Ryan Doumit, still a catcher

So, that post Saturday night about Ryan Doumit deciding he's not going to catch any more? Never mind ...

Clarification from @BrianDozier. His comments Saturday were not meant to be about Ryan Doumit deciding not to catch in the future.
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) January 27, 2014

Per @BrianDozier: "Ryan (Doumit) is still catching as far as I know. I was referring to last season with him not catching the last month."
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) January 27, 2014

"It had nothing to do with him being shut down for good ... or not catching anymore for his career," @BrianDozier tells me re: Doumit.
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) January 27, 2014

In retrospect, I should have been a bit more guarded about buying into about the initial tweet. I bit, probably for the same reasons Bernadino did: Doumit said after his August concussion that he had had many concussions, and whether it was his idea or the Twins, he was held out of catching chores in September at least in part to protect him from a repeat concussion before the offseason.

It was credible that he could have decided during the offseason that catching isn't worth the risk. Credible, but not true.

Atlanta's plans with him may not involved a lot of catching anyway. Evan Gattis, who hit 21 homers in less than 400 plate appearances last year (and played almost as much left field as catcher), is supposed to be the No.1 catcher now that Brian McCann is a Yankee. Gerald Laird, who is probably the best backup catcher around, is the No. 2, and Doumit is to take the old Gattis role of third-string catcher, backup outfielder and pinch hitter. The Braves found 380-some plate appearances for Gattis; they can find time for Doumit.

Ryan Doumit, non-catcher

Interesting tweet Saturday evening from the Pioneer Press's Mike Bernadino:

Brian Dozier  casually mentioned today that Ryan Doumit is "not catching anymore" after "talking it over with his family." Aug. concussion.
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) January 26, 2014

I assume this will not negate the December trade. It was no secret that Doumit had a concussion last August, and no secret that he and the Twins had agreed that he wouldn't catch in September.

The Braves may have traded for him assuming that he would catch for them, but it's difficult to see that they can claim that the Twins hid an injury.

Doumit traded to Atlanta

Ryan Doumit split his Minnesota playing time between
the outfield, catching and DH.

The Twins needed to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Mike Pelfrey.

They did so Wednesday by trading Ryan Doumit to Atlanta for minor league lefty Sean Gilmartin.

Gilmartin was a late-first round pick out of college by the Braves in 2011. He's reached Triple A already, but has been unimpressive there. Of particular interest to the Twins, besides his left-handedness and the possibility that he might still justify his draft status, is that he doesn't have to be on the 40.

I had surmised earlier in the offseason that Doumit wasn't a significant part of the Twins catching plans post-Mauer. Moving him clears some of the corner outfield/DH clutter. It also leaves the Twins with three catchers on the 40: Eric Fryer, Chris Herrmann and Josmil Pinto.

This may wind up being addition by subtraction; I assume the Braves had written off Gilmartin as a significant piece of their future and figured Doumit might be of immediate help. For the Twins, the roster spot may well be the point behind this transaction.

The catching market

Ryan Doumit, seen in a 2012 mound conference, is
seldom mentioned in talk about the Twins catching situation.

Joe Mauer's not a catcher anymore. For the first offseason in more than a decade, the Twins don't know who's their No. 1 backstop.

They have four catchers on the 40-man roster — Ryan Doumit, Eric Fryer, Chris Herrmann and Josmil Pinto — and good reason to shy away from any of them as 100-game starters. This has them prominent in speculation about a fairly rich crop of veteran catchers, which is rapidly dwindling.

With the likes of Brian McCann (five years, $85 million, Yankees) and Carlos Ruiz (three years, $26 million, staying with the Phillies) reaching big-ticket free-agent deals in the past week, and such veteran backstops as Jose Molina, Geovanni Soto and Brayan Pena finding 2014 homes as well, the primary speculation is about Jarrod Saltalamacchia and ex-Twin A.J. Pierzynski.

 My thoughts:

• Importing a catcher probably means optioning out Pinto to work on his defensive skills. I'm pretty sure he can hit well enough to be a regular major league catcher right now.
• Pierzynski, who turns 37 next month, is probably a good candidate for a one-year deal. Salty, on the other hand, is likely to at least match Ruiz' deal, and having him block Pinto doesn't make sense — unless the Twins are already convinced that Pinto will never be good enough to be more than a backup.
• Doumit seems to be overlooked in all this.

