Twins Sign 2B Jonathan Schoop

I’ll repost what I wrote yesterday or two days ago on the “Schoop, Avisail non-tendered” thread:

“Looking at Schoop’s track record, he has posted four seasons in the minors and two seasons in the majors of at least 780 OPS. He had a bad year last year, but he’s still very young and looks like an excellent bounce back candidate.”

Like the move. Polanco-Schoop could make a very strong hitting MI.

As for his low OBP, sure, it would be nice if he was at 350+. But I kind of like a 30HR, 800OPS 2B who is aggressive.

Jed Lowrie or Daniel Murphy would have been the player I would have rather seen them sign.

I can also say I would have rather waited for another team to pick up a 2b first. Hate to think it's another classic Twins overpay. Just because he was projected to make $10M doesn't mean you need to pay him close to that.

My guess is that Dozier will sign for $4M.

I'm not overly excited about the Schoop signing but it's not a bad signing either. If he has a bounce back year at all it could be a very good signing.

With both of signings today the Twins are at a full 40 man roster and they clearly need to add at least 1 if not 2 bullpen arms and it would be nice to add a right handed OF. So, who are the DFA candidates when they sign the next player?

4mm for Dozier ouch!! Bout rite though. Shoop's an ironic signing around here with all the obp talk. I've seen Shoop spank the twins before and noticed him. No doubt he has a chance to do some damage this year but I too would like to see some big money dropped

I think we knew all along it would be Schoop.

And Dozier is one year removed from a 4.5 WAR.... 0.7 higher than the 3.8 of Schoop. And I didn't see excitement for the idea of Dozier returning.

I don't see this FO doing anything special until they see if Sano and Buxton and Kepler .... and Rosario and Berrios and Gibson ..... all show improvement. This all seems a lot like a deja vu of last off seasons quality of moves. If they are shooting for a .500 team or worse, this is just fine. If they want to compete.... these are uninteresting moves.

I thought I read that the FO felt that the one year veterans were not good for the team and team chemistry. One foot out the door as the season starts.....

Well, I guess on the bright side, it looks like we're going to have a lot of money to (not) spend on good pitching.

I'm surprised to hear so many complaining. I know there were some other 2nd basemen on the market but this guy had to be among the top 5 available. The Twins haven't had much luck bargain shopping for down-on-their-luck stars (LoMo, Lynn, Rodney come to mind), but they might have found something in Schoop.

Remember Schoop was injured at the beginning of last year and it really nagged him for a while. When he came back he performed well enough for the NLCS-bound Brewers to trade for him at the deadline.

This might be one of those TJMaxx specials that the Twins can brag about next year.

It seems like the position players are pretty much covered, so if the Twins keep a similar payroll to last season there should still be over $40M to spend. I'll be very interested to see if we can make a major upgrade to the pitching staff.

Agreed....but what did they do last year, after Buxton and Sano were good? 1-2 year deals, meh trade. We'll see, but what do you think will happen? And, I'm only reacting to this deal, another 1 year deal that does nothing for the future at all. Nothing.

He's still an asset for the year (which could be traded for future value), and you have exclusive right to bargain for an extension.

The demand that the Twins spend hugely seems a bit misguided.  Beyond Machado and Harper, I don't think the Twins can buy a real difference maker.  Does Marwin Gonzales add that much more than Schoop?  Do you want the Twins to give 100 some million to Keuchel?  

Eh, it's a fine deal. Schoop was only going to take a one year deal, and I like the upside that he could bring. He's still young and could improve as a hitter. Defensively, UZR has him ranked 37th out of 82 2B who played at least 100 innings. DRS has him ranked 17th out of 82. So he's definitely a better defender than Dozier was last season, so he'll be a step up there.

At this point I can see Falvey and Levin crossing their fingers that either A) Schoop will rebound and return to being a top 10 2B or B: Nick Gordon figures things out and pushes Schoop at 2B. I would have preferred Marwin Gonzalez, but this isn't a bad alternative.

Not a bad pickup, and in fact, these are the kinds of deals Terry Ryan never made when we were winning divisions.  This is the precisely the kind of player we could have gotten to sit Nick Punto's butt down

Interesting that it's a one year deal after all the hoopla made of mercenaries poisoning the well last year. I hope he plays great, but I'd have preferred a 2 year deal, or a more defensively sound Short Stop. 

I think those comments about mercenaries are still relevant. The key last year as how many of those contracts they had. One or two isn't a big deal, but they add up fast.

I think it also depends on circumstances. As others have said, Schoop likely wants a one year deal to rebuild value (somewhat similar to Donaldson) whereas Lynn and Morrison where players who had perceived higher value and found something else on the market. 

I like both deals and I think it shows they believe in the young middle infielders for the near future.

I hope they are pursuing a bat that can hit right handed pitching for DH/1B.