports Monday said Willingham didn't look particularly good in his bunt attempts, but that, as Carew told him, "They're going to give it to you."

There are situations in which I wouldn't object to Willingham bunting for a hit. Down three runs late, a righty on the hill, and Willingham's leading off with left-handed sluggers like Justin Morneau, Ryan Doumit and Chris Parmelee behind him, why not? As long as Willingham's confident that he can get the bunt down and past the pitcher, it can get him on base to start the inning — and that, in turn, will force the infielders to play the following hitters more conventionally and open things up for them.

There's a big qualifier to that idea — that he has to be confident that he can execute the plan. It's not going to help if he fouls the bunt off or pops it up.

It's not unheard for a slow right-handed bopper like Willingham to have the bunt base hit in his arsenal. Steve Garvey, the first baseman of a legendary Dodger infield a generation ago, was no faster than Willingham, but he had a goal of getting a bunt hit each month. It was part of his formula for 200 hits a season, something he accomplished with regularity.

But I'll guarantee that Garvey worked at the bunt more than one brief session in the first week of spring training. If Willingham's serious about this, he'll need to work at it.

Notes, quotes and comment

Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla.

The Twins late last week signed a pair of minor-league free agents, RHP Tim Wood and C Eric Fryer, both of whom spent the 2012 season the Pittsburgh organization.

Wood's signing carries some potential significance. He had a very strong 2012 for Indianapolis, the Pirates' Triple A affiliate, and the emergence of Jared Burton and Casey Fien last season has many Twins bloggers anticipating another such success with a minor-league free agent.

Which is certainly possible. It's worth remembering, however, that Wood turns 30 later this week, that he's been unimpressive in previous major league trials and that his excellent 2012 in Triple A didn't get him a call-up with the Pirates.

He'll compete for a job. He may even win one. But if he were really a prime prospect, he wouldn't have been available.

Fryer figures to be Triple A fodder; Rene Rivera's Twitter outburst in September when the Twins bypassed him for Chris Herrmann made it quite likely that he wouldn't remain in the organization in 2013. Fryer figures to rank below Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit, Drew Butera, Herrmann and maybe Danny Lehmann on the catching depth chart.

---

Last Tuesday, Lee County (Fla.) approved a $42 million expansion of the Twins complex in Fort Myers, which involves not only the Twins spring training home but two minor league affiliates, the low-Rookie level GCL Twins and the high-A Fort Myers Miracle.

Among the highlights:

• Hammond Stadium's outfield dimensions are to mimic those of Target Field;
• The stadium will get improved concourses and concession areas;
• A 55-bed dormitory will be constructed (the Twins will pay the tab), which will include classrooms and commissary.

The first two will be more obvious to spring training visitors, but it's the latter that I would expect to have the bigger impact on the operation. It figures to give the Twins greater control over the nutrition and education of the young players on the complex-level GCL (Gulf Coast League) Twins, many of whom are Latin Americans getting their first taste of the United States.

---

Josh Willingham won a Silver Slugger award. It's a more elegant trophy than comes with the Gold Glove Award.

It's a nice honor for the Willinghammer, who did have a fine season, but I'm not sure that he was really one of the three best-hitting outfielders in the American League. On the other hand, I'm not sure offhand who to say deserved it more than he did.

The Willingham Shift: Wrecking the outfield defense

Josh Willingham
has been primarily
a left fielder as a
major leaguer.

Ron Gardenhire announced Sunday that he was undoing an offseason decision and returning Josh Willingham to his accustomed left field.

I am reluctant to embrace this decision and its myriad ramifications for two reasons:

1. Good organizations don't abandon their offseason plan in spring training without better rationale than I'm aware of so far;
2. This pretty much ensures another season of lousy defense.

At the core of my discontent: In reviewing the disaster that was 2011, I concluded that the organization's top priority moving on had to be reversing the defensive decline.

Nothing went well in 2011, but I figured defense came first because:

• If Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Denard Span are sound, the offensive issues largely fix themselves; if those three aren't sound, the season is doomed anyway;
• The pitching staff is dominated by pitch-to-contact guys, and that's not turning around immediately;
• Fix the defense and the pitching gets better.

The offseason plan, with Ben Revere and Span ticketed for left field and center field, certainly sacrificed power but figured to make up for it by cutting off opposition runs.

The new plan cuts back sharply on Revere's value. If he is in the lineup -- which seems far less likely -- it will be in the outfield spot at which he figures to be least valuable: right field, where his range is less useful and his popgun arm is a true detriment.

What I now expect to see -- and I'll post about this in more detail for Tuesday -- is a lot of Ryan Doumit in right.

An outfield of Willingham-Span-Doumit is no defensive improvement over 2011.

On outfielders, speed and throwing arms

Josh Willingham:
Right field or
 left field?

Ron Gardenhire has hinted this spring that he's keeping an open mind on his outfield alignment. The plan is to have Ben Revere in left, Denard Span in center and Josh Willingham in right.

For a variety of reasons, mostly relating to lineup flexibility, I favor that alignment. But that is far from a universal consensus; some think Revere's superior range should be deployed in center. Willingham has mainly played left field since moving out from behind the plate; he's willing but cautious about shifting to the other side.

