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Twins Notes: Kirilloff, Santana, Buxton

By Anthony Franco | March 5, 2024 at 11:27pm CDT

Not long after the Jorge Polanco trade cleared room in the Twins’ budget, the front office added Carlos Santana on a $5.25MM free agent pact. The veteran offers an alternative at first base to Alex Kirilloff, who started 58 games there a year ago.

Minnesota has stopped short of declaring either player the starting first baseman. However, Aaron Gleeman of the Athletic opined on Monday that Santana is likely to get the bulk of the reps on the strength of his defensive reputation. Manager Rocco Baldelli indeed suggested Tuesday that defense would be a separator in divvying up playing time.

“Whoever’s the better defensive first baseman is going to play more at first base. I don’t know any other way to put that,” Baldelli said (link via Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). “There will be a determination when the time comes, when we put our lineups together. Both are going to play a good amount of first base, but the guy who is doing the best job for us on that side of the ball is the one who’s going to play more.”

Santana should have the edge in that regard. The 14-year big league veteran consistently rates as a quality gloveman. Defensive Runs Saved graded him 11 runs above average in more than 1150 innings a year ago. Statcast rated him as more of a solid than excellent defender, estimating he was two runs above par. Kirilloff, by contrast, rated between five and eight runs below average in only 510 first base innings by those metrics.

That’s not to say that Kirilloff’s path to a regular spot in the lineup is blocked. The left-handed hitter has more offensive upside than Santana brings to the table at this stage of his career. Kirilloff is coming off a .270/.348/.445 slash with 11 homers in 88 games. He hasn’t produced much against lefty pitching but owns a .274/.328/.440 batting line in 549 career plate appearances versus right-handers.

Kirilloff should see a good bit of action at designated hitter even if Santana operates as the primary first baseman. Minnesota also isn’t completely closing the book on Kirilloff as an outfielder. The 26-year-old tells Miller that he has continued taking outfield drills and expects to soon log game action on the grass. Kirilloff came through the minors as a corner outfielder. He hasn’t seen a ton of MLB action out there, logging 64 starts over parts of three seasons. Baldelli penciled him into the starting outfield on just 12 occasions last year.

The increased action at first base reflects both Minnesota’s outfield depth and the questions that evaluators have raised about Kirilloff’s athleticism. He’s certainly an inferior defender to Max Kepler in right field. Projected left fielder Matt Wallner has below-average range, although he has as strong an arm as any outfielder in the game.

Byron Buxton has the ability to help cover for a mediocre defender in left field, assuming he stays healthy. He’s among the sport’s best center fielders at full strength, but right knee issues kept him from logging any defensive work in 2023. The Star-Tribune’s Bobby Nightengale spoke with Buxton and hitting coach David Popkins about the difficulty in even remaining in a DH role with the amount of pain through which he had to play last season.

Buxton spoke about the mental challenge of playing through the injury, which he said frequently tightened up between at-bats and made it difficult to decelerate as a baserunner. The Twins are optimistic that he’ll be able to play center field fairly regularly in 2024, although Buxton’s injury history makes it difficult to bank on him starting 100+ games. Minnesota brought in Manuel Margot to serve as a quality fourth outfielder who can spell Buxton in center field and offers a right-handed complement to Kepler, Wallner and Kirilloff in the corners.

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Minnesota Twins Notes Alex Kirilloff Byron Buxton Carlos Santana

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27 Comments

  1. dano62

    1 year ago

    It’d be a good bet to back up Buxton with either Margot or Castro. Wishing Double-B all the luck for a healthy season.

    7
    Reply
  2. scruffmcgruff

    1 year ago

    Buxton’s talent is plain for everyone to see but man do injuries take their toll. A couple of my favorite players in Eric Chavez and David Wright had that same issue. You just hope the guy can manage to maintain his health the rest of the way.

    3
    Reply
    • Devil's advocate

      1 year ago

      At least we got to see what those guys could do when healthy. Still haven’t seen what a single full season looks like with Buck yet. Tough luck.

      3
      Reply
  3. FossSellsKeys

    1 year ago

    It’s absolutely nuts to play “the guy who is the best defender” at 1B for goodness sake. Short or C sure, but that’s our determining factor for first baseman? Really? AK had a TON more offensive upside that a 38 YO Santana and he should play. Santana is a solid backup plan and can still wack some lefties. He’s a good signing. But if he’s going to push AK to the bench, not so much. Foolishness.

    8
    Reply
    • tonyhoag

      1 year ago

      The article says Kirilloff should see a good deal of action at DH. So if they’re both in the lineup it’s asinine to put AK at 1B.

