Minnesota Twins may have set second base market with Jonathan Schoop

While Jonathan Schoop’s recently announced deal with the Minnesota Twins is quite minor in value, it could set a precedent for other second basemen on the free agent market this year.

When Jonathan Schoop with the Minnesota Twins on signed Thursday, many were rather apathetic towards the entire development. While Schoop certainly has the potential to be a valuable second base piece, his contract, which was of a mere $7 million over one year, wasn’t exactly the payroll-altering deal that many hoped would come out of the second base market.

Now, this market could be wide open. As Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports noted after Schoop’s signing on Twitter, the “second base market could start moving now”. Passan also adds that prior to signing Schoop (and agreeing to terms with the recently non-tendered Ronald Torreyes), the Twins were in conversations with second base monoliths D.J. LeMahieu and Jed Lowrie.

While those two are reportedly seeking multi-year deals (why wouldn’t they?), many of the so-called “smaller” middle infielders are being signed before the market really gets cemented. Already, Chris Owings, Jace Peterson and Dixon Machado have been taken off the board, with Andrew Romine, Gregorio Petit, Neil Walker and Sean Rodriguez likely to be signed away soon.

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Even with that, the market remains healthy and full of capable players, including, but not limited to: Josh Harrison, Ian Kinsler, LeMahieu, Lowrie, Daniel Murphy, and Eric Sogard. So many names, so few spots.

Although many of those names have been rumoured to be talking to teams (the Dodgers have shown interest in LeMahieu; the Yankees have “reached out” to Murphy; Kinsler is likely to be connected to more contenders later on), none of the larger second baseman have secured larger deals that could set the standard for the rest of the group.

Does that mean that Schoop’s deal is yardstick upon which LeMahieu, Lowrie and the rest should base their salaries? If you’re a team looking to sign a second baseman, you better hope not. While Schoop’s deal is for a risk-free one year, the annual numbers don’t bode well for clubs genuinely considering Lowrie and LeMahieu.

According to MLB Trade Rumors’ annual prediction list of the top 50 free agents and where they’ll land, LeMahieu is estimated to get $18 million over two years from the Detroit Tigers, while Lowrie is projected to stay with the Athletics for three years, earning $30 million over that stretch. Another intriguing, yet somewhat underrated free-agent second baseman, Brian Dozier, is projected to get $10 million on a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals.

Those numbers, while purely speculative and not entirely predictive, do show that the market for those second baseman far exceed what the Twins were willing to spend on a second baseman, hence their interest in Schoop. Even Kinsler, who made the “honorable mentions” portion of the free agent prediction list, could secure a one-year deal that matches what Schoop got.

Regardless, while the starting pitching market evolves and morphs at an incredibly rapid pace, the second base market should be an interesting one to follow, especially as this offseason grows and progresses throughout what figures to be an exciting and eventful winter of moves, transactions, and trades.