The Twins are showing interest in free agent infielder/outfielder Marwin Gonzalez, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic (subscription link). The Minnesota organization has “discussed the parameters of a three-year deal,” per the report.
Gonzalez’s market has moved slowly all winter long, but Hayes says the Twins feel there’s “strong competition” from other teams to secure his services. That’s generally promising news for one of the game’s best utilitymen, whose market situation has remained rather foggy.
MLBTR originally predicted a four-year, $36MM deal for Gonzalez. It seems he and his representatives at the Boras Corporation set out with a hefty asking price in the range of $60MM.
For the Twins, adding Gonzalez would represent an interesting, late-breaking move. The club’s recent pair of extensions finally added money to its previously pristine future balance sheets, but it has otherwise focused its spending on players who’ll leave the books after the 2019 season. It seems there’s still quite a bit of untapped payroll availability for both this campaign and those in the near future, though that doesn’t mean the organization is anxious to fill it.
Gonzalez would make for an interesting roster fit in Minnesota. The switch-hitter could conceivably appear just about anywhere on the diamond, as he long has with the Astros. He’d theoretically supplement and serve as a back-up plan at every spot in the infield while perhaps also commanding some playing time in the corner outfield as well.
The Twins’ presumptive starting infield unit is full of righty bats — switch-hitting shortstop Jorge Polanco is an exception, but he has historically fared better from the right side — so it’s not hard to see how Gonzalez might find his way into the lineup quite often. Looking ahead, both second baseman Jonathan Schoop and DH Nelson Cruz could be free agents at season’s end, while the team isn’t committed to first baseman C.J. Cron, so there’ll be holes to fill in the near future as well.
Marwin is a decent piece, but not at that price, and not at the expense of the fact that the twins should still be looking to add pitching
He does everything else maybe they should let him try
Our hosts here should do an update on unsigned free agents, including noting how many of them are Boras clients.
Are you trying to say that there is a correlation between the two?
I like conspiracy theories!
Double digit Boras clients left unsigned. Every remaining free agent catcher is a Boras client. Almost every remaining LF & RF are also Boras clients.
Baseball doesn’t have a labor problem. They have a Boras problem.
Here is the list of current unsigned Boras clients (in alphabetical order)
– Carlos Gonzalez: Interesting note, he turned down a 3-year $45M extenstion in 2017. Signed last year for 1-year $8M.
– Gio Gonzalez
– Marwin Gonzalez
– Carlos Gomez: Last year MLBTR predicted a 2-year $22M contract for Gomez. He signed for 1-year at $4M.
– Bryce Harper: turned down $300M contract. TBD if this was wise.
– Matt Holiday
– Jose Iglesias
– Austin Jackson – Still listed as a FA, but he was released last year. Can’t hold this against Boras
– Dallas Keuchel: Rejected 5-year $90M extension in 2016. Will likely do better, but he is still unsigned.
– Martin Maldonado
– Denard Span
– Jacob Turner
– Matt Weiters: Reportedly turned down two lucrative contract extensions during his peak. Remember when he was going to get a Joe Mauer like contract.
This offseason there were 23 FA catchers. Two currently do not know what they are doing in 2019. Both are Boras clients.
Mike Moustakas rejected a $17..5M qualifying offer. His 2018 salary ended up being $6.5M. Then he signed a one-year contract for 2019 for $10M. Two years for $16,5M versus one year at $17.5M
14 Left Fielders were FA’s this offseason. Four do not know what they are doing in 2019. All but Craig Gentry are Boras clients.
16 Right Fielders were FA’s this offseason. Five do not know what they are doing in 2019. 3 of those are Boras clients (Harper, Carlos Gonzalez, and Carlos Gomez). Bautista & Chris Young are the other two,
Last year the Boras corporation made $105M in commissions. His annual commission is higher than the entire payrolls of nine teams. He charges his clients roughly 6% of their salary. Boras has a net-worth of $400M.
