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The Mariners Need To Shake Up Their Offense

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Mariners fans entered the season with something of a sour outlook on the 2025 season. That's understandable, given an offseason in which the front office was clearly handcuffed by payroll limitations and a paper-thin trade market for big league hitters. Armed with a only a reported $15-16MM to patch over multiple needs in the infield, there wasn't a lot out there for president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander to realistically pursue.

Seattle wound up rolling the dice on a handful of cost-effective infield options. Jorge Polanco returned on a one-year deal with a conditional player option. Donovan Solano snagged a $3.5MM guarantee. Rowdy Tellez signed a minor league deal and made the team after a big spring showing (.298/.320/.574 in 50 plate appearances).

Frustration was understandable. The Mariners had made a big splash at the prior deadline, reeling in Randy Arozarena from the Rays, but fans hoping for a similarly bold strike in the offseason after another narrow playoff miss were left wanting.

That frustration likely faded for many as the Mariners raced out to a blistering start. On May 7, they sat with a 22-14 record, leading the American League West by a three-game margin and sporting a +31 run differential. One might imagine that the Mariners were again being carried by their brilliant rotation, but that wasn't the case -- at least not entirely. George Kirby has still yet to throw a pitch in 2025 as he recovers from some shoulder inflammation. Logan Gilbert hit the injured list on April 25 and remains there. Bryan Woo has been brilliant. Luis Castillo has been good. Gilbert was his typically excellent self prior to his flexor injury. But the Mariners' starting pitching, as a whole, has been a middle-of-the-pack unit.

Instead, Seattle's hot start was largely attributable to a surprisingly potent offense. Through that previously mentioned May 7 date, M's hitters were slashing .247/.340/.415, resulting in a 122 wRC+ that ranked third in the majors. They were fourth in home runs, seventh in runs scored, 12th in batting average, second in on-base percentage and ninth in slugging percentage.

In the week-plus since that time, the Mariners have lost five of six games and posted a collective .206/.259/.326 batting line (70 wRC+). Typically, there's little sense panicking over a week of poor results, but there was already reason to be a bit skeptical of Seattle's sudden offensive prowess. Good as Cal Raleigh is, he's not going to continue at a 50-homer pace. Polanco isn't going to keep his OPS north of 1.000. J.P. Crawford isn't sustaining a .410 OBP, nor will Leo Rivas keep hitting .341. Those timely early-season hot streaks buoyed the Seattle offense but can't all be sustained.

The Mariners seemingly recognize that some new blood is needed; they claimed Leody Taveras off waivers from the division-rival Rangers and took on about $3.7MM in salary to do so. That was an understandable move with both Victor Robles and Luke Raley on the injured list for the foreseeable future, but it shouldn't be the only one the Mariners consider.

Let's run through a few easy ways to bolster a lineup that is facing even more pressure than usual now that Bryce Miller has joined rotation-mates Kirby and Gilbert on the injured list...

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Alex Bregman, Tigers Reportedly At “Standstill”

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Spring training is now just a few weeks away but many free agents are still unsigned, with Alex Bregman arguably being the most notable. The Tigers are one club that have been connected to him but Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports that talks are “at a standstill.”

At the start of the offseason, MLBTR ranked Bregman the #3 free agent of the winter, behind Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes. Soto and Burnes are both now signed, leaving Bregman as the top guy still out there. We predicted a seven-year, $182MM deal that ended up being sort of a midpoint for Bregman’s negotiations earlier in the offseason. The Astros reportedly offered Bregman $156MM over six years, though the third baseman was trying to get to $200MM.

Rather than meet in the middle, Houston walked away. They lined up a deal with the Cardinals for Nolan Arenado, though Arenado used his no-trade clause to quash that. Instead, they acquired Isaac Paredes from the Cubs and signed Christian Walker to take over at first base. Since then, Bregman has been connected to clubs like the Tigers, Blue Jays, Red Sox and others, but without much apparent momentum.

The Cubs reportedly sniffed around the possibility of a short-term deal for Bregman but agent Scott Boras said last week that Bregman wasn’t considering that path. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer also recently downplayed the possibility of the Cubs getting involved. “I think likely,” Hoyer said at Cubs Convention a few days ago, when asked if the Cubs’ third baseman is already in the organization. “Certainly, we’ll look to supplement. Infield is an area we’re focused on (for the bench), but I think the likelihood is yes.”

