2018 Minnesota Twins positional grades and 2019 roster predictions

Let’s shift gears and recap my predictions for the 2019 Minnesota Twins roster.

Catcher: Mitch Garver and Jason Castro

After a great season of production and improvements from Garver, the Twins have no choice but to at least give him a handful of starts each week. While Castro’s upside is limited, his defensive-minded abilities make him a great player to mentor Garver. Castro has one year left on his contract, and while it’s not impossible, my bet is that it’s unlikely another team trades for him.

Unfortunately, this pushes Willians Astudillo out of the picture behind the plate. That said, he could have done enough in the last month of the season to earn a utility role with the big league team. Worst case scenario, he spends some more time at AAA and is just a phone call away in case of an injury.

First base: Tyler Austin and C.J. Cron

Perhaps this is cheating a bit, as C.J. Cron was just picked up several days ago. My guess was that while Austin deserves his first full season in the MLB, the Minnesota Twins probably wanted another capable option to cover first in case of poor performance or an injury. With Joe Mauer retiring and Brent Rooker likely needing a few more months in the minors, there weren’t any suitable options in-house, which would prompt the Twins to look elsewhere. With Cron now on board, the team is likely set for 2019 with him and Austin at first base and DH.

Second base: Jed Lowrie, Asdrubal Cabrera, or Ian Kinsler

Second base seems like a logical position at which to sign a veteran on a short 1 or 2-year contract. Nick Gordon will likely make his major league debut at some point in 2019 and see time and second and/or shortstop, but there are too many concerns surrounding him to plan on giving him the reins at 2B right off the bat. Jorge Polanco still seems like a good bet to slide to second base once Royce Lewis debuts, but that’s still a year or two away.

As a result, a short contract to a solid veteran makes a lot of sense. Jed Lowrie, Asdrubal Cabrera, or Ian Kinsler are all guys I think would be good fits in terms of age, performance, and likely contract size, but there are several other players that the Twins could end up with as well.

Shortstop: Jorge Polanco

Until Lewis completes his time in the minors, Polanco has no real challengers for the starting job in 2019. It’s possible that instead of signing a second baseman, the Twins instead sign a shortstop and Polanco moves over to second immediately, but the former scenario seems more likely to me. Gordon and Ehire Adrianza will likely see time at shortstop and around the infield, but neither appear to be threats to take the everyday job from Polanco.

Third base: Who knows?

This one is admittedly very difficult for me to predict. Miguel Sano will receive every opportunity to prove his worth, but considering how his 2018 season went, I would expect the front office to be looking around the league for third base options in case Sano doesn’t perform. An everyday 3B wouldn’t hurt Sano’s playing time too bad as he could bounce around between 3B, 1B, and DH.

Mike Moustakas would be a great addition to the team and seems like a perfect fit, but I’m not confident that he’ll find his way to Minnesota. There isn’t much else to get excited about at the hot corner in this year of free agents, but Yangervis Solarte could be a more realistic, competent yet unexciting, target.

Outfield: Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton, and Max Kepler

No surprises here. Rosario, Buxton, and Kepler will man the outfield from left to right again in 2019 barring a surprising trade or an injury. After a strong showing in his rookie season, Jake Cave has earned the 4th outfielder role and could see significant playing time at each outfield slot, but likely won’t be an everyday at a single position.

This alignment could push Robbie Grossman out of the picture and end his tenure with the Minnesota Twins. If Zack Granite has a strong spring training, he could provide a little bit of excitement to the outfield race, but it’s pretty unlikely that he would knock off Rosario, Buxton, Kepler, or Cave from the active roster.

Bench position players: Ehire Adrianza, Jake Cave, Willians Astudillo, Nick Gordon, and others

This is a bit of a bonus section for you as I didn’t put together a full article for those that seem poised to earn backup slots in 2019. But, I wanted to at least mention a few guys that are highly likely to get a bench slot in the MLB in 2019. Adrianza is a solid option as a backup, and with his positional flexibility, there’s no reason he won’t be back in the same role next year.

Jake Cave has a strong grasp on the 4th outfielder role and should actually see pretty consistent playing time, giving rest to the starters as needed and perhaps some time at DH as well. While Astudillo appears to be on the outside looking in the catcher rotation, he could find a job as a utility man, though that’s not a given. As previously mentioned, Gordon will almost assuredly be up at some point in the year and get some opportunities at a variety of positions.

That may not seem like enough bench players, but consider that a few positions could turn out to be fairly crowded in 2019. Cron and Austin will both get time at first base and DH pretty regularly. If they do sign an everyday third baseman, then Sano could get time here and there between first base, third base, and DH.

Cave is someone the Twins would probably want to give fairly consistent playing time to but they’ll have to be creative about how they do it with 3 established starting outfielders and several previously mentioned players vying for time at DH. In essence, the team could end up with anywhere from 9 to 11 guys that could start on any given day, lessening the need for more traditional backup players.

Starting rotation: Jose Berrios, Kyle Gibson, Jake Odorizzi, Fernando Romero, and Michael Pineda

Berrios, Gibson, and Odorizzi are easy choices to stay in the rotation. After that, there’s a ton of competition for the final 2 slots. I would love to see Romero win one of those slots and keep working on his exciting stuff, and if he’s healthy, a veteran Michael Pineda would round out the rotation nicely. Yet, with at least 3 other players competing alongside Romero and Pineda for those last 2 slots, it’s hard to say who will come out on top. It’ll likely come down to a spring training battle, with the best performers getting the starting jobs and the others being split between the bullpen and the minor leagues, ready to step in if a starter goes down.

Given how many players are in the running for rotation jobs in 2019, combined with the underwhelming class of free agent starters this offseason, it seems unnecessary to me for the Twins to sign a starter this winter. Still, they may end up with an unexciting option a la James Shields to help provide even more depth.

More from Puckett's Pond

• Minnesota Twins: What happens next at Shortstop?
• Minnesota Twins: Grading the Twins’ Joey Gallo signing
• Minnesota Twins: 4 Possible Trade Chips not named Kepler or Arraez
• Minnesota Twins: After missing out on Correa, what comes next?
• Minnesota Twins: Free Agency should be Ace or Bust for the Rotation

Bullpen: Trevor Hildenberger, Taylor Rogers, Addison Reed, Gabriel Moya, and 2-3 free agents

There’s no reason that Hildenberger, Rogers, and Reed won’t get the first three bullpen jobs. After them, Gabriel Moya is my pick for Twins breakout reliever of the year, locking down a job for the full season. Those four seem like fairly safe bets to me, and then I think we’ll sign a few free agents to help out.

There are many different options available this winter, and a bunch that could be a good for for the Minnesota Twins, so it’s difficult to narrow down who exactly the team will end up with. I would love to see two of Kelvin Herrera, Cody Allen, Joe Kelly, and Brad Brach sign contracts, but it’s tough to call.

Finally, I could see one or two of the starters that don’t make the cut for the rotation making a transition to the bullpen. Kohl Stewart and Zack Littell seem like the easiest transitional projects as Romero and Gonsalves’ upsides as starters will probably keep them starting, be it in the MLB or in AAA.

Thanks for reading!

If you’ve followed along in this series and made it all the way to here, thanks so much for reading! This concludes my series of 2018 recaps and 2019 predictions, as I’ll put it to bed until spring training concludes when I’ll dig it up to see how accurate my predictions were. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to cover Minnesota Twins news, rumors, and other tidbits as we all wait for baseball to return.