The Minnesota Twins sent Royce Lewis to the minor leagues last week and it sure sounds like the two sides are at a crossroads. With the relationship between team and player feeling strained, it’s becoming increasingly likely the two sides are heading for a divorce. And it could create a nightmare scenario where Lewis is traded to the New York Yankees.
The Yankees are looking for offense and there’s a chance they could get it by targeting catcher Ryan Jeffers. But New York has other issues in their lineup including Ryan McMahon’s lackluster production at third base.
McMahon is an excellent defender, but he’s hitting just .192/.261/.315 with four homers and 16 RBI in 130 at-bats for the Yankees this season. While there are other options that can be shuffled around including putting Anthony Volpe as the full-time shortstop and using José Caballero as a utilityman, SKOR North’s Declan Goff theorized that there’s a chance the Yankees could buy low on Lewis with hopes he finds his old form in the Bronx.
The Yankees could be a potential path to redemption for Royce Lewis
The Twins are hoping that old form is back in the majors soon enough. Lewis looked like a star early in his career, most notably hitting .309/.372/.548 with 15 homers and 52 RBI in 217 at-bats for the Twins during the 2023 season. While he hit 16 homers during the 2024 campaign, his batter’s line dropped to .233/.295/.452.
Lewis has looked like a shell of himself since, hitting .221/.278/.365 with 16 homers and 65 RBI in 480 at-bats since. With the struggles reaching a peak, the Twins sent him to St. Paul, but his comments suggest that he’s grown tired of the organization's philosophies which could lead to a fresh start.
Current Twins fans may laugh at this thought considering Lewis is striking out at a career 31.1 percent clip and whiffing at a 37.6 percent clip according to Baseball Savant. But if he starts making contact more frequently, it could lead to more damage with a respectable 11.8 percent barrel rate and leave a needy team like the Yankees to capitalize.
Lewis wouldn’t be going to New York as a savior but he would be part of a platoon the Yankees could utilize against left-handed pitching. While Lewis’s .715 career OPS against southpaws isn’t spectacular, it’s an improvement over McMahon’s .673 OPS and it would also drop the former No. 1 overall pick into a stadium that’s one of the most favorable hitter’s environments in baseball.
This would re-live a scenario that has played out frequently for the Twins over the past few years. Twins castoffs including Eddie Rosario and Jorge Polanco have escaped Minnesota only to blow up in the postseason and if Lewis finds a shred of the form he had early in his career, it could become a gold mine to the Yankees or any other contender looking to upgrade their offense.
Of course, that means the constant tinkering and mental gymnastics would need to come to an end. But it’s not an unrealistic outcome for an organization that has had issues getting the best out of their own prospects only to see them succeed elsewhere.
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