Matt Shaw is perhaps the best solution there but he has not yet made his major league debut. There’s no guarantee he will hit the ground running in 2025, so there’s an argument for adding someone established, but it seems the Cubs are trying to be more opportunistic than aggressive in Bregman’s market.

It makes for something of a staring contest with the 2025 season approaching. It was around this time last year that Boras started pivoting to short-term deals for Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Boras has apparently made that turn with client Pete Alonso, as Alonso’s camp reportedly pitched a three-year deal to the Mets recently.

But with Bregman still holding out hope for a longer deal, it seems to be leading to the general sluggishness of the third base market. The Tigers have had a fairly quiet offseason, with one-year deals for Alex Cobb and Gleyber Torres being their primary moves so far. They have Jace Jung and Matt Vierling as potential in-house options at the hot corner, so they have a bit of leverage to wait out Bregman.

With Vierling also capable of playing the outfield, Jung seems like the logical choice for third base right now. He struck out in 30.9% of his plate appearances last year but that was a small-sample debut of 94 plate appearances. He didn’t have those kind of strikeout rates in the minors and still managed to draw a lot of walks while making his major league debut. Like with Shaw, there’s no guarantee that he can take the job and run with it but the Tigers might feel they have enough cover to not go crazy on a Bregman deal.

As long as Bregman stays out there, it seems to be preventing other dominoes from falling. The Cardinals came into the winter looking to do something of a reset but they haven’t been able to execute it yet, which seems to be at least partially because Arenado wanted clarity on Bregman’s situation before he’d commit to being traded. That has left St. Louis in a sort of holding pattern where they might just keep Arenado and other veterans into the start of the 2025 season.

Daniel Kramer of MLB.com also reports that the Bregman situation is leaving the Mariners playing a waiting game. While the M’s are not in on Bregman, they are impacted by the situation nonetheless. Kramer writes that the M’s “believe they’re positioned to make a notable move before Spring Training” but are holding on to see if a Bregman deal sparks movement elsewhere, since upgrading at third is on their to-do list.

Seattle has been fairly quiet this winter, with their signing of infielder Donovan Solano to a one-year, $3.5MM deal being their most notable move. Kramer reports that the M’s don’t plan to deploy him at second and he will be in the mix for playing time at first base more than anywhere else. That perhaps suggests Solano will be platooning with Luke Raley, since Solano is better against lefties and Raley the opposite.

For third base, Kramer floats various possible scenarios that could come to pass as the offseason progresses. He mentions that the Red Sox could land Bregman, which could perhaps make someone like Triston Casas more available. Casas doesn’t play third but it could perhaps lead to Solano moving across the diamond for more time over there. Kramer also floats the possibility of the Tigers signing Bregman and making Jung available, or a similar situation with someone on the Blue Jays like Orelvis Martínez or Addison Barger. It’s also possible that infielders like Luis Arráez of the Padres or Willi Castro of the Twins become more available once Bregman is off the board.

Until then, the Mariners are left laying in the cut, though they have explored other options. They had talks with the Cubs about Nico Hoerner and Bellinger, though the Hoerner deal seemed to become less likely when Paredes was sent to Houston in the Kyle Tucker deal. Perhaps the Hoerner trade talks could be revisited if Bregman ends up a Cub, which is perhaps another reason for the M’s to wait. The Bellinger connection was reported earlier in the offseason.

Another path the M’s considered, according to Kramer, was getting Nathaniel Lowe from the Rangers. However, it seems Texas didn’t feel great about dealing Lowe within their division, which led to him being dealt to the Nationals instead.

For now, it all feels like the part of the standoff where everyone has their hand by their holster, waiting for movement. It’s possible that bodies start dropping once someone flinches, but it’s a staredown for the time being.

MLBTR Podcast: The Jeff Hoffman Situation, Justin Verlander, And The Marlins’ Rotation

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Mariners Sign Donovan Solano

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The Mariners announced that they have signed infielder Donovan Solano to a one-year contract. Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the ACES client will make $3.5MM this year, with $1MM in performance bonuses also available to him. Left-hander Austin Kitchen was designated for assignment to open a 40-man roster spot.