The primary argument against Doumit as a regular catcher is, of course, his defense. He's a hit-first backstop — and, as it happens, so are Pierzynski and Saltalamacchia. But Doumit is regarded as less adept than the other two, and he didn't hit to his usual standards in 2013.

A secondary argument — and a good one — is that Doumit, who turns 33 in April, has a track record of injuries. He has just one 100-game season behind the dish in his career, and didn't catch at all in September after returning from an August concussion. He's not a good bet to carry the bulk of the load.

Doumit has one year left on his contract. If the Twins do bring in a established No. 1 catcher, Doumit isn't likely to catch as often as he has since joining Minnesota. If the Twins don't, then I would expect him to share the job with Pinto.

Which is my preference. I suspect Pinto will learn more about catching in the majors — especially with Terry Steinbach on the coaching staff — than in Triple A. The old Yogi Berra line about working early in his career with Bill Dickey — Bill is learning me his experience — applies.

Catchers and wild pitches

Wild pitches and passed balls are, on the field, the same thing: A pitch is not caught, and a baserunner advances (or, on a third strike, the batter reaches first).

Joe Mauer practices blocking balls in
the dirt during spring training.

The only difference is that on a wild pitch the blame is attached to the pitcher, and on a passed ball it's put on the catcher.

In reality, it's not that simple. The league leader in passed balls will almost always be the catcher who has to handle the most knuckleballs. The passed balls that occur when R.A. Dickey pitches are less about the catcher than about Dickey's knuckleball -- but the catcher gets the blame.

And it figures that, just as gifted defensive shortstops reduce their pitchers' base hits allowed, the better defensive catchers prevent wild pitches.

The Twins this year have had four catchers work at least 100 innings. Joe Mauer has three Gold Gloves on his resume. Ryan Doumit is regarded by the people trying to measure catcher defense as perhaps the worst backstop in the game. Chris Herrmann and Josmil Pinto are rookies, and Pinto in particular is viewed as a raw receiver

The wild pitch rates are illuminating:

• Mauer has allowed 16 wild pitches in 658.2 innings, or .22 per nine innings
• Doumit has allowed 17 wild pitches in 373.2 innings, or .41 per game.
• Herrmann has allowed 7 in 204.2 innings, .31 per game.
• Pinto has allowed 6 in 117.1, .46 per game

Mauer and Doumit have been charged with three passed balls apiece; Herrmann and Pinto none. Add the passed balls into the mix, and Mauer is up to .26 per nine innings, Doumit to .48.

To put this in a larger context, the American League teams have a total average of .37 wild pitches per nine innings. So Mauer is considerably better than the league average, Herrmann a bit better and Doumit and Pinto are worse.

Pic of the Week

Ryan Doumit dodges a pitch during the first inning
Monday in Kansas City.

This photo by midweek took on some different implications. It wasn't until Wednesday that Doumit revealed that he had sustained a concussion on Sunday. He'd had a bad flight to Kansas City — flying and concussions don't mix well — but played Monday and was in the lineup Wednesday before conceding that he was too woozy to be effective. He's now on the seven-day concussion DL, which hardly means he'll be back in a week.

Doumit says he's had "many, many" concussions from foul tips; that's almost certainly true for Joe Mauer or pretty much any veteran backstop. Catching is rough duty.

Considering trade options

Ryan Doumit was charged Sunday with his first
outfielding error of the season on this line drive.

The July 31 nonwaiver trade deadline is fast approaching, and the Twins, obviously, will be in "seller" mode.

But we often don't ask the right question about possible trades. The common question is something like: Should the Twins trade Glen Perkins? whereas the proper question is: Would the return on Perkins be worth trading him? (Answer: probably not.)


There is a general anticipation that the Twins will trade Justin Morneau this week. I wonder if there wouldn't be more value in trading Ryan Doumit, or at least more interest on the part of other teams in Doumit.

Morneau is a first baseman who can also DH. Doumit is properly thought of as a DH who can be used at catcher or a corner outfield. Morneau is a free agent after the season; Doumit has a year left on his contract at $3.5 million.

