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Minnesota Twins: 8 free agents the team should try to sign this offseason

By Matt Smith

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 21: Kelvin Herrera #40 of the Washington Nationals throws to a Baltimore Orioles batter in the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Nationals Park on June 21, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 21: Kelvin Herrera #40 of the Washington Nationals throws to a Baltimore Orioles batter in the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Nationals Park on June 21, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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Minnesota Twins
OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 02: Jed Lowrie #8 of the Oakland Athletics hits an rbi single scoring Marcus Semien #10 against the Seattle Mariners in the bottom of the six inning at Oakland Alameda Coliseum on September 2, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

Jed Lowrie

Next up is my first choice to fill in as our starting second baseman- Jed Lowrie. He has quietly been a very solid player for the Oakland Athletics for the past few seasons. He’s hit between .263 and .277 each of the past 3 seasons, with OBPs between .314 and .360. Turning 35 early on in the 2019 season, he’s one of the older players available this offseason, but I think he lines up well with what the Twins are looking for out of a 2B.

I think the plan is still to have Jorge Polanco swing over to 2B once Royce Lewis is ready to take over shortstop, but that’s still at least a full year away. There aren’t really any top-tier second basemen available this offseason, nor do I think the Twins need to find one. Someone like Lowrie can bridge the gap until the Lewis area, and do so while still providing quality production in the meantime.

One concern with Lowrie is that he just posted a career bests in home runs and RBI in 2018, with 23 and 99 respectively. These are stats that might paint Lowrie as a better player than he is in actuality. We can look to what happened with Logan Morrison as a cautionary tale as to why teams should be cautious when balancing expectations and reality.

Yet, while Lowrie might drop back down to the 13-18 home run level, he would still provide enough offensive contributions elsewhere as to still be worthwhile in the lineup. He’ll likely have several other teams interested in him, but he’s too good for a match for the Minnesota Twins to not take a serious look at signing him.

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