Boras over the last two years reminds me of Joey Gallo. When he hits a homerun they are a sight to see. But when he strikes out, it is ugly. Was the greatest agent for a solid two decades. But his magic is clearly waning. Still give him made props for how he works the media. I don’t necessarily like it, but it is a brilliant play by him.
Good list, thanks!
Moustakas also reportedly turned down a 3 / $45 million offer from the Angels early in the 2017-18 offseason. IIRC, Boras has disputed that offer was ever formally made. The Angels instead signed Cozart for 3/$38 million.
And it seemed fairly predictable that the 3B market would be tough for Moustakas last offseason. Lots of the expected contenders were set at 3B with a started who projected as at least ~2 WAR, and of course much better than that in many cases (Bryant, Turner, Arenado, Ramirez, Rendon, Bregman, etc.). Longoria was rumored to be available in a trade, and he was traded. Machado and Donaldson both were rumored to be possibly available in trades last offseason. And then it was no surprise that some teams probably weren’t going to sign a 3B to a long-term contract because Machado would be a free agent this year and then Arenado and Rendon would be free agents next year (barring extensions). Just seemed like such a bad misread of the market by Boras.
OTOH, to your point about Boras’ HR’s, I still cannot believe that he convinced the Padres to sign Hosmer to 8 / $144 million in a front-loaded deal.
Dude’s just a ball player. Would fit well with just about any team.
Exactly- guys a gamer!!!
He has heart the stats dont show!
Nobody cares about it anymore. The market is different.
This will be a 1 yr + mutual option
Highly doubt that.
Would be a nice pickup.
Good sign him so Pirates fans will quit yelling, “Sign him”, only way he makes sense for the pirates is if he gets much less than the prediction 4-6M/year 1-3 years inc options
Agreed. I think he’s a good player but overhyped a bit.
He was a 4 WAR player in 2017, 2.5 WAR in 2018. Not very overhyped.
he also has one year that he had over a 2.0 fWAR (in 2017) and his infield defense (other than maybe first base) is generally bad. Good enough to fill in a few innings but not good enough to consider starting there.
If you are looking for an outfielder who can spot start at first and be an emergency infielder.. then hes not a bad option.
Care to elaborate on the defense. Dwar of .5 and last year only negative .1. Watched him a lot he’s not a poor defender by any means lot of highlights game to game at third and good left fielder as well. His arm plays well in the outfield and he doesn’t disappoint defensively. Not a gold glover but to say he’s a bad defender is a poor assumption. Also, I swear if someone has something to say about my grammar, get a life bro. Not the one writing articles rn.
And he had a .844 OPS post ASG break during 2018.
Carreer UZR/150 per positions.
1b: 1.2 1260 innings
2b: -5.2 661 innings
SS: -6.9 2243 innings
3B: -6.7 576 innings
OF: 9.3, 1095 innings
He would be an excellent fit for the Twins who suddenly have a pretty nice power hitting lineup.
Twins are in and his price has hit the floor. looks like he (Boras) has not done any favors for another client this winter, like Moose who for the 2nd winter in a row held out for a decent multi year deal and ended up getting a paltry 1y deal.
Some of these guys need an agency change.
So who was it that held out unreasonably – Moose, or Boras? You can’t have it both ways.
Boras is raking in $105M in commissions. He is charging players 6% in fees. For that type of dough he should be given some dang good advice. Moose walked away from a 1-year $17.5M offer in 2017. His super agent landed him a 1 year deal for $6.5M. Then this year the ‘best agent on the planet’ secures him a 1 year deal for $10M. So he signed for two years for less than he would have for one year. Boras hits some massive home runs for his clients. But he success rate is dropping quickly over the last two years.
Slow to adjust to the “new” market and instead has just railed publicly against it a several times instead.
I call that failing his clients myself also.
If the twins get marwin , I think they will win the world series.
The Twins do not have the pitching to win their division let alone the World Series.
Sheldon Cooper, is that you?
The 2015 royals didn’t have the starting pitching either…
Correct, but at least it was a group of veteran Starting Pitchers. I like Berrios but you can’t throw him out each game for a playoff series.
