Eris

LF. Larnach had 1.1 WAR last season playing in 25 games. If he is healthy for even half the season he should be able to put up at least 2 WAR. The position to be worried about is 3B as Miranda has not been tested there defensively. Of course he is an option at first base as well.

The Guardians had one of the youngest teams in the MLB last year. Barring injuries they will only get better. Kwan is the Guardians version of Luis Arraez, but able to play a decent defense.

Any player whose contributes negative value defensively is a primary candidate to see more time at DH. This explains why Luis Arraez is towards the top of games played at DH. Based on last years defense, Jose Miranda might see more time at DH. Hoping he plays solid D at third.

The baseball hall of stats has Mauer well above Molina in terms of Hall of Fame worthiness. According to the hall of stats website, Molina should not be inducted into the HoF. This will serve as a useful test of the perception of Mauer vs that of Molina. http://www.hallofstats.com/position/c

I am disappointed that the contract keeps coming up. Reality is that Joe Mauer’s career was cut short by a career altering concussion. Of which he was still having symptoms the year he retired. Would there be the same level of discussion about the contract if his career would have been altered by a back injury suffered in, e.g., a home plate collision. Twins and their fans were robbed of truly great careers from Mauer, Justin Morneau, and to a lesser extent Corey Koskie—all because of career altering concussions. But because Mauer was in a different stage of his contract we somehow feel differently about his injury.

Matt, thank you for the well written article. It made my Sunday.

For HoF voting, he will be compared to his contemporaries. Francisco Lindor is clearly the best. Correa is grouped with Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts. Therefore it is doubtful that he makes it. Unless, perhaps, Correa delivers 2 or 3 World Series titles for the Twins while earning MVP honors along the way. Even then, he will still be compared to Lindor for HoF voting.

I am a little bit puzzled by the large differences in DRS vs statcast metrics. in the catch probability leaderboard Buxton has 84% catch probability and 8 outs above average. And 66% of 4 star opportunities v Kepler: 69% and 11 OAA, 62% of 4 star opportunities Gallo is 58% and -3 OAA. 22% of 4 star opportunities Obviously one main difference is the OAA and catch probability doesn’t take into consideration arm strength and accuracy, whereas DRS does.

Fangraphs because I find their site easier to use.

The Yankees trading Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals this past trade deadline. Montgomery went 6-3 for the Cardinals. Still it doesn’t quite meet your criteria as Bader was not a prospect The trade was also impacted due to the Yankees acquiring Montas https://www.si.com/mlb/yankees/.amp/news/answering-questions-new-york-jordan-montgomery-trade-for-harrison-bader-st-louis-cardinals

I think it would be a mistake for the Twins to offer a 9 year deal that was not contingent on a physical especially since both the Giants and the Mets had enough concerns to scuttle their deals with Correa.

While it is easy to point fingers at the Mets for so quickly signing a contract when the Giants had issues with Correa’s medicals. It should be noted that Boras indicated that Correa’s doctors did not agree with the Giant’s opinion. For me, Boras loses credibility on this as he as an agent depends on building relationships with team front offices. For long term success these contracts have to be wins for both the players and owners.

I don’t disagree with your assessment. However, Boras represents his clients. Historically he has attracted clients who wanted the most money/longest contracts or some combination of. If Correa told Boras to work out a contract with the Mets that involved an injury exclusion, Boras would be obligated to do so.

The Correa saga is interesting. For 2 years in a row teams have thrown big money at many free agents and Correa has missed out (or is close to missing out ). I wonder why this is.

Big Papi had a career 17.3 K%. On the 2022 Twins only Miranda (18.8), Urshela (17.4), Kepler (14.8), and Arraez (7.1%) have a K% less than 20. As a comparison, Joe Mauer had a career K% of 13.0. If there is a learning from releasing Big Papi it seems that it should be we need players with power who do not strike out a lot. all data is from Fangraphs.