Third Base: The Lost Art

Well, third base, what can I say? There is a lot to say about this "position." I hope we can all remember days when there were these mythical beings still existed. Troy Glaus, Adrian Beltre, Chipper Jones, even Corey Koskie could be included in that mix. But unfortunately, the days of the strong armed, power-hitting, slow, and questionable in the field third basemen are over. I mean just look at the Twins. No third basemen on their projected active roster. Not one. You might say "But we have plenty of third basemen!" What I say to that is, who are you talking about?

Nick Punto? He has no position, and if you want to put him somewhere, you'd say he was a second baseman at his true position. Matt Tolbert? Nope, sorry, shortstop. Micheal Cuddyer? Uh, no, far from it. Yes, he may have started at it for us, but he has also been our starting right fielder,as well as playing left fielde, second baseman, and first baseman. Brendan Harris is probably the closest thing we have to a third baseman; however he is also a second baseman and shortstop.

Now of those four players, none of them is a true third baseman, nor does any play like one. In that group, we have three middle infielders/ utility men and an outfielder/first baseman. Which will play third for us? All of them. Which will play a different position between times they play third? All of them.

But you can't blame them; it's just the way the game has become. Even the top third baseman in the game right now is a shortstop convert. The Twins tried to get a hold of one of the last real third basemen last year with Joe Crede, but that didn't fizzle out. The fact is the third basemen of old are dead and gone. If the Twins wanted to go after a new third baseman, their options would include an aging Adrian Beltre,an aged Aaron Boone, who is past his prime, which was never that great in the first place. They could attempt to snag Troy Glaus, who is very questionable, recovering from an injury.

And with the talk of Joe Mauer possibly leaving the catcher position, people have been speculating either him or Justin Morneau playing third, I'd have to say that it may work, but I have serious doubts about it. It may solve the problems, or it may make it much, much worse. The best bet is to just live with what we've got, because wash-ups almost always never cut it and switching too many positions around is never good. The best thing we have is to ride the trend until we find something in the Twins’ vast farm system that can resolve this.