Minnesota Twins to add infielders Jonathan Schoop and Ronald Torreyes

The Minnesota Twins have reportedly agreed to deals to add infielders Jonathan Schoop and Ronald Torreyes to their roster for 2019.

The Minnesota Twins added to their barren middle infield mix Thursday afternoon. Two roster cast offs in second baseman Jonathan Schoop and former Yankee infielder Ronald Torreyes are now members of the Twins. At first blush, I can’t say these moves create a huge amount of excitement for me personally, but let’s take a look at the player’s first and analyze that later.

The name everyone will recognize here the most is Schoop. Schoop is a former All-Star and does have a 30 home run season under his belt, both of which came in 2017. That season he also slashed .293/.338/.503 with a .841 OPS. Schoop’s 2018 was split between the Baltimore Orioles and the Milwaukee Brewers and he saw his production drop off drastically.

Last season Schoop slashed .233/.266/.416 and the only real positive thing going on there is that he carried some of his power over from 2017 and hit 21 home runs. Depnding on which Schoop walks through the door this could end up being a very nice addition for the Twins. Minnesota has reportedly grabbed him on a 1 year, $7.5 million deal which certainly keeps money available for any other potential moves to come.

Torreyes is a name that caught my eye as he hit the waiver wire earlier this offseason. He was initially traded to the Chicago Cubs and then released and now is a member of the Twins, he seemingly will compete with Adrianza for the Twins utility infielder role. At first glance, he may have a leg up on Adrianza as he is a little more accomplished with his bat.

Over 100 at-bats in 2018, Torreyes slashed .280/.294/.370 and in 2017 with 315 at-bats he slashed .292/.314/.375. Adrianza does still probably have the better glove between the two infielders, but it doesn’t seem impossible for the bat to win out in this battle as long as MLB leaves shifts alone. Torreyes price tag of $800K may also give him a slight edge.

As I have looked closer at these two players if you would have told me in February this is what the Twins ended up with I probably would have been OK with that. Like I said earlier, 2017 Schoop could still show up and I am growing a liking to Torreyes. The hard thing is with players like Jose Iglesias and DJ LeMahieu still available I think I would have preferred the Twins pursue one of those two a little more seriously.

The big hope now with the middle infield taken care of relatively cheaply is the Twins will turn their attention to spending some of that money on bolstering the bullpen, exploring the starting pitching market, and maybe even finding another quality bat for the lineup.