Please, no panic moves

David Murphy was in training camp with the Red Sox
this spring after splitting 2015 between Cleveland and Anaheim.

Oh and nine.

At the end of the weekend series in Kansas City, Paul Molitor said the Twins' 0-6 record "stares you in the face." Since then the Twins have lost three more games while scoring a total of two runs. An 0-9 record doesn't blink either.

The Twins on Thursday morning announced the signing of David Murphy to a minor league contract. Murphy is a 34-year-old left-handed hitting outfielder with 10 major league seasons on his resume, mostly with Texas. He was in spring training with the Red Sox and cut loose at the end of training camp.

Murphy is to report to the Rochester Red Wings, and the general expectation is that he will not be long for Triple A, that he will be quickly called up to the big club.

If that happens, it fits my conception of a panic move, a move to do something regardless of whether it makes sense. Oh and nine can do that to an organization. Oh and nine can rob it of its confidence and certainty. Oh and nine can make it at least temporarily irrational, if not insane. 

Terry Ryan and his colleagues decided this winter that an outfield of Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Oswaldo Arcia and Danny Santana is good enough to contend. Are they really ready to declare that plan defunct less than two weeks in? And if so, are they really going to try to fix it with a player a decade older than any of that fivesome, much less Max Kepler?

It's possible that Rosario's plate discipline issues have indeed become too great a problem and have undermined his talent. Fine, demote him. But don't waste those at bats on Murphy. Give them to Arcia. Or Kepler.

Don't panic. Please. 

Outfield options: Max Kepler

Max Kepler had more
walks than strikeouts
in 2015.

Max Kepler had a breakout season in 2015. The German was named player of the year in the Southern League with a slash line of .322/.416/.531 and ended the season with a seven at-bat cup of coffee in the majors.

And there is no obvious place for him in the Twins plans.

The Twins have Eddie Rosario in one outfield corner and appear intent on putting Miguel Sano in the other. Byron Buxton, a brighter prospect than Kepler (which is saying something) ought to be ahead of Kepler for center field. Joe Mauer and Byung Ho Park have first base and designated hitter occupied.

There is no immediate urgency to finding a place for Kepler. He turns 23 in February and hasn't played in Triple A yet; a month or three in Rochester might be a good thing for him.

But I fully expect that he'll be ready for the Show somewhere around the All-Star break. I am less certain that the Twins will be ready for him.

Outfield options: Danny Santana

Whatever outfield work Miguel Sano is getting this winter in the Dominican is apparently limited to pregame activities. Not so with Danny Santana:

Last night, Danny Santana started at 2B for the 7th straight time. He's now started 8 games at 2B, 7 in CF and 1 each at SS, RF and DH.

— Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) December 7, 2015

That kind of versatility figures to be vital for Santana. Like Oswaldo Arcia, Santana is out of options. His best shot for a major league career at this point appears to be as a utility player. Unlike Arcia, he has the multiple tools to apply to such a role. He can run, throw and switch hit, although I don't think he can hit enough to be a Ben Zobrist-type of utility regular.

For what it's worth, Terry Ryan indicated on Monday (the first day of the winter meetings) that acquiring a fourth outfielder is on his agenda, if not at prominently as adding to the bullpen. Ryan and Company love their proven veterans, but considering how stubborn they've been about Santana's talent eventually emerging, I would think Santana would be more prominent in their thinking about that bench spot.

It's even possible that the Twins might open 2016 with Santana in their outfield on a regular basis. That would probably mean sending Byron Buxton to Rochester and deciding that they can't afford to have both Arcia and Sano in the corners. But even if that's the route they go in April, it won't last long. 

Outfield options: Oswaldo Arcia

Oswaldo Arcia
reportedly turned down
an opportunity
to play in Asia next year.

Oswaldo Arcia didn't sustain a career-threatening injury in 2015. But he damaged his career enough to threaten it.

He went from a 20-homer season in 2014 and a cinch to be in the major league outfield to mired in Triple A for the vast majority of the season -- and he put up a dismal .630 OPS in Rochester. He didn't even get a September callup,

Arcia is out of options now, and in my opinion should have been waived to clear room on the 40-man roster. I think he would have cleared waivers; if not, let somebody else carry him on their 40. The Twins are being more patient than that, but the rules limit their patience; he either makes the 25-man roster out of spring training, or gets waived then.

By now you know his pluses -- genuine power from the left side of the plate, and he doesn't turn 25 until May -- and his considerable minuses, which are pretty much every other aspect of the game. He's a horrid defensive outfielder, doesn't run the bases well, hasn't hit lefties at all, can't or won't adjust as a hitter, has displayed poor strike zone judgment. He's best suited to being a platoon DH, and that doesn't work when half the roster consists of pitchers.

