6:40pm: Minnesota has issued a press release to announce the signing.
3:36pm: Free agent second baseman Jonathan Schoop is finalizing a one-year deal with the Minnesota Twins. The deal will be worth $7.5MM plus incentives, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter links). A physical has already been completed, he adds.
Schoop, 27, represents a high-upside play for the Twins on a team full of them. He joins fellow non-tender C.J. Cron in the infield, but the Twins also figure to give bounceback hopefuls Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano a chance to get their careers back on track. Schoop and Sano were both All-Stars in 2017 when Buxton won a Gold Glove and finished 18th in MVP voting (Schoop finished 12th). Production from all three cratered last season.
The former Orioles and Brewers second baseman was one of the more interesting free agents available given his on-field volatility. He disappointed in Milwaukee, managing a meager .202/.246/.331 with four home runs after he was acquired at the trade deadline — but it wasn’t that long ago that Schoop put up a 5.2 rWAR season in Baltimore. Schoop has three consecutive seasons of more than 20 home runs, including a career-high 32 dingers during that tremendous 2017 campaign with the Orioles.
Brewers GM David Stearns recently took responsibility for the deadline deal in a recent piece from Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Brewers surrendered quite a bit of talent for what turned out to be only a half season of less-than-ideal contributions from Schoop, who lost playing time in the playoffs to regular third baseman Travis Shaw. The Brewers chose not to tender Schoop a contract rather than pay him the projected arbitration salary of $10.1MM.
Schoop will take only a small pay cut from the $8.5MM he earned last year, though his final earnings may, of course, change depending on the particulars of the incentives involved.
Watch out, Cleveland!
Rather have him than Dozier, and Gordon clearly isn’t ready. Good one year rental.
All kidding aside it’s obviously a low-risk move, so not bad at all, but am I alone in being surprised he’s getting $7 million?
Not really. He still put up 1.5 bWAR despite being bad, and he’s only 1 year removed from a 5+ win season (0.5 and 3.8 on Fangraphs, respectively). Solid buy low for the Twins.
He’s 28, and put up 5.2 bWAR a year ago. Even this year, he had 1.4 bWAR. 9 bWAR total, in the last three years.
He’s projected to put up a .750 OPS with league average defense at second. And his ceiling is the same 5 WAR he had in 2017.
So $7M is cheap. The Brewers should’ve never let him go, they should’ve paid him the $10M or so he was due.
This guy is very likely a steal at 7.5m. Have to say I’m a bit disappointed the Yankees didn’t go out and get this guy. He’s 27, low risk, and plays a position we need to fill assuming Gleyber fills in at SS while Didi is out.
NY media would have ate this guy alive. Glad the Twins are trying to compete in that super weak AL central.
Believe it or not Schoop can also play SS.
Brewers didn’t resign him cause he was bad. They didn’t resign him cause there are loads of 2B available on the F/A market.
Such a steal. Dude is a year away from putting up crazy numbers
Hahahaha!
What exactly is funny? You’re paying a 2b who is roughly as productive double and then some. The only difference is that Schoop was good in 2017 while kippy still couldn’t get himself out of a paper bag.
I was hoping for the experience of Ian Kinsler. I’m cool with the potential in Schoop, I reckon
Nice bounce back candidate
Why? Should have just went for Dozier, he was a fan favorite and better player
If Falvey and Levine wanted Dozier, they never would have traded him. Doziers numbers with the Dodgers were worse than Schoops with the Brewers.
By what metric was Schoop better? This seems like a completely false statement.
Most of them, he’s talking about after they were traded specifically.
And what metric did you find? Schoop slashed 202/246/331 with the brewers and dozier slashed 182/300/350 w the dodgers. I guess Schoop got him in BA? Did you guys even look at the numbers or did you assume dozier’s were worse because he actually played in the postseason? Both were pathetic numbers but there’s no way you can justify him being better after the trade. Both of them had completely lousy seasons but you’re making things up if you think Schoop was better in MILW than dozier in LA.
I provided proof that dozier was a better hitter and all you did was come back with some Bullsht about me loving dozier. I said they were both terrible but saying how Schoop was better is just wrong.. I don’t even know where you pulled a team by team WAR number from. Your original comment was “Schoop was better in most categories.” Factually untrue. I provided proof that it wasn’t. I’m sorry you’re upset about that but that’s nothing but a stat. Anyway arguing for a guy who played like that is just unnecessary. They both sucked. Period.