Solano, 37, has somewhat quietly been one of the better utility players in the league in recent years. Earlier in his career, he spent time with the Marlins and Yankees but didn’t hit enough at the major league level. He languished in the minors in 2017 and 2018 but got back to the big leagues in 2019 and has been hitting almost non-stop since then.

Over the past six years, Solano has played for the Giants, Reds, Twins and Padres. He got into 546 games over that stretch, stepping to the plate 1,838 times. He has managed to produce a batting line of .294/.353/.413 in that time, which translates to a wRC+ of 112, indicating he’s been 12% above league average overall.

For those years, he has a combined .360 batting average on balls in play. That would normally be a concern, since the league average is usually below .300, but he’s been maintaining high BABIPs for several years now. Of the six most recent seasons, his BABIP bottomed out at .321 in 2021. He was at .346 or higher in the other five seasons. That suggests the numbers are more a reflection of his swing than mere luck.

Solano won’t provide huge power, with last year’s eight home runs actually marking a career high. His walk rates aren’t especially strong either. However, his style of offense could be a good fit for Seattle, as that club has been wary of its strikeout problems for a while now.

Going back to the 2023 club, guys like Mike Ford, Jarred Kelenic, Teoscar Hernández, Eugenio Suárez and Tom Murphy were not brought back after posting strikeout rates north of 27%. But Seattle didn’t find the improvements it was looking for in that category last year, with guys like Luis Urías, Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, Jorge Polanco and Randy Arozarena striking out more than 28% of the time after being brought aboard. Solano has a career strikeout rate of 18.9% and has never had that number finish higher than 22.2% in any individual season.

The Mariners have clearly been looking for infield help this winter. Justin Turner hit free agency. Josh Rojas was non-tendered. The M’s turned down a club option on Polanco. That left them with J.P. Crawford at shortstop and question marks elsewhere.

Solano has played all four infield spots in his career but hasn’t played shortstop since 2021. He has more experience at second base than anywhere else but has spent more time at the corners in recent years.

That flexibility gives the Mariners some options in terms of how Solano is deployed. Reporting this winter has suggested the club may feel it has enough in-house options to cover second base, with Dylan Moore and Ryan Bliss potentially covering there until prospect Cole Young seizes the job. Luke Raley is an option to be the strong side of a platoon at first, since he’s a lefty swinger with notable splits. Guys like Austin Shenton, Tyler Locklear, Samad Taylor and Leo Rivas are also capable of playing various infield positions and on the 40-man roster.

The M’s are likely not done adding to that group, so Solano’s role could well be determined by what other moves are forthcoming. He could take some playing time at second or third, while his right-handed bat could also allow him to shield Raley from lefties at first base. Solano has fairly neutral platoon splits for his entire career, with a 101 wRC+ against lefties and 98 wRC+ otherwise. However, he’s been a bit more extreme in his recent resurgence. Over the past six years, he has slashed .310/.361/.444 against lefties for a 122 wRC+, compared to a .285/.349/.395 line and 107 wRC+ against righties.

It has been reported this offseason that the M’s were working with about $15-16MM of payroll space. Solano will use up a small portion of that while strengthening the infield group. That still leaves with them with some powder dry for another infield addition. It was previously reported that they were interested in bringing back Turner, though it’s possible the Solano signing makes that harder to put together.

It’s also possible that the M’s make a bold move to totally remake the picture, as there have been rumors they could trade Luis Castillo as a means of freeing up some spending capacity. Whether they go that route or simply find another modest infield addition remains to be seen. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training in about a month.

Kitchen, 28 next month, has limited big league experience. A prospect in the Rockies’ system, he was selected to the big league roster in June but was designated for assignment the next day without getting into a game. He went to the Marlins via waivers and made four appearances for that club, allowing 11 earned runs in seven innings. A second DFA in September put him back on waivers, which led the Mariners to put in a claim.

Though Kitchen has an ugly 14.14 earned run average, it’s a tiny sample of major league work. His minor league track record has generally been solid, with the lefty keeping the ball on the ground. In 2024, pitching for three organizations, he logged 52 1/3 innings in the minors. In that time, he had a 3.78 ERA, 15.1% strikeout rate, 6.8% walk rate and 55.1% ground ball rate.

