3 moves Twins should make (and 2 to avoid) after signing Carlos Santana
The Twins have a few different ways they can keep the momentum going.
By Josh Hill
After waiting all winter to make a deal, the Minnesota Twins are finally splashing in the offseason pond.
Minnesota traded All-Star second baseman Jorge Polanco to Seattle on Monday, a deal that helped set up the signing of Carlos Santana on Friday. It was a week of bookended action, but it shouldn't be the end of the wheeling and dealing.
The Twins have been criticized for not properly following up the team's best postseason run since 2002. Rather than actively improve the roster, fears over lost future revenue thanks to uncertainty surrounding a TV deal forced the team to slash its payroll.
As a result the team has sat out most of the offseason while watching free agents like Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda, Tyler Mahle and others leave. It didn't exactly inspire a ton of hope among Twins fans, but it seems things are finally moving.
Rather than slowing down after signing Santana, the Twins have a few things they can do to keep the momentum building.
3 moves Twins should make (and 2 to avoid) after signing Carlos Santana
Re-sign Michael A. Taylor
After the Twins traded Jorge Polanco to the Mariners, Jon Herman floated the idea of the team reuniting with Donovan Solano. It's another free agent, though, that Minnesota should be calling up to see if he's interested in coming back for another season.
Trading for Michael A. Taylor was one of the best moves the Twins made all season last year. The initial idea was that he'd create one of the best defensive pairings in baseball with Byron Buxton, but he ended up becoming the team's starting centerfielder. Buxton was hurt all year, and while he played games he didn't play well and didn't see the field. He was a complete afterthought -- which isn't ideal, nor expected to be the case this season -- which created a chance for Taylor to step up.
He did exactly that, turning in key defensive plays while hitting more home runs than he ever has and posting the second-best OPS+ of his career.
Taylor fit the billing of a classic under-the-radar Twins offseason addition, and it looked like he was going to parlay that into a nice free agent deal this winter. With pitchers and catchers reporting in two weeks, Taylor remains unsigned despite some interest from a few different teams.
Minnesota should jump to the front of that line. If the price is right, which is key, bringing Taylor back would add another right-handed bat to the outfield while providing some insurance for Buxton in center. No one is expecting the extreme nature of last season, but having Taylor back provides all the same benefits it did when Minnesota traded for him a year ago.