Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Nick Gordon, shortstop or second baseman

Infielder Nick Gordon was one of a half-dozen non-roster invitees sent to the minor league camp during the weekend. I doubt that he would have stayed long if Jorge Polanco had accepted his steroid suspension earlier. Gordon hasn't played Triple A ball yet, and the Twins have other options to fill the shortstop vacancy.

Plus, Gordon played little shortstop this spring. Paul Molitor used him much more at second base, especially in the early games as he eased Brian Dozier (kidney stone) into action. Yet Derek Falvey said this week that the Twins still view Gordon as a shortstop.

It's probably pointless for me to continue to look for friction points between Molitor and the Falvine front office; Molitor got a three-year extension this winter along with fulsome praise from his bosses. And it's understandable that Molitor, who didn't know of the looming suspension, was more interested in getting Polanco ready for the season than looking at Gordon at shortstop.

But I look at Gordon and see a skinny guy who hit nine homers in Double A and faded badly in the second half. Molitor sees a hitter with pop in his bat. Molitor looks at Polanco and sees a shortstop; I see a second baseman struggling with a position he's not really suited for.

What do Falvine see in these two? My guess, reading between the lines, is that they're closer to my opinion than to Molitor's, but I don't KNOW that.  And if the Twins really do let Brian Dozier go as a free agent after this season and go with a Gordon-Polanco middle infield in 2019, I wonder who's the shortstop and who's the second baseman.

No comments:

Post a Comment