Something like 3/35 seems like a reasonable deal for him. 2017 season looks like an outlier year for him so not sure he’s worth much more than that even though I like him especially as Sano insurance and filling in everywhere. I’d be good with him being a Twin.
10,000,000 per year for a backup utility player. A good player but $10,000,000?
16 hr and 2.5 WAR is not bad for a “backup utility”. Not worth 10mil but the cost of backups isn’t exactly cheap any more
Gonzalez put together a 1.6 fWAR campaign last year. He’ll be 30 to start the season and has exactly 1 year better than 1.6 fWAR in his career.
He is not a 2.5 WAR player. He’s a back up utility player who doesn’t have the talent to supplant any obvious starter on the roster.
I think he’ll be a 2 WAR player for the next two years at least so yes I think that’s worth 10M per easily.
I don’t know if he should be considered a backup. He’s more like an everyday player who doesn’t play the same position two days in a row.
Well put! A player like Marwin is exponentially more valuable than stats indicate. With teams carrying just 12-13 non-pitchers, he has to have a strong market of teams desiring his services.
Yeah, the value with Marwin is that not only can he hold his own as a starter, but he fill in for almost anyone. For most teams, the loss of a starting position player to injury means they have to settle for a replacement-level scrub. Not the case if they have a backup like Marwin.
This doesn’t really work for the Twins, but he’d be very valuable for a team without a DH as well. Instead of taking a regulars bat out of the lineup, they could give him a day off at DH which would help keep everybody rested and close to 100%.
Going to the Twins would be a waste of Gonazlez talent. Pick a winning team that is going to the W.S. The Twins are not awful in an awful weak division but they take second to the Indians by forfeit because the rest of Central teams are nothing but weak sisters each one going nowhere.
Youre assuming that WS teams are just lining up for his services, which is probably not happening.
I do not assume anything only that the Twins are not good but because they are in such a panty waste division they could hardly help to finish second place but they are going nowhere beyond that.
I’ve been saying to get him for months….Makes way too much sense. If your a Twins fan and don’t think we could use him you must be delusional. Do you really think that between Sano/Schoop/Polanco/Buxton/Kepler that not a one of them will fail again or get hurt or suspended???? Even if every single one had career years and didn’t get hurt we STILL could get Marwin into 135 games spelling people or matching up bats to that days starter (i.e. tough lefthanded starter to give Rosario/Kepler a day off). Buxton and Sano in their wettest dreams have yet to give us a complete season. Sure I’d like to see a closer or a true #1 or 2 starter , but at least this would be another upgrade.
Sano 116 games played career best.
Buxton-140 ONLY time played 100 games.
Polanco-133 – his ONLY season of 100 games
Twins have the room. Twins have the $. Twins have the need.
I have about the same odds of winning the Powerball jackpot as Buxton has of playing 150 games.
OF currently – Kepler, Rosario, Buxton, Cave.
OF likely depth on 40 man – Wade, Reed
IF currently – Cron, Schoop, Polanco, Sano, Adrianza
IF likely depth on 40 man – Astudillo, Gordon, Torres.
Gonzalez adds minimal value over existing roster options, but costs a lot of money to do so while blocking upcoming, younger, likely better talent.
Getting Gonzalez would be great and he clearly provides better offense than the Twins’ other utility options, but the cost difference will almost certainly be greater than the amount of value he adds. The team has the money available, but it shouldn’t spend simply to spend.
I’m a big Marwin fan, but he just doesn’t fit on the Twins roster any better than anyone currently projected to make the opening day roster., particularly considering the team already has too many out-of-options players worthy of that final 25-man spot.
So Marwin can play the same positions as Niko Goodrum, but is slower and more expensive. Seems like at least one poor roster decision was made.
He’s also better though.
I don’t think Niko has enough mlb time for that to be definitive.
Love the guy. Wish him all the best. Not sure what he’s really worth dollar-wise but he’s a guy you don’t mind being at the plate in a big situation. He battles and came up with lots of big hits for the Stros. Plus, you can pick almost any spot you’ve got a problem and play him there. Sad to see him go but that’s the business.
