Is Jorge Polanco the Twins' Most Valuable Trade Asset?

Boy, this is why I have no stomach for the offseason. Polo's an incredibly valuable trade chip who can get us what we need, but I love him too much. It'd be hard for me to pull the trigger.

Considering the contract and the way Polanco responded to better health with a fantastic 2021 season, the Twins would need to get back quite a haul. His at bats are generally tough for the pitcher and he could easily maintain his production throughout the length of his contract. My sheet always includes Jorge Polanco at 2B, but the Twins might find a trade possible if another team offers the right collection of talent. I have not thought about what a Polanco trade would generate because I'm keeping him.

Probably.  However, I don't think this is the right question.  Is trading him the best way to build a contender and how long will that take.  That's the right question.  Polanco is really important to this lineup.  Yes, we could go with Arraez at 2B which is his best defensive position.  One of them should be traded, IMO.  If it's Polanco, it needs to be a big haul.  Otherwise, trade Arraez a part of a trade to get a SS or pitching.  Trading Polanco extends the time it takes us tom get back in contention.  We have a very good chance of ending 2022 with a pitching staff that is homegrown.  Extend Buxton and establish this homegrown staff and we have a great shot at contention for several years.  

Of coarse he's our most valuable trading chip because he's our MVP, he did it all, was under paid and was durable. But should we? The answer is absolute NOT.

 1st reason is he's still underrated because he's finally just recovering physically from his bout at SS and this was his 1st year return to 2B (Being 3rd defensively at 2B is amazing). As he continues at 2B and proceed to get completely well and find his groove, he'll regain his prowess (offensively and defensively), fulfilling his potential by becoming a MVP. Ever increasing his worth to us which is irreplaceable.

2nd reason is by trading Polanco we are stating we are rebuilding. Then we are committed to trade away all our underrated valuable core players (Polanco, Buxton, Kepler, Garver and Donaldson). And let's throw in Sano, we won't come close to get what they are worth. This will cause a large influx of prospects, flooding our roster. We have already a serious 40 man roster crunch, losing valuable undeveloped CF and pitching prospects via waivers. (I've stated this for a while now). Now multiply that by the wave of new prospects, this is irresponsible and impractical.

Our problems this year weren't due to the players where we need to get rid of the core and rebuild. It was due to management. I give them credit for removing Polanco at SS and getting a real SS. But I do fault them for not going out and trading for very good starters and closer that were bargains, instead dumpster diving FAs. Also how they mismanaged LF and CF subbing, relying on a weak rotation and failing BP. To name a few. Many blame injuries, good management allows for this by providing quality depth. Chicago had more serious injury problems from the beginning of the season but still handily won the division. I could go on.

Since our management is returning, our only hope is that they transform their mindsets. If not and they choose to rebuild. They would have appropriately selected the right uniform (to commemerate the '91 WS win) to usher in the new "Twinkie Era". UGH!

No!

Polanco’ s value to another team is how much better is he than what they have.  A team is not going to give up a haul to marginally improve.  The Giants might be the only contending team short a 2B. Why would a rebuilding team trade multiples of the building assets for a player? It is hard to deal when there isn’t a market

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

Polanco’ s value to another team is how much better is he than what they have.  A team is not going to give up a haul to marginally improve.  The Giants might be the only contending team short a 2B. Why would a rebuilding team trade multiples of the building assets for a player? It is hard to deal when there isn’t a market

Giants, Mariners, Marlins, Blue Jays potentially ... If a contending team were to add Polanco, 90% would improve significantly. Check out WAR .. and literally any other stats with 2nd basemen around the league. You'll get a haul.

Posted about this topic last week, check it out!

19 minutes ago, Tim said:

Giants, Mariners, Marlins, Blue Jays potentially ... If a contending team were to add Polanco, 90% would improve significantly. Check out WAR .. and literally any other stats with 2nd basemen around the league. You'll get a haul.

Posted about this topic last week, check it out!

 

 

The Mariners have prospect for the position, the Marlins still are not close.  A 4 war position player is a good thing, but not a haul.

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

The Mariners have prospect for the position, the Marlins still are not close.  A 4 war position player is a good thing, but not a haul.

a 4 WAR power hitting 2nd basemen with 4 years of team control left at an avg of about 8 mil a year will with out a question get you a haul.

Mariners do not have a prospect for the position. Like none, not sure where you got that.

Marlins ownership has expressed their desire to win now and will likely shift Jazz to short. Surplus of young pitching to deal from.