Both are more valuable for their hitting than for their defense, and neither is hitting all that well; Doumit is having the worst offensive season of his career.And the midseason trade market for hitters is frequently softer than for pitchers, although the possibility that some significant hitters for playoff contenders (notably Nelson Cruz of Texas) are about to be suspended may raise the demand.


The Twins do have the catcher/outfielder to take Doumit's roster role in Chris Herrmann. The two have been splitting right field and catching chores during Joe Mauer's paternity leave; trading Doumit would probably require bringing back one of the Oswaldo Arcia-Chris Parmelee duo shipped out to the minors just before the All-Star break, and I'm not sure the Twins are eager to do that.

But the key issue, again, is what kind of return the Twins could get. And I suspect it's more likely the Twins would get enough to move Doumit.

Judging the defense

When Ryan Doumit
is in the outfield,
it's not for his
defensive skills.

In the final innings of Monday night's overly-long extra inning game in Boston, the Twins outfield had Ryan Doumit in left, Wilkin Ramirez in center and Chris Parmelee in right. This is not the Jamaican relay team when it comes to speed, and there were observers who wondered if Stephen Drew's game-winning double could have been caught by a genuine left fielder.

Ron Gardenhire, hewing to the philosophy that one doesn't blame the player when the manager puts him in a position outside his skill set, avoided criticizing Doumit: I had my backup catcher out there.

It occurred to me that Parmelee -- whose best position is probably first base -- might be the most accomplished outfielder of that trio. So this morning I dug into the plus/minus and runs saved defensive metrics devised and compiled by Baseball Info Systems.

Please note: BIS itself says the metrics are best applied over years, not weeks. This is early May. So the numbers don't necessarily define individual skills.

A few highlights:

Parmelee is a bit below average in right, but not so much that he can be said to be hurting the team defensively. As of Wednesday morning he was listed at -4 in plus/minus but zero in runs saved. He's been better than I expected, but I wasn't expecting Dwight Evans from him either.

The best defensive player on the team has been Brian Dozier, +6 in plus/minus and 4 in runs saved at second base. Next best: shortstop Pedro Florimon, +4 and 2. The worst: Ramirez is a combined -6, -4 in just 48 innings around the outfield.

Doumit has just three innings in left field, all on Monday; he grades out at -2, -1 in left. So, yeah, it appears that the BIS grading system figures Drew's ball was catchable.

Using Oswaldo Arcia

Oswaldo Arcia has hit two three-run homers since his
call up; the rest of the roster has zero for the season.

When Darin Mastroianni went on the disabled list, Oswaldo Arcia was called up. This is not a simple swapout; Mastroianni is a fourth outfielder, and Arcia is something more.

There are organizations for whom Arcia would be the top prospect, or at least the top position player prospect. In the Twins system — regarded by Baseball America as the game's richest in position players — the 21-year-old (turns 22 on May 8) clearly ranks below the likes of Miguel Sano and Bryon Buxton. But Arcia's a talented hitter who figures to be a middle-of-the-order thumper on the next good Twins team.

So Terry Ryan and Co. didn't bring him to Minnesota to sit. Wherever he is, he's gonna play. And he has — on Friday he bopped his second home run of the week.

Fitting him into the current lineup means sitting somebody in the corner outfield-first base-catcher-designated hitter nexus. Arcia gives them six players for five lineup slots. And just as we know the Twins don't want Arcia rusting on the bench, we know Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham aren't sitting to make room either. (Arcia did pick up a couple of starts in Willingham's stead when Willingham had an illness, but that was about health matters, not about making room for Arcia.)

That leaves Chris Parmelee and Ryan Doumit, and so far it's been Doumit losing time to Arcia.

I'm fine with that. My core thought about the 2013 Twins is that all decisions ought to be made with an eye to the future, and one of the things that has to be accomplished is giving Parmelee enough playing time to decide what he is. Is he a good enough hitter to be a regular on a good team, or is he a platoon guy/second division regular?

Either seems possible. Parmelee's 25; the Twins owe it to themselves to find out what they have in the former first-round pick. Doumit's 32 and has a well-established track record. (Neither is hitting much so far.)

