Pic of the Week

Infield prospect Nick Gordon blows a bubble in the
Twins dugout during a game.

Nick Gordon was playing quite a bit of second base the first week of exhibitions. This was in part because Paul Molitor was holding some of the veterans back anyway, and Brian Dozier in particular after he dealt with a kidney stone. Then Gordon dinged his hand, and he's sat out the past few days.

But there might be a position change in Gordon's future. Dozier will be a free agent after this season -- there have been, apparently, no talks between the Twins and his agency -- and Gordon may be his successor at second.

I'm not sure of the wisdom of that. I don't think Gordon has enough thump in his bat to be a major league regular at any position, even shortstop, in today's game. And I'm also not sure that Jorge Polanco is a superior defensive shortstop to Gordon. If those two are the middle infield, it might be better to have Gordon at short and Polanco at second.

But that's 2019 stuff. For this spring, there's no question that Polanco is the Twins shortstop. Paul Molitor is not going to have him play any second base in exhibitions this spring.