Gardenhire sounds deferential to the veteran newcomer on this. The key to this decision, however, ought not be what Willingham wants, but what he can or can't do -- specifically, can he move well enough to cut off balls hit into the corner and prevent doubles (or singles) from becoming triples?

Rule of thumb:

• If you can run and throw, you play center field.
• If you can throw but can't run, you play right field.
• If you can run but can't throw, you play left field.
• If you can't do either, you play first base.

But that right-field corner thing complicates that simple description. There are no right fielders as fast as the fastest left fielder; if they're that fast and can throw, they play center. But there are also no right fielders as slow as the slowest left fielders, because there are more extra bases to be given away on the right field line.

Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel weren't fast, but they threw well enough that they weren't invitations to triples. I don't know how good Willingham's arm is; since he used to be a catcher, it ought to be decent. And it seems unlikely that he can be slower than Kubel.

The outfield plan: The alignment

Ben Revere had several memorable catches last season.

This is no real surprise: During the Twins Caravan/Twins Fest pre-spring training promotional period, manager Ron Gardenhire consistently said he wants to lock Denard Span into the center field job, with Josh Willingham in right and Ben Revere in left.

There are two potential points of contention to that plan:

• Assigning Span to center ahead of Revere;
• Making Revere a regular at all.

These are connected, but ... let's deal, today, with the alignment question. There are those -- such as Michael Rand of the Star Tribune -- who think it would be more effective to put Revere in center with Willingham in his accustomed left field and Span in right.

Examine the skill sets. None of the three has a true right field arm; Willingham, easily the slowest of the trio, is a converted catcher, which suggests he may have the strongest arm of the group. Revere has eye-popping range in center, but Span is quite good out there as well, and his arm is better than Revere's.

Gardenhire believes it's more important to keep his regulars comfortable. Willingham is used to playing left, but has agreed to shift to right -- and Gardenhire sees his part of the bargain as not moving him back and forth. Span prefers center to an outfield corner. And while Revere is the front runner for a regular position, his weaknesses could turn him into a part-timer.

That, I think, is a prime reason to go with Span in center.

It appears likely right now that the reserve outfielders will be Ryan Doumit (who'll also DH, catch and play first base) and Trevor Plouffe (converted infielder with little outfield experience). Neither is any sort of center field option. If Revere loses playing time -- if, for example, he winds up platooning with Plouffe --  Gardenhire doesn't want to move Span around.

Gardenhire is not a big platooner, but his outfield plan certainly makes it easier to go to a platoon arrangment in left. And it makes it easy to handle his RF/1B/C/DH set up, in which he has four regulars (Willingham, Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Doumit) for four positions and he can mix and match to rest his position players.

Arranging the Twins outfield

Delmon Young: Part of one rebuilt Twins outfield,
now a piece to be replaced in a new restructuring.

Gone from the Twins of the past few seasons: Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Delmon Young. These men were mainstays of the Minnesota outfield since 2008. Now the Twins are remaking their outfield around Denard Span (as they did after the 2007 season with Cuddyer as the holdover).

As matters stand, these players figure to play in the Twins outfield in 2012. I list them in the order of likely outfield playing time. Those above the line are likely to be on the Opening Day roster; those under are likely to at least begin 2012 in the minors.

Denard Span, cf
Josh Willingham, rf/lf/dh
Ben Revere, lf/cf
Trevor Plouffe, lf/rf
Ryan Doumit, c/rf/dh/lb
---
Rene Tosoni, rf/lf
Joe Benson, rf/lf/cf
all other outfielders in the system

Willingham voiced some concern after signing with the Twins about playing right, where he has minimal experience. Terry Ryan believes Willingham has sufficient arm for the position, and he probably does, as he is a converted catcher. Certainly we can expect Willingham to get plenty of right field time in Florida.

A number of bloggers -- notably the redoubtable Aaron Gleeman -- have penciled Doumit in as the regular designated hitter. I suspect that if the Twins wind up with a regular DH it will be Justin Morneau (for health reasons). The more Morneau is the DH, the more first base somebody else has to play. That somebody else is probably either Doumit or Joe Mauer, and I'm quite sure the Twins (and Mauer) would prefer to keep Mauer behind the plate. And the more Doumit is the DH, the less valuable his defensive flexibility is -- not that he's actually proficient at any of the positions he plays. My guess is that we'll see more of Doumit at first base than anybody expects -- at least 50 games.

A blog commenter suggested last week that the Twins put Revere in center with Span in right and Willingham in left. That arrangement makes some sense, but Ron Gardenhire is very unlikely to irritate Span by moving him out of center.

Gardy believes in locking his regulars into place. It's one thing if one of his starters volunteers to shift positions, as Michael Cuddyer and Nick Punto were known to do; but absent that, he would rather keep his regulars in their comfort zone. Span is a good center fielder; he may not have Revere's range, but he's not giving up a lot to Revere, and Span throws better. Span made it known last summer that he prefers to play center; I don't see Gardenhire irritating him by making him give way to Revere.