      6
      Reply
      • FossSellsKeys

        1 year ago

        First of all Santana should not be in the lineup against right-handers as much as possible, he has a huge platoon split the last couple of years and is really only an asset against lefties. So a platoon with AK makes sense, but having them both in the lineup simultaneously makes no sense. Also DHg is actually a really challenging skill for a lot of guys, especially young players who are used to playing the field. It’s a whole different mindset, like pinch hitting four times a game basically. Certain people can get really good at it but it takes a big adjustment. Buxton certainly didn’t adjust to it last year. Guys like Nelson Cruz and JD Martinez have figured out how to do it but they are the exception. Speaking of JDM…there’s a guy who could handle some DH ABs! So you may really diminish AK’s value by having him DH also.

        1
        Reply
  4. martras

    1 year ago

    Considering Santana can’t hit RHP, maybe backtrack that stupid assertion by Baldelli.

    6
    Reply
  5. david letterman

    1 year ago

    IF Buxton starts 100 games in center I bet the Twins win 95 games

    3
    Reply
    • tonyhoag

      1 year ago

      Yeah whenever i see breakdowns of twins records with him in the lineup versus not it’s stunning!

      2
      Reply
      • deweybelongsinthehall

        1 year ago

        Odds of Buxton playing 100 games in center?

        Reply
        • martras

          1 year ago

          5%

          3
          Reply
  6. mnnorthernjuice

    1 year ago

    They still need 1 starting pitcher. Good team on paper. Just struggle to see how they’ll replace Sonny, Mahle, & Kenta.

    3
    Reply
    • kleppy12

      1 year ago

      Mahle pitched in 5 games and Maeda had an ERA over 4 so I think they manage to find replacements for that.

      4
      Reply
      • martras

        1 year ago

        Yeah… except Kenta Maeda owned a 3.36 ERA over his last 16 starts after battling with shoulder fatigue early in the season. Remove one single start from Maeda and he was solid mid rotation.

        Reply
  7. User 1855579867

    1 year ago

    Only five more years of listening to the “if Buxton can stay healthy” talk. What a waste.

    6
    Reply
  8. admiral hopppaaa

    1 year ago

    Is it really a question of Kirilloff’s athleticism? Or is it really more about his lack of ability to stay healthy playing the field regularly?

    2
    Reply
    • crise

      1 year ago

      Truth. Once Kirilloff proves he can hit, then he can prove he can play every day. What position is secondary to those issues..

      1
      Reply
  9. JRamHOF

    1 year ago

    Buxton is just outfielder Tyler Glasnow, but with less media hype

    Reply
  10. Salzilla

    1 year ago

    Hey Twins fans, do you find your team exciting? Not trying to be a jerk, generally curious. From the outside, I like about three players on your team, the rest of the construction kinda bores me, and the way Rocco manages fuels that further. I’d play Alex wherever he gives you the most production from tbh.

    Reply
    • crise

      1 year ago

      I like the team,. Duran is fun coming from the pen, any time Buxton is on the field is electrifying, Lewis has a penchant for coming up large when the moment presents itself, and there are so many young guys around the edges that you’re always watching to see who takes the next step forward.

      Also, go back and read what Rocco has said about Kirilloff. He specifically says that Santana and Kirilloff are not sharing a single spot, and that they’ll both be on the field in various spots as the daily lineup unfolds. It’s like people are. looking for problems.

      3
      Reply
      • Salzilla

        1 year ago

        Love Duran and Lewis. Great players.

        1
        Reply
    • martras

      1 year ago

      Yes. The Twins team is pretty exciting. The bullpen is arguably the best in baseball, and from a position player perspective, definitely top 10. The rotation is where my concerns lay.

      1
      Reply
    • ohyeadam

      1 year ago

      After finally getting a playoff win I can’t help but be excited. Only wish they had another $15-25mil to spend on JDM, instead of Santana, or Montgomery. Really excited to see a healthy Buck and Lewis

      1
      Reply
      • Salzilla

        1 year ago

        JDM would have made more sense in terms of giving Alex more pt.

        1
        Reply
    • asheville_twins_fan

      1 year ago

      Yep, I am excited about this team. I think they can build on last year.

      Reply
  11. B1G City

    1 year ago

    Really, you’re suggesting Buxton cover more area to make up for Kirilloff’s lack of range in LF? How about just having Buxton play LF? Or RF? Not sure why it’s CF or bust for the guy playing on reconstructed, reconstructed, reconstructed knees and especially suggesting he cover LF too. It’s asinine analysis like this that’s lead to Buxton missing so many games.

    1
    Reply
  12. RazorRamonie

    1 year ago

    $20 bucks Margot plays more fans in the outfield than Buxton

    1
    Reply

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