Could Rhys Hoskins Be the Twins' Splashy Free Agency Signing?

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

• $15MM can help a lot more in the pitching department since we have upcoming talent in the IF

Only if they can get Clevinger at that price or they want to spend it on the bullpen. The cupboard is bare otherwise.

[jmlease1]

2 hours ago, Bigfork Twins Guy said:

I'd love to have his bat in the lineup and he is a good fielding first baseman, but it's not going to happen IMO based on the following...

• He would want multiple years and we will only have one-year of assured broadcast revenue (assuming a deal with Bally gets done) while aligning with other team's contract years
• He does not have position flexibility and we need to allocate DH at bats to Buxton
• At that price a platoon is not reasonable for this team.  He must be a FT player
• ~15MM can help a lot more in the pitching department since we have upcoming talent in the IF
• The FO will not lock into long-term contracts until the broadcast rights deal is also long-term with known revenue streams

I'm sure he wants multiple years, but if that's not on the table for him coming off an injury, he might be interested in a pillow contract, bet on himself having a quality year and go back on the free agent market at 31. He's an interesting player, and while he destroys LHP, it's not like he gets beat up by righties over his career. He can play pretty much full-time. I wish he was better defensively; at best he's just another guy at 1B, which may be another reason why the 3-4 year deal he's likely hoping for isn't to be found. (but it also might be because several teams are like the Twins and have a lot of uncertainty/losses in revenues because of the fall of the RSNs, constricting the market)

This is the sort of signing the Twins seem inclined to try to do at the end of the offseason when someone is playing musical chairs and worried about getting caught without a seat. I'm not opposed, but the roster is a little jammed right now, so unless someone like Polanco or Farmer gets dealt, we'd be pushing Gordon (presumably) off the team, which leaves things very thin in the OF.

[miracleb]

4 hours ago, baul0010 said:

What is the new money we are talking about?  I haven't seen anywhere regarding a when, how much, how long, a broadcasting contract could be.

I agree, we lost over 200 innings of very good ERA from 2 starters.  I'd rather fill in first base/DH with what we have currently.  We are going to need 2 pitchers to step up into levels they haven't pitched too, then other pitchers to take their places.  That will be a tall order for internal options only. 

LOL!  Cody mentioned this in the first sentence(as far as the "new money" is concerned):     "With money presumably coming soon from a new regional broadcasting deal, could this right-handed hitting power bat be the Twins' signature offseason signing?"

[JD-TWINS]

6 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

I don't like the idea of signing a guy to what the Twins would view as "Big Money" to be a platoon player.  I've never been that high on Hoskins anyway.  Between Kirilloff, Miranda and Julien there is no need to bring in Hoskins or bring back Solano.  We have youth covering 1B.

What I think SHOULD be done with any financial benefit with a TV deal, would be the willingness to make a trade where the Twins take on a little more salary.  Someone like, but not necessarily like a Luis Castillo, Corbin Burnes or Shane Bieber for example.    

Twins

00

NAME	AGE	LEVEL	P1	P2	AVAILABILITY	YEARS	AFV	SALARY	SURPLUS	LOW	MEDIAN	HIGH
Luis Castillo	31	Majors	SP		Low	5	138.7	116	22.7	18.2	22.7	27.3

Total Value:

22.7

Mariners

00

NAME	AGE	LEVEL	P1	P2	AVAILABILITY	YEARS	AFV	SALARY	SURPLUS	LOW	MEDIAN	HIGH
Jorge Polanco	30	Majors	2B		Low	2	31.9	22.5	9.4	7.6	9.4	11.3
Danny De Andrade	19	Minors	SS			0	0	0	7.1	5.7	7.1	8.5
David Festa	23	Minors	SP			0	0	0	8.7	7	8.7	10.4

Total Value:

25.20

 

Here's an example of a deal for Castillo.  Twins move the $10 million dollar Polanco salary and two good prospects for Castillo.  Castillo is not a one-year rental like Burnes would be so he would be in the Twins rotation for several more years.  The Mariners get some pop at 2B with the switch hitting Polanco but also a couple good prospects.  A pitcher to eventually challenge for a rotation spot and a good 19 year old SS prospect.  The Mariners also cut their salary by about $12-$13 million dollars. The Twins get a top of the rotation SP with an already fixed cost certainty for about 3 more seasons.                                                    

Interesting thought. All roses for the Twins here, other than Castillo’s salary!! $24,150,000 per year for 4 years.………,..I love Castillo - I live in Cincinnati & was begging for Twins to shy away from Mahle & focus on Castillo a couple years ago. I don’t like filling holes in the Mariner line-up though with our everyday players.

Also, this doesn’t seem practical or strategic in the sense that we could not trade any assets at all & sign Jordan Montgomery for an additional $2M per year, $26.2M/yr. Polanco’s salary would have to be moved but in some other deal.

My thought is if we’re at $118-$120 now and have a ceiling in ‘24 of $130M plus a bit, we trade Polanco to get to a floor of $109M.

Add Clevinger as a FA for 2 years at $15M/year. Trade Polanco - Festa - DeAndrade or whoever for Devin Williams at $7.25M/yr. of the Brewers for 2 years. Turang at 2B in Milwaukee isn’t the answer for them offensively. We move Polanco to NL & shift away from his salary.

