Eduardo Nunez again will be a valuable presence on Twins bench

FORT MYERS, FLA. – Paul Molitor entered his first season as the Twins manager determined to stick with a roster of 12 pitchers and 13 position players. Molitor had no more success maintaining this roster balance than did his predecessor, Ron Gardenhire, during the lost seasons of wretched pitching from 2011 to 2014.

Molitor had to concede on May 22, when infielder Doug Bernier was sent to Class AAA Rochester and reliever Tim Stauffer came off the disabled list.

When making that forgettable exchange, Stauffer for Bernier, Molitor expressed the desire that it wouldn't be long before the Twins could go back to 12 pitchers. Sorry, Paul. The Twins didn't get back to more than three players on the bench until the roster expansion on Sept. 1.

The Twins will start with 12 pitchers and four bench players again this season. One will be the No. 2 catcher (presumably, John Ryan Murphy to start). Two will be utility players Eduardo Nunez and Danny Santana. And Oswaldo Arcia, if he shows any rebound from 2015 in exhibitions, figures to be the fourth.

Eventually, the Twins will go back to 13 pitchers and a three-player bench because it always happens. And when it does, Molitor will be grateful that the Yankees deemed Nunez expendable at the start of the 2014 season and sent him to the Twins for Miguel Sulbaran, a fringe pitching prospect.

"Eduardo is a character; he has personality," Molitor said. "He probably wonders why he doesn't have the chance to be a starter. I've had conversations with him about those things. He seems to be very valuable when he can come in and give your team a lift …"

Tony Oliva is in his 55th spring training with the Twins, now serving as a hitting adviser and legend. Tony has a favorable opinion of most players and particularly those who share his Caribbean background.

Tony O. might have been generous with his assessment of Nunez in the field, but the hitting and the running parts are unquestioned. In the era of three-man benches, you can't have a fielding specialist — a Pedro Florimon type — taking up space on a bench.

You need a guy who can play all over and hit. That's Eduardo Nunez.

"I always look at myself as a shortstop," Nunez said this week. "That's where I played as a boy. That's the position the Yankees signed me for at 16. I do know that the best way to help the Twins is to play wherever Paul Molitor wants me.

"Mollie and I have good communication. He tells me the day before when I'm going to be in the lineup."

When and where? "Yes," Nunez said.

Brian Dozier has been a constant presence at second base, starting 155 games in 2014 and 157 games in 2015. He went from an All-Star to an out-maker over the final 10 weeks of last season.

Molitor said in his postscript to 2015 that he would try to give Dozier more days off at second base, while knowing that Dozier wasn't one to sign off on that plan.

Clearly, Nunez got the message there could be an opportunity for more infield starts by increasing his aptitude at second base.

"I play the month of December in the Dominican every year," Nunez said. "They said, 'You will play shortstop again.' I said, 'No, second base.' That's what I did … played second base every day."

There had to be three or four times last season at Target Field when Nunez rifled a fastball down the left-field line, headed off for a double, lost his helmet as he sped around first, and a press box occupant would say:

Nunez played third in this week's exhibition opener and had two singles. He played shortstop Friday, hit a triple and lost his helmet rounding first.

"You can hit," a reporter said to Nunez in the clubhouse this week.

Nunez nodded and said: "Thank you."

What's the secret? "First pitch or not, if they throw me a ball here, I'm going to swing," he said.

Nunez put a flat hand in front of his waist. That's what a modern ballclub needs: a player who is looking to produce, not merely survive, on its three-man bench.