Who's on first? Twins facing several paths

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The Twins have used first base as something of a revolving door since 2019, when C.J. Cron roamed the earth (or, at least, the Upper Midwest) -- using the following players who made at least 10 appearances there in a season:

• Miguel Sanó
• Marwin Gonzalez
• Alex Kirilloff
• Willians Astudillo
• Jose Miranda
• Luis Arraez
• Donovan Solano
• Joey Gallo
• Carlos Santana

That’s quite the list. And the Twins enter this offseason with perhaps more uncertainty at the position than ever.

“We're going to have to prepare along a couple of different paths,” president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said.

First, after Santana’s one-year deal went about as well as the Twins could have hoped in a season during which the 38-year-old switch-hitter led the team with 23 homers and won the AL Gold Glove Award at first base (making him the oldest position player to win that award for the first time), he hit free agency.

Then, Kirilloff stunned everyone with the announcement of his retirement at age 26. The Twins would have loved for Kirilloff and his sweet-when-healthy swing to simply have emerged as the long-term solution.

So, what now?

“We're going to have to lean on some of the internal guys to take on some of those at-bats for sure, at least in terms of backup consideration,” Falvey said. “And then we'll just have to see how the offseason plays out there.”

That mention of backup consideration for the “internal guys” -- that’s Miranda and Edouard Julien, both of whom would require much more seasoning at the position -- appears to be far from an indication that the Twins are ready to hand one (or both) of them the gig and take things from there.

The right-handed-hitting Miranda has far more experience at first base of the two, but that’s relative, considering he’s made only 92 appearances at the position in his three big league seasons. He’s looked far more comfortable at his natural third-base spot, with his instincts and skills still developing at first base.

The lefty-swinging Julien would be even more of a developmental project. Having worked him out at first and explored that potential flexibility away from his home at second base, the Twins have had him play first base in a game five times during his two-year MLB career.

Sliding one over to first base or using them in a platoon could alleviate some of the Twins’ infield traffic jam, leaving Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee to slot in at third and second base, respectively. But it would certainly be a risky proposition on both defense and offense, especially with Miranda and Julien both coming off inconsistent seasons with the bat.

Considering the constraints of the Twins’ offseason, what else could be on the table?

A reunion with Santana might actually be an option, Falvey said.

“We’re not ruling that out as a potential path for us,” he said. “Obviously, it'll create some other changes that we have to consider on the roster. But I think that we're open-minded to him being a part of this going forward, for sure.”

That would certainly solve the problem in all sorts of ways. Santana was well-liked in the clubhouse, and he was seen by the coaching staff as a clear role model to younger players in how he prepared his body for the rigors of a full schedule as one of the most durable players of the past decade.

It would be riskier now that Santana is about to turn 39, but the Twins have seen firsthand how he takes care of his body and how much it helped for Santana’s glove to be so automatic at first base, while many of the club’s other infielders went through defensive growing pains. The switch-hitting bat with some pop remaining helps, too.

There could obviously be trades -- seemingly the Twins’ most likely path to this offseason -- or the likes of Solano, Paul Goldschmidt, Justin Turner and Wilmer Flores are available in free agency. It helps that Santana was signed to a very reasonable one-year, $5.25 million deal in 2024, which seemingly sets a baseline for what a ’25 agreement could look like.

The Twins have the moving pieces to make an addition work at just about any defensive position -- that’s another boon of their versatile roster -- which expands their options, considering Miranda and Julien present a backdrop for first base, at minimum.

Falvey preached creativity in his approach to the offseason, and it remains to be seen whether it could also come into play here.