The Twins have acquired infielder Alex De Goti from the Marlins in exchange for cash considerations, per an announcement from the St. Paul Saints, Triple-A affiliate of the Twins. He was with the Marlins on a minor league deal and wasn’t on their 40-man roster, so no corresponding move will be required.
De Goti, 28, has spent most of his career with the Astros thus far, having been selected by them in the 15th round of the 2016 draft. He worked his way up the minor league ladder and was able to get into a couple of big league games in 2021 as a COVID replacement player. He got two hits and a walk in his seven plate appearances, leading to a career batting line of .333/.429/.333.
He spent all of last year with the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys, hitting nine home runs and drawing walks in 12.7% of his 577 plate appearances. His .253/.352/.377 batting line was actually a bit below average in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, leading to his 87 wRC+. But he also stole eight bases and provided defensive versatility, lining up at all four infield positions.
Since signing De Goti back in December, the Marlins added various infielders to their organization, including Luis Arraez, Jean Segura, Yuli Gurriel, Garrett Hampson, Jacob Amaya and José Iglesias. Those moves cluttered the depth chart and stacked the deck against De Goti making it back to the big leagues in Miami. The Twins, on the other hand, currently have all of Jorge Polanco, Alex Kirilloff, Kyle Farmer, Royce Lewis and Joey Gallo on the injured list. That’s pushed depth options like Donovan Solano and Edouard Julien into regular action and thinned out the safety net a bit. De Goti will change uniforms and provide Minnesota with a bit more infield security, an important factor for a club that was largely undone by injuries last year.
87 ops+ in the PCL is like striking out in tee ball.
I like this move, depth.
His last name is pronounced like “Da Goatee”
He needs to pull a “Mike Fiers” and get some crazy facial hair going, get some marketability.
Minnesota welcomes all … all cheaters.
But we have about 37 not-quite-SS middle infielders coming up in the next couple months plus the proven injured guys on their way back, so poor Alex is not going to be playing much at all at any level. Lewis will be returning to AAA to build innings soon, Lee might be moved up to St Paul, and Julien has already headed across the river but he might be back. Polanco is readying himself to shove at least one person back down to the minors too. Life in the minors is never fair and sometimes pretty rough, but DiGoti’s getting paid to go to the park, so no room to complain I guess.
He might turn into another Joey Meneses story.
Don’t try to rationalize moves by the Twins FO. Think of it as managing the budget during good times. The real world knows who won’t get their 90 days and join the union. Numbers don’t tell all the stories.
Like the Iowa Wild, the pig watchers in St. Paul need a reason aside from the “atmosphere” to show up at the ballpark.