The Twins are exercising their club options on outfielder Max Kepler and infielder Jorge Polanco, reports Dan Hayes of the Athletic (X link). Kepler will make $10MM, while Polanco is set for a $10.5MM salary.
Both moves were expected. Kepler started slowly but found his form in the second half. He finished the season with a .260/.332/.484 line with 24 home runs across 491 plate appearances. That’s well above-average offense, his best season since a 36-homer showing in 2019. He’s also a strong defender in right field, making the $10MM price point a bargain. He’ll be a free agent for the first time in his career next offseason.
Polanco was limited to 80 games by injury but turned in a characteristically solid season. The switch-hitting infielder ran a .255/.335/.454 line through 343 trips to the plate. Primarily a second baseman, Polanco moved to third base later in the year in deference to hot-hitting rookie Edouard Julien. The Twins have Royce Lewis at the hot corner, leaving Polanco in a multi-positional role.
Despite the infield depth, there was never much question about Minnesota exercising the option. A $10.5MM salary is strong value for a player who would have been this year’s top free agent middle infielder had the Twins cut him loose. His contract also contains a $12.5MM team option for 2025. That comes with a $750K buyout that is now guaranteed.
The moves add an expected $20.5MM to Minnesota’s player payroll, which now sits around $88MM. That’s well below this year’s Opening Day estimate of approximately $154MM. The Twins have a fair bit of spending room and could certainly find trade interest in Kepler and/or Polanco if they were to entertain dealing from their position player depth.
No surprise. They could also trade one or both, although seems unlikely.
Red Sox could use both. How about Alex VERDUGO and Christian arroyo
That’s a generous offer. LOL…
I don’t see why they needed Polanco. I have so many young kids coming up to take his place.
Trade bait. Or rotate guys through DH spot to try to keep them healthier.
Because he’s worth the money even if it’s just to trade him.
yeah, maybe they should’ve just let him walk for nothing…
Huh? I didn’t suggest that lol
both will be traded…blocking better, younger players
I dont know about both but at least i can see them dealing Polanco for pitching”
Who is Kepler blocking that is better?
Larnach and any infielder who needs a position
Larnach hasn’t proven that he can hit major league pitching yet. Kepler had a nice rebound year, and can play CF which will come in handy once Buxton gets hurt next year.
Kepler no longer seems to be an option in CF. After 55 and 60 games in CF in 2018 and 2019, respectively,the last four years he’s played just 2, 22, 3, and 0 games in CF.
On the bright side, he tied Buxton in CF appearances last season.
Larnach will be 27 year old outfielder with a career .699 OPS at the start of next season. Hard to argue he’s better now. Going into next season with a utility option in RF, oft-Injured Bux in center and Wallner would be a shaky OF.
Duh on the pickups. Polo could be traded given his injury history, depth, and the options they have. But I actually think they keep them. The new Twins philosophy is you can never ever have too much depth.
I wish they’d trade polanco for a decent prospect but they’ll likely keep him and put Julien in the minors to start the year.
Barring a complete Spring Training collapse (or injury) Julien will be the Twins starting 2B. He won’t open in the minors.
I liked Kepler when he came up, great backstory coming out of Germany. Isnt he the only German national to make it to MLB?
He seems to be a bit of a wildcard, hard to imagine theyd have an easy go of it trying to match up in a trade.
Ja! Herr Kepler ein Berliner !!!! (Kepler is a jelly donut)
“…leaving Polanco in a multi-positional role.”
Maybe. This was the case late in the season, when all 3 of Lewis, Julien, and Polanco were healthy. But I think keeping Julien mostly at 2B was aimed to get him established and comfortable at one position as much as anything (and even then, they had him playing some 1B late in the year.) So if all three are on the team next year, the Twins may still make use of Polanco’s versatility, but I have to think they trust his 2B glove the most and he’ll be starting there a lot.
Julien played only 4 games at 1B, 2 starts. They barely tried him there.
Yeah, I probably could have been more clear; my point was that the Twins were keeping Julien at 2B while moving Polanco between positions because they didn’t want Julien to deal with positional change or “flexibility” as a rookie who never had a great defensive reputation to begin with. It doesn’t necessarily mean that Julien supplanted Polanco as “the” starting second baseman for this year.
Polanco is a great back up for Correa and Jullian(who could actually be trade bait like Arraez was last year. Good bat/average glove). Lewis at 3B hopefully all year. Kepler has to be kept with BUSTon likely to be a cheerleader the rest of his career. Twins need a CF in the worse way.
Polanco is way too good and too expensive to be a backup.
I think you keep Kepler and trade Polanco. BUT, if they trade both…
Wallner moves back to RF, with Buxton in CF, and Castro/Kirilloff/Larnach in LF.
Once Buxton gets hurt, you’ve got Austin Martin, Nick Gordon, and Willi Castro to take over in CF.
2B will be handled by Julien, primarily, but Martin, Gordon, Castro, Brooks Lee, and Lewis are all great options if Polanco is no longer with the team.