The Royals acquired Aoki from the Brewers for a 24 year old, Will Smith, who started a few games in 2012. Aoki is an excellent fielding CF and is a good singles hitter who can hit some doubles.

 

Won a couple of batting titles in the Japanese League. He will be 32 in January. Seems durable. Will Smith might have started this year for the Royals.

 

Wouldn't Aoki help the Twins offense this year?

Yes he would have helped. No, they shouldn't have acquired him. The Twins need to stay the course and save their prospects so they can have an extended run at success instead of making 2014 marginally better.

Well, if they want me to buy a ticket, they're going to have to do better than an outfield with Presley and Parmelee in it. I think fans are getting tired of the Twins putting AAA-AAAA talent on the field. The good prospects (except maybe Sano) are still 1 1/2 - 2 seasons away - there is a way to provide an entertaining product while still building for the future. They got a good start with the pitching staff, let's see some improvement on offense/defense as well.

I think I'd rather have Will Smith than Aoki. So if he would have cost the Twins a similar price, probably no.

Presley has very similar career OPS+ with Aoki and very similar toolset, is 4-5 years younger and costs less.

 

As far as Japanese batting champions and the Twins go, I will refer you to the

Edited December 5, 201312 yr by Thrylos

I picture the Twins outfield being Arcia, Willingham and Presley. With Hicks in the wings. Parmelee will be bench fodder at the most.

Aoki is an excellent fielding CF

To be fair, he's only had 5 PAs as a CF in the majors, all the rest of his play time has been RF. If I remember right he did play some (?) CF in Japan, but I'm not sure where I'd find NPB splits by position.

Aoki seems like a nice addition if you're trying to win right now (which the Royals seem to think they can do - I'm not so sure). Aoki would have been nice, but he's not what the Twins NEED right now. I'm content to watch Presley, Hicks, Arcia and company sort things out while Buxton and Rosario get closer to the show.

Aoki seems like a nice addition if you're trying to win right now (which the Royals seem to think they can do - I'm not so sure). Aoki would have been nice, but he's not what the Twins NEED right now. I'm content to watch Presley, Hicks, Arcia and company sort things out while Buxton and Rosario get closer to the show.

 

This.

And another reason why its really important to make sure you can, in fact win now, before your start mortgaging your future. If the Royals have misjudged their ability to win now, they could be looking at another extended down spell.

The Twins don't really have a comparable young arm to Smith in terms of status and experience aside from Gibson. Would you want to trade him for Aoki?

The Twins would have been better off signing Wil Nieves then giving up part of the future for Aoki, but thats just me

Aoki is a great leadoff hitter and it's a lobsided trade in the Royals favor. Smith is a reliever at best and he's failed to be anything more than replacement level while pitching as one last season. If Aoki was under 30, he's the type of player the Twins should definitely acquire. We have no defense on the corners. They can have Arcia DH and Aoki can save our pitch to contact guys some runs in RF. Hammer in Left.

Edited December 6, 201312 yr by YourHouseIsMyHouse

Aoki is a good player and smart pickup for the Royals considering how often Lorenzo Cain seems to get injured. What's not to like? KC likes to steal bases too so I wouldn't be surprised to see him get 30+. If they can also still land Beltran, they'll have a pretty solid looking outfield.

 

But as others said, doesn't work for the Twins right now.

Ehh I don't think he's much of an upgrade over Pressly or Mastrioanni. Certainly no enough to be worth giving up a legitimate prospect. Phil Hughes will have an ERA of 6 with an OF of Willingham, Pressley, & Arcia.

 

Willingham needs to be a full time DH period.

Edited December 6, 201312 yr by Trevor0333