No such thing as a bad MiLB deal.

[thelanges5]

Twins have signed Orlando Arcia to minor league deal with an invite to spring training. He hasn’t played that well lately but can play SS and brings MLB experience to the roster. He had a pretty good 2023 .264/.321/.420

Can he be a good utility infielder for the Twins in 2026?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/01/twins-sign-orlando-arcia-to-minor-league-deal.html

[Blyleven2011]

Is kiner Falefa still available  , he would have made a better utility infielders...

We now have oswaldo' brother who actually had a better career than oswaldo  ..

[Brandon]

I think he is one of the better utility IF options on the market.  There was nothing out there.  So I think the Twins did as well as they could in this situation.  

Now let's go sign Robertson and Couloumbe and call it an off-season.

[SteveLV]

2nd worse hitter in MLB last year of players with at least 200 AB's.

Perfect!

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, SteveLV said:

2nd worse hitter in MLB last year of players with at least 200 AB's.

Perfect!

An incremental improvement over Kreidler

[stringer bell]

He was good three years ago, but seems to have forgotten how to hit Not a bad move, since it is a minor league contract  

[DJL44]

God help them if they go north with Arcia as the backup SS.

[DJL44]

12 hours ago, Brandon said:

I think he is one of the better utility IF options on the market.  There was nothing out there.  So I think the Twins did as well as they could in this situation.  

There were minor league free agents who were more interesting but they were signed quickly by more competent front offices.

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

There were minor league free agents who were more interesting but they were signed quickly by more competent front offices.

Who?

[old nurse]

8 hours ago, stringer bell said:

He was good three years ago, but seems to have forgotten how to hit Not a bad move, since it is a minor league contract  

He has had more years of forgetting how to hit than hitting pretty good

[old nurse]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

There were minor league free agents who were more interesting but they were signed quickly by more competent front offices.

Yup, there is always a better piece of scrap on the scrap heap in somebodies eyes. It is still the scrap heap.  When you come up with a name, make sure they have regularly played shortstop 

[USAFChief]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

God help them if they go north with Arcia as the backup SS.

100 percent chance he's the bench middle infielder day 1. Barring injury of course.

At least he's a bona fide MLB shortstop. 

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

Who?

I posted a list a few times around here.

Just give the job to Culpepper. It’s one thing to block the rookies with competent veterans. It is something else entirely to block them with the worst MLB players from the previous season.

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

I posted a list a few times around here.

Just give the job to Culpepper. It’s one thing to block the rookies with competent veterans. It is something else entirely to block them with the worst MLB players from the previous season.

Lee will start at the beginning of the season with Arcia as utility IF.  You don't put Culpepper in as the utility guy.  He needs to play everyday.  

If Lee falters and Culpepper doesn't prove ready then Arcia starts until Culpepper earns his way up.  But if Lee falters and Culpepper is ready for the opportunity he will get the call.  And Arcia will remain as the back up IF.  

Does this make sense?  Seems obvious to me.

The other scenario is if Lewis falters again or gets hurt and Lee slides to third so Culpepper or Arcia plays SS.  Arcia is good IF insurance.  I'm liking our bench better this time around.  

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Lee will start at the beginning of the season with Arcia as utility IF.  You don't put Culpepper in as the utility guy.  He needs to play everyday.  

If Lee falters and Culpepper doesn't prove ready then Arcia starts until Culpepper earns his way up.  But if Lee falters and Culpepper is ready for the opportunity he will get the call.  And Arcia will remain as the back up IF.  

Does this make sense?  Seems obvious to me.

Lee already faltered last season and Arcia was horrible. How long do they need to be terrible before people will believe they're terrible? What more does Culpepper need to do to "earn" a roster spot over the worst infielder in major league baseball in 2025?

Give Culpepper the starting SS job and use Lee as the utilty infielder. Keep Arcia in AAA in case someone gets injured and you need a backup for 2 weeks. Arcia can be outrighted off the 40-man roster when the injured player returns because nobody will claim him off waivers.

Does this make sense? Seems obvious to me.

[Brandon]

12 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Lee already faltered last season and Arcia was horrible. How long do they need to be terrible before people will believe they're terrible? What more does Culpepper need to do to "earn" a roster spot over the worst infielder in major league baseball in 2025?

Give Culpepper the starting SS job and use Lee as the utilty infielder. Keep Arcia in AAA in case someone gets injured and you need a backup for 2 weeks. Arcia can be outrighted off the 40-man roster when the injured player returns because nobody will claim him off waivers.

Does this make sense? Seems obvious to me.

The idea is to make sure Culpepper is prepared to succeed day 1.  He has less than half a season of AA.  I doubt he is ready yet.  Could be but having insurance is better.  Arcia is fine as a backup.  Lee can go to the minors if not able to handle the starting role.  

[Vanimal46]

11 hours ago, stringer bell said:

He was good three years ago, but seems to have forgotten how to hit Not a bad move, since it is a minor league contract  

This description fits so many Twins signings over the years... Once an all star? Check. Hasn't been good in 2+ years? Check. Checkered injury history? Check. 

