Minnesota Twins: Don’t trade Trevor Plouffe, just DH Joe Mauer
We are only a couple days removed from the Minnesota Twins’ season and already an issue is arising concerning 2016. Who is going to play where for the Twins?
It’s a three-horse race that has conditions on all of the horses: Miguel Sano, Trevor Plouffe and Joe Mauer.
To recap, this past season, Plouffe played third, Mauer played first and Sano was the designated hitter most nights. The issue all starts with the Twins and General Manager Terry Ryan not wanting the 22-year-old Sano to be the team’s DH.
Sano can play two infield positions at his size: third base and first base. The Twins already have those spots filled, Joe Mauer has a no trade clause and that brings us to the potential trading of Trevor Plouffe.
This would be a very bad idea.
Plouffe has been the Twins best position player the past two full seasons and is, frankly, a better baseball player at this point than Joe Mauer. Plouffe is producing far more runs than Mauer and run producing is a huge issue for the Twins.
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Plouffe is at his prime. Mauer is past his. Plouffe has 80 or more RBI the past two seasons. Mauer has done that once following his MVP 2009 season. The issue does not revolve around Miguel Sano, he’ll be in the lineup no matter what, it comes down between Plouffe and Mauer.
In a perfect world, Plouffe would move to first since he has more experience than Sano there, Sano would play third and Mauer would DH most of the time, but also be stuck on the bench here and there.
It’s hard for the Twins to swallow the pill of paying Mauer so much money and having him do nothing but bat, but it has come to that. With Mauer no longer being able to catch again, he doesn’t have a solid footing anywhere on the field.
Sano and Plouffe belong on the field before Mauer. Mauer can’t even be stuck in the outfield anymore with the rising of Eddie Rosario, Aaron Hicks and hopefully soon some consistency from Byron Buxton. Plus, if Torii Hunter comes back, it gets that much more crowded.
This will be debated until the Twins report to spring training or make the mistake of trading Plouffe, but it’s simple to me. Don’t trade Plouffe and DH Mauer.
Next: Be happy with 2015, expect more in 2016!