Looking for a RH hitting OF

[DJL44]

Apparently the Cardinals are also looking for RH outfield bat and one of their fans put together an article listing potential fits. Most of the players make money and therefore won't be a fit for the Twins but there were a few interesting cheap options at the end of the article.

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Sean Bouchard

Technically, he has a career 115 wRC+, and I’m not entirely sure why he didn’t get more chances in 2022 or 2023. He did suck in 2024 though. He seems to be exclusively a corner outfielder, which is a rather big downside. Basically, picking him up is “maybe he’ll do better away from Coors.” The Rockies are in even more of a position to play guys to see what they have so I’m not sure I see trading him from the Rockies perspective. Listen I didn’t have many names here, and he’s padding the list. But “maybe he’d do better away from Colorado” is not a bad starting point.

An .842 OPS vs LHP is not great for a player who spends that much time at Coors Field. Also, not the glove I would be looking for.

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Sandro Fabian

He’s been stuck in AAA for the Texas Rangers for three seasons now. He got promoted to AAA late in the 2022 season, wasn’t very good. And the last two seasons, he’s been mediocre in AAA and not really gotten a shot at the MLB level. He’s 27. And... he crushes lefties. At least in AAA. In 2024, he batted .356 with a 1.093 OPS against LHP. In 2023, he batted .388 with a 1.140 OPS against LHP.

He’s a corner outfielder, but he did see 9 games in CF for the AAA squad. Fangraphs gives him a 60 throwing arm, so he’s probably ideally suited in RF. He can’t make traction with the Rangers squad and maybe they’ll even DFA him. But why not just play Fabian purely against lefties and see if anything clicks.

Would be interesting as a minor league free agent but not someone I would like to put on the 40-man roster. Also, a reason why Kalai Rosario is unlikely to get selected in the Rule 5 draft when players like this are freely available.

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Everson Pereira

Okay so the Cardinals should legit try to acquire Pereira in my honest opinion. He’s a post-hype prospect. He ranked as high as 4th in the Yankees system as recently as 2023 by Fangraphs. He will be 24 next season. He spent nearly all of 2024 injured, but had a 120 wRC+ in AAA. Why the hell would the Yankees trade him?

He’s out of options. He’s not reliable and they want to win now. Get a little something for him now instead of having to DFA him later. Or so goes the logic.

He does have severe strikeout issues and Fangraphs does give him a 40 fielding grade, but he did come up as a CF - still played some CF in 2024 - and he has a 55 speed grade.

Interesting. I would have to lean on the scouts pretty heavily here.

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Nelson Velazquez

Another buy low candidate. Velazquez is out of options in the Royals system and had a bad 2024. No question about it. They gave him some chances too. He had a 76 wRC+ in 230 PAs. But he got sent down on June 23rd and never got called back up. 

Velazquez is a corner outfielder who has played CF, but probably shouldn’t. He has a career 104 wRC+ against LHP, but I do see potential in that rising. He only has a .261 BABIP for his career. He’s only 26 next year. He has a career 97 wRC+ and has shown a ton of power with a .221 ISO. So I like that as well. And he has a rather low career BABIP, but his xwOBA suggests it should be higher. His career batting average is .212, but his xBA is .245. Given that he walks enough (8.5 BB% for career) and has a .200+ ISO, that’d easily be an above average hitter. Doesn’t have huge splits, so he won’t kill you facing right-handed pitchers either.

Sounds like a bargain basement Manny Margot to me.

[nicksaviking]

23 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Sounds like a bargain basement Manny Margot to me.

You had me at 'worse than Manny Margot'.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

You had me at 'worse than Manny Margot'.

Not worse, just cheaper. Though actual Manny Margot is probably signing for league minimum this offseason.

[Cory Engelhardt]

The Phillies just designated Austin Hays. IF he is healthy and get back to his 2023 levels, that would be a great addition here in my opinion. 

[ashbury]

19 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

The Phillies just designated Austin Hays. IF he is healthy and get back to his 2023 levels, that would be a great addition here in my opinion. 

If the Twins grab him, would they be on the hook for around $7M of arbitration?

[Cory Engelhardt]

7 minutes ago, ashbury said:

If the Twins grab him, would they be on the hook for around $7M of arbitration?

His arbitration is estimated for around 6.4 million. I'm not certain if that is what he would end up with. So yeah, other money would have to go out/be traded more than likely. I'd be open to it, but not certain they could fit that in.

[stringer bell]

19 hours ago, ashbury said:

If the Twins grab him, would they be on the hook for around $7M of arbitration?

He’s non-tendered so he’s a free agent. I would expect he’ll sign for something less than the projected arbitration amount. 

[stringer bell]

Two non-tenders that might be "better than Margot"--Connor Joe (affordable and can play first base) and Ramon Laureano, who had a nice finish with Atlanta after disappointing for years with the A's and Guardians.

[Riverbrian]

On 11/23/2024 at 9:18 AM, stringer bell said:

Two non-tenders that might be "better than Margot"--Connor Joe (affordable and can play first base) and Ramon Laureano, who had a nice finish with Atlanta after disappointing for years with the A's and Guardians.

Aiding and abetting is a crime in most states.

Sentences can range from Community Service to hard time. 

[Cory Engelhardt]

Dan Hayes specifically mentioned Mark Canha in his and Aaron Gleeman's roster projection in the Athletic this morning. I guess what I'm saying is, whenever Dan mentions a player by name, it perks my ears up a bit. We'll see.