A Twins fan and longtime friend of mine texted yesterday with a question, which I will clean up for publication: "Just out of curiosity, what … are the Twins doing? I don't get anything that's happened in the last week or so."
What my hirsute friend is referring to, of course, is the Twins' winning bid for strikeout-prone Korean slugger Byung-ho Park and Wednesday's trade that sent Aaron Hicks — a young outfielder with all the tools — to the Yankees for catcher John Ryan Murphy.
We won't be able to tell how good these moves turn out for a while. But for now, we can at least evaluate what they mean about how the Twins are thinking about their master plan:
1) They are confident that Miguel Sano can play the outfield: With Park likely to join the mix as a 1B/DH, he adds to the glut of corner infielders/hitters that already included Trevor Plouffe, Joe Mauer, Sano and potentially Kennys Vargas. Terry Ryan said after the Park news was announced that he expects Sano to play the outfield to relieve that glut, and the Hicks trade (to go along with Torii Hunter's retirement) only reinforces that notion.
When considering whether Sano can do this, it's helpful to remember that he used to be a shortstop. It's also helpful, on the flip side, to note that Sano no longer looks like a shortstop. He's a big man — quick for his size and with a very good arm — but projecting him as a corner outfielder is still very much a speculative thing.
2) There is at least hope that Byron Buxton is ready to start the year in center field: You *probably* don't trade Hicks unless you're pretty sure Buxton can be the guy at the beginning of April. Because what's your outfield otherwise? Eddie Rosario, a converted Sano and ??? Maybe the Twins still make a move for a veteran outfielder to provide some depth. Hopefully they just roll with the young guys, at least with the bulk of the playing time (which includes Max Kepler's permanent arrival at some point in 2016 as well).
3) The Twins feel like they're selling high on Hicks: This is a guy who started to maybe figure it out last year. He could end up being like Hunter, who went on to have a very nice career once he finally figured it out. Or Hicks could be a guy who had a nice month and will never fully realize his potential on a consistent basis.
4) They're probably not going to trade Trevor Plouffe: It seems odd to do all this shuffling around of Sano just to keep Plouffe — a professional hitter and improving fielder but not a franchise player — but if the idea is to add and not subtract then it looks like he stays based on the Hicks trade and Sano going to the outfield. Now Plouffe stays at third, Mauer stays at first (most of the time) and Park is the DH most of the time.
