Minnesota Twins: Remaining Free Agents the front office should pursue
The Minnesota Twins have made a few moves this offseason but there are a few free agents remaining that would help them compete in 2019.
The Minnesota Twins have made two significant additions to their roster this offseason. Before the Winter Meetings had even begun the Twins had signed first baseman C.J. Cron and second baseman Jonathan Schoop to complete the right side of their 2019 infield.
Since then the rumblings out of the Twins front office has been pretty quiet. Which has been frustrating for fans as we expected a much different offseason with money from both Joe Mauer and Ervin Santana‘s contracts coming off of the books.
There is still a need to add pitching to the roster if the Twins plan on overtaking the Cleveland Indians in the division. The bullpen especially seems to have a need for at least one if not two established arms. An impact bat somewhere would also be very welcomed into the current lineup. Here are some of the remaining free agents the front office should consider.
Bryce Harper and Manny Machado
I will lead this section off by saying this. Neither of these guys are coming to the Twins. It isn’t even necessarily because the Twins play in mid-market Minnesota or that they will cost too much. It is more that the Twins front office just doesn’t seem to want either of these players.
The reality is that both of these players would be able to help out the Twins line up as each would represent the addition of another impact bat. Manny Machado would be easier to fit into the lineup since he could slot into third base and Miguel Sano could simply slide over to first base and DH.
Bryce Harper would be a bit trickier to fit into the lineup with a full complement of outfielders. Harper is the sort of player that if he is coming to your team you make room for him. Harper’s presence would allow the Twins to trade some of their current outfield depth to fill other needs. Basically, it would be what the Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be doing right now after their trade with the Cincinnati Reds.
Like I said at the beginning of this section. This isn’t happening. The Twins front office seems to be going in a different direction than our desires as fans. With the Twins potential payroll money available to them they should still be trying to get in on one of these two players.
Kelvin Herrera and Cody Allen
The Twins need help in their bullpen. There is simply no way around it. While the Twins have a plethora of almost ready arms, if they are going to truly jump over the Indians they need to add an arm or two that can solidify the backend of their bullpen.
If you have followed along at all with me I was fully on the Jeurys Familia bandwagon, but now that he has signed other names need to enter the picture. At this point in the offseason, we are really down to names that have been quality relievers but have question marks attached to them.
Kelvin Herrera and Cody Allen are both pitchers who have dominated the AL Central as closers but had down years in 2018. Herrera has fire behind his pitches as he can still regularly hit 97 mph on the radar gun. The hesitation with Herrera is his well documented Lisfranc injury which is a tricky injury to recover from calling his 2019 availability into question.
Allen has been part of several very good Indians bullpens. While 2018 saw his ERA soar to 4.70 he is only a season removed from having a 2.94 ERA and two seasons removed from a 2.51 ERA. He also regularly has been able to strike out batters at a rate of over 10 per nine innings.
While each of these players have plenty of question marks attached to them at this point they both could be very solid additions to the Twins bullpen. Especially if they each return to their 2017 form.
Jed Lowrie
This is a name that I had sort of let go off of my own radar in regards to a fit for the Twins. That had a lot to simply do with the Twins seemingly going bargain bin shopping when it came to their offseason approach.
When we did our FanSided MLB GM simulations one of my goals was to try and sign Jed Lowrie to take over third base and move Sano over to first. Brandon Warne reminded me of that idea on Twitter and it still seems like one good way the Twins can improve their lineup.
The Twins could really use an impact bat in their lineup. Yes, Max Kepler could emerge, Byron Buxton and Sano could figure it out, but with the Indians trading away talent I would rather not hope for just those things to happen. Lowrie is a right-handed bat who could provide a continued threat to opposing pitchers.
Last season Lowrie hit .267/.353/.448 with a .801 OPS and 23 home runs in a season when he was selected as an All-Star. Lowrie has been a force in the Oakland Athletics lineup for the past two seasons and the Twins would hope for that to continue in their lineup.
With the ability to play second base he also provides some defensive flexibility which allows him to rotate in and out of third, second, and even DH if needed. Lowrie’s signing would really accomplish a similar goal as the rumored signing of Nelson Cruz but with less power but added defensive versatility.
Yasmani Grandal
It could certainly be questioned on whether or not the Twins truly need another catcher on their roster. With Mitch Garver really needing an opportunity to prove he can be an everyday catcher and Jason Castro on his way back from injury the catcher position may be full. Much like Harper earlier in this post, Yasmani Grandal is good enough of a talent that you add him and figure the rest out later.
The question facing the Twins in 2018 as their roster currently sits, assuming everyone is healthy, is do they go with the bat of Garver or glove of Castro for their starting catcher. A Grandal signing would allow the Twins to really send out a good glove catcher who also is pretty good with the bat for a catcher.
When it comes to defense he ranked at the top of the list in several pitch framing metrics. Looking at what Statcorner has compiled, Grandal was able to convert 9.4% of pitches he caught outside the strike zone into strikes. In his limited action Castro topped that list while Garver finished at 6.4%. Also according to Statcorner that resulted in a swing of 104 calls that were called in the Dodgers favor over 2018.
When we add to those defensive numbers the fact that Grandal is a career .240/.341/.441 hitter it shows just how well-rounded of a catcher he is. In the past three seasons Grandal has also shown good home run power hitting 27, 22, and 24 home runs over those seasons. So while this may not feel like a screaming need to add a catcher it would be a significant upgrade to what is currently on paper.
Yusei Kikuchi
Out of all the needs left for the Twins, the starting rotation is an area I would be OK not making an addition to this offseason. Instead the Twins could wait until the trade deadline to see what may be available if they are competing for a playoff spot. If they are going to add to the rotation of the remaining pitchers they should pursue Yusei Kikuchi.
Kikuchi was posted earlier this month by his Japanese club the Seibu Lions. The left-hander will turn 28 during this next baseball season making it very possible that he will just be hitting his prime years as he enters the MLB. While the Twins may be at a disadvantage as Japanese players tend to prefer west coast clubs or big clubs like the Yankees, they need to pursue Kikuchi.
This past season in Japan Kikuchi started 23 games and logged 163.2 innings. He also finished the season with a 3.08 ERA and a 153/45 strikeout to walk ratio. He is also just a season removed from his career best 217/49 K/BB. There are always questions around how players will perform as they jump leagues but Kikuchi seems like a player that is worth taking a run at even with that question looming large.
Of course, the other pitcher the Twins could pursue who has top-end potential is Dallas Keuchel. Keuchel’s tendency to produce grounders off of batters could be a good fit in the long term as the Twins infield will hopefully only continue to improve defensively. Kikuchi’s age and handedness causes me to prefer him as an option for the Twins.