Hayes: "The [Minnesota] Twins Have Expressed Interest In adding A Veteran Shortstop"

[Matthew Lenz]

The Minnesota Twins might not be done yet. Dan Hayes of The Athletic is reporting that “multiple league sources confirmed the Twins have expressed interest in adding a veteran shortstop, recently inquiring about free agents Luis Urías and Paul DeJong.” Let’s get into it.

Image courtesy of Urias (left): © Steven Bisig-Imagn Images; DeJong (right): © Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Let’s start by quickly getting to know Luis Urías and Paul DeJong. Urías played for the Seattle Mariners in 2024, but spent most of the season at Triple-A Tacoma Relatively speaking, he is a bat-first utility infielder, but in reality, he’s a below-average producer on both sides of the ball. In 41 games and 109 plate appearances, he carried a .697 OPS with four home runs, a high strikeout rate, and a low walk rate.

If you’re not impressed by his hit tool (you shouldn’t be), you’ll be even less impressed with his glove. He's only nominally or vestigially a shortstop; he hasn’t played there since spending 200 innings as an injury replacement in Milwaukee during the 2022 season. Even then, it was ugly. While Hayes may have had this related to him as interest in a shortstop, Urías would be much more about giving the team another plausible option at second and third base.

DeJong spent time with the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals last year, and had a far more productive year at the plate—but he has similarly concerning strikeout and walk rates. In addition to being a better bat, he brings a better glove as well, and played both middle infield positions in 2024. I think most would agree DeJong moves the needle quite a bit more than Urías. DeJong might cost them as much as Harrison Bader did. Urías is likely to sign a minor-league deal.

Regardless of whether they end up signing either player (or anyone akin to them), what can we make of this news? My first reaction to this news was to think of two guys on the roster who primarily backed up Carlos Correa in 2024: Willi Castro and Brooks Lee. Regarding Lee, this report tells me that the Twins must not like the prospect of him playing shortstop. While multiple scouting reports suggest he could be an average shortstop at the big-league level, he posted a negative rating in multiple defensive metrics during his 200-plus innings there as a rookie. Thinking about Castro, who played 465 innings at short in 2024, led me to a bigger question which was: “where is all of this money coming from!?”

It’s been a weird offseason to follow, as we initially believed that the Twins wouldn’t be reducing payroll below the $130 million they carried in 2024 but that, due to arbitration and other raises (Pablo López, e.g.), they would need to cut roughly $10 million in salary to get down to that number. Then there was the announcement that the Pohlads were exploring a sale of the team, and many thought that could mean two things:

1. The Twins aren’t going to make any expensive moves that might deter a prospective ownership group; and/or 
2. They may look to offload a bigger salary (i.e., López or Correa) to make the finances of the organization appear more attractive.

We were never going to get a clear answer to those hypotheses unless they actually happened. Last week, Hayes reported that the Twins had roughly $5 million in leeway to their 2025 payroll. Now the Twins have added over $9 million in payroll, and are reportedly looking to add more? Assuming some sort of move for a backup shortstop comes to fruition, the Twins have more up their sleeve, and Jamie Cameron is asking the right questions.

What it likely means for at least one of Chris Paddack, Christian Vázquez, and Willi Castro is that their days with the Twins are numbered. Each of them has been the subject of trade speculation for the entire offseason simply, because they carry salaries north of $6 million for the 2025 season. This speculation grew bigger after yesterday’s signing of Harrison Bader, and will likely only grow as we hear rumblings about their contingency plan at shortstop. Or maybe they’re thinking of zigging, when everyone else is thinking of zagging, like Nate Palmer suggests.

We’ve also talked about the redundancy of Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach on this team, as two corner outfielders who struggle against left-handed pitching. Might they view Castro as more of an outfielder, given his poor infield defense, making one of Wallner or Larnach expendable? Given their age and controllability, it’s definitely possible the Twins could be trying to tie one of those two to one of the three contracts above to try and complete a deal that is more than just a salary dump. In fact, recently, I suggested that now is the time to trade Larnach, arguing that his value will never be higher.

After a quiet offseason, the last week or so has been fun. We have moves to analyze and speculation to run with. However, at the end of the day, it’s just speculation. We can read tea leaves all we want, but this front office has always kept their cards close to their vest, so we likely won’t get any answers until corresponding moves are made.

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What do you make of the Twins trying to add a backup shortstop? Join the conversation in the comments!

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[Mike Sixel]

They refuse to trust their young players. I'd hate to be drafted by this team. 

[DocBauer]

You need 9 lineup spots every single day, every single game. 75% of all pitching are RH. Larnach and Wallner are good to potentially very good LH hitters...facing that 75% at least...in a team possibly still lacking a bat.

