Article: BREAKING: Twins to Sign Versatile Marwin Gonzalez

[nicksaviking]

I want to see a game this year where the Twins do a double Caesar Tovar. Gonzalez AND Astudillo play all 9 positions in the same game.

[drivlikejehu]

 

Why? Gonzalez's projected WAR per PA is worse than each one of our current starting 9.

 

If a guy gets hurt, Gonzalez is a decent band-aid, but if you're benching any of our starting 9 for him, it seems like a pretty lateral move without much upside.

 

Against same-handed pitching, he's an upgrade on most of the lineup.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Fantastic move. Gonzalez brings badly needed flexibility to this roster.

 

Call up Astudillo after the first injury and you can rotate people all over the field, creating matchup havoc with the back of the roster.

[nicksaviking]

 

Rocco better find a way to get him consistent ABs.

 

Well Adrianza played in 114 games last year and no one was intentionally trying to get his bat in the game.

[Blake]

Solid signing and only two years.

 

Good deal.

[nicksaviking]

 

Why? Gonzalez's projected WAR per PA is worse than each one of our current starting 9.

 

If a guy gets hurt, Gonzalez is a decent band-aid, but if you're benching any of our starting 9 for him, it seems like a pretty lateral move without much upside.

 

That's only because we as Twins fans have long forgotten the benefits to having league average hitters available on the bench.

 

It seems like a good thing in theory, but we haven't gotten to test it out in decades.

[Danchat]

Decent signing, I like the added depth Marwin brings, he’s a great backup plan for Sano. For those who said the Cron claiming prevented Cruz and Gonzalez from signing... looks like you were proven wrong.

 

I’m unsure who’s getting booted off the roster. With Gonzalez’s ability to play 1B and OF, it seems like bad news for Austin. Not sure if he’s good enough at SS to replace Adrianza... i don’t think this will affect Cave.

 

For the 40 man roster, I’ll DFA Granite. I’ll bet he can make it through waivers.

[jkcarew]

 

Why? Gonzalez's projected WAR per PA is worse than each one of our current starting 9.

 

If a guy gets hurt, Gonzalez is a decent band-aid, but if you're benching any of our starting 9 for him, it seems like a pretty lateral move without much upside.

Rest? Match-ups? Coming off 3 consecutive years with more than 500 PA for the Astros. Their starters were decent.

[Ebby Calvin Laloosh]

Can Schoop play SS at all?

 

I like this signing, but I like it a whole bunch more if it happens a couple months ago. Seems like this would have been a good place to start this off season (Granted, maybe Marwin wouldn't have taken this deal earlier). If he signs first do we rethink the Schoop or Cron signings?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

 

And honest question, where is Gonzalez going to play? This 2/21 seems steep for a bench guy when Astudillo is making near minimum

 

Ok, people answering this question with: "all over the diamond."

 

That's fine, but it kind of throws a few other signings into question, like the Schoop signing. 

[wavedog]

I like the move!  Particular the flexibility Marwin provides both in terms of positions he can play and being a switch-hitter.   

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Cruz at 1+1 is better than anybody we signed last year. Marwin at 2 years is not like last year. Fernando to the pen being announced this early is unlike last year. Schoop more intriguing as well.

Not seeing it.

I like Cruz, but it's a short term deal for a guy with pretty big limitations (age, position). I like it better than the other moves, but it still fits the theme.

 

Marwin's at 2 years, but he's a ~2 WAR player except for one outlier year. Same for Schoop. Those guys might be Dozier lite (at least Dozier had several years above that level), and projection-wise, they may not even more the needle as much as Odorizzi or Lynn (who at least were looking to replace sub-1 WAR types).

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Against same-handed pitching, he's an upgrade on most of the lineup.

So it's 2/21 for a potential platoon partner for Kepler or Rosario? I hope we're not expecting to bench many RHB against RHP.

[bdodge22]

Love the move. Gonzalez makes the Twins better, bottom line. I know we all have our favorites and want that guy to make the squad for different reasons, but lets be realistic, we are arguing about the 25th, 26th, 27th man on the roster. It doesn't matter as much as finding at bats for a good player like Marwin. And I like Adrianza, Astudillo, and Austin!

[nicksaviking]

 

Ok, people answering this question with: "all over the diamond."

 

That's fine, but it kind of throws a few other signings into question, like the Schoop signing. 

 

Why? Last year the Twins had only one player play more than 140 games and only four play more than 110 games. Even if healthy, one of the starting nine will have a day off just about every day and this is baseball, they won't all be healthy.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Rest? Match-ups? Coming off 3 consecutive years with more than 500 PA for the Astros. Their starters were decent.

The post to which I was responding said the manager better get him consistent at-bats. Obviously an injury situation is different.

 

That said, the Astros had some weaker spots to go with their stars. The Twins don't have any stars yet. I'm not sure we'll see the same level of benefit from deploying Marwin Gonzalez.

[TheLeviathan]

Excellent.

[bighat]

50-50 shot this guy's in the opening day lineup?

[drivlikejehu]

 

So it's 2/21 for a potential platoon partner for Kepler or Rosario? I hope we're not expecting to bench many RHB against RHP.

