NEWS: Twins Agree to Sign Infielder Ty France

[Matthew Trueblood]

On the eve of spring training, the Twins have made their annual spring training signing of a right-hitting, 30-something infielder.

Image courtesy of © David Richard-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins have added another bat to their array of infield options, agreeing to sign Ty France to a one-year deal, according to Phil Miller of the Minnesota Star-Tribune.

France, 30, figures to fill some version of the role that went to Carlos Santana in 2024 and Donovan Solano in 2023. He's coming off a tough season with the Mariners and Reds, but is a .263/.337/.407 career hitter and a right-handed batter who's comfortable at first base. For the moment, he becomes the presumptive regular at that position, though he's not good enough to force Edouard Julien or Jose Miranda entirely out of the picture.

Earlier Tuesday afternoon, the Twins lost left-handed pitcher Brent Headrick to the Yankees via waivers, so there was already room on the 40-man roster for France. 

Unlike, for instance, Harrison Bader, France is not a natural candidate for platooning. For his career, he's more of a line-drive hitter with good-not-great power, plate discipline, and contact skills, and his .741 and .753 OPSes against righties and lefties, respectively, don't scream "shelter me from righties". That doesn't mean France is in line for 600 plate appearances, especially after a campaign in which he didn't get to much of his power. It does mean that, like Santana and Solano, he needn't be confined to a small, bench-style role, and it does put newfound pressure on the roster spots and projected playing time for Miranda and Julien. It will be interesting to hear how the Twins envision utilizing him, but there's no doubt that France brings a slightly higher floor to their first-base projection.

If you're hoping for the same kind of defense the Twins got from Santana, though, prepare for disappointment, France is a stocky converted second baseman without great mobility or especially soft hands. He rates poorly with the glove, and does nothing for the team's league-worst speed and athleticism. This signing, which figures to be for a low seven-figure amount, is a gamble by the Twins front office on a bat with some upside in a market increasingly bereft of such players. It's unsexy, and France is likely to be a one-dimensional contributor. Still, he provides stability, and the team clearly felt more reliable depth was needed.

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[Major League Ready]

Would rather give Miranda the reigns and have Julien taking reps at 1B throughout ST.  I suppose there is upside given how he performed in 2021/22 but he has been very mediocre the last two years.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Hader, Coulombe, and France. They could have done worse. 

[jmlease1]

Terrible signing. France sucked last season. he wasn't good the year before that. It's been 3 years since he hit, he doesn't profile as a good platoon player, he's not good defensively...why are we wasting a roster spot on him?

I hope I'm wrong about Ty France, but I doubt it. this looks like a zero-upside move. Much rather have Miranda & Julien with a side of Castro filling in at 1B than run out this washed up retread. Only thing he seems to have going for him at this point is health.

[Dman]

I'm not a huge France believer and losing a Lefty to boot isn't ideal.  It gives them more options at 1st base but is it me or do things feel a bit crowded to start the season?  Is there another bigger move coming?

[High heat]

I figured they would make some move for a player with 1B experience I thought it was going to be Rizzo but France makes sense if Miranda looks good and can offer help as a RH LF as well.

 

Hard to just give 1B over to young guys who haven’t played the position much at any level.  A lot of little things to learn and prefect and could be a disaster.

[UK Twin]

Quite like this move. It's worth pointing out he's spent the majority of the last 4 seasons playing home games in a VERY pitcher friendly ballpark, which make his 2022 stats very impressive. His stats since then are unimpressive but will be a nice stop gap until the new owners come in and sign Guerrero Jr next offseason. 😁

[IndianaTwin]

2 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

Hader, Coulombe, and France. They could have done worse. 

They got Hader too?!?!?!

Or did you mean Doulombe and Trance?

😀

[Cory Engelhardt]

To me this shows exactly what they think of Julien. He REALLY has to show out to get another chance in the majors this year. I very easily could see him moved at some point, course he does have options.

France's 2023 really wasn't too bad either, but his 2021 and 2022 are what they would hope to get back to. Good thing is, he hasn't played less than 140 games in a season since 2021. Being available is a skill, and hopefully he can help at 1B/DH as much as possible.

I would have tried to aim higher personally, but it's not something I'm going to get angry about by any means. He doesn't strike out, which is a good thing.

[Brandon]

The message here is that somebody is definitely going to play 1B.  

[IndianaTwin]

1 minute ago, Brandon said:

The message here is that somebody is definitely going to play 1B.  

Who?

[Sjoski]

Roses are red, violets are blue,
Another average signing, its all we do?

Buy a ticket? Not what I'll do,
I've had enough of this déjà vu.

[nicksaviking]

NEWS, more like SNOOZE!

[Muppet]

11 minutes ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

Hader, Coulombe, and France. They could have done worse. 

It would have been difficult, but if they really tried, they could have done a bit worse. 

[jud6312]

12 minutes ago, High heat said:

I figured they would make some move for a player with 1B experience I thought it was going to be Rizzo but France makes sense if Miranda looks good and can offer help as a RH LF as well.

