Twins Trade for Eric Wagaman, Designate Ryan Fitzgerald for Assignment

[Fatbat]

Larnachs ‘25 season stats are better than Lagemans whole career. 

[Mahoning]

18 hours ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Only on a bad team does a Wagaman have a chance to break camp. Miami, MN....

Falvey must have a secret fetish for bad men. First Outman and now Wagaman.

And don't forget Jonah Bride!

[Fatbat]

12 hours ago, DocBauer said:

II HOPE Wagaman improves 10-15% in 2026, fills a solid role, and makes me eat all of my next words. (Not crossing my fingers).

I don't like this move for MANY reasons! I'm stupified by it, and downright p*ssed off by it! Where do I even begin?

1] A mediocre hitter...so far in his career...even one who hits LHP decently...not a great SSS history so far...who never even mashed in MILB, as a short side platoon at 1B does what exactly? Other than 25% of games played against LHP, how does he really add to the construction of the 13 man roster? It allows Bell to DH more and allows another mediocre/bench player in Clemens to play MORE on a daily basis?

2] Not only did Larnach need to be moved before hand, but he's absolutely dead weight now on the roster more than ever.

3] I mentioned veteran utility player, switch hitting with almost neutral career splits, Ramon Urias in a recent thread from Seth about roster construction. While he's more POP than POWER, he DOES hit dingers. He's a better OB% batter than Wagaman in his brief career, plays a decent 1B, and can also cover 2B and 3B. His arbitration number is around $4.5M, which makes him almost an exact match to replace Larnach, and provide MUCH BETTER roster depth and versatility. But we add a platoon RH 1B/DH instead?

4] Not only does Wagaman limit the bench BIG TIME vs someone like Urias, but the ENTIRE IDEA of playing Keaschall in the OF is COMPLETELY misguided! Why? So Clemens can play 2B? He's at best a LH power bat off the bench who MIGHT play well with Wagaman at 1B. But now you want to play Clemens more at 2B? 

Keaschall has the athleticism to be a solid 2B, if not better. His arm SHOULD FINALLY be healthy for throws he has to make. Does he need to smooth out his mechanics at 2B? You bet! But how does he do that WITHOUT actually playing 2B? 

Furthermore, what about Martin and Roden in LF? We've just decided not to give them opportunity? Or does Roden move to RF? Then what do you do with Wallner when DH is suddenly filled almost daily by Bell? And TWO of your TOP 1-4 prospects are AAA LH hitting OF in Rodriguez and Jenkins. So even forgetting giving Roden an actual chance to perform and contribute, those TOP TWO prospect are ready to debut anywhere from Opening Day to June or July 1st. So then where does your TOP young player Keaschall fit if you start playing him in the OF? And let's not forget Gonzalez is ALSO a TOP prospect OF from the RH side of things.

Keaschall playing the OF, as ANYTHING but an occasional option to set a RH dominate lineup against LHP is absolutely ridiculous in roster construction. Not only should he be playing 2B DAILY for 2026 to just let him develop there...his offense is just that more important as a 2B...but AFTER 2026, if you aren't satisfied, he could still be a hell of an offensive player with a move to 1B.

Dare I say playing him a lot in the OF in 2026 is not only misguided, but downright lunacy! 1B with some OF come 2027 if you really think that's the right move. (Small chuckle). But WHY IN THE WORLD would you give such a long leash for Julien but NOT Keaschall?

5] Even WITH the Wagaman trade factored in, why on earth do you dump Fitzgerald ahead of Outman, or Julien, or Gasper, or Pereda? IDK that he's almost 32yo and is a journeyman. The INF depth is non existent until K-Pepper is ready. Fitzgerald has been around as long as he has been because he's a solid defender who doesn't embarrass himself at the plate. Despite reported defense and some speed, Kreidler barely hit at the MILB level, and has hit at the ML level at the level of a PITCHER pre DH days. I'd take a small step down defensively for a guy who could at least hit in the .200 range with some pop and speed vs a .150 fill in.

6] I get moving Bragg. For those that don't follow the Twins MILB system closely, he was a late round pick who was either injured when drafted, or injured just after being drafted, I'm not sure. But he missed time. He had a BAD AFL season post 2024. But he rebounded with a really great 2025 between A+ and AA. He put up some really solid numbers and good K rates, and was probably really close to either starting 2026 at St Paul, or maybe getting some AA time before a AAA promotion. He's not just a "throw away" LH pen arm.

I'm not upset about trading a possibly interesting arm in Bragg. I'm upset about a misguided roster construction that brought in a 28yo platoon 1B that really restricts the 13 man player roster for 2026. 

And I'm p*ssed because even as a fan who likes to play the "if I was the GM" game, I can see a very different example of a more versatile player being added for a BETTER roster fit that a 25% useful player. And it makes me frustrated that I can see a better fit over those in charge.

