Notes, quotes and comment

Free agent reliever Blake Parker and the Minnesota Twins are finalizing an agreement on a one-year deal worth slightly more than $3 million, sources tell ESPN. Parker, coming off strong back-to-back seasons, was nontendered by the Angels. @Ken_Rosenthal had it close earlier.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 7, 2019

The Twins don't have, as of now, a "proven closer" on their roster. They have candidates, however, beginning with Trevor May and Trevor Hildenberger, who each took a turn with the ninth inning role last year after the Twins traded Fernando Rodney. They have Addison Reed, who has closing experience but didn't have a good year last season. And apparently, they will soon add Parker, who saved 14 games for the Angels last season, which doesn't sound like much but led their staff. (Mike Scoscia really spread the saves out last year; nine different pitchers were credited with at least one for the Halos.) 

Parker turns 34 in June. He hadn't done much in the majors until 2017, and his basic numbers the past two years are quite good. But the Angels nontendered him anyway, which can be taken as a red flag, as they would know him better than anybody. 

If you're looking for the danger signs in his stat line, check out the home runs allowed (12 in 66.1 innings last year) and the FIP, Fielding Independent Pitching, which attempts to determine the pitcher's ERA given average fielding behind him (4.40 in 2018). The Twins bullpen overall was prone to surrendering homers last year, and Parker may not help that specific issue much.

The walk and strikeout rates are good, however, and he apparently is quite adept at getting swings-and-missed with his splitter.

As of now, I would expect May to be first in line for the glory job. Parker might be the first guy to get a shot at it should May stumble..

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Another Target Field renovation for 2019 — the batter’s Eye. #MNTwins will add 5,700 sea green juniper plants, individually installed and secured in a tiered, multiple-tray system attached. pic.twitter.com/MMlC1O1IDw

— Dan Hayes (@DanHayesMLB) January 7, 2019

The image is not, obviously, real; according to the Twins website the plants will be installed in March and removed for storage in a nursery after season's end.

I've not understood why the pine trees in 2010 were panned by the hitters and removed after the season but a similar backdrop in Colorado's Coors Field has never been questioned. I hope this one works.

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Lenny Green, the first regular center fielder in Minnesota Twins history, died Sunday, which was also his birthday. He was 86. 

As old as I am, I have no actual memory of Green as a player. The first Twins center fielders I remember are Ted Uhlaender and Cesar Tovar, who split the position in 1969 (Tovar played all over the field). Green played his last major league game in 1968.

Looking at Green's Baseball Reference page, the guy who comes to mind as a comperable player is Denard Span. Not stars, but decent leadoff men who played good defense.

Where they stand: Right field

Presumptive regular: Max Kepler

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

Nonroster notables: Alex Kiriloff

Why isn't he Christian Yelich?

That's the question the impatient part of me, the part that has been anticipating Kepler's stardom since the Twins signed him a decade ago out of Germany at the age of 16, keeps asking.

Kepler turns 26 next month. He's been an everyday player for the Twins since midseason 2016. And you really have to squint to see signs of growth in his stat line.

Glass half-full: His walk rate really picked up last season, and after a 2017 in which he was almost helpless against left-handed pitching, Kepler actually put up better numbers against southpaws in 2018.

Glass-half empty: His base numbers are consistently mediocre for a corner outfielder. Cobble together his best slash lines, and you get .243/.319/.425, which would be good for a catcher and passable for a good defensive center fielder but not for a right fielder.

Glass half-full: Kepler is a good defensive outfielder. Granted, he's not Mookie Betts in right, but the publicly available metrics really like him, not just in right but in center as well.

Glass half-empty: Paul Molitor was rather reluctant to play Kepler in center during Byron Buxton's prolonged absence, even though everything indicated that Kepler is better out there than Jake Cave.

Kepler is in roughly the same boat as Buxton and Miguel Sano. He's a high-level talent who has yet to consistently use that talent. Unlike Buxton and Sano, Kepler has managed to stay in the lineup. He just hasn't done much with the playing time.

It's time.

The Sunday Funnies

It's been more than a century since Honus Wagner played his final major league game, but The Flying Dutchman is still regarded by baseball scholars as the greatest shortstop in history.

Wagner was taking it easy during spring training 1909 -- he was 35, his job was secure, and he was always in shape, So he wasn't playing much in camp. A young acquisition from a minor league team, John Barney Miller, was getting a lot of time at shortstop, and looking pretty good -- good enough, as it turned out, that shortly after the season opened manager Fred Clarke bounced a veteran second baseman and instilled Miller in his stead, and the rookie played a big role as the Pirates won the World Series.