Can we PLEASE stop with this garbage about TWO LH bats being a redundancy? That arguement is utterly ridiculous!

IF the Twins want to use Castro more in the OF, I guess it makes some sense to look for another utility player. Of course, since the Saints currently have very little in the way of a daily SS option, the Twins might be looking for a former ML player on a MILB deal and a ST invite to stash at AAA. The names listed here don't really seem like a great fit, IMO, dunno ability or cost.

BTW, i voice a serious objection to Castro being a poor INF defender. Have you ever watched the games? Sure he's only an average or slightly better SS you don't want there daily, but his 3B defense is just fine. As is his 2B defense. While he's no GG mit anywhere, saying he's poor is just not accurate.

[LewFordLives]

Yeah, I like Castro and/or Lee better than either of those two.  I thought $6 million for Bader was steep. Why would they throw that kind of money at DeJong?

[thelanges5]

Larnach looks like a first baseman. That’s his future home. 

[chpettit19]

19 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

They refuse to trust their young players. I'd hate to be drafted by this team. 

Especially if I hit left-handed. As @DocBauer points out, the Twins have 2 lefties on their roster. With maybe a 3rd possible. Or if it gets crazy and both Julien and Rodriguez are on the roster it may reach a whopping 4! And we're still calling them "redundant." What are we doing here?! There's 2 corner outfield spots and a DH spot. 2 lefties are not redundant for 2 positions, let alone 3! The Twins have melted people's brains with this to where we can't even count apparently. 

Somebody better email the Orioles and let them know Henderson and Holliday are redundant as middle infielders who hit left-handed. And Cowser, Kjerstad, and Mullins are redundant as outfielders who hit left-handed. Luckily for them Rutschman hits from both sides of the plate so he won't be redundant with Basallo when he gets called up. But Basallo possibly playing a bunch of 1B makes him redundant with O'Hearn. They should really look to move at least 4 of those guys because we all know you can't carry 7 lefties on an MLB roster without destroying your offense.

Did you see how Henderson hit against lefties in his first 200ish PAs against them?! He can't hit lefties. No way. Ignore his .829 OPS against them in his 2nd 200 PAs against them. Platoon him! Wallner's 108 PAs against them definitely means he's toast. Larnach's 187? Book is written! He's got no chance. Don't even give these young guys a chance to learn. It's maddening.

[Doctor Gast]

I love the idea of the offseason. But I hate the way this FO does the offseason. Nothing for most of the season & then the bizarre & then a punch in the gut. I don't get all the fringe players they like to collect w/o addressing the problem, then add players we don't need, then trade off players we need to afford the players we don't need. Each year at this time, I hear these rumors & I say to myself, this FO can't be that dumb & then pow, right in the gut, it happens. If these rumors are right which I no longer put it by them. The FO gets another big fat F. I project again this team won't come close to competing this year & will hurt this team for years to come. What a way to hand over this team to the new owners, creating such a mess. The new owners will have their hands full & the first order of business is to take control of this team away from Falvey.

[Riverbrian]

18 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

Especially if I hit left-handed. As @DocBauer points out, the Twins have 2 lefties on their roster. With maybe a 3rd possible. Or if it gets crazy and both Julien and Rodriguez are on the roster it may reach a whopping 4! And we're still calling them "redundant." What are we doing here?! There's 2 corner outfield spots and a DH spot. 2 lefties are not redundant for 2 positions, let alone 3! The Twins have melted people's brains with this to where we can't even count apparently. 

Somebody better email the Orioles and let them know Henderson and Holliday are redundant as middle infielders who hit left-handed. And Cowser, Kjerstad, and Mullins are redundant as outfielders who hit left-handed. Luckily for them Rutschman hits from both sides of the plate so he won't be redundant with Basallo when he gets called up. But Basallo possibly playing a bunch of 1B makes him redundant with O'Hearn. They should really look to move at least 4 of those guys because we all know you can't carry 7 lefties on an MLB roster without destroying your offense.

Did you see how Henderson hit against lefties in his first 200ish PAs against them?! He can't hit lefties. No way. Ignore his .829 OPS against them in his 2nd 200 PAs against them. Platoon him! Wallner's 108 PAs against them definitely means he's toast. Larnach's 187? Book is written! He's got no chance. Don't even give these young guys a chance to learn. It's maddening.

All teams platoon but there is no team that approaches this level of iron fistedness against the left handed hitter. 4 young left handed hitters in the past couple of years. All 4 are supposedly not able to hit left handed pitching. 

The only logical conclusion is that the Twins have either:

A: Failed to develop a left handed hitter that can hit left handed pitching. 

