Minnesota Twins: Remaining moves to complete the offseason

The Minnesota Twins have been active this offseason but here are more moves they can make to make a step towards true competitor in 2019.

The Minnesota Twins have been one of the more active teams in baseball this offseason as they have made a lot of changes to their roster early on. Now other teams like the Washington Nationals and New York Mets are getting a lot more attention for their offseasons as they drive the arms race in the NL East. Even within the Twins own division, the Chicago White Sox are drawing a lot of attention as they seem to be preparing to lure Manny Machado to the South Side.

That doesn’t mean that the Twins moves this offseason should be overlooked. Early on they shored up first base which had been left vacant after the retirement of Joe Mauer. C.J. Cron was claimed and agreed to a 1 year, $4.8 million contract. If Cron is able to replicate his 2.1 fWAR that will be an improvement over Joe Mauer’s 1.0 fWAR.

Jonathan Schoop‘s addition is a bit of a gamble as we don’t know if the second baseman will be the 2018 version of himself or the 2017 version. If he is the 2017 version the Twins just found themselves another strong hitting second baseman like Brian Dozier who had filled that role the last several seasons.

To this point, the move that defines the Twins offseason is the signing of veteran DH Nelson Cruz. The Twins have been making it sound like Cruz may be more than a DH, but with the outfielders on the Twins roster, it would be crazy to put the 38-year-old in the outfield defensively. His power and his leadership should both have quite the rippling impact through the Twins roster.

The last move the Twins have reportedly made is the signing of relief pitcher Blake Parker who was DFA’d earlier this offseason by the Los Angeles Angels. What has been interesting about this move is even though it was announced we are still awaiting any official announcement from the team. If the move is completed, Parker joins a group of relievers that have potential and some decent experience as closers or set up men in major league bullpens.

While the Twins have been active they still likely have about $30 million left in payroll room before they match their 2018 payroll amount. After settling with all eight of their arbitration eligible players the Twins sit at $96 million in payroll according to Aaron Gleeman’s figures. That leaves plenty of financial room for potential moves by the Twins. Which in beat reporter Dan Hayes’ opinion they may have one or two moves left (specifically for pitchers) to make before breaking camp.

Let’s explore some moves the Twins can or maybe even should make through the rest of the offseason before reporting to Spring Training.