Minnesota Twins: What They Should Do with Their Outfield

Is Michael Cuddyer already gone?

Well, if he’s not, he has got some more outfield competition. On 1500 ESPN’s Sunday Morning SportsTalk, Minnesota Twins GM Terry Ryan said this about Trevor Plouffe:

"

It sounds as if I think our thoughts are he's probably going to be best suited to the outfield and DH. His bat's going to play, I think everybody believes that he's going to hit and he's got pop to all fields, and he showed some of that when he was up this year.

"

Not the worst idea, with the way Plouffe played shortstop last year. Plouffe committed 11 errors in 45 games at short last season.

Ryan did say his defense was a main reason for the move.

"

Unfortunately I think that defensive side of the game affects him some when he does go to the plate, so I think the best suit would be to maybe move him to the outfield some, and maybe that DH role if it's open.

"

With this statement, can Twins fans infer things about Cuddyer or the outfield as a whole?

When Ryan was asked about whether the team plans to try to retain Cuddyer, Jason Kubel or both, he affirmed they would.

"

Yes. We would like to have both those (guys) back. I'm not sure it's all realistic, but we're going to be hurting for offense as it is, and those are two of our better producers. Cuddyer is a perfect fit for us between Mauer and (Justin) Morneau, a right-handed bat, and Kubel can hit.

"

Ryan’s statements show that the Twins do like Plouffe and his bat and that they want both Kubel and Cuddyer back, but that may not be financially doable.

So what should the Twins do with their outfield situation?

It looks like Ben Revere and Denard Span will get the jobs in left field and center field, respectively, so that leaves right field. With Cuddyer being sought after hard and heavy by the Philadelphia Phillies (who can pay him a lot more money than the Twins), I believe the Twins should just let him walk. This leaves the Twins with two options: Jason Kubel and Trevor Plouffe.

It’s time for a platoon. Remember the platoon of Dustan Mohr and Bobby Kielty, better known as Dusty Kielmohr? Well, it’s time for the one-two punch of Trevor Plouffe and Jason Kubel or Treason Plubel.

When the Twins had their first right-field platoon, it ended in a division championship and two reliable outfielders. In this current situation, you have the opportunity to DH either one of them as well and feel confident in that decision.

Granted, the first thing the Twins have to do for this scenario to work is to re-sign Kubel, which may be even lower on the to-do list with major pitching and shortstop problems.

Cuddyer may be on the way out, Bill Smith is already out and Twins fans hope that Terry Ryan just does the right thing.