Again, I'll HOPE Wagaman turns a corner and is even better than he was in 2025, or closer to his reported late season production.

But TODAY, I find this addition to be poor. Maybe even comical considering options I think a semi-intelligent fan like myself might have done better.

Every player get 4 inning per game. By the 7th innng stretch, all the starters will be on the bench…. Depth at sucking that bad….

[TNtwins85]

48 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Not a “slam dunk” & a lot of “ifs” ……. describes Twins and about 24 other clubs.

If Lee is a 1.25 WAR guy I’d be ecstatic! Lewis just performing to expectations (not some lofty MVP thoughts) gets the Team to competitive. Wallner needs to hit .230 and the rest of his stats will fall in line.

A bat of some sort via FA along with a couple support relievers from FA market would reduce the “ifs” needed……fingers crossed.

Right! Most teams are expected to compete but a couple bad outcomes and you’re done. If Lee is a 1.25WAR player this year that’s great as well. I see him taking a big step forward this year. I think he knows how the league is attacking him now and he’s a very smart player and strives to be better. I hope to see his bat improve a lot. Maybe a poor man’s Ian Kinsler type? Probably never gonna be a 5-6 WAR player at Kinslers peak but the 3-4 WAR player would be amazing and I think he can be that. A 265/325/460 type guy with average D at SS. If Lewis provides 2.5-3.5 WAR? Wallner in the 2-2.5 range. I can see a glimpse then.

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, rv78 said:

Unless major moves are made before spring this team is just a mess. Sorry, there's just no other way to look at it. The biggest head-scratcher to me is the desire to move Keaschall to the outfield for some of his playing time. It's not like we have another solid defender guy that can hit consistantly to play 2B and with outfielders, Buxton, Martin, Wallner, Larnach, Outman, Roden, already positioned there and add in 3 legit prospects, Jenkins, Rodriguez, Gonzalez, that should get called up sometime in 2026 there should be ZERO need for Keaschall in the outfield. Now Falvey is creating a glut of incapable players for 1B that don't move the needle 1 degree. He is infatuated with players that had 1 or 2 months of stellar performance and completely ignores the fact that they totally blew chunks of puke the rest of their career. I also don't buy into the Pohlad wishes of saving money when you throw $7M at a player like Josh Bell who is a DH on his best days and shouldn't play any fielding position period. Moves like this prove that Joe has decided to go home in his "go big or go home" plan. This Falvey run Twins team has become so laughable that they are now like another A's or Pirates team. Compare 2019 to 2024, 2025, 2026, pick one of the latter 3 and see how Falvey has run this team into the ground. 

I agree with your post but I would not lump the A's in with the Pirates.  They have done a pretty good job with limited resources.  The table below has win percentages for all 30 teams over the past 20 seasons.

	Win %
Yankees	0.579
Dodgers	0.567
Cardinals	0.550
Red Sox	0.544
Braves	0.543
Cleveland	0.519
Giants	0.519
Astros	0.515
Phillies	0.515
Oakland	0.513
Angels	0.512
Blue Jays	0.504
Mariners	0.502
Cubs	0.502
Mets	0.501
Brewers	0.500
TWINS	0.500
Tampa	0.496
Rangers	0.491
Dbacks	0.487
Padres	0.481
Nationals	0.481
White Sox	0.480
Reds	0.473
Tigers	0.470
Marlins	0.465
Orioles	0.458
Rockies	0.450
Pirates	0.448
Royals	0.443

[DJL44]

15 hours ago, TNtwins85 said:

Going for 1B depth!

They filled the hole at 1B by acquiring the 37th and 43rd best first basemen of 2025.

[saviking]

I dont think this trade is anything to Bragg about. 

28bl years old and the power has never broken out. Average first baseman, slow and unimpressive OBP. 

I remember people saying zlaurnach was too old at 26. I would take Laurnach any day if we converted him into a first baseman. I mean, our 2 firstbasenen we picked up make a low hurdle fielding. 

[MesaTwinsFan]

It is the dog days of the off season when a meaningless trade like this can lead to 127 comments. Neither player involved will be the subject of any future articles let alone be on a highlight reel outside of a spring training game.

[Pat]

Typical Ho-Hum move.

 

[stringer bell]

While I don't see Wagaman moving the needle much, the team needed someone to fill first base. Bell is an above-average hitter who could DH as much as 120 games in 2026. Adding Wagaman gives them a RH platoon bat at first or DH and depth in the event injuries bite the team at first base. I expect he make the Twins Opening Day roster and gets starts against left handers. 

[ashbury]

14 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Manny Margot had a much more impressive career than Wagaman has had to date and was coming off a more productive previous season when the Twins acquired him.