 

Why would you hope that? Does platoon advantage only count when the starting player is left-handed?

 

Gonzalez will play all over, so he's not really a platoon partner to anyone . . . but there's no doubt he's a major upgrade over Rosario/Kepler against LHP and Schoop/Cron against RHP. So the regular starters get days off they need anyway and the lineup is improved significantly at the same time. 

[jkcarew]

There's a school of thought that would say this is 'good' for Gordon...potentially.

 

In a scenario where Adrianza is now NOT part of a 3-man bench...you may lose him. And the long-term (injury) replacement at shortstop in 2019 becomes Gordon.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Why? Last year the Twins had only one player play more than 140 games and only four play more than 110 games. Even if healthy, one of the starting nine will have a day off just about every day and this is baseball, they won't all be healthy.

To be fair, Escobar and Dozier would have played a lot more had they not been traded. Polanco too, if he wasn't suspended. (And Rosario, even hurt a bit, still fell just short of your arbitrary cutoff at 138 games.)

 

Plus, we already signed a 1B who could/should play more than Mauer, and a DH who could/should play more than Grossman.

[Doomtints]

The money's right but like nearly every other move this offseason I'm having trouble understanding WHY....

[TFRazor]

 

For the 40 man roster, I’ll DFA Granite. I’ll bet he can make it through waivers.

 

I mean, would we lose any sleep if he doesn't make it through?

[DuluthFan]

This might be a roster replacement for Buxton / Sano. If Buxton isn't working out, Kepler gets moved to center which frees up a corner outfield spot. Rosario could play either left or right with Gonzalez playing the other position. If Sano cannot play, Gonzalez takes third.

 

While Gonzalez could take Adrianza's spot, Ehire has no options. Astudillo has options.

Possible 40 man cuts could be Austin, Arraez, Torreyes

 

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Why would you hope that? Does platoon advantage only count when the starting player is left-handed?

 

Gonzalez will play all over, so he's not really a platoon partner to anyone . . . but there's no doubt he's a major upgrade over Rosario/Kepler against LHP and Schoop/Cron against RHP. So the regular starters get days off they need anyway and the lineup is improved significantly at the same time. 

I hope that, because there's a lot of RHP. I hope we didn't sign Cron and Schoop just to later sign Marwin and bench them a whole lot.

 

I think platooning should be a way to get plus performance or save resources. Platooning Gonzalez with Cron or Schoop (or even Rosario or Kepler) seems like a recipe for a $15-18 mil, ~110 wRC+ type platoon at those spots.

 

There's some value in having him as insurance across those positions, but that value feels lower the way this Twins team is constructed (a lot of average-ish performers already).

[nicksaviking]

 

The post to which I was responding said the manager better get him consistent at-bats. Obviously an injury situation is different.

 

That said, the Astros had some weaker spots to go with their stars. The Twins don't have any stars yet. I'm not sure we'll see the same level of benefit from deploying Marwin Gonzalez.

 

I think this would all be easier to digest if it wasn't viewed as him taking away plate appearances from the starters, but as him taking away some of the 1886 PA made by Grossman, Adrianza, Morrison, Forsythe, Wilson, LaMarre, Castro, Petit, Field, Gimenez, Motter and Graterol last year. There should be plenty of room for everyone who should be playing to play.

[TheLeviathan]

 

I think this would all be easier to digest if it wasn't viewed as him taking away plate appearances from the starters, but as him taking away some of the 1886 PA made by Grossman, Adrianza, Morrison, Forsythe, Wilson, LaMarre, Castro, Petit, Field, Gimenez, Motter and Graterol last year. There should be plenty of room for everyone who should be playing to play.

 

He's a capable switch hitter from both sides, he's going to eliminate the need for so many of these kinds of players and provide a lot of matchup advantages for this team.  

[Mike Sixel]

I think this is a decent, but not great, addition. Lots of short term, win now, moves on offense, and very little pitching, which seems odd to me.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

This might be a roster replacement for Buxton / Sano. If Buxton isn't working out, Kepler gets moved to center which frees up a corner outfield spot. Rosario could play either left or right with Gonzalez playing the other position. If Sano cannot play, Gonzalez takes third.

All winter long, we've been hearing that the Twins shouldn't be aggressive while Buxton and Sano are such big question marks.

 

Now, we make our biggest cash guarantee to lock in a guy to provide average-ish corner play in the case that Buxton and Sano don't make it.

 

Something about those two positions doesn't add up to me. There will be Marwin Gonzalez types available for reasonable cost at the deadline if we need it.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

I think this would all be easier to digest if it wasn't viewed as him taking away plate appearances from the starters, but as him taking away some of the 1886 PA made by Grossman, Adrianza, Morrison, Forsythe, Wilson, LaMarre, Castro, Petit, Field, Gimenez, Motter and Graterol last year. There should be plenty of room for everyone who should be playing to play.

A lot of those guys have already been replaced (by Cruz, Cron, Schoop, a returning Castro and Polanco, an emerging Astudillo), or didn't play much until after we sold at the deadline.

 

If we sell at the deadline again in 2019, I don't care who plays the last two months of the season. I certainly wouldn't guarantee Gonzalez $21 mil now to take those PAs.