[bean5302]

9 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

This description fits so many Twins signings over the years... Once an all star? Check. Hasn't been good in 2+ years? Check. Checkered injury history? Check. 

Except it's a MiLB deal instead of an MLB deal at like $4MM where Falvey would subbornly keep the player on the roster as if there was a turnaround coming and Baldelli would play them every day just to troll the fans.

[bean5302]

Honestly, though, I like this signing. On a MiLB contract, Arcia is excellent AAA roster filler, though I wonder if the contract includes an opt-out? Honestly, I think it's best for Arcia if the opt out is mid-year to give him some opportunity to work on his game with consistent playing time, though patience hasn't been his virtue at the plate.

Also, this provides me some personal entertainment value wondering what's wrong with Arcia's stats when I continue to mistakenly input "Oswaldo" into the search bars of baseball stat sites.

I think the signing makes even more sense if the Twins believe Kaelyn Culpepper is potentially close because there isn't much AAA ready talent for SS in the Twins' system. If Kaelyn doesn't look ready, Orlando is a much  better backup option than Kriedler, IMHO. 

[DJL44]

37 minutes ago, Brandon said:

The idea is to make sure Culpepper is prepared to succeed day 1.  He has less than half a season of AA.  I doubt he is ready yet.  Could be but having insurance is better.  Arcia is fine as a backup.  Lee can go to the minors if not able to handle the starting role.  

Arcia and Lee combined for -2.0 WAR last season. That's not "fine", it's really, really bad. That's an incredibly low "success" bar for Culpepper to get over.

[Riverbrian]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

100 percent chance he's the bench middle infielder day 1. Barring injury of course.

At least he's a bona fide MLB shortstop. 

Maybe not 100 percent but yeah... I'll bet that Arcia is on the 26 man roster day one. 

If he's healthy of course. 

If everybody on the infield stays healthy. It's probably a 75% chance he makes the roster anyway. 

If there is an injury anywhere on the infield. He's 100% on the roster. 

It's Arcia or Fitzgerald or Kriedler. Fitzgerald will go unclaimed at the price of free and he was the choice to give up a 40 man spots to make room for Wagaman. 

Or Kriedler who would also go unclaimed if DFA'd. 

I highly doubt the front office is going to go with Culpepper out of camp. 

 

 

[Danchat]

5 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Except it's a MiLB deal instead of an MLB deal at like $4MM where Falvey would subbornly keep the player on the roster as if there was a turnaround coming and Baldelli would play them every day just to troll the fans.

We're going to learn this year that playing that kind of player was not just a Baldelli thing. 

[Mike Sixel]

39 minutes ago, Danchat said:

We're going to learn this year that playing that kind of player was not just a Baldelli thing. 

If they are on the team, they play. That's the GM....

[DocBauer]

As stated in the front page post, I kinda like this signing. Kriedler's bat makes Arcia look like a Silver Slugger contender. I expect little from Arcia's bat, but 4 times in his career he's managed double digit HR, including 2023-24. And while he may not have the glove he used to, he's still solid as well as experienced. 

Considering the lack of INF depth, I never would have removed Fitzgerald from the roster when there were options like Outman and Gasper instead. 

K-Pepper is the future, but he's not ready yet. I think Tanner Schobel might provide depth at some point in 2026 as well, but he's also probably not ready yet after losing time post AAA promotion. And I don't know about you, but I didn't like the idea of Kreidler being the primary option at back up SS.

It would be awesome if Kreidler suddenly developed a better bat and turn himself in to a competent ML hitter. But having a veteran option like Arcia...on a MILB deal no less...makes me feel better, even in the short term.

[stringer bell]

The Twins absolutely need to have a competent defensive shortstop to back up Brooks Lee. Despite Seth’s comments on other threads, it appears the Twins don’t believe Fitzgerald is that guy. Kreidler does have a good defensive rep and Arcia provides a decent defensive floor. I would hope someone who plays shortstop hits okay and fields the position adequately. 

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

The Twins absolutely need to have a competent defensive shortstop to back up Brooks Lee...

The Twins absolutely need to have a competent defensive shortstop to replace Brooks Lee in the starting lineup.

Fixed that for ya.

[old nurse]

19 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I posted a list a few times around here.

Just give the job to Culpepper. It’s one thing to block the rookies with competent veterans. It is something else entirely to block them with the worst MLB players from the previous season.

What a memorable list that was

yup, Culpepper is such a great prospect he is a top 20 prospect in all of baseball. He son’y need no stinking time in AAA

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, old nurse said:

What a memorable list that was

yup, Culpepper is such a great prospect he is a top 20 prospect in all of baseball. He son’y need no stinking time in AAA

Culpepper can help the 2026 team if he produces more than negative 2 WAR.

[old nurse]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Culpepper can help the 2026 team if he produces more than negative 2 WAR.

If it doesn’t help Culpepper develop too bad for him

[DJL44]

24 minutes ago, old nurse said:

If it doesn’t help Culpepper develop too bad for him

Is it going to hurt Culpepper's development to play every day in MLB?