B: Over weighted the data from left vs left matchups (not right vs right) to a scale that exceeds the weighting applied by all other 29 teams to the same data sets... and they have over weighted in comparison to the other 29 teams by a significant margin. 

C: They are trying with all their might to keep the Twins percentage of left handers in line with the 10% of left handers in the human population. 

 

[DJL44]

There has to be a trade coming. Can they trade an outfielder (Larnach), infielder (Castro), reliever (Sands?) and a starting pitcher (Paddack) for Cease? That would make these moves make sense.

I agree that Brooks Lee is as good as either of these guys.

[sweetmusicviola16]

If Castro is traded and replaced by either of these guys that is sickening. Sign Bader. Trade Castro. Sign DeJong. You just took three steps backwards in one fell swoop. Enough damage has been done already with the first move of Bader. Stop tinkering with poor fringe moves.

[jmlease1]

I'm utterly uninterested in either of these guys on the 26-man roster. if one of them wants to sign a deal that lets them go to AAA on a MLB-level salary to serve as insurance if Correa misses extended time? fine. But otherwise...nah.

I get that Willi Castro might not really be an acceptable SS at this point, but Brooks Lee is. he can certainly handle the backup innings.

DeJong started out well and had a great 2019. He's been in decline ever since. there's a reason he's bouncing around the league now. Urias looks like a total mess right now, and him not cracking the Mendoza line since 2022 is a problem. his defense (such as it is) peaked right at the same time as his offense, which makes me think he might be one of those guys that carries every AB with him on to the field.

I mean, if you're not going to play Castro at SS, adding one makes some theoretical sense, and the only guy you're pushing out here is Austin Martin who hasn't exactly demanded a spot. But I'd rather ride with Brooks Lee and give younger guys a shot than bring in this kind of veteran, who if they stink we will hang on to for too long, hoping that we'll recoup some value before the end. Like many teams, the Twins do poorly on the sunk cost fallacy and adding guys like this gives them more chances to blow it...

[sweetmusicviola16]

2 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

There has to be a trade coming. Can they trade an outfielder (Larnach), infielder (Castro), reliever (Sands?) and a starting pitcher (Paddack) for Cease? That would make these moves make sense.

I agree that Brooks Lee is as good as either of these guys.

It would certainly look good to get a TOR in Cease. But this team needs offense much more than any Pitcher. Who's going to replace Larnach and Castro? How many black holes can this team employ? Seattle is proving that you need some better hitters to go along with great pitching in order to be a PO team.

[Jocko87]

How did this turn into a platoon discussion?  

Neither of these names excite me at all.  This spot has to have a high carrying defense tool for this to make sense.  

If there’s a guy out there that’s glove only with options I’m interested.  I’m not into a glove only guy that requires a full time spot.  This is better filled through trade I would guess. 

[Riverbrian]

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

They refuse to trust their young players. I'd hate to be drafted by this team. 

I'd want out

However... I'm right handed... I don't have to worry about left handed oppression.

They deserve the painful spiral imprints on the fleshy part of their hand trying to write in spiral notebooks. I don't care if the ink smudges as they write across the page. 

Let the refrigerator door hit them in the face when they open it with that left hand. 

Let them try to read the measuring cup with the numbers on the opposite side. 

Let them reach across their body trying to change the radio station in the car. 

Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney would require platoons by the Twins to prevent their tuning pegs from accidently striking Noel Redding or George Harrison in the face. 

 

[mnfireman]

No need for either of them, I am confident in Correa playing 140-145 games, Lee can cover the other 15-20 games.

[Riverbrian]

3 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

How did this turn into a platoon discussion?  

You realize that Kyle Farmer hasn't been replaced in the template yet.  

[chpettit19]

7 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

How did this turn into a platoon discussion?  

Neither of these names excite me at all.  This spot has to have a high carrying defense tool for this to make sense.  

If there’s a guy out there that’s glove only with options I’m interested.  I’m not into a glove only guy that requires a full time spot.  This is better filled through trade I would guess. 

Because the article mentions trading a left-handed hitting outfielder so Castro can go to the outfield as part of bringing in one of these players. Because every roster spot is connected and impacts the entirety of the roster. So, we were discussing our thoughts on the Twins forcing themselves into these types of players because of their complete refusal to give their left-handed hitters a chance to hit left-handed pitching.

It's all connected and some of us enjoy bigger picture conversations instead of just discussing the individual players named because we believe the entire picture of the roster is what determines how the team will perform.