The M’s will now have a week to figure out what’s next for Kitchen, whether that’s a trade or another trip to the waiver wire. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trades would have to come together in the next five days. Kitchen still has a couple of option years and minimal service time, so a club willing to give him a roster spot could keep him as cheap depth for the foreseeable future.

Padres Select Donovan Solano

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The Padres announced this afternoon that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Donovan Solano. Infielder Eguy Rosario was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move, and San Diego’s 40-man roster now stands at 40.

Solano, 36, is a veteran of ten MLB seasons who first made his debut back in 2012. He struggled to hit at the big league level earlier in his career, with a .257/.306/.331 slash line in 370 games from 2012 to 2016, and didn’t appear at all at the major league level in 2017 or 2018. Since resurfacing with the Giants back in 2019, however, Solano has emerged as one of the more underrated utility hitters in the game in recent years. Since returning to the big leagues in 2019, Solano has slashed an impressive .296/.355/.413 (112 wRC+) without a single below-average offensive season during that timeframe. He’s been even more effective against southpaws, boasting a 119 wRC+ and just a 17.2% strikeout rate against lefty pitchers over the past five years.

On top of that strong work at the plate, Solano has offered considerable positional flexibility. He’s appeared at all four infield spots throughout his career, and while the veteran last appeared in a game at shortstop back in 2021 and has primarily played first base in recent years, he’s still more than capable of covering both second and third base as needed with Outs Above Average grading him as a scratch to slightly below average defender at both positions in each of the last three seasons.

The addition of Solano to the club’s positional mix adds yet another quality infielder to a roster deep in infield talent. With former infielders Jurickson Profar, Jackson Merrill, and Fernando Tatis Jr. now playing the outfield on a full-time basis in San Diego, the Solano figures to join the newly-acquired Luis Arraez in taking starts at first, second, and third base when necessary to back up regular infielders Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Ha-Seong Kim, and Jake Cronenworth. Arraez figures to get the lion’s share of playing time at DH, though Solano figures to act as a solid right-handed complement to both he and Cronenworth to provide manager Mike Shildt with a bit of extra flexibility and protection against injuries.

Making room for Solano’s addition to the active roster is Rosario. The 24-year-old made his MLB debut back in 2022 with the Padres and has generally impressed in an up-and-down role over the past three seasons, but his most recent stint in the majors was perhaps the most impressive of all. In 52 trips to the plate that came mostly by way of platooning with Tyler Wade at third base while Machado recovered from offseason surgery earlier this year, Rosario hit a fantastic .250/.294/.542 (141 wRC+) with a whopping eight extra base hits, including three home runs.

That impressive work at the plate combined with Rosario’s ability to play both second and third base as well as shortstop figure to make him a leading candidate to return to the majors in San Diego should an injury require the club to dip into its depth options. Until then, Rosario will return to the Triple-A level where he’s slashed a solid .282/.363/.486 over the past two seasons.

Padres Sign Donovan Solano To Minor League Deal

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The Padres have signed veteran infielder Donovan Solano to a minor league deal, per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Solano will report to the club’s Arizona facilities for now but will presumably move to a higher affiliate after getting in a delayed Spring Training of sorts.

Solano, 36, has somewhat quietly been a very effective utility guy over the past five seasons. After playing in the majors from 2012 to 2016, Solano was stuck in the minors for 2017 and 2018. He made it back to the show with the Giants in 2019 and spent three years with them.

He got into 236 games in those three years, one of which was the shortened 2020 season, and hit .308/.354/.435. His 5.8% walk rate was below average but he was also tough to strike out, a rate of just 18.8%. He did that while providing the club with plenty of defensive versatility, bouncing between shortstop, second base and third base.

The past two years have seen him sign one-year deals, first with the Reds and then with the Twins, largely producing in a similar manner. He has a combined slash line of .296/.355/.413 from 2019 through 2023, which translates to a wRC+ of 112, indicating he’s been 12% better than the league average hitter. He didn’t play shortstop at all in the past two years but added first base into his repertoire.

Given the generally solid offense and his ability to bounce around the infield, it’s a bit surprising that he has lingered on the open market this long. There was a rumor in January that the Twins were interested in bringing him back to Minnesota but his winter was quiet apart from that.