How long the Twins will try to juggle six players for five positions is unknown. I don't expect this arrangement to last all season. Maybe somebody gets traded, maybe somebody gets hurt, maybe Arcia goes back to Triple A. One way or another, something will change.

What to make of all these catchers

Ryan Doumit started
56 games at catcher in
2012, 48 as the DH,
16 in left field
and six in right field.

One of my Tweeps expressed surprise last night that the Twins would have nine catchers in training camp. My response was that, with 34 pitchers scheduled to be in camp as well, they need a lot of catchers to handle all those throwing sessions. (Last year they also had nine catchers in camp.)

The truly noteworthy thing is that so many of the nine -- five -- are on the 40-man roster:

• Joe Mauer, three-time batting champ, former MVP, perennial All-Star, future Hall of Famer -- and the starter of just 119 games the past two seasons behind the plate;
• Ryan Doumit, whose left-handed bat is strong, whose right-handed bat is relatively weak and whose defense (at catcher, in the outfield or at first base) is weaker still;
• Drew Butera, a fine receiver who cannot hit;
• Chris Herrmann,who had a good season in Double A and is probably ticketed for Triple A Rochester; and
• Josmil Pinto, who made Baseball America's Class A all-star team for his .295/.361/.473 season at high-A Fort Myers and matched those numbers in a brief Double A stint.

The four non-roster invitees, who will be there to handle bullpen sessions and ease the strain on the other five:

Danny Lehmann
hit .185 in 164
plate appearances
last season in
Double A and
Triple A combined.

• Eric Fryer, a minor league free agent and Triple A veteran;
• Danny Lehmann, a Butera type who split 2012 between Double A New Britain and Triple A Rochester;
• Dan Rohlfing, who split 2012 between Fort Myers and New Britain; and
• Kyle Knutson, a former Gopher who spent 2012 at low A Beloit and figures to move up to Fort Myers.

A few years ago, when the Twins were carrying Mauer, Butera, Mike Redmond, Jose Morales and Wilson Ramos on the 40, they were the only team with so many backstops on the roster. It's not so unique now -- both Boston and Tampa Bay currently list five catchers on their 40-man rosters, and I only checked the one division -- but it still seems like a lot of catchers. Five catchers is 12.5 percent of the roster space.

In the Twins case, at least two of the five -- Doumit and Herrmann -- figure to see considerable time in the outfield. Mauer is supposed to see his time behind the dish escalate, and it will be worth watching to see who loses time as a result, Doumit or Butera. One hundred twenty starts for Mauer leaves 42 for the reserves, and that's a fourth of the season. That's a good slice, but it's about half the load they had to carry in 2012.

Drew Butera has a
$700,000 contract for
the coming season.

Butera, we can easily see from his stats, is a terrible hitter. It's less easy to see in the stats that Doumit is a terrible catcher, but that's his reputation. And the sabermetric research into catching, primitive as it is, backs his reputation as a lousy receiver.

If Mauer is really going to start 120 games behind the plate, do the Twins need to carry three catchers? My guess is that Doumit would see most of his playing time at designated hitter, and given the uniqueness of the catching job, Ron Gardenhire's going to feel a lot more comfortable with Butera as his defensive insurance policy. If Doumit truly gives away as many runs as the piece linked to above surmises, the pitchers will be a lot better with Butera getting the bulk of those 42 games anyway.

These, then, figure to be the catching battles to come in training camp:

• For playing time behind Mauer, between Doumit and Butera;
• For a roster spot, between Butera, Herrmann and every option that doesn't include a third catcher (the two-catcher approach being more of a threat to Butera this March than Herrmann is);
• For jobs in the high minors behind -- probably -- Herrmann at Triple A and Pinto at Double A, between Lehmann, Fryer and Rohlfing. Their positions get all the weaker if Butera doesn't stick in the majors.

Doumit and the three catcher roster

Ryan Doumit figures to stick around
Minnesota for a while.

Ryan Doumit and the Twins on Friday agreed to a two-year, $7 million contract extension.

This has been pretty well received in Twins land, perhaps less so elsewhere. Here's the case against re-upping him, as laid out by Hardball Talk's Matthew Pouliot, who makes some good points.

