Minnesota Twins: What to do at shortstop without Jorge Polanco?

The Minnesota Twins have lost their starting shortstop for half the season. How can they replace him?

The Minnesota Twins found out on Sunday that their starting shortstop Jorge Polanco would be missing half the season after testing positive to a PED.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Minnesota Twins big finish to the 2017 season, the loss of Polanco may seem like a simple chip from an otherwise loaded roster. After all, he’s a career -13.2 UZR/150 on defense and 98 OPS+ with the bat, meaning he’s certainly below-average in career numbers in both.

Of course, that would miss how Polanco put in a ton of time with Twins coaches on the field and in the cage to improve, and he saw his defense get progressively better, to the point where he was graded with a 0.6 dWAR via Baseball Reference in the 2017 season and tapped into his instincts to get a positive range rating on Fangraphs with all of his other defensive metrics getting much closer to neutral.

Offensively, he made progress through the season, but on August 1, he truly took off with the bat. From August 1 to the end of the season, he hit .316/.377/.553 with 10 home runs and 7 stolen bases over just 55 games, becoming a catalyst for an entire Minnesota Twins team that took off in the month and pushed into a playoff spot.

Losing Polanco is definitely a hit to the Twins, so how should they best replace him while he’s out. We’ll look at four different options.

Next: Fill in from within the MLB roster

Already in MLB spring camp

Currently the Minnesota Twins have three options in their spring training camp with the ability and experience to play shortstop that are being widely mentioned, though I’d argue there are four true options.

The primary internal option is the ultimate utilityman Eduardo Escobar. Steady and sure as a fill-in throughout the infield before 2017, Escobar found himself taking on the third base job mid-August and running with it, flashing power that he had never shown before. Over 490 games entering 2017, he’d hit 27 home runs. Then in 2017, he hit 21 in 129 games.

Escobar’s bat is solid, and he’s got a flexible glove with the ability to handle short, but playing short full-time is not his forte defensively. In fact, many assumed he would be the one to open the season at third base if/when Miguel Sano‘s suspension came down from the league office for a sexual assault accusation.

Last season, the Minnesota Twins brought in another utility man who fit in well with the club’s culture in spite of not exactly providing a lot of offensive value. Ehire Adrianza likely will bring to mind rough images of his first attempts at outfield defense last season in Twins’ fans minds, but he is a natural shortstop that would likely give the team at least a league-average glove at the position and some speed offensively, but likely a fairly empty bat otherwise.

A non-roster minor league contract from the offseason, Erick Aybar has an out upcoming on his contract that will make a decision on his future important, but his signing is now looking like a smart move, to say the least. While Aybar is no spring chicken, with a dozen major league seasons under his belt, he seemed to re-invent himself at the position last year. Once a player who relied on his pure range, Aybar learned to trust his positioning and had one of his most sure-handed seasons of his major league career at the position. Of course, his offense was significantly below average, hitting just .234/.300/.348, though he did have his best walk rate of his career. He could make the roster, but his ability to start more than once or twice per week is going to be something on a short leash due to his age.

My fourth additional in-house option is one of the current leaders of the team. Coming up, Brian Dozier was a shortstop until he reached the major leagues. In fact, his first starting opportunity with the Minnesota Twins was as the team’s starting shortstop in 2012.

Dozier is one of the elite 2B in the league at this point, and the move could be viewed as a crazy one, but if he was willing and able, it could be easier to find a second baseman to impact the major league roster than a shortstop. This could also be a way for Dozier to showcase himself for free agency after the season, showing more skills that could make him valuable in the market.

If not one of the guys still in major league camp, how about those in minor league camp? Who could possibly be an answer there?

Next: Bring up a minor leaguer

Signing a free agent

Incredibly, there are just two free agent shortstops left on the market, though both are veterans that could offer something of value to the Twins at the position.

Former Twin J.J. Hardy has had difficulty staying healthy in the last few seasons, not playing more than 115 games since 2014. He’s also struggled to produce while on the field, hitting .237/.275/.350 over the last three seasons with his once-powerful bat only able to produce 12 home runs per 162 games. While he’s not been on the field much, he’s still shown an excellent glove when he’s been on the field, something he used to do as one of the league’s best.

Hardy would likely only require a minor league contract to bring in, and if he’s in good physical health, he could be a prime veteran presence, but it may say something that the Twins had the same opportunity to sign Hardy as they did Aybar and chose Aybar instead (though perhaps Hardy was unwilling to accept a minor league deal at that time, whereas he may have changed his mind at this point).

The other name left with shortstop background is Stephen Drew. Drew has been playing a utility role for the last couple of seasons with the Washington Nationals, but in just 2015, Drew hit 17 home runs in 131 games with the Yankees. Drew, like Hardy has been plagued by injuries (and role), playing more than 100 games just twice since 2011.

While not the defender that Hardy is, Drew’s bat has still been present (low-average, above-average power) as a utility player, and he’s shown average shortstop skills, but also 35, like Hardy, Drew is not a guy to expect to suddenly find youth and play a full, healthy season.

With not many great options on the free agent market, what about the trade market?

Next: Trade options

Trade options

Obviously a shortstop is not just lying around that someone doesn’t need, and acquiring one, especially this close to the season, could require a premium. That all said, there are a few options out there to explore.

The Tampa Bay Rays would be an interesting team to approach again in trade, after acquiring Jake Odorizzi already this offseason. Starting shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria is not a great hitter, but he’s an elite defender. The team did acquire an infielder from the Oakland A’s in Joey Wendle that they want to see get more time, and they have top prospect Willy Adames ready for the big league jump. This might be a deal that the Twins have to wait a few weeks to do, so the Rays can hold Adames in the minors long enough to get the extra contract control before calling him up after the deal before they’ll ship away Hechavarria, but they likely won’t get a better defender in a trade.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Texas Rangers have locked in starters Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor up the middle for years to come, and now former top prospect Jurickson Profar has run out of options. Profar has certain skills with the bat, walking more than he struck out in AAA, with an .800+ OPS while primarily playing shortstop. He’s shown his arm no longer to be the elite arm it once was, but it’s average at shortstop, and he has good hands at the position, so his quality bat plus an average glove would be quite valuable if he could get out of Texas.

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Expected to get the starting job at shortstop in 2018, the Kansas City Royals oddly blocked young Adalberto Mondesi this offseason when they re-signed Alcides Escobar. That would give Mondesi no place to play, and while he may not be refined at the plate, he does offer incredible speed along with electric skills defensively, albeit also unrefined defensive skills.

One of the big “launch angle” stories of the spring has been Chad Pinder of the Oakland Athletics. The main issue for Pinder is that there are veterans at both 2B and SS, and star prospect Franklin Barreto may have had the best spring of any A’s infielder, making it likely he’s up early in 2018. He could be better suited where he’d get more consistent playing time.

Last, but not least, the Milwaukee Brewers have ridiculous depth throughout the field, but Jonathan Villar has become expensive, making $2.55M in 2018 in arbitration and without a starting position at either middle infield spot. Villar had his biggest season in 2016 when he was primarily playing short, and he could have a revival with a starting role, though he could be an expensive piece to acquire.

Next: Lynn signing makes Twins favorites

No matter the direction the Minnesota Twins go, it does seem that the additions made throughout the offseason has improved the roster enough that whomever is plugged into the shortstop role should not terribly take the team off course, as any poor play will simply lead to a quick hook and a “next man up” sort of system until the right fit is found.