It would appear that Solano was another victim of an offseason that wasn’t kind to many players. Stars like Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman and Jordan Montgomery had to settle for short-term deals well below expectations while even guys at the lower tiers struggled. Late in the winter, position players like Amed Rosario, Gio Urshela, Michael A. Taylor, Adam Duvall, Randal Grichuk and others signed deals for $4MM or less.

That will work to the Padres’ benefit, as they’ve now brought aboard a talented infielder without having to commit a roster spot. The financial components of the deal aren’t known but Solano probably won’t be guaranteed much even if he is eventually added to the roster.

The Friars have had a bit of a rotating infield picture over the past few months. It was reported at the start of Spring Training that Xander Bogaerts would be moving from shortstop to second base, with Ha-Seong Kim taking over at short. Manny Machado had elbow surgery in the offseason that had prevented him from taking his normal third base position, but he has been serving as the designated hitter.

With Machado not able to take the field, the third base playing time has been split between Tyler Wade, Eguy Rosario and Graham Pauley. Pauley was making his major league debut but scuffled enough to get optioned after just seven games. Rosario has two home runs in his 13 games this year but his 39.1% strikeout rate is on the worrying side. Wade has spent many years as a speed-and-defense utility guy who doesn’t hit much and he’s currently batting .222/.317/.250 this year.

Machado will eventually return to the third base spot, which will lead to reduced infield playing time, though that will also open up the designated hitter slot. Perhaps Solano would make sense on the club at that time, as he could provide depth at multiple infield spots while providing the club with a bit more offense than someone like Wade while striking out less than Rosario.

Twins Rumors: Solano, Duvall, Lorenzen

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The Twins finally made their first significant move of the offseason this week, shipping out stalwart infielder Jorge Polanco in a trade that netted big league righties Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani as well as prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen from the Mariners. The Twins picked up a net savings of $5.25MM in the trade as well, which president of baseball operations Derek Falvey has already suggested will go toward adding a bat from outside the organization. One possibility the Twins may be considering, per the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, is a reunion with veteran utilityman Donovan Solano.

It’s unlikely that the 36-year-old Solano would command the entirety of that savings, let alone any resources beyond that point. He played the 2023 season on a one-year, $2MM deal he signed with the Twins after spring training had already begun. Solano didn’t necessarily post eye-popping numbers but was a quietly important piece of the Twins’ AL Central title, turning in a strong .282/.369/.391 batting line with a career-high 8.9% walk rate against a 22.2% strikeout rate (just south of league average but also a career-high mark). That batting line was 16% better than average, by measure of wRC+, and Solano paired it with his typical defensive versatility, logging time at first base, second base and third base.

Bringing back Solano would deepen the team’s bench mix and once again provide a right-handed-hitting complement to lefty-swinging first baseman Alex Kirilloff. However, it’s also debatable whether the need is as pressing this time around as when Minnesota last signed Solano. Royce Lewis has emerged as the team’s everyday third baseman, with Carlos Correa at shortstop. The Polanco trade cleared the way for 2023 rookie standout Edouard Julien to step into an everyday role at second base. Kirilloff is likely to man first base, and the Twins have another right-handed-hitting option, Jose Miranda, as a righty option to pair with Kirilloff.

The 2023 season was an injury ruined disaster for Miranda, as he struggled in both the majors and Triple-A before eventually undergoing shoulder surgery. But in 2022, the former top-100 prospect debuted with a strong .268/.325/.426 slash and 15 homers — including a particularly stout .289/.348/.454 showing following a dismal three-week stretch to begin his career. If Miranda is back to full strength, he can certainly be that right-handed partner for Kirilloff at first base. And, the Twins also have former top-10 picks Brooks Lee and Austin Martin on the cusp of the majors, each adding to the infield depth.

To that end, Heyman notes that Minnesota is also exploring the market for outfield help. Presumably, the target would be a right-handed bat, as corner options Matt Wallner, Max Kepler and Trevor Larnach all bat left-handed. Byron Buxton expects to be back in center field this season after spending last year as a DH following knee surgery but is, as always, a major injury question mark. The Twins have utilitymen Willi Castro and Nick Gordon as center field alternatives, and the aforementioned Martin is also no stranger to the position. But a righty bat who can handle center field still seems like a prudent addition, whether that be a reunion with Michael A. Taylor or perhaps a different free agent like Adam Duvall or Randal Grichuk.

Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports that the Twins have indeed considered Duvall, specifically. The 35-year-old, righty-swinging slugger is capable of playing all three outfield spots but is best suited for corner work at this stage of his career. Duvall ripped 21 homers in just 92 games for the Red Sox last year while slashing .247/.303/.531 overall.

Contact and plate discipline issues have long plagued Duvall. He fanned in 31.2% of his plate appearances last year against just a 6.2% walk rate; in his career, he sports marks of 28.7% and 6.7% in those respective categories. The Twins had MLB’s highest strikeout rate last year, and while they’re subtracting Joey Gallo (42.8%) and potentially the previously mentioned Taylor as well (33.5%), they’ll also surely give more at-bats to young strikeout-prone players like Julien (31.4%) and Wallner (31.5%) in 2024. Adding another strikeout rate of 30% or more could be problematic, but they’re surely weighing that against the benefits Duvall could bring to the roster.

In the rotation, the Twins’ addition of DeSclafani has addressed some of the depth issues, though the veteran right-hander isn’t going to be mistaken as a direct replacement for outgoing Cy Young runner-up Sonny Gray, who signed a three-year, $75MM deal with the Cardinals. The Twins, according to MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, were showing interest in free-agent righty Michael Lorenzen before adding DeSclafani in the Polanco swap.

The addition of DeSclafani could well push young right-hander Louie Varland to the bullpen or the Triple-A St. Paul Saints’ rotation, but it’s not entirely clear yet whether it precludes the addition of someone like Lorenzen (a former teammate of DeSclafani’s in Cincinnati). Lorenzen made his first All-Star team in 2023 after a strong start to the season, and after being traded to Philadelphia at the deadline, tossed a no-hitter in his second start as a Phillie.

Things derailed quickly thereafter, however, as Lorenzen — a reliever-turned-starter — looked to fade down the stretch while navigating the tail end of a career-high 153-inning workload. He pitched to an 8.01 ERA in 30 innings following that no-hit gem, eventually being dropped from the Philly rotation to the bullpen. On the whole, Lorenzen finished with a 4.18 ERA, 17.8% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate.

Minnesota’s payroll currently projects around $118MM, which is about $37MM shy of last year’s $155MM mark. Earlier reports in the winter suggested a target in the $125-140MM range, so there ought to be room to add someone of Lorenzen’s caliber or a similar starter in free agency, particularly since they’re only on the hook for $4MM of DeSclafani’s salary. Further addressing the rotation isn’t a foregone conclusion, but it remains something for the Twins to consider as the clock to spring training ticks.

The Top Unsigned Second Basemen

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Pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Spring Training in about three weeks but a slow offseason means there are still plenty of free agents out there. MLBTR already took a look at the catchers, first basemen, shortstops, third basemen, center fielders and starting pitchers still available and will now take a look at some notable second basemen.