I'm not strongly opposed to the deal, but I'm not expecting big things from him either. Pouliot is right in this respect: The Twins have a good niche for Doumit, who broke down physically as a regular catcher in his time with Pittsburgh. I'm not sure there's another player available who fits that niche quite so well, and that is reason to hang on to Doumit.

With the Twins, he's basically a two-third-time player -- one or two days a week behind the plate, three or four days a week at DH. (He hasn't played in the outfield since May 4.)

One thing this usage pattern has meant is a job for a third catcher, since on most days either Doumit or Joe Mauer is the DH. Drew Butera is the mirror image of Doumit -- Butera a strong defensive catcher and a liability in the batter's box, Doumit a productive hitter (at least left-handed) and a poor receiver.

These days, Butera catches when Francisco Liriano pitches, which (a) puts a strong receiver back there to deal with Frankie's wildness, something Doumit struggles with, and (b) protects Mauer from having to deal with multiple sliders in the dirt. It's the catching equivalent of being a tackling dummy.

Why the deal now? I think the timing is related to the July trading season. As matters stood, Doumit was a free agent-to-be, and the Twins might well have shopped him around . I assume there was a tacit understanding between the two camps: Sign and stay. There probably isn't a no-trade clause, but Doumit's now officially in the Twins plans for a while.

Dumping a failing player is only half the battle

Jason Marquis has
walked 11 and
struck out 10 this year.

The middle third of May is when the Twins in years past axed the likes of Sidney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz. It's when when they dumped the left side of their infield in '06.

The Twins made some significant changes in roster and roles already this week — Brian Dozier, Danny Valencia, Francisco Liriano. After the travesty that was Thursday's performance, one has to expect more changes.

Jason Marquis was billed when he signed as a guy who threw strikes — a description that did not match his statistical record, and has been flatly contradicted by his 2012 performance. As Aaron Gleeman noted on Twitter Thursday, Marquis has thrown strikes at the same rate this year as Francisco Liriano.

As wild as Liriano, but without Liriano's stuff — that's not a workable combo for a major league pitcher.

Liriano lost his starting job. Marquis ought to lose his.

The problem is: With whom do you replace him?

The same question hovers over the Valencia demotion. He wasn't getting the job done. But it's a sound principle to know what Plan B is when Plan A is jettisoned. If there is a clear plan for third base now, I don't see it.

Playing Trevor Plouffe there is ... well, it's an engraved invitation to low comedy like the pop-up "base hit" Thursday. Catcher Ryan Doumit never saw it. Marquis ran in and was in position to catch it, and then he backed off. It appeared, from Marquis' actions, that Plouffe called him off. But Plouffe wasn't anywhere near the ball when it dropped.

The handling of Plouffe this year has been baffling. He's supposed to be an outfielder, on the theory that reducing his defensive responsibilities will give his bat a chance to shine. But he's spent the first month-plus subbing in around the infield, and he's hitting under .160. The theory isn't getting a true test.


I'm dubious about Plouffe to begin with, but if the organization seriously believes there's a player there, they have to stop whipsawing him.

The Willingham Shift: Ryan Doumit and Justin Morneau

Ryan Doumit may
not see as much
DH time as planned.

Underlying "The Willingham Shift," in which fellow free-agent signee Josh Willingham vacates his intended right field for his accustomed left field, appears to be the uncertain status of Justin Morneau.


Morneau is a key to whatever the 2012 Twins hope to accomplish. They need his bat in the lineup, first and foremost; they'd prefer to also have his glove at first base, but that's a secondary priority.

If Morneau can play first, then Ryan Doumit can be the primary designated hitter. But if Morneau has to DH -- and he hasn't played at first in more than a week now -- Doumit has to do something else.

This is a problem. As a designated hitter who plays once or twice a week in the field, Doumit's $3 million contract figured to be a bargain. The less often he hits, or the more often he plays a defensive position, the less valuable he becomes. As a traditional No. 2 catcher, used in the manner in which Mike Redmond was in his Twins tenure, Doumit is way overpaid.

How much first
base can Justin
Morneau play?

So Doumit's gonna play. But where?

Doumit could play first base, but he's clearly uncomfortable with the idea, and his discomfort makes Ron Gardenhire uncomfortable. Doumit started a televised game in left field early in spring training; he appeared, if anything, worse than Delmon Young, and Young was no picture of grace out there.