I kind of thought my crack about Miami DFA'ing him addressed my views regarding Wagaman's actual talent, if you thought I was drawing a comparison. 

No, Margot's merely my example of how much a manager's hands are tied, versus the tidy theory that you can segregate two complementary players' plate appearances neatly into left-and-right.  Manny actually had more plate appearances (by +1) for the Twins against righties than he did versus lefties. 

I could have used Kyle Garlick as the example, instead.  Either your lefty-killer bat gets used more against righties than you would prefer (Margot), or else he's barely a factor at all (Garlick).

[KirbyDome89]

3 hours ago, JD-TWINS said:

Not a “slam dunk” & a lot of “ifs” ……. describes Twins and about 24 other clubs.

If Lee is a 1.25 WAR guy I’d be ecstatic! Lewis just performing to expectations (not some lofty MVP thoughts) gets the Team to competitive. Wallner needs to hit .230 and the rest of his stats will fall in line.

A bat of some sort via FA along with a couple support relievers from FA market would reduce the “ifs” needed……fingers crossed.

I think that's downplaying how bad this roster really is. The Twins were legitimately the worst team in baseball post deadline in 2025. 

[ashbury]

22 hours ago, bunsen82 said:

His August and September were pretty decent.  

Even his August was a Tale of Two Halves.  First half of August his OPS was .639.  In the second half his OPS zoomed to 1.051 on the strength of a .391 BABIP and an uncharacteristic 3 home runs in 40 plate appearances.  He reverted to 0 HR in all of September. Two weeks of success is pretty short in baseball terms, and neither of these foundations (high BABIP, HR) would seem sustainable based on his track record, so I find it hard to count on the guy for anything much across a full season, which Miami did give him.

If the Twins have spotted something correctable in his fundamentals that the Yankees, Angels and Marlins all missed, and he turns in a productive 2026 at first base, I'll give them all the credit.

[jorgenswest]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

They filled the hole at 1B by acquiring the 37th and 43rd best first basemen of 2025.

I tried to find a measure that had them 37th and 43rd. I even tried WAR to find 37 and 43 even though I know it would not be valid since Bell played mostly DH and all those DH games would carry a defensive penalty in the WAR calculation. Those ranks still did not come up. Bell had a wRC+ of 107. As a league the wRC+ overall was 109. The team median was 106. The Twins first basemen had a wRC+ of 90. Assuming he performs similarly to last year I would describe Bell as more of an upgrade than a ranking of 37 suggests.

[jkcarew]

Wait…did we just trade for the Marlins Jose Miranda??

 

[jkcarew]

1 hour ago, KirbyDome89 said:

I think that's downplaying how bad this roster really is. The Twins were legitimately the worst team in baseball post deadline in 2025. 

You keep forgetting…the goal is mediocrity. We’re not that far away!!! 😉

[jkcarew]

3 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

I agree with your post but I would not lump the A's in with the Pirates.  They have done a pretty good job with limited resources.  The table below has win percentages for all 30 teams over the past 20 seasons.

	Win %
Yankees	0.579
Dodgers	0.567
Cardinals	0.550
Red Sox	0.544
Braves	0.543
Cleveland	0.519
Giants	0.519
Astros	0.515
Phillies	0.515
Oakland	0.513
Angels	0.512
Blue Jays	0.504
Mariners	0.502
Cubs	0.502
Mets	0.501
Brewers	0.500
TWINS	0.500
Tampa	0.496
Rangers	0.491
Dbacks	0.487
Padres	0.481
Nationals	0.481
White Sox	0.480
Reds	0.473
Tigers	0.470
Marlins	0.465
Orioles	0.458
Rockies	0.450
Pirates	0.448
Royals	0.443

Pohlads BEAMING with pride viewing this table.

[Penthang]

It would be really interesting if the Twins would add a player you don’t have to squint to see some upside to the signing/trade.

[Linus]

1 minute ago, Penthang said:

It would be really interesting if the Twins would add a player you don’t have to squint to see some upside to the signing/trade.

Well that’s not happening right away because they just signed Orlando Arcia to a milb deal. 

[Thumbs Down Guy]

18 hours ago, DocBauer said:

 The INF depth is non existent until K-Pepper is …..

Hey Doc. Loved the entirety of your post, but the use of K-Pepper reminded me of a Korean restaurant named K-Peppers in Middleton, Wisconsin(west side of Madison). When in the area I always made sure to stop at the Mustard Museum and eat at K-Peppers. I know this is way off topic, but figure most people have had their say and the administrators and community moderators will let me get by with this.

[rhal]

Platoon player who has lousy defense. What a move!

