Minnesota Twins: Vargas, Sano & Deadline Drama
The Trade Deadline is approaching and all the Minnesota Twins have done so far is trade a career utility man for a potentially big-time left-handed starting pitcher.
That may seem like a good move in most people’s eyes but when the Minnesota Twins have so many assets they could potentially move without sacrificing too much on the near future.
Said assets include the likes of Ricky Nolasco, Fernando Abad, Trevor Plouffe and Tommy Milone.
Yes, Ervin Santana is also an option but for the sake of argument, I’m choosing to believe the front office’s stance that he will not be moved.
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Perhaps the market for the above names is paper thin or perhaps the Minnesota Twins aren’t being as aggressive as they probably should be.
Either way, it’s a bit perplexing to think the only move the team may make is the Nunez trade from Thursday.
It’s even stranger when you take into account the fact that interim GM Rob Antony is essentially working for his potential future job.
Yes, there is some time before the 4 PM EST deadline but it’s looking less and less likely that the Twins will be as “open for business” as previously noted by the front office.
Sano Doubt His Fielding Needs Work
It’s not time to go into full-on panic mode yet as this is just his second season and first full season with the big league club but already Miguel Sano is showing that he may be a serious defensive liability at third.
On Sunday, Sano made another error on a terrible throw (one of four by the Minnesota Twins), which ultimately extended the inning and allowed the Chicago White Sox to score a couple more runs.
Sano now has 14 errors on the year.
And while he does have time to continue to work on his defense and improve, it’s tough to believe that he would have a future outside of Designated Hitter or First Base moving forward.
Which could give the likes of Eduardo Escobar or Jorge Polanco an opening to potentially take over the hot corner if the Minnesota Twins do in fact move Plouffe; whether before the deadline or during the offseason.
The only issue is both Polanco and Escobar have also shown signs of shaky defense including a pair of errors from both on Sunday.
Vargas’ Charge
Since returning to the bigs, Kennys Vargas has been hitting out of his mind.
Not only has Vargas shown solid patience and the ability to find the gaps, the power that made him such an intriguing prospect during his quick stint in 2014 has returned (ie. Look at that homer on Sunday).
Vargas just adds to the Minnesota Twins’ cluster at first, which ultimately is a good problem to have but one where we as fans can only hope they don’t decide to trade away everyone in another David Ortiz story.
It’s great to see Vargas take over the everyday DH duties where Byung-ho Park struggled but imagine a lineup consisting of those two power hitters along with Brian Dozier and Sano.
Whoever has to make the decision as to who starts where if everyone is hitting would be in an unenviable position.
Still, we shouldn’t get too far ahead of ourselves with Vargas’ success and Sano and Park still need to start displaying much more consistency before this could be considered a legitimate dangerous lineup.