Doumit's most comfortable behind the plate, but Joe Mauer's the catcher. His next favored position is right field; if both Doumit and Willingham are to be in the outfield, the obvious alignment is Willingham in left and Doumit in right.

It won't be a good defensive outfield. But it keeps three bats -- Morneau, Willingham and Doumit -- in the lineup and opens up a slot for Chris Parmelee.

I'll post Wednesday on the implications for Parmelee.

If at first ...

Ryan Doumit is
likely to be the Twins'
primary designated
hitter in 2012.

One of the attractive things about signing Ryan Doumit was the promise of defensive versatility. While primarily a catcher, he has also played right field and first base some in the big leagues. This is not to say that he's particularly adept at any of these positions, but he figured to see some time filling in at each.

But Doumit didn't sound too thrilled with the prospect of playing first base when he signed in December, and he apparently hasn't warmed to the notion since. Ron Gardenhire said Monday first base is not in the plans for Doumit.

This decision fits Gardenhire's style perfectly. He's not going to force an established player to play someplace he's uncomfortable -- not, at least, if there's someplace else the guy can play that helps the team.

Gardy may have had Doumit play a little first base during the infield drills during this first week or so and realized that that prospect made two people uncomfortable: Doumit and Gardy.

But this raises some questions, not the least of which is: Who's the backup to Justin Morneau if not Doumit?

This is a different question than "Who's the first baseman if Morneau's concussion problems re-emerge?" If Morneau goes on the disabled list, somebody will take his place on the active roster, and that somebody is likely to be the regular at first. This question assumes that Chris Parmelee and Aaron Bates and Steve Pearce are all in the minors and Morneau is due for a day off.

The possibilities:

Joe Mauer. The Twins plan/expect him to catch 120-130 games this year, but that leaves a couple dozen for him to DH, play a different position or sit. Mauer will probably rotate out to first with some regularity, with Doumit catching if Morneau is to stay in the lineup as the DH.

Luke Hughes. The Aussie is out of options. He is likely to make the roster as a utility man -- second base, third base, first base. Assuming, of course, that his shoulder injury (sustained in a collision in winter ball in his homeland) does't put him on the disabled list.

Trevor Plouffe. His primary focus this spring is supposed to be the outfield. He hasn't played much at first in the minors, so tossing him into the first base mix might be a bit of an adventure. Still, it might be away to get his bat into the lineup against a lefty.

The outfield plan: Ben Revere's playing time

Ben Revere: Should
he be an everyday guy?

Ron Gardenhire is penciling Ben Revere in as his regular left fielder -- and as his No. 9 hitter.

It is, let us say, unusual to see a corner outfielder at the bottom of the batting order. Corner outfielders are supposed to hit. Bottom-of-the-order guys are at the bottom of the order for a reason.

It's certainly possible for Revere to be a more productive hitter in 2012 than in 2011. He's hit for average at every minor league stop, he seems to have an idea at the plate, and, of course, he's one of the fastest players in the league. But even if he hits .300, his almost complete lack of power at a power position is a significant disadvantage.

Much of Revere's value as a player figures to come on defense, where he provides center field range (and then some) in a rather spacious left field. Indeed, I've seen some analysis suggesting that his combination of offense and defense will be more valuable than the departed Delmon Young's was.

Revere's a young guy, and even such a devout platooner as Earl Weaver was wary of imposing a strict platoon role on a player before getting a handle on his abilities. Still, Revere's lack of power is so pronounced that it obviously limits his ceiling.

Then there's the Trevor Plouffe factor. His major league time is also limited, and so his platoon splits may not be a real indicator of his abilities or liabilities, but he has so far been far better hitting left-handers —.301 vs southpaws, .201 vs. right-handers. If Plouffe is to be on Gardenhire's bench, it would appear to behoove Gardy to get him in the lineup against lefties.

Plouffe could be a platoon partner for Revere. Plouffe could also be a platoon partner for the switch-hitting Ryan Doumit, who has over his career hit better against righties than against lefties. Sit Doumit, and Plouffe could DH or play right with Josh Willingham DHing, or first with Justin Morneau DHing. Doumit's platoon splits aren't as pronounced as Plouffe's at this point, but they are considerably well established.

