Harris or Punto at 2B?

My 2B Organizational Rankings post sparked a little bit of a conversation as to whether Brendan Harris or Nick Punto will be the Twins starting second baseman this season. While I'm going to get into this in a lot more detail just prior to the start of Spring Training, and throughout the spring battle, I wanted to just clarify my position now for the record.

First, let me say that if I were the one making the decision, I would almost certainly pick Harris. Punto is an excellent defensive player, but I don't think Harris is such a butcher that the difference would be particularly meaningful. Given Harris' generally recognized offensive superiority over Punto, then, I think the Twins would get more of a benefit from having Harris in the lineup at 2B rather than Punto.

Nonetheless, I think Punto is going to be handed the job out of Spring Training unless he does absolutely horribly at the plate. The reasons are that the Twins have a much longer relationship with Punto than they do with Harris, and Ron Gardenhire seems to value having his glove on the field. In other words, I think the race is rigged pretty seriously in Punto's favor. As I said, I'll have more on this once Spring Training gets underway -- but this, at least, should provide you with an understanding of why I've stated that Nick Punto will win the 2B job, even if you disagree with my conclusion.