Defensive genius of Andrelton Simmons, Byron Buxton will improve Twins by leaps and dives

Major League Baseball starting spring training and the regular season on its original schedule sounds like a terrible idea. I can't wait.

Making someone work in Florida right now sounds like the worst idea we've had in America since we trusted a smarmy misanthrope named Mark Zuckerberg with our personal information.

But …

This news, if it holds up, gives us the opportunity to dream of lush mowed outfields, sunshine, ambient baseball sounds and artistry.

We won't know for many months whether the Twins' signing of shortstop Andrelton Simmons will propel them to an overdue playoff victory, but baseball, unlike almost every other sport, is really more about the day-to-day unspooling of the long season, and serial entertainment that enhances summer days and nights, than it is about championships.

At least, that's the way I've always felt.

That's why, for me, Simmons is the most exciting signing the Twins could have made, if we want to live in the real world — the one in which the Twins were never going to sign Trevor Bauer, no matter how much you complain about the Pohlads.

Baseball's starting pitchers work every five of six days. The best relievers work a few times a week. The best hitters can go hitless in any given game.

The surest route to daily baseball entertainment comes in the form of fielders.

And whenever spring training begins, Twins fans will get to watch the world's best-fielding center field/shortstop combination.

The Twins signed Simmons because his glove should help win games, but nobody knows exactly how that will play out.

What we can be assured of is that when Byron Buxton and Simmons are on the field together, every ball hit anywhere near their realms will become an object of suspense and entertainment.

Buxton is the fastest great center fielder I've ever seen, and one of the most fearless.

Simmons is a spectacular fielder who will make plays on balls in the hole that Jorge Polanco never reached.

Polanco was never a true shortstop. He was a gifted hitter who could hold down the position. He made himself quite valuable by playing that role.

Now Simmons gives the Twins a major upgrade at shortstop and allows Polanco to play an easier position, and one that might be easier on his body. Polanco has played much of the past two seasons despite leg injuries. At second base, the hardest play he'll have to make is the double-play turn, and his arm strength and height should make that easy for him.

Because my family moved a lot, I spent most of my formative sports fan years in Baltimore and St. Louis, so I grew up watching Paul Blair and Mark Belanger man center field and shortstop for the Orioles, and Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee play those positions for the Cardinals.

It is often said the most exciting play in baseball is the triple, and there is truth in that. But I'm not sure any triple has ever been as thrilling as watching Blair, McGee or Buxton make a leaping or diving catch, or watching Belanger, Smith or someone such as Simmons dive into the hole, spring up like a gymnast and throw a strike to first just in time to get a disbelieving hitter.

This is why baseball needs to move away from the analytics craze that led to a game in which the ball hardly ever seems to be in play. Walks and strikeouts are baseball's least-interesting plays, and while home runs can be captivating, they lead to more walks and strikeouts, as pitchers nibble at the strike zone and make the home plate umpire the central figure in far too many games.

Twins games in 2021 should feature Buxton at full sprint and Simmons sliding on his belly as often as possible, whenever the season starts.

Jim Souhan's podcast can be heard at TalkNorth.com. On Twitter: @SouhanStrib. jsouhan@startribune.com