I’d be careful on that deal. he’s really only had one good year at the plate hitting in that bandbox and is the position flexibility really that valuable?
I’d say position flexibility is very valuable, especially for the Twins. Sano hasn’t shown he can be around for the majority of an MLB season. Buxton the same (not saying Marwin will play center, but could be in the OF). It’s good to have someone who can be plugged into a lot of places when the inevitable injuries happen. It wouldn’t become an immediate black hole.
I don’t quite get what the Twins are doing. Signing Kepler seems like an odd move, considering that he doesn’t seem to be that special of a talent and that Kirilloff could be joining the big club sometime this season. I assume they haven’t given up on Buxton, and of course Rosario’s spot in the lineup is secure.
So with the outfield looking crowded, I imagine they would be interested in Marwin to provide a left-handed bat to complement the righties in the infield? It just seems that if all goes well (which, certainly, it hasn’t for the Twins, especially in keeping players healthy), they’d want Sano and Schoop to be everyday players. Nelson Cruz won’t give up too many at-bats at the DH spot, so what makes the most sense is for Marwin push Cron to the bench, or at least to the weak side of a platoon.
Why I find this all so puzzling is that they need pitching. They’re putting all this effort into their position players, but they’re not not going to compete with Cleveland with that staff.
Kepler can play center field adequately. Even if he remains a .730-.740 OPS hitter, moving him to CF makes him valuable. With an extremely team friendly contract, that means Kepler can be moved any time. Plus a lot of people believe Kepler can make the impressive bursts at the plate last longer and turn himself into an .800+ OPS full season hitter.
Kirilloff is likely going to be getting a September call up if he doesn’t slow down this year, but he hasn’t played above high A ball and he can’t play CF. Forecasting him as being a starter on the Twins roster prior to next year is beyond aggressive. Even forecasting him as an opening day starter next year is very aggressive.
Gonzalez is the owner of a career wRC+ 104 bat. He’s not going to be pushing Cron to the bench.
Everybody finds the Twins’ extreme risk aversion to be puzzling. They refuse to fill positions of need or build an obvious core, but they get distracted by sparkly, shiny objects they don’t need whenever they smell a potential value signing.
If you throw out the whole “it’s a baseball team trying to win the World Series” notion, it isn’t puzzling at all; it’s just like you said, they see a value signing and go that route since as someone else said, sign him simply for the (value) flippibility down the road. Get more than you give and all that. Perfect business sense. Why let winning baseball get in the way?
I wouldn’t say it’s beyond aggressive to expect Kirilloff to debut midseason. (Aggresive, yes.) He’s probably the best hitting prospect after Vlad Jr. and Eloy Jimenez. While it was only Single-A, he absolutely destroyed it last year despite missing all of 2017. He’s a little older than Juan Soto, but there are some interesting similarities between the two: missing significant amount of time, followed by rather extraordinary production upon their returns. If Kirilloff handles Double-A early, he could make the leap. Even if he doesn’t come up early, he’s still coming. And when he does, the Twins have to be seeing him teaming with Buxton and Rosario. By Year 2 of his contract, Kepler could be competing for fourth-outfielder duties with Cave. Trevor Larnach probably isn’t all that far away, either.
Obviously, future trades are always a possibility, but I just don’t see Kepler being a major trade asset or worth a long-term commitment. If he becomes an .800 OPS guy, then that perspective certainly changes. But that’s still rather iffy.
Regardless, my ultimate point still goes back to pitching: instead of committing $15 million or so toward Kepler and Marwin, get a starter who can help them make the postseason or get a couple top-flight relievers to help cover for deficiencies in the rotation.
He’s got the plug and play versatility that it’s hard for a team not to have a use for him.
I’ll say it again, as an Indians fan I wish we could get a deal done with him. Our outfield is terrible and Lindor is going to miss the beginning of the season.
Plus Kipnis got Space Jammed at some point. All his talent just gone.
It would be nice to have Marwin to help fill some of these holes.
Ya, gotta agree with most of the Twins fans. Not that Marwin’s not a good player; Marwin’s a heck of a player. But I don’t see either the fit or the expenditure on a payroll-conscious (tho one wonders why they are) team like the Twins.
