Free Agency: Twins In On Asdrubal Cabrera? What About Danny Santana?
Yesterday, Jon Heyman reported that infielder Asdrubal Cabrera was starting to watch as his market heated up. Apparently the only teams in on the former All-Star weren’t the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets however. Surprisingly, the Minnesota Twins found themselves mentioned as a possible landing spot. Today, it seems we are getting a bit more clarity.
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As of this morning, it appears that the Twins are merely dabbling in the market for the services of Asdrubal Cabrera and are not really all that serious. As Darren Wolfson points out, Cabrera shares an agent with Jung-Ho Kang, the Korean shortstop looking to make the jump to the majors, and so stirring up the market would be beneficial.
Asdrubal C. & Jung-Ho Kang have the same agent. So the leak seems obvious. #MNTwins not seriously in on Kang either. Maybe place small bid.
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) December 18, 2014
Based on Wolfson’s caution, as well as the sentiments I suggested yesterday when news of the Twins being in on Cabrera broke, it doesn’t appear likely that Minnesota will go after either free-agent shortstop. While the news isn’t all that surprising, it may spark a bigger concern, what are the internal thoughts on Danny Santana?
After playing center field for much of the year under Ron Gardenhire, Paul Molitor quickly established that Santana would be moved back to his natural position of shortstop. It appeared that he would be the Twins opening day shortstop and would look to grab a firm hold of the position for years to come. With the Twins dabbling in the market elsewhere however, do they feel as though he may not be able to stick?
Santana remains one of the biggest candidates for regression in 2015. His bat played exceptionally in his rookie season, but expecting that to continue could be a pipe dream. Having taken a year off from the infield, he could have some rust to knock off as well. Last year, the Minnesota Twins took Nick Gordon with their first pick in the draft. As a high school shortstop, he’s a long ways away, but the Twins may see Santana as only a bridge to his eventual promotion.
At any rate, the tie to an infielder in a situation where it isn’t necessarily a deficiency on the roster is interesting. Hopefully Santana comes out strong this spring and casts any worries the Twins may have aside.