Enough hemming and hawing, the future is now for Danny Valencia. The time has come to prove if he can hit and play third base in the Major Leagues. It isn't even a matter of if he will succeed or not anymore or whether he has the statistics to make the jump to the big club. Valencia just needs to play, make mistakes and the Twins need to hope he learns from his mistakes and becomes better, but at the big league level. The free agent market is drying up for third basemen plus the revolving door at many infield positions, such as third base, for the Twins cannot continue. Especially when many of the players they bring in as patchwork options are 32+ years in age. This organization needs to think of infield player development as their number one priority and fill in holes with free agents. It seems the Twins have taken the opposite approach the last few years. Look for free agents, then look for waiver wire fill ins. It's a policy that is destined for failure so put an end to it. Joe Crede, when healthy is possibly the finest fielding third basemen the Twins have had in their nearly 50 year history. Unfortunately, he is rarely healthy so why not bring him back and then hand over third base to Danny Valencia in mid-season. Is there risk in that plan? Possibly, but really it has much more potential for success than failure and it's remarkably simple. Danny Valencia is 24, bring him up now and by the time he's 27 you have a third baseman who is polished and ready to hopefully help carry a team. On the other hand, if the Twins sign a free agent third baseman this off season they are telling Valencia he isn't worth their effort. His trade value would be lower at that point and the team would be sending a negative message to the entire minor league organization. Danny Valencia has put in his time. He deserves to be the Minnesota Twins third baseman no later that July 1st.
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