I like this if they get it done. He’s far better than Adrianza and they have money to spend. Would make them much better all around. I would imagine he’d get a fair amount of playing time. I say get it done.
I would have taken Eduardo Escobar all day over Marwin Gonzalez and EE signed for 3 years $21M.
Maybe the Twins do not believe Sano will be ready for opening day if they’re entertaining the idea of signing Gonzalez.
This front office is baffling. They seem to have absolutely no logical plan.
Arizona sure got a pretty nice steal in Escobar. I think when all is said and done though Marwin isn’t going to surpass that deal by too much. If anything he may get an extra year for around the same AAV.
They could of had EE if they had negotiated with him in earnest. Instead they threw an offer at him just before the trade deadline that either hurt EE’s feelings or insulted him. That is why EE is in Arizona.
EE didn’t want to come back. Whether it was the last second offer pissed him off or getting traded did , once he was in AZ he wasn’t coming back. Period. And yes I think AZ got a deal on him.
Marwin Gonzalez would be a TREMENDOUS IMPROVEMENT over Ehire Adrianza.
Go for it! Make the Twins MUCH BETTER!
Exactly. Marwin way over Adrianza. Plus I have 150 year old china in the hutch sturdier than Sano and Buxton.
Well, of all the problems Sano has, being really, really, REALLY sturdy does not appear to be one of them.
I hand’t actually thought of this. I was thinking about where he would line up with an already full roster, but looking at stats, he would be a huge upgrade of Adrianza.
Twins – Get it done!
Whenever I hear Marwin’s name, I think of the Princess Bride and that clergyman saying, “What is Mawwiage?” I have to pronounce his name that way.
I think this is would just be a signing that they would be able to flip for more young talent at the trade deadline. Everyone is clamoring for starting pitchers, but they #1/#2 starters aren’t given out in trades very easily. So, Marwin’s signing would be another tradable asset to bring in young arms and still keep trying to develop something of a strong rotation for down the road. Falvine has shown that they like to make contracts very tradable to recoup more youth if the season turns south.
Marwin definitely wouldn’t hurt our chances at winning the division, but I’d really prefer it if we made a run at either Keuchel or Kimbrel.
Considering Schoop and Cron are castoffs from other teams and Sano is an utter crapshoot at third for a number of reasons, Marwin would be the universal infield duct tape for this team
Also allows for the insertion of a “lefty” pinch hitter almost anywhere in the lineup without sacrificing defense. That all said, not at $60M.
Yeah he’s nuts for wanting $60mm.
My guess is he gets half that at best. Which in my opinion is probably steep for him.
I think that 3/27 seems reasonable, maybe with an option for the fourth year. Even at 3/30 it might be doable. But 4/60? No way!
Asking too much for a guy that had one good season ever
Angels… that’s about it.
woof. no thanks.
I expected him to be one of the first FA’s signed. Boy was i wrong. He must have been holding out for big $. Probably more bad advice from Boras. Wait, guess that name explains it all. MG is s great all around player and clubhouse presence. Defensive versatility is also becoming more and more valuable(see Chris Taylor and the Dodgers). IMO he could be a starter at 2b or OF for more then half of the ML teams and he can obviously hit enough. Hope see signs soon. Anyone who gets this guy will be thankful.
Wish Marwin the best wherever he lands. Hope he gets back to Houston but doubt it will happen despite what Jim Craine says. Anyone who thinks he is not worth $9 mil a year hasn’t seen him play much. Marwin not only plays 7 positions, he plays them all as good or better than the starters. Houston could not have done as well as they have the past few years without him. I watch EVERY Astros game. I know.
The Twins might turn out to be sneaky good. Their lineup has the potential to score a lot of runs. The only thing that concerns me is their pitching
If Marwin ends up a Twin, fine… but we still need more relief help. I mean, Vincent signed a minor league deal, perhaps Warren and Norris can too. If not, a ML deal is fine as well; maybe even for Madson…
I would expect, at this point in the off-season, Marwin Gonzalez signs for no more than $18 million for three years.