All this is probably irrelevant. Gardenhire has shown little tendency in his managerial career to lean on the platoon differential when deploying his bench players. I don't expect that to change this year.

But I wish he would. We're dealing here with flawed talents. It would make sense to use them ways that maximizes their strengths and minimizes their problems.

Arranging the Twins outfield

Delmon Young: Part of one rebuilt Twins outfield,
now a piece to be replaced in a new restructuring.

Gone from the Twins of the past few seasons: Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Delmon Young. These men were mainstays of the Minnesota outfield since 2008. Now the Twins are remaking their outfield around Denard Span (as they did after the 2007 season with Cuddyer as the holdover).

As matters stand, these players figure to play in the Twins outfield in 2012. I list them in the order of likely outfield playing time. Those above the line are likely to be on the Opening Day roster; those under are likely to at least begin 2012 in the minors.

Denard Span, cf
Josh Willingham, rf/lf/dh
Ben Revere, lf/cf
Trevor Plouffe, lf/rf
Ryan Doumit, c/rf/dh/lb
---
Rene Tosoni, rf/lf
Joe Benson, rf/lf/cf
all other outfielders in the system

Willingham voiced some concern after signing with the Twins about playing right, where he has minimal experience. Terry Ryan believes Willingham has sufficient arm for the position, and he probably does, as he is a converted catcher. Certainly we can expect Willingham to get plenty of right field time in Florida.

A number of bloggers -- notably the redoubtable Aaron Gleeman -- have penciled Doumit in as the regular designated hitter. I suspect that if the Twins wind up with a regular DH it will be Justin Morneau (for health reasons). The more Morneau is the DH, the more first base somebody else has to play. That somebody else is probably either Doumit or Joe Mauer, and I'm quite sure the Twins (and Mauer) would prefer to keep Mauer behind the plate. And the more Doumit is the DH, the less valuable his defensive flexibility is -- not that he's actually proficient at any of the positions he plays. My guess is that we'll see more of Doumit at first base than anybody expects -- at least 50 games.

A blog commenter suggested last week that the Twins put Revere in center with Span in right and Willingham in left. That arrangement makes some sense, but Ron Gardenhire is very unlikely to irritate Span by moving him out of center.

Gardy believes in locking his regulars into place. It's one thing if one of his starters volunteers to shift positions, as Michael Cuddyer and Nick Punto were known to do; but absent that, he would rather keep his regulars in their comfort zone. Span is a good center fielder; he may not have Revere's range, but he's not giving up a lot to Revere, and Span throws better. Span made it known last summer that he prefers to play center; I don't see Gardenhire irritating him by making him give way to Revere.

A quick comment

I plan to post for Tuesday morning about Jason Kubel's time with the Twins and his departure, but first, a quick comment on something LaVelle Neal said in his blog today about the Twins offseason:

Kubel, Cuddyer and Joe Nathan are gone and the team hasn't come close to replacing them.

As the late, lamented Henry Morgan said in the guise of Col. Sherman T. Potter, "Horse hockey!"

At least in terms of the outfielders. The Twins have replaced Michael Cuddyer with Josh Willingham and Kubel with Ryan Doumit.

Willingham is a better hitter than Cuddyer, if a bit more limited defensively. The talents have slightly different shapes, but they are equivalent. Doumit and Kubel are very similar hitters: .271/.334/.442 career slash stats for Doumit, .271/.335/.359 for Kubel. Both are better hitters against right-handed pitchers. And while the Twins lost positional flexibility in the Willingham/Cuddyer exchange, they gained it in the Doumit/Kubel switchout.

True, the Twins haven't imported bullpen help. Yet. But Neal said "them," and he is just plain wrong.

A rough draft of the position players

It's still relatively early in the offseason, but the Winter Meetings are next week, and that's probably the high point for the hot stove league.

The Twins have made a fair number of roster changes, mainly focused on the position players. Let's see if we can compile an approximation of who'll be playing here come April from the players on hand:

Ryan Doumit is
one of two free
agents signed so
far by the Twins.