[DJL44]

5 hours ago, jorgenswest said:

I tried to find a measure that had them 37th and 43rd. I even tried WAR to find 37 and 43 even though I know it would not be valid since Bell played mostly DH and all those DH games would carry a defensive penalty in the WAR calculation. Those ranks still did not come up. Bell had a wRC+ of 107. As a league the wRC+ overall was 109. The team median was 106. The Twins first basemen had a wRC+ of 90. Assuming he performs similarly to last year I would describe Bell as more of an upgrade than a ranking of 37 suggests.

That's Fangraphs.

[Chembry]

I am struggling to see how Wagaman is a “terrible” defender…I will be the first to admit that I didn’t see him play very many games and really not a huge fan of the move, but his defensive metrics aren’t exactly terrible.  Baseball savant has him at -1 OAA on the 1B leaderboard.  That’s puts him at 21st of 40 qualified 1B, ahead of Vlad Jr, Colby Mayo,  Paul Goldschmidt, Nick Kurtz, Vinnie Pasquatino, and several others.  
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/outs_above_average?type=Fielder&startYear=2025&endYear=2025&split=yes&team=&range=year&min=q&pos=3&roles=&viz=hide

Fielding Bible also has him at a -1 defensive runs saved.  I input a minimum of 800 innings played, but that leaderboard has him at 11th of 21.  That doesn’t scream terrible.  He’s not Matt Olson or Carlos Santana good, but seems serviceable.

Fangraphs- I used a minimum of 800 innings.  FRV has him 15th of 21. OAA has him 11th of 21.  Def has him 7th of 21.  

This is a low wattage move that will either be AAA depth or platoon at 1B.  His splits against LHP were pretty good last year. 

The more frustrating part of this move is why Julien or Gasper weren’t released instead of Fitzgerald.  Maybe the Twins had a sense that Arcia would sign the minor league contract.  

[rv78]

55 minutes ago, rhal said:

Platoon player who has lousy defense. What a move!

This is normal for Falvey. He knows he can't sign anyone that is actually good from BOTH sides of the plate so he continues to try to get lucky with one that isn't. It's a plan that hasn't worked for 5 years now, but when you are the smartest man in the room you don't change course, you doubledown on your effort. 

[DJL44]

7 hours ago, ashbury said:

I kind of thought my crack about Miami DFA'ing him addressed my views regarding Wagaman's actual talent, if you thought I was drawing a comparison. 

No, Margot's merely my example of how much a manager's hands are tied, versus the tidy theory that you can segregate two complementary players' plate appearances neatly into left-and-right.  Manny actually had more plate appearances (by +1) for the Twins against righties than he did versus lefties. 

I could have used Kyle Garlick as the example, instead.  Either your lefty-killer bat gets used more against righties than you would prefer (Margot), or else he's barely a factor at all (Garlick).

I agree with you. My point is this is the least talented player they've tried in this role. They tried Garlick and Margot and Ty France and it failed three times but by gosh it's going to work this time with a player who isn't even as good as any of those players.

[mluebker]

So, left-handed hitting outfielders and now first basemen who can’t field. You never know what some people want to collect. This improves the team how?

[twinfan]

How many first basemen does it take to change a lightbulb? I don't see this guy helping us at all. He'll only take playing time away from someone we may need later on. Yuck!

And why is everybody trading Larnach? That would be a big mistake unless we can get 2 quality relievers for him.

[jorgenswest]

3 hours ago, DJL44 said:

That's Fangraphs.

I was in Fangraphs and did a lot of sorting of 1Bs. Bell doesn’t come up when sorted by first basemen unless you go down to 100 plate appearances as a 1B. Of the 1Bs listed in the group his wRC+ of 120 as a 1B was 17th of 52. His defense in that group was 42 of 52. That ranking is doesn’t take into account playing time. He probably would really be near the bottom with Tyler Soderstrom and Yandy Diaz. Pete Alonso and Vinnie Pasquantino would be down there too. He was mostly a DH last year so both WAR and OAA are not very useful in comparing to regulars 1Bs since they are both tied to playing time as a 1B.

If the bat is of primary importance at 1B his overall numbers last year are comparable to the league average 1B and that is much better than the Twins 1Bs last year. If for some reason he is truly hits better when he is on the field then his wRC+ of 120 as a 1B is better than the average for the position.

[Doctor Wu]

14 hours ago, Linus said:

Well that’s not happening right away because they just signed Orlando Arcia to a milb deal. 

Did the Twins really sign Arcia to a minor league deal? I looked for an article or post about that and can't find anything. If they did, I think it's a good move. We need someone to backup Lee at SS and Arcia would be fine. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

Did the Twins really sign Arcia to a minor league deal? I looked for an article or post about that and can't find anything. If they did, I think it's a good move. We need someone to backup Lee at SS and Arcia would be fine. 

How would he be "fine"? He was awful last season - legitimately one of the worst infielders in baseball.