They should listen to offers, because his value is high but not feel obligated to trade him out of desire to sell high. All depends on what the return offered is.

They should also remain open to moving him back to SS if they can't land a top SS FA. We have a lot of talent that could benefit from opening 2nd base up.

No way they should trade him before the SS position is filled.

The only answer right now to the question should they trade him, is, "depends".

2 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

As mentioned above, All Star caliber 2nd baseman with several years of cheap team control are extremely valuable. Teams looking to compete aren't counting on "prospects" to carry them. Prospects are played during the initial phases of building to find out what holes teams need to fill and teams expecting to contend aren't in initial build phases.

Baseballtradevalues lists Polanco at #1  by a country mile in terms of Twins assets, which probably says more about the Twins than it does about Polanco, but Polanco still ranks as the 78th most trade valuable player in all of MLB right now on that site.

Should the Twins trade Polanco? I'd say no, unless they're rebuilding. What's he worth? A Royce Lewis and Simeon Woods-Richardson type combined, plus a sweetener.

This.

You are spot on, I actually think that Baseballtradevalues has him slightly lower than what he should be.

He would bring back a bigger return than Berrios IMO

The Twins have two stars they can build a winner around, Polo and Buxton.  Sign Buxton, keep Polo and find some pitching.

8 hours ago, Tim said:

a 4 WAR power hitting 2nd basemen with 4 years of team control left at an avg of about 8 mil a year will with out a question get you a haul.

Mariners do not have a prospect for the position. Like none, not sure where you got that.

Marlins ownership has expressed their desire to win now and will likely shift Jazz to short. Surplus of young pitching to deal from.

Like the haul they were offered for 2 years of Brian Dozier, at a time when he was productive? 

Well played article. I agree with most above and say keep him unless a team makes an offer impossible to refuse. Extend Buxton. The offense is close. Minor moves there. Work on pitching. 

Wow.  Great article and awesome responses.  Should they trade Polo?  Of course not.  But who knows what happens. .when you finish in last place I guess anyone is tradeable.  We need pitching.  Well we traded our best pitcher this year for "prospects". Those prospects better be good but let's wait and see if they can produce at a major league level.  Keep Polanco!

12 hours ago, DocBauer said:

You need offense and pitching. But how do you get better by trading one of your very best players? You don't unless you are rebuilding. And the Twins don't need to rebuild, they need to re-tool, and even management has been clear on this.

The Twins can add pitching via FA. They can also trade from within their system, possibly with the addition of a different existing player not named Polanco, to acquire a pitcher. Maeda will be back in 2023. And there are a number of high potential arms a half to full season away from adding to the staff and the pen. Young, talented and controllable arms. 

You absolutely don't trade Polanco!

I only wish we had the ability to 'like' your statement twice, Doc.

We've got a great player on an incredible contract.  That's pretty much what everyone wants - so yeah, his trade value is fantastic....but why would the Twins get rid of him? Are the Braves chomping at the bit to get rid of Ozzie Albies? No, because they have an incredible young player on a great contract. And they want to win. And to win you need incredible players.

Polanco is the Twins most valuable asset. Period.

Random thoughts: I don’t think the Twins will or should trade Polanco, as that would signal they are rebuilding. But clearly a Polanco trade would bring in some high level talent or you don’t trade him. That said it is in their best interests to listen to trade offers on ALL of their players. Signing Buxton has to be the priority as he’s now the face of the franchise. And the last 60 games of Sano’s season makes me somewhat optimistic that he can again be a professional hitter. Also there is finally hope that there is starting pitching talent in their Minor League system. It just needs to get healthy. You can’t have too many arms.

11 hours ago, old nurse said:

Like the haul they were offered for 2 years of Brian Dozier, at a time when he was productive? 

.The Dozier era and Polanco situation are 2 fairly different things

8 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

31 year old Dozier had 2 months of team control left, was making $9MM a year, wasn't eligible for a qualifying offer and was playing like dookie. 

So apart from 28 year old Polanco having 4 years of team control left, making $5.5MM next year, being eligible for a qualifying offer at the end of the 4 years of team control and playing at an All Star level currently, this is pretty close to the same.

They were looking at trading him the year before. The Dodgers went with the guy the Twins traded for the year before. . 

48 minutes ago, Tim said:

.The Dozier era and Polanco situation are 2 fairly different things

They are similar in that people were expecting a haul after Doziers’s 2016