  • Whit Merrifield: A late bloomer who also signed an extension with the Royals, Merrifield is now a free agent for the first time at the age of 35. He’s never been a huge power guy, nor does he take many walks, but he’s tough to strike out and has had some success with the contact approach. He’s also provided defensive versatility by playing the keystone and the outfield, along with some brief time at the infield corners. In each of the past three years, he’s hit either 10 or 11 home runs while walking less than 7% of the time, but his strikeout rate has never climbed above 17.1%. He’s stolen 82 bases over those three seasons while getting solid defensive grades at second and passable marks in the outfield corners. His .284/.330/.420 career batting line translated to a 101 wRC+.
  • Tim Anderson: From 2019 to 2022, Anderson hit .318/.347/.473 for the White Sox for a wRC+ of 123. But his batting line dropped all the way to .245/.286/.296 last year. That translated to a wRC+ of 60, the worst mark of any qualified hitter in the league. His glovework also seemed to decline, relative to his previous work. He’s a prime bounceback candidate, with an April knee injury perhaps helping to explain his poor results last year. The lack of available shortstops could lead to him getting a job at that position but he has expressed a willingness to move over to second going forward.
  • Amed Rosario: Mostly a shortstop in his career, Rosario got his first taste of second base in the latter stages of the 2023 campaign. His glovework received solid marks at the keystone, albeit in a small sample of 190 innings. But since he was never considered a strong defensive shortstop, he’s probably best suited to move across the bag regardless. Like Anderson, the weak shortstop market might get him a gig at that spot but he could be a solid option on the other side if that’s his best bet. He’s also a bounceback candidate, having hit .263/.305/.378 for a wRC+ of 88 last year but .282/.315/.412 for a 101 wRC+ in the four previous seasons.
  • Donovan Solano: Somewhat quietly, Solano has been an excellent utility piece over the past five years. Since the start of the 2019 season, he has hit .296/.355/.413 for a wRC+ of 112. His on-base percentage hasn’t been below .339 in any of those seasons and his wRC+ never below 100. He’s done that while playing all four infield positions, though he hasn’t played shortstop in the past two years. The majority of his time in the field has come at second base, where he’s received passable reviews for his glovework.
  • Adam Frazier: Somewhat similar to Merrifield, Frazier doesn’t walk much or run up huge power numbers, but he’s tough to strike out and does a few things well. His 13 homers in 2023 were a career high and he has career walk and strikeout rates of 7.4% and 13%, respectively. He’s hit .269/.331/.393 overall for a wRC+ of 98, though his 2023 output was slightly below that, except in the power department. DRS likes his glovework at the keystone but OAA doesn’t, though both like his work as an outfielder. He’s tallied double-digit steal totals in each of the past three seasons.

Honorable mentions: Elvis Andrus, Enrique Hernández, Tony Kemp, Kolten Wong

Twins Notes: First Base, Kirilloff, Henriquez, Rotation

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The Twins don’t plan on using a dedicated first baseman in 2023, manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters this week (link via Dan Hayes of The Athletic). Minnesota will utilize a rotation of players through the position, giving looks to Alex Kirilloff, Jose Miranda, utilityman Nick Gordon and offseason signees Joey Gallo and Donovan Solano at the position. The Twins cycled through various DH options last season after three years with Nelson Cruz as the mainstay in that spot of the lineup, and it seems as though they’ll now go with a that rotational approach at both DH and first base.

Kirilloff told Hayes that he’s feeling “optimistic” about his twice-surgically repaired wrist, which is improving by the week. A healthy Kirilloff would be the favorite for work at first base. The former No. 15 overall draft pick climbed as high as the ninth-ranked prospect in all of baseball on MLB.com’s top-100 list prior to the 2019 season (and No. 15 at Baseball America), and the Twins thought highly enough of him to give him his MLB debut during the 2020 postseason.

Injuries have derailed both his 2021 and 2022 seasons, however, and after a hot start in 2021, his production began to slide. He currently has just a .251/.298/.398 batting line in 387 Major League plate appearances, but Kirilloff is also a .323/.378/.518 hitter in the minor leagues and comes with substantial upside at the plate. He could be an option in the outfield as well — he’s played all three spots in his career — but the Twins are deep in the outfield and clearly have more playing time for him at first base.

Of the options to split time at first base, the newly signed Solano could be a frequent one. Twins president of baseball ops Derek Falvey told reporters this week Solano will get a “good amount” of time at the position (link via Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press). Helfand writes that the Twins first reached out to Solano back in early January, though a deal obviously took quite a bit longer to formally come together. Solano adds that other clubs made him offers, but it seems some might’ve come from rebuilding teams, as he cited the Twins’ desire to compete in 2023 as a reason for signing in Minnesota.

Elsewhere in camp, pitching prospect Ronny Henriquez, who recently underwent an MRI after experiencing posterior elbow soreness, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (Twitter link). The right-hander received an injection and will be reevaluated in a week’s time.

The 22-year-old Henriquez, acquired alongside Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the trade that sent catcher Mitch Garver to the Rangers, made his big league debut in 2022 and tossed 11 2/3 innings of 2.31 ERA ball. He struggled to a 5.66 ERA in 95 1/3 Triple-A frames, thanks largely to an inflated 1.79 HR/9 mark, but his 25.7% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate were more encouraging. He currently ranks 23rd among Twins farmhands at Baseball America. A strong performance in camp and/or in Triple-A to begin the season could put him in the mix for a bullpen spot during the upcoming campaign.