Those 2 guys add starter depth & make the Pen elite………for $22-23M/yr.

[JD-TWINS]

7 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I like adding Hoskins but if they do he's the primary 1B, not a platoon guy. That puts Kirilloff on the trade block. If you just want a platoon 1B, go get Turner.

Turner 1B for 45 games - 3B for 25 games - DH for 15 games - a bunch of PH opportunities…….go get him v. Hoskins!

[RpR]

5 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Turner 1B for 45 games - 3B for 25 games - DH for 15 games - a bunch of PH opportunities…….go get him v. Hoskins!

Hoskins is a gaping hole in defense, leave him alone.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, RpR said:

A gaping hole in defense, leave him alone.

Justin Turner is a defensive upgrade on Jose Miranda

[DocBauer]

A Hoskins signing is akin to the Donaldson signing a few years ago. We can't find the right deal for an arm, let's upgrade the offense.

Now, I might dispute that upgrade because there is hope for Buxton being better for 80-100 games, AND Correa healthy for the season. Add in a full season of Lewis, Wallner, and Julien...even with some speed bumps that will inevitably appear...I'm not entirely convinced offense is the issue. But I also believe you add as much talent as you can, and then figure out where to play everyone later. 

Hoskins wouldn't be signed for $15M to be a platoon player. That's ridiculous. He'd be at 1B or DH most days. But there IS  a roster/lineup crunch if nobody is moved for other additions. Potentially, Buxton plays some at DH, if not on the IL.. If Polanco isn't moved, where do he and Julien play, along with Kiriloff?

Kirilloff is a key here, and not Miranda as a potential platoon/part time player. Kirilloff's wrist surgery SEEMS to have alleviated his primary injury concern. For everyone who wants to beat down on his past injury concerns, let me repeat that he did NOT have any wrist injuries in 2023. In fact, he was a better HITTER and better OB batter than he had shown previously. And the power started to come as he felt more comfortable. For a couple of months, he was one of the best hitters in the lineup. Then he dove for a ball that hurt his shoulder. It's been reported that it wasn't a major injury, only a minor cleanup. 

So does the FO look to add a FA 1B/DH if they believe AK is going to be just fine?

That's the crux of this discussion. 

If they believe Kirilloff's wrist injuries are behind him...and they appear to be...and he's going to be OK with this shoulder issue, then there is so room for Hoskins. 

[mnfireman]

5 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Justin Turner is a defensive upgrade on Jose Miranda

But not even close to Lewis, let somebody else have him...

[baul0010]

19 hours ago, miracleb said:

LOL!  Cody mentioned this in the first sentence(as far as the "new money" is concerned):     "With money presumably coming soon from a new regional broadcasting deal, could this right-handed hitting power bat be the Twins' signature offseason signing?"

The problem with NEW money is that it is not going to be the 55mil we were collecting from Bally's in 2023.  If the Twins had any thoughts that this would or could still be the case we wouldn't be slashing payroll and sitting on our hands all offseason.   If we are playing everything is like last year, then I'm all for Hoskins and disappointed they let Gray walk in free agency.  

[mnfireman]

This came across my FB feed - not saying to sign or not sign him, just thought I would share.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1057887268755381

 

[Cory Engelhardt]

Hoskins signed with Milwaukee. 2/34. Would have been good here

[Doctor Gast]

On 1/22/2024 at 7:55 AM, Karbo said:

How many AB's does steamer predict? Would he be a 30 HR guy as a platoon player? I agree with miracleb that any money should go to improve pitching, unless signing Hoskins allows the team to trade for a starter or even a good reliever or two. The pen seems to me to be the weakest part of this team. Sign even a decent mid tier starter and maybe move Varland into the pen? Even though they seem reluctant to do this it seems like a good move to me.

Any $ money to be spent needs to be spent on Jeff Mathias as catching coach.

[MGM4706]

Why always going after the injured players to cover for other injured players. We don't need another iffy player regarding health issues.

[Dennesey55347]

On 1/22/2024 at 1:16 PM, chpettit19 said:

Rhys Hoskins has a career 23.9% K%. League average is 22.1%. He's actually one of the better sluggers at not striking out. The Twins had a 26.6% K% as a team last year. He'd help their K problem, not hurt.

He'd maybe? help their K% but not the K problem. My comment was specific to totals, and Rhys would almost certainly add a team-leading number of outs (K's) that do not advance runners. 

[chpettit19]

3 minutes ago, Dennesey55347 said:

He'd maybe? help their K% but not the K problem. My comment was specific to totals, and Rhys would almost certainly add a team-leading number of outs (K's) that do not advance runners. 

And my point is that individual batter totals is not a good way to look at this problem. It's like RBIs vs BA w/ runners in scoring position. The stat we should really care about is the BA w/runners in scoring position, but people make a big deal about RBIs instead. The problem is the Twins 26.6% K rate. They need to get that under 25%. Rhys would've helped that. But it's all moot now as he's no longer available.

[Dennesey55347]

I totally hear your point. I'd personally opt to pass or pay for a more efficient solution. He'd move the needle if we were a contender.