Despite all that, he's got a genuine chance to revive his Twins career in 2016, but he probably needs some help.

The retirement of Torii Hunter and the trade of Aaron Hicks opens two outfield slots (the other being filled by Eddie Rosario). As matters stand, those slots could/should go to Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano, but  ...

• Sano might not become an outfielder.
• Buxton might be sent to Triple A.

Take either of them out of the equation, and Arcia's current outfield competition dwindles to Danny  Santana and Max Kepler. Kepler is more likely to get sent to Triple A than Buxton is, and Santana's status isn't much better than Arcia.

The help Arcia needs to get another genuine opportunity with the Twins is a Trevor Plouffe trade. That would take Sano out of the outfield picture. Even if Buxton is, as I think he should be, the center fielder on Opening Day, that still leaves a regular outfield job open.

One can even imagine a scenario in which  Plouffe isn't traded, Buxton and Kepler are sent to the minors, and the Twins torture their pitching staff with an outfield of Arcia and Sano flanking Rosario in center. I think it's unlikely; Paul Molitor might be willing to have one defensively challenged outfielder in the lineup, but not two.

Even if Arcia opens the season in the lineup, I expect it will be short-lived. Kepler is a better long-term bet than Arcia is. The blunt truth is, the Twins have many better alternatives for their outfield.

Outfield options: Byron Buxton

Byron Buxton hit
just .209 in 138
major league plate
appearances in 2015.

Byron Buxton remains, by the slimmest of margins, officially a rookie in 2016. He's likely the early favorite to be Rookie of the Year next year.

Assuming, of course, that he plays.

The trade of Aaron Hicks opens center field, and Buxton is presumably the front-runner to claim the job. But he didn't hit in his limited major league duty in 2015, and it's possible the decision makers will opt to give him some Triple A time to start 2016.

I wouldn't. Between his undeniable ceiling and his defensive prowess, I'd rather have him in center field from the get-go in April. The alternatives at this point are Eddie Rosario and Danny Santana. Rosario is better suited for a corner outfield spot, and there is nothing Santana does as an outfielder that Buxton doesn't figure to do better.

Outfield options: Miguel Sano

Miguel Sano finished
third in the Rookie
of the Year voting.

Miguel Sano told at least one reporter at the end of the major league season that he'd be playing third base for his Dominican team in winter ball. Any other positions? the reporter asked. No. Third base, was the response.

A few weeks later, the Twins started talking about Sano as an outfield option and said they would ask his winter league team to play the young slugger in the outfield.

If that has indeed happened, word of it has yet to reach me. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't happen; Caribbean teams are not beholden to a major league parent, and they are trying to win. Estrellas de Oriente is no exception.

Still: We know a healthy Sano is going to be in the Twins lineup. They have veteran incumbents at third base (Trevor Plouffe) and first base (Joe Mauer); they presumably will have a pricy import (Byung Ho Park) at DH/1B; and they have outfield positions available. So there is some logic to the idea.

I continue to have a difficult time taking it seriously, however.

There are no 260-pound outfielders running around in the majors these days; that's Sano's listed weight, and that might be a tad light. The Twins have no shortage of legitimate outfield talent on hand; unproven talent, to be sure, but talent. One thing that helped improve the 2015 Twins was better outfield defense; stuffing Sano out there figures to be a step in the wrong direction.

Give Paul Molitor enough time to talk about Sano as an outfielder, and he'll concede that the big guy might never actually play out there for the Twins.

My expectation is that Plouffe will be traded in the next few weeks, and that will make Sano the likely third baseman for 2016. That would be for the best.

Miguel Sano, outfielder? Please no

The word from Terry Ryan this week was that Miguel Sano is to play some winter ball this offseason, which he was prohibited from doing a year ago as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.

That's good. The bad news, or at least potentially bad, is that he's to play some outfield.

This is silliness. Nothing good is going to come of putting a 260-pounder in the outfield. Sano may indeed "run well for his size," but that means merely that he's more mobile than a block of granite. Sano is not faster than Eddie Rosario or Aaron Hicks. He has no chance of covering the ground in a corner outfield spot than they do.

And -- again -- it's not like they have to do something to get Sano's bat in the lineup. The Twins play in the American League. They have the DH. If the issue is about keeping him in shape and working on his defensive skills, they can rotate him at the corner infield spots with Trevor Plouffe and Joe Mauer.

Putting Sano in the outfield means (a) one of the young outfielders doesn't play and (b) means a weaker hitter is in the lineup to DH. It makes the lineup worse in multiple ways. And this fallacy, as it so often does, boils down to: He's too young to DH. Which is, again, silliness.

He's too good a hitter to leave out of the lineup, and he's not good enough with the glove to help afield. Those are what matters, not his age. If we're all fortunate, this notion will dry up before spring training ends, if not before.