Henriquez has been primarily a starter in the minors, but with a rotation consisting of Sonny Gray, Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda — plus Bailey Ober looming as a solid sixth option — it’d be an uphill battle to get into the starting mix. It’s a deep collection of starters for the Twins — one that Baldelli will likely treat differently than in 2022, when pitchers like Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy were deployed in short starts by design. Via Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Baldelli said this week that he expects Twins starters to work deep into games this year.

“I expect more out of our starters this year,” Baldelli said. “…We have several guys that, what they probably take most pride in, is giving you a good, deep effort into a ballgame. Guys that are not satisfied giving you five good innings. They want more than that out of themselves.”

The now-26-year-old Ryan led all Twins pitchers with just 147 innings pitched in 2022. Part of that was due to rampant injuries up and down the roster, but part of it was also an ostensibly conscious effort to shield starters from facing a lineup three times in an outing. Twins starting pitchers averaged just 4.83 innings per outing in 2022. The group ranked as a middle-of-the-pack unit in terms of results, landing 20th in MLB with a 4.11 ERA. Archer, in particular, averaged just 4.11 innings per start. Lopez, acquired from the Marlins last month, averaged 5.63 innings per start and pitched at least six frames in 16 of his 32 starts.

Twins Sign Donovan Solano

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12:16pm: The Twins formally announced the signing. Right-hander Chris Paddack, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery performed last May, was placed on the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Feb. 23, 8:40am: The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that Solano’s deal guarantees him $2MM, with up to $250K in additional incentives available.

Feb. 21: The Twins are in agreement with infielder Donovan Solano on a one-year, major league contract, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The deal is pending a physical and the financial terms are not yet publicly known.

Solano, 35, has had a unique journey in his baseball career. He played in the big leagues from 2012 to 2016 but didn’t impress much and wound up mired in the minors for two years after that. He was able to claw his way back to the show and has been a solid major league player over the past few years. With the Giants from 2019 to 2021, he hit .308/.354/.435, with his wRC+ of 113 indicating he was 13% better than the league average hitter in that time.

He signed with the Reds last year and took a bit of a step back at the plate, finishing the season with a .284/.339/.385 line and a 98 wRC+. Despite the slight drop, he was still a useful piece for the Reds, since he was able to spend significant time at the three non-shortstop infield positions and was generally considered around average at them, though his work at third was graded the weakest and his work at first the strongest.

Solano could be a good fit for a platoon role given his right-handed bat has fared well against left-handed pitchers, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently highlighted. Solano has hit .289/.342/.397 against righties over the past four seasons but has crushed lefties to a .321/.363/.461 line. That split largely continued last year, even though he was less productive overall. He hit .301/.348/.422 with the platoon advantage but .277/.335/.369 without it.

For the Twins, they’ve seen some notable changes to their infield mix this offseason, though Carlos Correa and Jorge Polanco should still be in the middle. Gio Urshela was traded to the Angels, freeing up the hot corner for José Miranda after he saw significant time at first last year. Luis Arraez was traded to the Marlins while Miguel Sanó had his option declined. All of that has left left-hander Alex Kirilloff potentially the top option at first base. Since Solano fared well at first last year, he could perhaps platoon with Kirilloff some. In addition to the normal platoon strategy, it might make sense to monitor Kirilloff’s workload given his nagging wrist injuries over the past few years.

The club also has a number of left-handed hitters in its outfield mix. Right-hander Byron Buxton will be in center, but the options for the corners include lefties Joey Gallo, Max Kepler, Nick Gordon, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner and Kirilloff. The club doesn’t have a strict designated hitter and will likely be rotating those players through that slot, with Solano potentially spelling them against lefties from time to time as well. Solano’s ability to play second could also allow him to give Polanco the occasional day off, though the club also has Kyle Farmer and Gordon available for that duty as well.

It’s unknown what kind of salary Solano will earn, but it’s unlikely to be a huge investment for this move that will add some depth and versatility to the team. They have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move, though that will likely be moving one of Chris Paddack or Royce Lewis to the 60-day injured list, since both are expected to be out of action until at least midseason.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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