Where they stand: Catcher

The Twins have not yet made the signing of Nelson Cruz official. Presumably they are waiting for the results of his physical; they are, quite likely, also looking for the best way to open a roster slot. They would probably like to trade Tyler Austin, but there may not be a market for him. Remember, they got him on waivers last summer.

But assuming that Cruz is indeed signed, the Twins have their Plan A lineup in hand for 2019. Let's go though that set of regulars, position by position, starting with catcher.

Presumed regular: Jason Castro.

Others on the 40: Mitch Garver and Willians Astudillo

Nonroster contenders for the active roster: none

One of the many things that went wrong for the Twins pitching staff last season was Castro's prolonged absence from the lineup. He played just 19 games and hit .143 in 74 plate appearances before having knee surgery that took him out for the remainder of the season.

We know the drill on Castro: Strong defensive catcher, marginal hitter. (It's hard to believe that he routinely hit third for Houston in 2013.). He's expected to be fully ready for spring training and the third and final year of his contract.

Garver is pretty much Castro's mirror image: A good hitter for a catcher but with noticeable limitations behind the plate. He was charged with nine passed balls and was involved in 33 wild pitches; that's way too many pitches being chased to the backstop. He threw out just 18 percent of basestealers (league average was 28 percent). He didn't catch in September after sustaining a concussion.

I think Astudillo is the better player -- a superior defensive catcher and probably equally productive at the plate, although the production is in a different shape than Garver's. Astudillo is also a lot more fun to watch play ball than pretty much anybody on the roster. But he's unlikely to be on the active roster unless and until either Castro or Garver gets hurt.

The biggest problem for Astudillo's chances of making the roster is that Garver is out of options and thus cannot be readily sent to the minors, and that's not a problem for Astudillo. The Twins aren't likely to discard Garver, and I'm not sure that Astudillo is going to convince the decision makers that he's a guy they want to carry as a multi-use player, although that is a possibility.

The Sunday Funnies

Art Fowler was Billy Martin's preferred pitching coach, following the oft-fired manager from job to job. His most significant qualification appeared to be the ability to match Martin drink for drink.

A struggling pitcher once approached Fowler with a theory, that he was dropping his arm during his delivery after a few innings. Keep an eye on me and look for that during this start, the pitcher suggested.

A few innings into the outing the pitcher's control started to wobble. After he walked two men and fell behind a third, Fowler ambled out to the mound.

"Am I dropping my arm?" the pitcher asked.

"Ah, I don't know about any of that," Flowler replied. "But you're walking people and Billy's pissed."

Cruz control

Plenty of reports Thursday that Nelson Cruz has agreed to a one-year contract with club option with the Twins. While the Twins have yet to officially announce the free-agent signing, Cruz has changed his Twitter avatar to an image of himself at bat wearing a Twins jersey and helmet.

Taken as an individual move, I have no real quarrel with this. Cruz is 38 -- turns 39 in July -- so there is a risk, but he has shown little falloff as he ages. In his four seasons with the Mariners, "Boomstick" has hit between 44 and 37 homers each year. And that production, as you probably know, came in one of the more difficult hitting environments in the game.

Yeah, Cruz can hit. He's pretty much useless afield or on the bases, but he's going to be the DH and he is a legitimate force in the middle of a lineup. As long as they don't try to force him into the outfield ala Josh Willingham, he'll help.

But I continue to be uneasy with the organization's offseason trend away from on-base percentage. The Twins have added three right-handed thumpers in Cruz, second baseman Jonathan Schoop and first baseman C.J. Cron. They all have power and they all swing and miss a lot. Cruz's on-base percentages with the M's were better than they had been with Baltimore or Texas, but on the whole, this lineup looks like the goal is to lead the league in solo homers. That is NOT a productive offense.

That said, the reality is that Cron, Schoop and even Cruz aren't the keys to the Twins 2019 lineup. The Twins will rise or recede on Miguel Sano, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler. If two of those three play at an All-Star level, the Twins are serious contenders. 

They have the talent to do that; they don't have the track record of doing that. But if two -- or better yet, all three -- turn into the players we've been dreaming on for five years or so, then a supporting cast of Cruz, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Polanco, Schoop, Cron and Jason Castro makes for a dangerous and deep lineup even with their flaws.

If Schoop, Cron and Castro hit 7-8-9, things are good. If either Schoop and Cron wind up in the first five spots of the order, it's going to be another disappointing season.

Some Christmas reading

Yeah, it's been a while since I actively posted (the Sunday Funnies are set up well in advance, or at least most of them are). But here I am on this holiday with a couple of links that should be of interest to Twins fans.