 

Hard to just give 1B over to young guys who haven’t played the position much at any level.  A lot of little things to learn and prefect and could be a disaster.

Who can help as a right-handed hitting left fielder? France? The guy that's never played a major league inning in the outfield? Or Miranda - the other guy that's never played an inning in the outfield?

[Connor Gould]

Looking at his baseball savant page, it appears that during his down year last year, his hard hit and barrel rates stayed in line with his numbers during his good years, but his strikeout rate shot up which killed him. His chase rate got better but his whiff rate got worse. That seems to imply that the talent is still there, but he tried a new approach that didn't really work for him. Hopefully he can bounce back from that.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

5 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

To me this shows exactly what they think of Julien. He REALLY has to show out to get another chance in the majors this year. I very easily could see him moved at some point, course he does have options.

France's 2023 really wasn't too bad either, but his 2021 and 2022 are what they would hope to get back to. Good thing is, he hasn't played less than 140 games in a season since 2021. Being available is a skill, and hopefully he can help at 1B/DH as much as possible.

I would have tried to aim higher personally, but it's not something I'm going to get angry about by any means. He doesn't strike out, which is a good thing.

This is kind of where I land too. 

I just don't see any viable reason for Julien being an option at 1B other than the fact that he's NOT an option for the other infield spots. 

I like Miranda and I think he can be the starting 1B long-term but he's dealt with injuries and I'd rather someone like France waiting in the wings. He can give them some starts at 1B as well as DH. 

[jud6312]

2 minutes ago, Sjoski said:

Roses are red, violets are blue,
Another average signing, its all we do?

Buy a ticket? Not what I'll do,
I've had enough of this déjà vu.

Average? That's probably the nicest thing anyone's called Ty France since he lucked into an All-Star game in '22. 

[jmlease1]

6 minutes ago, Cory Engelhardt said:

To me this shows exactly what they think of Julien. He REALLY has to show out to get another chance in the majors this year. I very easily could see him moved at some point, course he does have options.

France's 2023 really wasn't too bad either, but his 2021 and 2022 are what they would hope to get back to. Good thing is, he hasn't played less than 140 games in a season since 2021. Being available is a skill, and hopefully he can help at 1B/DH as much as possible.

I would have tried to aim higher personally, but it's not something I'm going to get angry about by any means. He doesn't strike out, which is a good thing.

Is it an indictment of Julien or Miranda? Think it's a bigger swipe at Miranda.

France's 2023 wasn't good. His best offensive skill was getting hit by a pitch.

[nicksaviking]

1 minute ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I like Miranda and I think he can be the starting 1B long-term but he's dealt with injuries and I'd rather someone like France waiting in the wings. He can give them some starts at 1B as well as DH. 

When has this front office and manager EVER had the veteran defer to the internal young option?

[High heat]

6 minutes ago, jud6312 said:

Who can help as a right-handed hitting left fielder? France? The guy that's never played a major league inning in the outfield? Or Miranda - the other guy that's never played an inning in the outfield?

I stand corrected!

I thought France had experience in LF, looks like just a 1B/DH option.

[Cory Engelhardt]

1 minute ago, jmlease1 said:

Is it an indictment of Julien or Miranda? Think it's a bigger swipe at Miranda.

France's 2023 wasn't good. His best offensive skill was getting hit by a pitch.

I'd very much argue it's more an indictment on Julien. 

It also tells that there is very much room if/when Keaschall is ready. 

Miranda has an opportunity to earn a longer term role. He has to take it. 

[Vanimal46]

Gleeman says it’s a MLB deal so it’s very likely he’ll be the new punching bag for fans. 

[Mike Sixel]

If fandom wasn't sticky, there's pretty much a zero chance I'd root for this front office and team. Just awful. Truly. 

[Brandon]

Looking at Ty’s stats he is a 25-30 2Bs and 15-20 HR potential.  His walks are light be he does have elite HBP skills.  If he can get his average to .270 he would be useful.  Though I suspect his cost is low enough that someone can take his playing time away and he could spend more time on the bench or even get released I’d he is not producing.  

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

2 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

When has this front office and manager EVER had the veteran defer to the internal young option?

The internal young options are sometimes like the back-up QB. Everyone loves them...until they actually start playing. 

Miranda's done enough so that he is somewhat of a known-commodity. I don't think he's going to be glued to the bench because Ty France is on the roster. 

If I'm wrong, so be it.

[jud6312]

I wouldn't have done this the same day you announce the new streaming service. But it's good to see Dumpster Divin' Derek keep his streak of offseason ineptitude going.

 

He is the Lou Gehrig of signing washed up position players.

[Brandon]

12 minutes ago, IndianaTwin said:

Who?

Exactly! 👍 

[nicksaviking]

3 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Gleeman says it’s a MLB deal so it’s very likely he’ll be the new punching bag for fans. 

Hey, don't you dare presume he'll be my punching bag!

I still reserve the right to make Bader my punching bag.

[Mike Sixel]

2 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

Hey, don't you dare presume he'll be my punching bag!

I still reserve the right to make Bader my punching bag.

You could likely fit two in your garage. Also, it's not their fault Falvey signed them.....