C: Joe Mauer
1B/DH: Justin Morneau
2B: Alexi Casilla
3B: Danny Valencia
SS: Jamey Carroll
LF: Ben Revere
CF: Denard Span
RF: Rene Tosoni
DH/1B: Ryan Doumit

Bench:
IF: Tsuyoshi Nishioka
IF: Luke Hughes
OF: Trevor Plouffe
C: Drew Butera

That's 13, which leaves 12 spots for pitchers. Now, let me emphasize again: This is based on players on hand. I expect more activity between now and April. But this array may help us see where Terry Ryan will try to go.

What most grabs my attention at the moment is the C/1B/RF/DH nexus:

• It's entirely possible that Morneau's concussion history will make him a DH.
• Both the Twins and Doumit have already downplayed the notion that he would see significant time at first base. Catcher, yes; DH, yes; right field, yes. First base, not so much.
• If Morneau's a DH and Doumit isn't a first baseman, there's a significant hole in what is normally an important offensive position. Luke Hughes ain't the answer.
• If Morneau can play first and Doumit spends most of his time as a designated hitter, I have right field as a Plouffe-Tosoni platoon, which also probably isn't optimal.
• And, of course, all this assumes that Mauer is indeed going to catch 130 games.

The word from the metro writers is that the Twins still hold out hope that they can retain Michael Cuddyer, and certainly he would be a good fit in the right field-first base-designated hitter mix. The outside interest in Cuddyer doesn't seem as high as anticipated. But I still doubt that the Twins want to give him a raise, and I would think they'd be tempted by two compensatory draft picks to decline to put up a fight.

Terry Ryan and Co. face two questions here. First, are the Twins close enough to contending to justify keeping Cuddyer, or are they better off with the picks? Second, can Morneau play in the field?

They have no way of confidently answering Question No. 2 now. And that makes it difficult to answer Question No. 1.

Ryan Doumit and other roster moves

The Twins had a fairly busy day Friday, even if the lead item isn't official yet.

Ryan Doumit has agreed to a one-year deal with the Twins (this according to his agent), reportedly for $3 million plus performance bonuses. He's got to pass a physical before it becomes official.

I was skeptical to critical of the Jamey Carroll signing. I'm far happier with this move. Doumit is a flawed player. His defense is marginal to poor at any of his three positions, he's made regular trips to the disabled list for a variety of injuries -- including (shudder) concussions. He's a switch hitter, but he's been a markedly better hitter left-handed than right, which doesn't help balance the Twins lineup much.

But he can hit, and the Twins need that. They can deploy him at catcher, at first base, in right field, at DH ...

And that last raises a roster issue. Let us say that Justin Morneau remains primarily a first baseman, that Joe Mauer is indeed a 130-plus game catcher, and that Doumit is the primary designated hitter.

Is Ron Gardenhire willing to do what Jim Leyland did in Detroit last season -- carry two catchers and use one of them as his DH? I doubt it. If Doumit's to be the regular DH, I suspect Gardy will carry Drew Butera so as to have a legitimate catcher available on the bench.

This may well be a moot point. Morneau may be the primary DH in hopes that limiting his activity will avoid a repeat of last summer's season-ending concussion. It's odd, but Butera's chances of remaining on the active roster may hinge on Morneau's health.

---

The Twins also added three players to their 40-man roster from the minors -- outfielder Oswaldo Arcia, right-handed pitcher Carlos Gutierrez and left-handed pitcher Tyler Robertson -- and outrighted RHP David Bromberg to Rochester.

2011 was a largely
lost season for David
Bromberg.

Seth Stohs is unhappy with the Bromberg demotion. I don't think it's as crazy as he thinks it is. Bromberg was added to the 40 last winter, so when he was sent to the minors in spring training they burned his first option. He broke his arm early in the season and wound up with all of 42 innings pitched.

If he wasn't ready for the majors last spring, he's not going to be ready this spring -- and if he remained on the 40, they would have burned his second option when he got sent back to the minors. He cleared waivers, so he's unlikely to get nabbed in the Rule V draft.

Bromberg has reason to be unhappy that the Twins have stopped his option clock, but it hardly means the Twins no longer take him seriously as a prospect. It merely extends their control of his contract.

When the Doumit deal becomes official, the Twins will have 38 players on the 40. Two slots to play with this winter.