Schoop is younger. More athletic, can actually play SS too. And isn’t Brian Dozier. That’s why Schoop is better.
Was better and last season was the whole discussion. Schoop simply was not better than dozier in Milwaukee or overall for that matter. I’m an orioles fan I’m well aware of schoop’s talent and also his drawbacks. He’s not really athletic but he turns a very nice double play at 2B. His range might not be top notch but it’s passable. He won’t draw a walk but he’s relatively youthful and has tons of pop…… All good things but not at all what Kleppy up here got upset about. We were talking about 2018 Schoop who was horrible except for a small stretch in Baltimore before we dumped him off for Villar and prospects.
Schoop had a better BA, SLG%,overall WAR and dWAR, how was Dozier better?
Stop. You were arguing for numbers post trade and that was all garbage. Don’t change your argument. And if you want to do that. Dozier posted a .8 fWAR to schoops .5 fWAR. They were equally as bad but please stop trying to fit your argument. FWAR encompasses plenty of numbers and tells you dozier was slightly better. A marginal amount as I said. They were bad.
Schoop is younger and with more upside I like the move
Dozier is looking for more than 1 year/$7M.
I’d be surprised if Dozier ended up with more than that even if he’s looking for it. He fell off a cliff this year. Either he’s on the massive decline or his knee really wrecked his production. He needs to do a make good 1/6-8M deal and hope his starting career isn’t over.
Love this
Super excited. solid 2B until Gordon is ready. Could flip if team tanks.
A scoop on Schoop.
Huh? That makes no sense.
It rhymes
like a limerick or haiku
with the wrong number of syllables..
Except it doesn’t rhyme because Schoop is pronounced ‘Scope’.
Schoop was really good in 2017! This is going to be a steal for the twins
I think Ron Guidry was good in the 1970s.
Cmon Dmitrios if he were still an O you’d be talking about his bounce back potential.
I bet he wishes he hadn’t been traded. He was on fire at the time and then he bombed in Milwaukee so bad that they gave up on him
Kinda hilarious that Villar ended up hugely outperforming Schoop after the trade.
Thanks Milwaukee, rather have Villar straight up.
Yeah but MN could a great fit for him, it’s great for RH power, that’s half the reason Dozier hit so many.
I bet he wished to get away.
I wouldn’t blame him. As bad as recent O’s teams have been, it was still his family. That’s gotta be a jolt to ones psyche. A city and team that produced someone like Kirby Puckett has to be a good place to resettle baseball roots.
Why didn’t they put a retractible roof on that stadium? Central Maine weather isn’t too much different from Minnesota in April.
Because from May to Sept/October the weather is too nice to have a roof. Also it would not fit on the footprint (at least a retractable one). The stadium barely fits as is.
I’d say they were cheap
Also true. Think it was 100M more to build one but, if you have been there, can you imagine one even fitting? It’s wedged in there as is.
I for one am happy it doesn’t have one. Baseball is meant to be played outdoors and most months are nice.
If they intend to possibly flip him at the deadline, it could be hard after his performance last year, even if he has a good first half.
Maybe the Crew will trade for him again.
Stearns wouldnt make the same mistake twice lol
Tell that to Scooter
Naw, tell that to Jeffress
Teams that plan on contending do not sign players to flip at the deadline. The Twins underperformed last year, and Cleveland is moving the wrong direction. They plan to contend.
Plan? No, but if they’re out of it and he’s playing well enough to trade then you do it. You always do it when you’re not making the playoffs and the guy is a FA at the end of the season.
The only time you don’t is if you want a guy for a long term extension and you think he’ll stay. Schoop is the right age for that but so far his career numbers don’t point to a core player to build around
What a difference a year makes because last year, he certainly seemed to possibly be a “core player” for the Os. Good deal for Minnesota–7.5 mill with no long term guarantees is an expensive flyer, but it’s only 1 year and if he takes, they can always deal him. A small part of me wanted the Os to get him back; may you all make better use of him than we would have, as he surely would have become trade bait 2.0 for us in the best case scenario.
2017 seems like an outlier so far. Even if this past year (2018) didn’t exist he was only a league average 2B or close enough to it prior to 2017.
To me, that’s not a core player. It’s valuable to be at least league average but when I think of a guy you build around as a core player, I’d aim higher. Not a bad player though.
Angels could have used him
They’ll get a better second basemen for more years
He was a terrible fit for the Angels. They don’t want guys they hope bounce back. They want guys they can expect to be good. Fletcher was far better than Schoop last year.