But that was months ahead. Right now, this unknown is playing short, and opening eyes.

A writer approached Wagner as asked: Who's that at shortstop?

Hans, in his heavy accent, replied: Dot's Miller.

And John Barney Miller played his entire 12-year major league career known as Dots Miller.

Contemplating Aaron Slegers

I interrupt my position-by-position preview of the Twins presumptive lineup to note that they opened the roster space to add Nelson Cruz by designating pitcher Aaron Slegers for assignment.

I'm not particularly entralled with lopping Slegers, which isn't to claim that he's destined for stardom. He was their minor league pitcher of the yer in 2017 but wasn't as effective -- or healthy -- in 2018. It's quite likely that I have a higher opinion of his abilities than the evidence will support.

Still, I think he's got more to offer than, say, Chase De Jong, who remains on the 40-man roster. The organization clearly doesn't agree.

Slegers was brought into the organization under the old regime; De Jong was added by the current regime. That is the kind of thing that can make a difference. The decision makers had no emotional investment in Slegers. They do in De Jong.

Where they stand: Designated hitter

Presumed regular: Nelson Cruz

Others on 40: Pretty much any position player could be a DH, but the spirit of this is to identify possible Plan Bs. So I'll list Miguel Sano, C.J. Cron and Tyler Austin, assuming the latter isn't the playing coming off the roster to make room for Cruz.

Nonroster notables: Brent Rooker.

The Twins made the free agent signing of Cruz official Wednesday, although they have not yet announced who is coming off the 40-man roster for make room for the veteran slugger, saying they had been unable to reach the player to notify him.

Cruz is old -- turns 39 in July -- but he remains a elite slugger:

Here’s how Nelson Cruz ranked among MLB players in 2018.

Barrel % - Top 4% of MLB
Exit Velocity - Top 1% of MLB
XSLG - Top 3% of MLB
XWOBA - Top 3% of MLB
Hard Hit % - Top 1% of MLB#MNTwins

— Morrie Silver (@MorrieSilver8) January 2, 2019

Some of those categories are self-explanatory, some are not. But even if I don't know what XWOBA means, it's pretty obvious that Cruz's dip in batting average last season masks the reality that he still hits the ball hard more often than almost anybody else in baseball -- and hitting the ball hard with frequency is a very good sign.

I don't take Rocco Baldelli's talk about giving Cruz some outfield time very seriously. He wasn't a good outfielder when he was young, and he ain't getting better with age.

The Twins on Wednesday made a point of extolling Cruz as a teammate and role model for younger Latin players (meaning Miguel Sano). Which, OK. I'm hesitant to embrace anybody who served a suspension for steroids as a great example, even if he never tested positive. (Cruz was tangled up in the Biogenesis scandal in 2013.)

Beyond that, I'm reminded of Crash Davis's retort in "Bull Durham" when the manager tells him why he's been assigned to this high A ball team: "You don't want a ballplayer, you want a stable pony." 

Nelson Cruz is here to hit taters and chew bubble gum, and he's fresh out of bubble gum. Anything else is a bonus.

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.

Where they stand: Shortstop

Presumed regular: Jorge Polanco

Others on the 40-man roster: Ehire Adrianza, Ronald Torreyes, Nick Gordon

Nonroster notables: Royce Lewis, Wander Javier

The signing of Jonathan Schoop put to rest the notion that Polanco would move to second base. I am of the belief that Polanco is stretched to play shortstop, and I thought that the ouster of Paul Molitor as manager removed the organization's biggest advocate of playing Polanco at short.

And maybe Polanco will eventually wind up at second. Schoop is on a one-year deal, and Lewis is charging up the organizational ladder, and even if the Twins step up their reliance on shifts to mask a lack of range in the infield they may well conclude at some point that they have to sacrifice some offense in the middle infield to help the pitching staff.

For now, however, "Hip-Hip Jorge" is the shortstop, and probably their most reliable on-base guy as they enter the post-Mauer era. Polanco isn't a notable base stealer, but he might be their best bet to hit leadoff.

He also isn't a notable long ball threat, but he's had (very slightly) more plate appearances as the No. 3 hitter than anywhere else in the lineup in his brief major league career, and he hit third a lot in the minors.

Polanco perpetually feels to me like a round peg in a square hole. He doesn't really fit at shortstop. but this will be the third straight season in which he's the Twins best option for the position. He isn't a classic leadoff or No. 3 hitter, but he is probably going to lock down one of those two crucial lineup slots this year. He'll certainly hit in one of the first three slots in the batting order.

It's entirely possible that I will spend his entire Twins career grumbling about him being misused. And I probably shouldn't. He may not be a perfect fit, but he certainly makes the team better.