Twins have a lot riding on their choice of shortstop

BY GORDON WITTENMYER
Pioneer Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Twins may have only one hole to fill in their starting lineup this spring, but the hole at shortstop has never appeared deeper. Not in more than 20 years.

With the departure of Cristian Guzman to the Washington Nationals as a free agent, the Twins must spend the next 4 1/2 weeks sorting through a handful of utility players and prospects to come up with a replacement capable of helping the team get to the playoffs again — or at least capable enough to not screw it up.

"I don't know if there's any more key position than shortstop," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, a former shortstop. "I don't know how much more key of a position you could have to fill."

For all the new faces the Twins added to the pitching staff last year, the face they put on their shortstop position when they break camp one month from today might be just as important — particularly for a team that has yet to prove it's any better than average at scoring runs.

"If you look at all the teams that have won a World Series, they were probably all strong up the middle," said new Twins catcher Mike Redmond, a member of Florida's 2003 World Series champion. "And shortstop's a key position in that. The guy has to cover a lot of ground over there and has a ton of plays in a game. He can change a lot of games."

For better and for worse.

The number of teams since the dead-ball era that won World Series without a proven shortstop can be counted on one hand. The Twins have never reached the playoffs without a shortstop who brought better-than-average credentials to the position. Both teams in last year's World Series had Gold Glove shortstops, Edgar Renteria for St. Louis and Orlando Cabrera for Boston.

"So what you're saying is we're screwed," Twins infield coach Al Newman said. "I'm hoping that's a fallacy."

If it's not, the Twins would be one of the rare exceptions in major league history if they win the World Series this year with one of their current shortstop candidates.

Veteran newcomer Juan Castro, 32, has the most experience among the four in the hunt, but he has never been a full-time starter at any position. Augie Ojeda, last year's utility infielder who impressed the manager and coaching staff during his 30 games with the team, hasn't spent a full season in the big leagues in three years.

Nick Punto's first full season in the big leagues last year was spent mostly recovering from rib-cage and collarbone injuries. And he is slowed by a back injury this spring.

The fourth candidate, Jason Bartlett, is a rookie with eight games of major league experience, a lot to prove in the field and more than four decades of history working against him. In the past 42 seasons, only four teams have made it to the World Series with a rookie shortstop.

The last one to do it also was the only one to win a Series during that 42-year span: the 1996 New York Yankees with rookie Derek Jeter.

"Maybe I can be like Jeter," Bartlett said. "That would be awesome. Then maybe I could be a trivia question."

Unless Bartlett runs away from the pack with a flawless spring, don't expect the Twins to play trivial pursuit with their championship plans this season.

"That's just a position you don't take a chance with," Newman said.

Especially when you're breaking in a new third baseman (Michael Cuddyer), and three-fifths of your starting rotation pitches on the Hoover plan — let them hit it and watch your infield clean the carpet.

"That starts to weight the shortstop issue a little bit," said veteran pitcher Terry Mulholland, who pitched in a World Series with the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies.

It's a weight the Twins haven't lugged since Houston Jiminez roamed the Metrodome turf in 1984. Since that forgettable shortstop, they've been as stable at that position as most teams — and exceptional at times, from underrated Greg Gagne through the championship years to steady Pat Meares in the mid-1990s to Guzman, an all-star in 2001.

And they've never won without somebody at least as good as Guzman or Gagne. When they went to their first World Series, in 1965, shortstop Zoilo Versalles was a former Gold Glove winner who won the American League Most Valuable Player Award that year.

And the last time they won back-to-back division titles before this three-year reign, in 1969-70, their shortstop was Leo Cardenas, a four-time all-star who also won a Gold Glove.

"If you don't catch the ball and you give extra outs, you just don't win consistently in this league," Gardenhire said. "We've seen that with other ballclubs we've faced who have as good a pitching and better offensive numbers. But the one area we always seem to thrive in is catching the ball."

Gardenhire said he wants to see one guy win the job outright and hold onto it all season. But a shortstop platoon remains a possibility.

The last team to do that successfully and win a World Series was the 1985 Kansas City Royals, another team with deep starting pitching and an all-star closer. The Royals' shortstops that year: the underwhelming pair of Onix Concepcion and Buddy Biancalana, who battled all year before Biancalana earned the job throughout the postseason.

"I don't see us going every two days with a different guy like that," Newman said. "It's the one position that you don't just put anyone in there."

PLAYING BIG IN THE MIDDLE

Every year the Twins have made the playoffs they've had an experienced shortstop with strong major league credentials: