There’s no one way to construct a perfect team, but the best are normally arranged around a strong core up the middle. Center field, shortstop and catcher are often viewed as the most prominent positions on the field.



The Twins’ trio was wrecked after only a month. Shortstop Jorge Polanco was in the midst of an 80-game suspension for a positive PED test. Center fielder Byron Buxton was rehabbing a broken toe and would never find traction, playing a total of 28 games. And catcher Jason Castro had suffered a knee injury that would lead to season-ending surgery. Though those issues didn’t decisively end the season then and there, the 2018 Twins were effectively done by May.



The rest of it, the underperformance by key veterans, including incoming free agents, injuries to prominent other players like Miguel Sanó and Ervin Santana, and a whirlwind of trades late in the summer, led to a long, disappointing season in the Twin Cities. While there were...