[sweetmusicviola16]

35 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

I love the idea of the offseason. But I hate the way this FO does the offseason. Nothing for most of the season & then the bizarre & then a punch in the gut. I don't get all the fringe players they like to collect w/o addressing the problem, then add players we don't need, then trade off players we need to afford the players we don't need. Each year at this time, I hear these rumors & I say to myself, this FO can't be that dumb & then pow, right in the gut, it happens. If these rumors are right which I no longer put it by them. The FO gets another big fat F. I project again this team won't come close to competing this year & will hurt this team for years to come. What a way to hand over this team to the new owners, creating such a mess. The new owners will have their hands full & the first order of business is to take control of this team away from Falvey.

This team appears to do everything they can to stand in the way of its prospects. As a reward to them lets sign Bader. Lets sign DeJong. You can play in St.Paul with no real chance of advancing because we prefer to sign a used up veteran for large dollars that we will play no matter how well or poorly they perform. All the while the team shoots for being competitive instead of great therefore demoralizing the best players that we already have.

[DJL44]

26 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Who's going to replace Larnach and Castro?

Emmanuel Rodriguez and Brooks Lee

[Mike Sixel]

2 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Emmanuel Rodriguez and Brooks Lee

Dreamer . I'll eat my words if they do that. 

[Nashvilletwin]

Lots of great comments on the  TD today about how the Twins refuse to develop their rising prospects. Instead, the focus is on creating defensively mediocre multi-positional platoon hitters.

But let’s all be clear about one thing: this approach will never, ever change as long as Rocco is at the helm.

Geez I hope he’s gone before Jenkins, ERod, and Keaschall appear.   Time is running short……

[weitz41]

I saw this on MLBTR and was like 😏 They sure are in a hurry to bury the young guys that need reps with .650-.700 OPS vets...Also I too am with DocBauer..IMO if anything, with recent additions, this team could use a LH infielder. Seems though the FO is shopping for cheap vets save you money on a SS and bring in Anthony Rizzo to platoon with Miranda at 1st. At least he can play decent defense and hit .650-.700 OPS...

The real worrisome part of this possibility is where is the dough coming from to pay these guys???

[thelanges5]

I can get behind Coulombe and Bader but these two are a no for me. Must be something else brewing on the old hot stove ⚾️

[Road trip]

I wouldn't even be more than mildly interested in stashing these two at AAA on a minor league contract with gratuitous spring training invite.  

I still have great respect for what this regime has done to improve Twins pitching.  I'm really losing faith in their ability to put together a squad of position players.

[Riverbrian]

32 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Lots of great comments on the  TD today about how the Twins refuse to develop their rising prospects. Instead, the focus is on creating defensively mediocre multi-positional platoon hitters.

But let’s all be clear about one thing: this approach will never, ever change as long as Rocco is at the helm.

Geez I hope he’s gone before Jenkins, ERod, and Keaschall appear.   Time is running short……

The front office has to be complicit.   

The Junkie needs a supplier. 

[MMMordabito]

If these are anything more than MiLB deals of interest, then WTF?

[Mike Sixel]

24 minutes ago, Road trip said:

I wouldn't even be more than mildly interested in stashing these two at AAA on a minor league contract with gratuitous spring training invite.  

I still have great respect for what this regime has done to improve Twins pitching.  I'm really losing faith in their ability to put together a squad of position players.

I might add your second paragraph to my sig.

[HarmonK03]

1 hour ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Lots of great comments on the  TD today about how the Twins refuse to develop their rising prospects. Instead, the focus is on creating defensively mediocre multi-positional platoon hitters.

But let’s all be clear about one thing: this approach will never, ever change as long as Rocco is at the helm.

I am not a fan of Rocco, but this platoon philosophy is all related to the analytics that Falvey has invested heavily in.  When you have a department crunching numbers every way you can, you have to make use of the data.  And the Twins seem to be going to an extreme versus other teams.  Nothing will change as long as Falvey is leading the organization.  This is where I hope the new owners make changes, either Falvey becomes less rigid in his operations or he can hit the highway.

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

Regarding Lee, this report tells me that the Twins must not like the prospect of him playing shortstop.

A lot of speculation and forecasting about the 2025 Twins (here and elsewhere) seems to presume that Lee has a spot on the roster from opening day. 

It's not that he won't be a good and useful player, but he wasn't great in his first MLB experience last year, and he hasn't spent so long in the high minors to cause serious concern about him stagnating there. Maybe the org is considering more time at AAA for Lee as much as they're doubting his ability at SS.

[MMMordabito]

1 hour ago, weitz41 said:

The real worrisome part of this possibility is where is the dough coming from to pay these guys???

Falvey is creating a DOPE (Department of Payroll Efficiency).  The first thing they will go after is the Twins Community Fund.