Cleveland ought to make an offer, his versatility will fit in well.
Twinkies are “interested” in Bryce Harper also, along with EVERY OTHER unsigned free agent but the CHEAPO Pohlads, who made their bucks in Public Transit, Banking and Bottling Pepsi like to hold on to their doe, so they can count it at night to help them fall asleep. At least Carl’s wife liked baseball; as for the rest, it’s just a way of making a profit. Know why there has been no World Series appearance since 1991? It’s too expensive to win it all because all the players want big fat raises. Better to be close – the fans get excited: come out to games, buy concessions, buy merchandise. but, OH DARN, close but no cigar. Well fans, we tried, come back again next year and we’ll give it another whirl (SUCKERS !!)
Pohlads embrace the famous Fred Flintstone business philosophy, (as told to Barney Rubble) “You’re in the business army now, your only friend is a buck and the more bucks you’ve got, the more friends you’ve got”.
But what do you think about the Pohlads?
If the rumors are true that Bora wants Marwin at about 15 mil a year for 4 years/60 mil, well then I’m glad it’s a stalemate thus far because honestly, it just seems like he’s being greedy. Eventually the asking price should lower and he’ll have to come to terms. It’s too bad the Padres caved in with Machado at 30 mil, but at least he probably won’t get his way with the remaining FA. The only thing I’ll give him credit for is if he helped sign Moustakas, which 10 mil for him is very reasonable, unless that was more so Moose’s doing and not Boras.
Most I’d give Marwin is about 10 mil a year, and yes he is a good player just not at 15 mil. Maybe it’s more so Boras than Marwin for the asking price, and if so, I hope Boras gets what he deserves when it comes to signing the remaining FA.
After losing Manny, I really don’t see the Sox letting Marwin get away too. Then again, Cleveland does need him more and the Astros could always jump in at anytime. As Twins fan, I honestly just don’t buy it yet. Besides, I’d much rather have Keuchel or Kimbrel.
Marwin can play a lot of positions but, his bat is not good. I see him and Dallas K not being pursued (in media) by Stros as a sign. The yanks brought back CC and gardy for the leadership and experience. Granted, they have more $ then Houston but, I think they can fit Marwin and Dallas in even they lost s top SP and marwin now is jobless prob. Due to him wanting top $ and years. I knew the yanks wouldn’t get him as he’s not a good hitter. Everyone trashed DJ signing but, he can be Marwin with gold glove potential and hit for high average. He’s still young. And all that courts fiend stuff is trash until u see him struggle this year. That said- marwin is either over valuing himself or the analytics don’t see him aging well. He was a huge part of Houston for years and they don’t want him. When a hometown team easily walks away their are reasons other then $. He’s not a $50-$100 mil player so unless Houston is going to use that saving to keep Dallas (they need to-COLE is still not 100% reliable and JV has another 200 inning in his 37? Yo arm. Offer Dallas $20 mil for 1 or 3/$50. So he saves face by making more then QO he stupidly turned down as many do under poor agent advice and he get 2 years when you know he’s not a 20-25 mil player. He still fills innings and if Houston is so good with pitchers- cole and JV why can’t they help Dallas reinvent himself kind of like CC a few years back.
I see Houston’s 2019 worse then 2018. They shkujd have gotten Cruz and been aggressive with SP and bullpen from end of WS- picking up one of the top RP- $9 mil for Ottovanio? If they can’t afford that they are toast even their young Gys hit Arb and multiple x. The need to lock these guys down now or try. Otherwise 2nd rebuild will happen. At this point offer marwin a 1 year deal. He may not be great but, him going to MN will make them better and hurt Houston.
Their inability to do really nothing this offseason with 2 SP hours and a Top Ultikity guy while not adding when they were embarrassed in PO I think will lead to bad 2019 as I am waiting for JV to be Hunan and Cole through up a bad year. But if come is good this year and team shows they are small market pretending to be perineal contenders Cole and the young guys who will be FA soon may bolt. MN and Brewers are getting better- it’s not 2016/2017 anymore.