I bet he’s happy with that payout after the season he had. Interesting to think he signed for more than Moustakas did last year and Moose was coming off a much better season.
Moustakas had a $17M qualifying offer on the table last year. And I bet he also had other good offers, through the winter. Then teams turned elsewhere, and he ran out of options.
The problem wasn’t the numbers, the problem was that he has a terrible agent. Boras routinely gambles with his clients’ financial future, and loses just as often as he wins. Remember Stephen Drew, who said no to something like $50M a while back? And he made maybe 20% of that, because of it. Same situation here.
Yah, he has such a terrible agent. It’s amazing how said agent has so many players wanting his representation… Guess he’s just really lucky.
Yea, Moose deserves better. He was sold last 2 years and always great in playoffs.
I know he won’t be walking to MSP
Face, meet palm.
Are the Orioles just cheap or what why they didn’t get him back
Orioles are just going for a full rebuild, so not sure he made a ton of sense. Plus, kinda presumptuous that he’d even want to return to Baltimore for the very reason that they’re rebuilding.
Because of rebuilding
Hopefully we get the 2017 version! Excellent signing if we do. If all the “rebound candidates” have up years Twins have a shot. Go find some more pitching now please!!
Look at the farm system for pitching
Schoop, there it is!
Pronounced ‘Scope’.
This is a decent risk for the Twins. As an Os fan I’ve seen him catch fire and have nice stretches. He also plays a smooth 2nd base plus he played 3rd in minors so flexible. He seems like a good teammate though some Bmore fans are bitter he skipped out on fanfest because the O’s hadn’t settled his arbitration. He really needs to work on not swinging out of his shoes though cause he can go through some tough stretches of swinging and missing. Susceptible to good breaking pitches. Hoping he bounces back
A risk of running a payroll over $60m maybe.
It’s at 80 already, but your overall point likely stands. Payroll will probably be 100 to 110. Hopefully not lower.
The Twins’ team on-base percentage just might be under .300 next year
Wait, Buxton had MVP votes in 2017? Why?
Prospect luster that just refused to go away.
Because the Twins surprised with a playoff birth and statistically had one of the greatest defensive seasons in MLB history while producing 5.2 WAR.
wow! thats what a ‘chance to rebound’ contract goes for these days?
At this price why the hell didn’t the Yankees jump on him. I know he had a down year, but a one year rental for this guy would have made sense.
I can’t believe Schoop is only 27.
Even better Twins getting him for his age-27 season.
It’s a pretty good deal for the Twins. Besides the Cubs with Javy the Wonder Puppy, there aren’t a lot of teams that Schoop doesn’t make better. 7M is pretty cheap for his package.
His OBP concerns are overblown, .330 or so in 2017. That’s not bad at all for a guy with his power. Neither is the 23 % strike out rate, which he maintained even this year. Operationally, let’s remember he hit cleanup, in an O’s lineup that featured Manny. So Showalter, who studies these things, felt it more important for Schoop to protect Manny than the other way around.
He’s no Gold Glover, but nobody plays middle IF defense anymore anyway, except maybe the D-backs and (sometimes) the Rays; why bother, in the day of the launch angle. Offense-first second baseman are the rage of the moment.
In a simple value-choice universe, Schoop’s a steal at that price. With no long term commitment…in other words, Nirvana.
You forget, .330 in 2017 was his career best and it came while batting nearly .300, which by the way is a lot closer to his career OBP.
As far as him hitting cleanup…that comes from having Chris Davis hitting worse than a utility infielder, Adam Jones power outage and having to bat higher in the order because the Orioles front office doesn’t believe in OBP apparently, and Mark Trumbo going on the shelf with a knee injury. They didn’t have anybody else.
The only way this contract will have any value is if he gets back to his .250-.260 ish ways with 25+HR power. He offers you nothing else.
The twins GM has brought in some nice complimentary pieces over the last year..guys like Reed and odorizzi..Morrison can rebound..you have Cron, now schoop, who all go with a young core. Nice signing.
Morrison is gone…he can rebound elsewhere.
Maybe you didn’t look but they sucked. Morrison was horrible and so was reed. They essentially burned that money Odorizzi was a serviceable #5 starter. Those moves Really were not a good example of spending wisely. They all pretty much flopped.
I preferred Lowrie by a lot, but I can’t be mad about this. He should easily earn his contract even if he plays like he did last year. Just don’t Morrison it (which is also a signing I didn’t mind).