First: Jonah Keri, writing for CBSsports.com. on why the Twins are positioned to take a big leap forward:

If both Sano and Buxton play to the best of their abilities and stay healthy for a full season, that alone could add 10 or more wins to the Twins' ledger. The good news is that the Twins have upside sprinkled all over their roster. Eight of the nine projected starters in the 2019 lineup are 29 or younger. The same goes for the rotation, which is topped by exciting 24-year-old righty Jose Berrios and features additional potential in the form of post-Tommy John surgery right-hander (and former strikeout fiend) Michael Pineda.

You know the old saying about "can't see the forest for the trees." I think we Twins fans have been too close to this team and too frustrated/impatient with the slow development of Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. And maybe the fans are right and Keri wrong. Maybe Buxton and Sano will never manage to stick in the lineup. But for 2019, at the very least, the best option for the Twins is to build around those two talents.

There is one thing Keri says in that piece that I quarrel with: his assertion that Sano's power is his only useful tool. His arm is of quality also, and it is why the Twins aren't planning on him as a first baseman-DH, which is what Keri sees him as (at best).

The other piece I wanted to call to your attention is from Phil Rogers, writing for Forbes, on the value of payroll flexibility. 

No fan base figures to be in for a more interesting ride between now and Opening Day, 2020. We’re not saying Minnesota will be a postseason team — although it was as recently as 2017 — but the combination of young roster team and financial flexibility stokes the imagination. ...

(H)ere’s the unique part about the Twins’ situation: They have exactly zero dollars in guaranteed commitments for 2020 and beyond. 

These are two outside observers who are intrigued, and optimistic, about this team and its direction -- more so than most of us in Minnesota. 

The Sunday Funnies

Rickey Henderson was born on Christmas, which is why I post a Rickey Henderson story for the Sunday Funnies that week. And there are a lot of Rickey Henderson stories, some true, some not (but all of them plausible).

This year's:

Henderson once fell asleep on an ice pack and got frostbite, which forced him to miss three games — in mid-August.

No. 7

The Twins announced Tuesday that they will officially retire the number 7 in honor of Joe Mauer during the 2019 season, specific date undetermined. This is not a surprise.

Yep it was just a matter of time until my #7 was going to be retired. Just another milestone in my a lustrous career in the Twin Cities https://t.co/lkrMDWuHuw

— Denny Hocking (@bigleagueswings) December 18, 2018

Mauer and Hocking are far from the only No. 7s in Twins history, of course. Baseball Reference lists 17 players as having worn 7 for the Minnesota Twins, 35 including the Washington Senators years. (One of the Senators bearing the number is a Hall of Famer -- Al Simmons, who wore it in 1938, well after his prime seasons.)

The Twins' No. 7s include some notable names in Twins history -- such as Greg Gagne, Frank Quilici and Jimmy Hall -- and at least as many who-dats -- Greg "Boomer" Wells, Dave Meier and Paul Ray Powell.  

The Star Tribune's Phil Miller pointed out on Twitter that the Twins are a shortstop away from a lineup with the retired numbers. Getting there requires playing a few guys at suboptimal defensive positions, but they are all positions they had considerable time at, so it's legit:

C: Mauer (7)

1B: Kent Hrbek (14)

2B: Rod Carew (29)

3B: Harmon Killebrew (3)

SS: vacant

LF: Jackie Robinson (42)

CF: Kirby Puckett (34)

RF: Tony Oliva (6)

P: Bert Blyleven (28)

Mgr: Tom Kelly (10)

Basically, the Twins retire two kinds of numbers:

• Cooperstown inductees who are chosen for their Minnesota accomplishments (Killebrew, Carew, Blyleven, Puckett)
• Really distinguished figures who spent their entire career with the Twins (Oliva, Hrbek, Mauer, Kelly)

Robinson's in a different class, of course, and Puckett fits in both groups. Someday, I expect, Mauer will fit in both also.

When less is more

Habitual visitors to this site have probably noticed that I'm skipping days without posting with some frequency. That's by design; I decided this offseason not to force myself to think of something to say when I have little to react to. And the nature of the baseball offseason is that there are a lot of days with little to react to.

Of course, I'm not relying on this site for my income. I'm in a different position than the guys on MLB Network on my cable or MLB Radio in my car. They have to talk about something, even if there's nothing new and specific to talk about.

This, I believe, is why the talk show guys constantly cry for more trades. If nothing else, they want moves just for the sake of making moves, because that gives them something to blab about. Even the former general managers -- who should well know the merit of the old adage Some of the best trades are the ones you don't make -- embrace the fallacy of mistaking motion for progress.

The Twins have not been truly idle this offseason, but they had a quiet winter meetings and haven't made much of a peep since. That's OK with me. Idleness is preferable to their discernable pattern of power over on-base percentage.