Friday was the deadline for teams to decide which players to tender and go to arbitration with and who will get cut loose. The non-tender deadline was a little less stressful for the Minnesota Twins, as most of the 11 players the team needed to make a call on are essential pieces of the roster.
If we lived in a world where Royce Lewis or Joe Ryan were on the non-tender bubble, it's a world where baseball is played very differently. In this universe those guys, in addition to Bailey Ober, Ryan Jeffers, Jhoan Duran, and Griffin Jax, are no-brainer tenders.
Elsewhere around the league the decisions aren't as cut-and-dry. For instance, the Philadelphia Phillies decided on Friday to non-tender Austin Hays just a few months after acquiring him from the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline.
Hays struggled with the Phillies, playing just 22 games and not factoring into things much at all, which likely made it easy for the team with a bloated payroll to cut him loose. Where one team tosses a player to the scrap heap, though, another like the Twins might want to pull up and take a look at whether a new setting could be beneficial for all involved.
Austin Hays might be a perfect non-tender target for the Twins to look at
Hays is just a year removed from hitting .275/.325/.444 and going to the All-Star Game for the Orioles, and has shown elite defense in the outfield. Something that sticks out even more is the fact that he mashed left handed pitching last year, slashing .354/.405/.537 even though he battled a truly terrifying injury.
Austin Hays was informed he is being non-tendered by Phillies. Only 29, Hays suffered through a severe kidney infection after being traded to Philly. Only a year removed from an All Star and Gold Glove finalist season, he’ll be an interesting free agent.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 22, 2024
There is the culture fit question that needs to be begged. As good of a fit as Hays is on the field, he's caused some issues off the field that stem from homophobic sentiments he shared on social media. Hays called MLB honoring the LGBTQ+ community "evil", and if it's not the clubhouse that takes offense to that then Twins fans will certainly, and rightfully, take a stand against it.
On the field he provides exactly what the team is looking for, as he's right handed hitting outfielder who also might come cheap enough on a prove-it deal that the Pohlad's don't shy away.
There are so many variable at play here, from his cultural fit to whether or not the Twins will actually spend, all the way up to other teams potentially swooping in and provide a better offer. Hays is at least worth a look and at the very least if Minnesota shows an interest it might signal that this winter won't be as quiet and lame as the one we all survived last year.
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