He also makes way too many mistakes in the field as well. Keep him in AAA to try to develop then reevaluate him with a full season in St. Paul under his belt.
Lopez looks like he will be a good clubhouse guy and if he can be a #2 guy behind Gray I think this will turn out well. I hated the trade at first, but as the days go by, I am warming up to it.
The injuries in 2021 that forced the Twins to move Celestino from AA to the Majors hindered his growth in my opinion. He didn't get the chance to go through the growing pains to learn how to hit better quality pitching.
Last season they threw him in to put out fires regardless of inning, I would like to see them make him the closer and use Lopez and Alcala and possibly Jax as the set up men. All 3 of those guys can hit upper 90s.
I'm trying to see the positives in this trade but I have this nagging feeling about the rallies as well. Trading your leadoff hitter opens a huge hole in my opinion and they don't have a great option to plug into that hole.
His defense is actually not terrible, for a player who has played multiple positions. He didn't commit a single error at 1st last season and was a Gold Glove finalist. I find the defensive liability argument to be weak.
I agree with you, Arraez has been serviceable wherever he has played defensively and was a Gold Glove finalist after not playing 1st since he was a teenager in the Dominican League.
He was shifted 2% of his plate appearances, with his spray chart I'm surprised teams didn't shift him more to the right side. Probably good that now they can't shift him due to the rule change.
I agree, I think by the end of 2023 we will have a good idea who will win this trade. If Lopez goes something 15-7 with a 3.5 ERA and the Twins are in the race into September I will say the Twins win regardless of what Arraez does in Miami.