Are the Minnesota Twins prepared to replace Max Kepler if he is traded?
The Minnesota Twins have been working the trade market and Max Kepler is wanted by other teams. Are the Twins ready to replace him in their lineup?
The Minnesota Twins have been in pursuit of starting pitching help this offseason. They were reportedly in on Yu Darvish and willing to give him something in the area of 5 years and $100 million. In the end, Darvish chose the 6 years and $126 million that the Chicago Cubs offered him.
As that news came to be known the question became, “Now what Twins?” There are still free agent starting pitchers like Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn, and Alex Cobb available. A trade is also an option and the name that keeps coming up as a trade target is Chris Archer. Around the same time that the Darvish deal was becoming final there was also the report that the Twins had made an offer to the Tampa Bay Rays for Archer within the last several weeks.
With the report of the offer was also the report that the Rays are interested in Twins outfielder Max Kepler. No matter the trade partner there have also been reports that if the Rays trade one of their pitchers, whether it is Archer or Jake Odorizzi, they may want to include Denard Span‘s contract with any deal. A lot to chew on their as a Twins fan.
Would the Twins want to or should they part ways with the left-handed Kepler? Kepler is only 25 years old and could very well still be coming into his own as a baseball player since the Twins signed him at 16-years old as an athlete who had little experience with the game. There could still be plenty of ways Kepler could make some big leaps towards becoming a polished baseball player.
In 2017, Kepler slashed .243/.312/.425 and had an OPS of .737. He has also shown the ability to play a good defensive right field. When Kepler is hitting well he can be a very dangerous hitter with power potential. He did show some warts this year as he struggled to hit left-handed pitching. In 125 at-bats he only slashed .152/.213/.240 with 2 home runs against lefties. In a small sample size, those numbers seemed to improve towards the end of 2017 but still certainly a question mark moving forward.
The Rays are clearly interested but are the Twins ready to deal Kepler and enough with him to get Archer? Do the Twins have a good contingency plan for the outfield if they trade Kepler? We are going to explore just that question.
Denard Span
One contingency plan could be in a trade for Archer as the Twins would bring back Denard Span and his contract. Span may not be the player he was when he was patrolling center field for the Twins before he was traded away to the Washington Nationals for starting pitcher Alex Meyer. Span could still be quite the serviceable player for the Twins if they did acquire him.
Last season with the San Fransisco Giants Span was able to slash .272/.329/.427 with a .756 OPS, 12 home runs and 31 doubles. Proving he still has value offensively as an outfielder and if he is able to maintain that performance Span can be valuable to a hopeful contender like the Twins.
The biggest difference between the Span Twins fans knew when he came up with the Twins and the current version is as he has aged he isn’t quite the same defender as he was then. With Byron Buxton in center field covering the ground he does, a move to right field might prove very beneficial for Span and his defensive performance. That move may even bring back memories of when Carlos Gomez and Span roamed the outfield next to one another.
Span clearly doesn’t have the upside of Kepler. That is certainly a fair tradeoff to get an ace like Archer in the Twins rotation and as this list continues we will see their other young outfielders the Twins could turn to. With all those young outfielders, Span could serve well as a stop-gap for the Twins and then they would be able to buy out the rest of his contract before 2019.
Zack Granite
Another outfielder with some major league experience that could help fill the Kepler void would be Zack Granite who currently figures to be in strong consideration as the Twins 4th outfielder in 2018. Granite has continued to surprise as he has made his way through the Twins minor league system after being the teams 14th round pick in the 2013 draft out of Seton Hall.
To start, Granite has the skill set to keep the “Nothing but Raindrops” theme in the outfield trio going the best. He still has the speed and ability to track down fly balls as a solid center fielder. That would make a move to a corner outfield a way for Granite to show off his defensive ability in a less demanding position.
Offensively through the minors, Granite was known as a speedy on-base machine. In his first taste of the majors in 2017, he hit .237/.321/.290. In his first taste of the majors, Granite didn’t take off right away so there is room to improve. No matter the improvement, Granite would likely always be a downgrade from Kepler in the power category.
If Granite could develop into the type of hitter he was in the minors he could make a very good table setter for the Twins lineup. His 2017 numbers in the minors would be near impossible to duplicate with a slash line of .340/.394/.479, but if he could settle in around his 2016 numbers .295/.347/.382 and a .729 OPS, that could help produce some runs with the other Twins bats around him.
Granite isn’t likely a long-term option unless he continues to prove the baseball world wrong. As a short-term fill-in Granite is certainly a good option if the Twins were to trade Kepler this spring.
Free Agents and Trades
There is always the chance the Twins could look to make another move in order to fill Kepler’s void in the outfield. The splashiest move that the Twins could make would be to sign the big bat of the 2018 free agent class, J.D. Martinez.
The Twins were willing to spend money on the high-priced pitcher Darvish. Now with Archer filling the starter void, the Twins could be willing to shift those financial resources to the lineup. Since becoming a mainstay in Detroit, Martinez has been an offensive force. Last season Martinez hit .303/.376/.690 with 45 home runs.
The other option would be to strike another trade to bring in some outside outfield help. An obvious trade partner, in that case, would be the Milwaukee Brewers who currently have an embarrassment of riches in outfielders they are looking to deal.
Domingo Santana appears to be the trade chip they would most like to move. The 25-year old hit .278/.371/.505 and added 30 home runs and 29 doubles. Santana could also prove to be that right-handed power bat the Twins have lacked with a 2017 split against left-handed pitchers of .286/.385/.508.
Within the same organization, the Twins could even look at guys like Brett Phillips who is young and has upside but not nearly as established as Santana. Another option would be to see if the Twins would be able to try to help Keon Broxton finally put all the tools he has together and become a productive major league player. This is just one team the Twins could look to deal with but the Brewers may have the most intriguing outfield options that are available.