Where they stand: Second base

Presumed regular: Jonathan Schoop

Others on the 40: Ehire Adrianaza, Ronald Torreyes, Nick Gordon

Nonroster notables: None

A superficial reading of Schoop's stat lines would suggest that the Twins signed him to try to mirror the departed Brian Dozier's production.

2016: Schoop .267, 25 HR, 83 RBIs; Dozier .268, 42, 98
2017: Schoop .293, 32, 105; Dozier .271, 34, 93
2018: Schoop .233, 21, 61; Dozier .217, 21, 72

Both were traded last summer from a struggling American League team to a National League contender; each hit worse in the senior circuit and wound up riding the pine down the stretch and in the playoffs.

Each can finger injury as a reason for their downturn in 2018. Dozier played through a knee problem, and Schoop, according to the Twins front office, was hampered by a pulled oblique.

But the mirror production only goes so far. Schoop is five years younger than Dozier, a plus for the Curaco native.

Not a plus for Schoop: During those three years -- chosen because 2016 was the beginning of Schoop's period as Baltimore's regular second baseman -- Schoop's on-base percentage was .304. Dozier's was .336.

Schoop can replace Dozier's power. He's younger and, at least by the defensive metrics available on Baseball Reference, now a better defensive second baseman than Dozier. The Twins arguably brought low on him after his disappointing 2018.

But he belongs at the bottom of a lineup, not at the top or middle.

Contemplating the second base situation

Brian Dozier turns a double play Sunday over the sliding
Drew Butera, a former teammate.

I'll skip ahead in this midseason review to second base, since Brian Dozier is on the fringe of the All-Star roster -- one of the "final five" in the fan voting as announced Monday.

(Quick prediction: He won't win.)

Dozier is having a fine season, to be sure. He leads the majors in runs scored, he's already approaching a career high in doubles, game-winning homer Monday night in extra innings, yada yada yada. I have no problem with the fans voting Houston's Jose Altuve in as the starter -- he hit .341 last season, led the league in batting average, hits and steals, and is the lead figure on the team with the best record in the American League. And as good a season as Dozier is having, Jason Kipnis of Cleveland is having a better one.

Dozier is unique in the Twins lineup in this respect: Of all the returning position players, he's the only one hitting better this year than last. Batting average up slightly, slugging percentage up sharply -- almost a hundred points higher than in 2013 or 2014 -- but with a lower walk rate, his on base percentage thus far has receded slightly in the first half.

He's 28 now, and signed through 2018. The Twins clearly regard him as a cornerstone piece. Which, I think, turns Jorge Polanco into a trade chip. Polanco, just elevated to Triple A, has been playing mostly shortstop the past couple of seasons, but my sense remains that he's a future second baseman -- a good second baseman. That's something to watch this month as the Twins look to shore up their obvious flaws. They shouldn't give Polanco away by any means, but if Dozier's the second baseman, Polanco is more valuable traded.

The Twins by position: Second base (part two)

Brian Dozier was second among American League
second basemen in double plays turned in 2013, fourth in 2014.

In the first half of 2014, Brian Dozier was, by most advanced metrics, one of the better players in the league, approaching the levels of a MVP candidate. He tailed off a bit in the second half -- his slugging percentage was almost 50 points lower after the All-Star break.

But a big part of why he ranked highly in the first half was defense, and his defensive metrics by season's end were nowhere near where they were in the first half. (Baseball Info Systems's runs saved, for example, has him as a dead average defender last season.)

There are two possible inferences from this:

• The first half sample size was too small. (Almost certainly true)
• He was hampered in the second half by minor injury. (Quite possible.)

I know that, just watching games, I perceived plays not being made in August and September that were getting made earlier in the year.

Dozier turns 28 in May. It appears the Twins have turned away from the notion of Eddie Rosario as a second baseman, but Jorge Polanco is charging up the ladder, and he may be miscast as a shortstop. The conventional wisdom has Dozier as one of the foundation pieces for the Twins, but I remain a bit skeptical of that notion.