What does the Twins lineup look like? It seems that every player is a comeback candidate.
As of now:
LF Rosario
CF Buxton (or in the minors)
RF Kepler
3B Sano
SS Polanco
2B Schoop
1B Austin/Cron
DH Austin/Cron
Bench of Garver, Cave (may be a starter), Adrianza. I’m assuming 13 pitchers because that seems to be what they tend to do, which will hopefully change.
And Castro should be back to catch with Garver. They’re totally going to have a catcher. I’m nearly sure of it.
OK some of these innovations confuse me, but I want to believe they’re going to have a catcher.
Didn’t even realize I forgot Castro. Yes definitely. I assume he’s the starter.
Check out the BABIP. At the very least, I think he’s going to hit around 260 with about 20 homers. Great move. If the Twins aren’t great this season- that’s an excellent trade chip.
Now all they need is some Pitchers. !
Damn. This many comments on a minor twins signing. I love it. We’re on the comeup. Lol.
Never been too high on him but 1 year deal is perfect. Plus, nobody is paying 2nd basemen any longer. There’s almost always a cheaper option in the system. Sorry Dozier.
He’s a great player. I hope he does well
perfect, this guy belongs in the AL
His BABIP was way down in 2018. You can expect more hits from him. He plays decent defense at Second Base and slams homers. Valuable guy.
His BABIP was way up in 2017 as well. You can reasonably expect what he’s been most of his career. .250-.260/280-.300/.430-.450 with around 20 HR, around 20 walks, 120-150K’s in a full season of work. I don’t think he is as bad as he was last season and I don’t think he’s as good as he was in 2017.
He’s limited in the range department at 2B and that isn’t going to get better as he ages. He doesn’t run the bases well so you get no value there.
His only value is if he’s hitting the long ball…something he tries to do with every swing. You’ll see it for yourselves as he nearly comes out of his shoes to hit pitches he shouldn’t even be swinging at.
Just unbelievable. Terrible division, Indians look vulnerable, tons of payroll space, and the twins are literally signing nontenders from other orgs to fill starting positions.
The best signing last off season was Miles Mikolas.
The Twins are quickly becoming the Island of the Misfit Toys.
This and the Cron deal could possible be the top 2 signs of offseason. Love what twins are doing . later Indians
Still need a few pieces to take the division.
Also need 2 guys to get their acts together. Could use an outside arm for the rotation and a few arms for the pen including a closer and maybe a LH bat. They need to go for it since Cleveland will likely regress. Schoop and Toreyes are nice stop gaps til Gordon and Lewis.
The Twins have a history of making moves like this and getting pretty good value out of them. I just don’t think Scoop will be one of them. He’s a flawed player.
Twins should be all over Kikuchi. Maybe he’s from the cold part of Japan.
The inside scoop from a guy that has watched his entire Baltimore Orioles career here. His name is pronounced “scope” if you didn’t already know this.
While he possesses a very strong arm his range is limited at 2B which means while you can play him at SS he’s not very good there. He’s also horrendous at 3B.
While there is some power in that bat it comes at the expense of swinging from the heels, all or nothing type approach. The guy is allergic to walks. He strikes out a lot. In all his seasons with the Orioles this approach has not changed and now that he’s closer to 30 than 20 it likely never will. This leads to low average, low OBP type hitter who unless he is mashing he gives you no value. He’s not fast and not an adept baserunner so he gives you no value here.
I see in these posts the mention of upside. I am not sure if you are using the term correctly. He’s about as good as he’s going to get right now. Still in his prime and since he’s a pretty big guy he will probably be pretty durable and not fall apart around age 30-32 like most slender built/speed based 2B. His range is diminishing though and it became more apparent last season.
I think some people mean bounce back. Jon is a career .250ish hitter with a .290-.300OBP and a .440 SLG. I think he’s capable of that. I don’t think he’s the near .300 hitter with 30HR. I think that’s what they call an outlier. Once he became dangerous pitchers paid him more attention (they had Mark Trumbo and a guy named Chris Davis that used to be able to hit to worry about as well as Manny Machado) and Schoop didn’t adjust.
Dozier had limited range and a very WEAK arm. Jonathan Schoop should be able to supply all the HRs and more RBI’s than Dozier for less money. Dozier has a career .246 BA with no other position than 2B, and is 31 years of age. (I am kind. I am a Dozier fan. I believe he does nice Charity work in Central America.)