As noted in Monday's print column, the Twins didn't really have a regular shortstop in 2008. Adam Everett opened with the job, but he had shoulder troubles and went onthe DL twice. Matt Tolbert was supposedly about to claim regular playing time — not necessarily at one specific posiiton — but he decided to slide headfirst and mess up his thumb badly enough to require surgery. Nick Punto went on the DL twice; after he came off the second time, he had a week-long stretch in which he didn't play becasue of injury. All this left Brendan Harris, getting considerable action at shortstop; Tampa Bay regards Jason Bartlett as its MVP because he's not Brendan Harris.

Punto wound up with the regular job down the stretch. He missed just one game from July 22 on, although there were two other games in which he came off the bench, and there was a 19-game period during which Punto was playing second base because Alexi Casilla was on the shelf with his own thumb injury.

The upshot of it all: Punto played 531 innings at short, Harris 464 and Everett 364, with Tolbert and Casilla picking up another 100 combined. Their basic defensive stats can be found here.

Everett was on a one-year deal, and it's unlikely the Twins will invite him back. Harris is arbitration eligible and may be retained, but if he returns it will be as a right-handed platoon option at third and backup middle infielder; his defensive shortcomings make him an unlikely Plan A for 2009.

Punto is also a free agent, but one likely to remain with the Twins. He's not likely to bust the bank by going elsewhere, and he knows that Ron Gardenhire has a high regard for what he brings to the team.

And yet there is little indication that the Twins see him as next season's shortstop. The Star Tribune's LaVelle Neal III has suggested that the Twins may move Casilla to short and plug Tolbert in at second, with Punto in a reserve role; it's unclear to me if that's Neal's personal idea or if he's been lead to that notion by Gardy or others in the organization. Joe Christensen, also of the Strib, has blogged about the possibility of the Twins pursing Orlando Cabrera, who spent this season with the White Sox.

Readers who were here during my spring training sojourn may remember that I was attentive to Trevor Plouffe, a minor league shortstop and former first-round pick (2004). Plouffe split 2008 between Double A New Britain and Triple A Rochester and neither embarrassed himself nor forced the Twins to consider him for 2009. He's be 23 next year, so there's time for him. But next year isn't going to be that time.

I think Punto's biggest problem with landed the shortstop job in 2009 is his 2007 season, which was below lousy. The Twins may have the notion, correct or not, that he plays better when he's fighting for playing time.