Looking forward to 2019 - Twins Fall Offseason Thread

[Monster]

Twins lock in Kepler and Polonco and it sounds like there will be more to come. Polonco's deal looks really good and Kepler's deal I think looks more attractive when you consider he probably can play CF full time...for someone. I like seeing these guys get contracts at solid money.

[bleedspeed]

Loved Polonco at that price. Kepler seems overpaid in my opinion if his play doesn't take a decent leap he seemed like a borderline starter maybe a 4th outfielder on a good team.

I do think locking these guys up is a good thing though.

[bleedspeed]

Other news

https://www.skornorth.com/twins-2/2019/02/til-twins-notebook-willians-astudillo-hits-snag-kyle-gibson-wants-to-add-lbs/

What matters to me.

*Willians Astudillo will once again be delayed reporting to camp because of paperwork issues, two people with the Twins said. It's a holdup in getting from Venezuela, where he starred for his Winter League team, to the U.S., where he's hoping to earn a spot on the Twins' 25-man roster out of spring training. Astudillo was delayed last year, too, in his first season in the organization. Then he earned a call-up by mid-summer and by the fall he was a fan favorite among Twins supporters as well as the Internet's Favorite Baseball Player.

Word from the Twins is that Astudillo is expected to travel to Fort Myers on Friday -- the paperwork issues evidently in his rearview mirror. Saturday would be his first day at big league camp, two days ahead of the first full-squad workout on the schedule for the Twins.

[Jester1534]

Loved Polonco at that price. Kepler seems overpaid in my opinion if his play doesn't take a decent leap he seemed like a borderline starter maybe a 4th outfielder on a good team.

I do think locking these guys up is a good thing though.

I agree to an extent. However, based on his minor league numbers, his walk/K rates and extremely low BAIP in the majors, he is capable of hitting at a much higher avg (.260s-.270s). He is a solid hitter that has good gap power and can make good contact. Who also is a solid option in CF or RF.

I've said before Max is a weird prospect because there's no one who's ever had the same development cycle as him so there is no history to go off on.

Polonco deal is a steal of price. They basically did the same with Dozier 5 years early as well and it worked out pretty dang good for the Twins.

[Monster]

Loved Polonco at that price. Kepler seems overpaid in my opinion if his play doesn't take a decent leap he seemed like a borderline starter maybe a 4th outfielder on a good team.

I do think locking these guys up is a good thing though.

I agree to an extent. However, based on his minor league numbers, his walk/K rates and extremely low BAIP in the majors, he is capable of hitting at a much higher avg (.260s-.270s). He is a solid hitter that has good gap power and can make good contact. Who also is a solid option in CF or RF.

I've said before Max is a weird prospect because there's no one who's ever had the same development cycle as him so there is no history to go off on.

Polonco deal is a steal of price. They basically did the same with Dozier 5 years early as well and it worked out pretty dang good for the Twins.

Lavelle Neal has said on Twitter that the Twins and others he has talked to say the same thing you are saying here about his later development. We have talked plenty about Max's offensive development on this forum so we didn't need to go down that road I don't think.

It's probably worth noting the Twins named Kepler defensive player of the year. I suppose there were only so many options but I think his defense may be overlooked by fans when calculating his value. I don't watch enough but I think it's a factor. It's not the same because Buxton is so good in the field but if he was healthy and putting up numbers like Kepler did last year people would be fairly excited about him. Hopefullly Kepler breaks out along with others.

[Porckchop]

I think it deserves mentioning that the Twins made the right move not keeping Dozier around. It aloud some of these signings to happen .

[bleedspeed]

I've said before Max is a weird prospect because there's no one who's ever had the same development cycle as him so there is no history to go off on.

I know, but I was really hoping he would put it together last year. He always was overlooked because of Sano and Buxton, but he has been better than either of those guys. If this doesn't light a fire under Sano to get serious I don't know what will. He and Buxton should have been the guys signing these long term deals.

[bleedspeed]

Hopefullly Kepler breaks out along with others.

Agreed. I always have been a fan of him, but felt this contract seemed rich to me based on what he has done. I felt Polonco though not as consistent has shown more potential and people started getting on the Jack Cave bandwagon last year thinking he might be an upgrade from Max Kepler.

Interesting looking at Twins ranking based on WAR for 2018. Max was 4th on the team and Polanco 7th.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2018.shtml

If you click on a player it also shows 2019 projections.

[Jester1534]

I think it deserves mentioning that the Twins made the right move not keeping Dozier around. It aloud some of these signings to happen .

They absolutely made the right decision on Dozier. The problem is they should've sold him when his value was at his highest.

[Monster]

I think it deserves mentioning that the Twins made the right move not keeping Dozier around. It aloud some of these signings to happen .

They absolutely made the right decision on Dozier. The problem is they should've sold him when his value was at his highest.

I agree to some extent. The question is what was our there for him at that time. I remember that the Dodgers offer was that pitcher that struggled and then was injured. Meanwhile they got into the playoffs one season and had that production etc. There are a number of ways for the way they played it out to work out well.