A quick comment

I plan to post for Tuesday morning about Jason Kubel's time with the Twins and his departure, but first, a quick comment on something LaVelle Neal said in his blog today about the Twins offseason:

Kubel, Cuddyer and Joe Nathan are gone and the team hasn't come close to replacing them.

As the late, lamented Henry Morgan said in the guise of Col. Sherman T. Potter, "Horse hockey!"

At least in terms of the outfielders. The Twins have replaced Michael Cuddyer with Josh Willingham and Kubel with Ryan Doumit.

Willingham is a better hitter than Cuddyer, if a bit more limited defensively. The talents have slightly different shapes, but they are equivalent. Doumit and Kubel are very similar hitters: .271/.334/.442 career slash stats for Doumit, .271/.335/.359 for Kubel. Both are better hitters against right-handed pitchers. And while the Twins lost positional flexibility in the Willingham/Cuddyer exchange, they gained it in the Doumit/Kubel switchout.

True, the Twins haven't imported bullpen help. Yet. But Neal said "them," and he is just plain wrong.

Cuddyer AND Willingham? Really?

Michael Cuddyer: Not out of the picture yet

This was going to be as much eulogy for the Twins career of Michael Cuddyer as rumination about the addition of Josh Willingham, but I'll give some credence to the notion that the Twins can fit Cuddyer into their budget and wait for the actual event.

Can the Twins actually fit Cuddyer into their estimated $100 million payroll? That depends on how rigid that figure is. My guess it's that it's a soft target, not a hard ceiling. the Strib's Joe Christensen projects the current roster as costing a bit less than $96 million. The $8 million salary the Twins have offered Cuddyer would push the total to about $104 million, which is still a reduction from 2010.

Re-signing Cuddyer would probably require ownership to sign off on raising the target. That might the be smaller problem; it would also probably preclude further pitching additions. But the free agent pitching market has been rather high-priced this winter, and the chances of adding someone significant for less than $5 million are slim.

So yes, it could happen. I'm not completely sold on the wisdom of it from the Twins standpoint. They have just made a three-year commitment to one 33-year-old corner outfielder; two of them seem excessive. The Twins have young outfielders working their way through the system, and having both Cuddyer and Willingham through 2014 would seem to block the likes of Joe Benson.

This is the constant balancing act general managers encounter. The future is better served if Benson has a clear route to the majors in a year or so. The present is better served with the veterans, as Benson is clearly not ready to contribute as a major league regular.

The Twins during Ryan's era tended to err on the side of the future. Even when they brought in a veteran, it was generally on an inexpensive one-year deal that didn't really block the kids as much as keep a roster spot warm for them.

That changed somewhat during the Bill Smith era, especially when Target Field increased revenues.

Beyond the question of whether it's wise for the Twins to peruse Cuddyer is the question of whether Cuddyer is genuinely interested or just playing a waiting game, hoping for better offers elsewhere. He's been sitting on the Twins offer for more than a week, after all.

Official: Willingham a Twin

I'll write more later. As noted previously, this probably closes the door on Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel.

While we were waiting ...

The Twins continue at this writing to grind with painful slowness to a conclusion to their right field free agent drama.

For public consumption, as in the Associated Press story we're running in this morning's paper, Terry Ryan is not closing any doors on Michael Cuddyer. But if Josh Willingham's in town for his pre-signing physical (as reported by the Strib's Joe Christensen) the train has left the station and Cuddy's not on it. If Cuddyer calls Ryan today and says OK, I'll take last week's offer, is Ryan really going to pull the Willingham deal? I can't see it.

Which leaves the question of why Ryan's putting up the pretense that nothing's settled. Joe C. blogged last night that his sources have been particularly "cautious" about this signing, and he doesn't know why. My guess is that it's a sign of genuine respect for Cuddyer and a reluctance to cut the ties.

Meanwhile, the Twins on Wednesday did announce three minor league signings of guys who played some in the majors in 2011 and who figure to be minor-league depth.

P.J. Walters, right handed pitcher, has 51 major league innings without much success. His strikeout rates in the minors (and even in the majors) have been better than those of most starters in the Twins system, but his walk rates are a bit higher than the Twins prefer, and he really hasn't translated his ability to miss bats into low ERAs.

Rene Rivera: Back
for more.

Rene Rivera is a familiar figure; he spent much of 2010 with the Twins as one of the not-Mauer catchers. He will again be a non-roster invite to spring training and organizational depth at Rochester. There are three catchers on the 40 who rank ahead of him (Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit and Drew Butera), and a couple coming up from behind (Chris Herrmann and Danny Lehmann), so Rivera's chances of picking up more service time aren't as good as last season.

Sean Burroughs is an odd signing, but then he's had an odd career/life. Son of an MVP, Little League World Series hero, Olympic gold medal winner, flameout prospect, derelict, reborn major leaguer ...

He's 31 now, and why he'd pick the Twins as his next stop is baffling. He hasn't the power to be a major league regular, at least not at third base, and he's no middle infielder defensively. If he's going to carve out a career in his 30s, it's going to be as a pinch-hit specialist. Those jobs are rare in this era of 12-man pitching staffs, and where they do exist, they're with National League teams.