Is Harrison Bader a Viable Replacement for Michael A. Taylor?

MAT is the known quantity, the Known Known not the Known Unknown if you wish Rumsfeldese. He is also a well liked teammate. I vote for continuity all else being equal. You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish for.

Given the budget, I might just roll with Martin over Bader or MAT if we can land a good SP.  However, I have only seen Martin play CG a couple times.  If he can be relatively close defensively, Martin has upside offensively.  Bader becomes a more intriguing addition if the doctors are telling the team Buxton has a reasonable chance of playing 80+ games in CF next year.

Good article  and centerfield is a important position  ...

But who the heck knows what our front office will do to get creative ...

I liked Taylor in centerfield  , he made great plays and was fun to watch , Bader may be just as good defensively  but a platoon guy is not what we need ...

Who the heck knows , I sure don't  ...

Just stay out of the dumpster  please ...

The only way I want Bader on this team is if I was convinced that Buxton could play 100 games in CF...and that's just a bet that the team can't really afford to make. (I wish it was different!) As pointed out very clearly here, Bader makes sense as a defensive replacement and platoon bat. If asked to play every day, he looks out of his depth and it's hard to have faith he'd be able to hit RHP at a passable level to fill in at CF for weeks at a time.

The need for a strong CF contender is because you simply can't count on Buxton's health until he's had a full season again. Twins were smart to get MAT last year to insure themselves against Buck not being able to play in CF, and Castro's emergence added support as well. I guess I'd be a little too nervous that Buxton is going to miss a month and have a backup that is going to be a zero on offense too often. At that point why not try Martin?

If MAT or Kiermaier are going elsewhere/not in the budget, I guess it's not the worst alternative...and keeping depth in place was important for this team in 2023. But we also saw in the Gallo escapades that they tend to be reluctant to cut a veteran loose even if they're not performing. If Bader can't hit his weight, would they move on in June and give Martin a chance or would they keep him hanging around as a zero offensively for 2 extra months?

Bader is a VERY GOOD CF.  There would be no drop off in defense in CF were he to be signed.  I'm out on MAT.  Career year, sure to regress, will be overpaid as a result.  But the problem with Bader is his atrocious hitting vs RH pitchers.  I'm not paying $5-$8 million for a platoon guy who "might" see the field 33% of the time.  His splits are tremendous against LH pitching but he's practically an automatic out vs. RH pitching.

Once I've secured my pitching replacements in the rotation, if I haven't acquired a good CF option like Garrett Mitchell, I'd be taking a good look at Jung-hoo Lee.  He's also stellar in CF but is so much more complete as a hitter that I'd try to find a way to fit him into the budget.  At 25 years old, he would grow with the core of Lewis, Julien, Jeffers, Brooks Lee, Emm-Rod and Jenkins.  Otherwise, I'd check in with the Cardinals on 27 year old Tyler O'Neil.  (Sorry Byron, you're just not a part of any short term or long term plans anymore.  How could you be?)

Welp, we already have better options on the 40 man and Bader only works offensively against LH pitching. Hard pass on Bader. 

Yikes! Pass on Bader for sure.  Why would the Twins pay 8M for a guy that can't hit right handed pitching?  How many left handed starters are there compared to right handed pitchers, probably 4 right handed to every 1 left handed if not higher. Then you are forced to platoon CF. 

MAT is a better option over Bader.

A budget squeeze affects little, often important, roster additions. I'm thinking that Bader is too costly above $2-4M. The Twins are in a bit of a Catch-22 with Buxton and budget constraints. Martin, Castro, and crew can make life acceptable for CF. 

Can Martin handle CF defensively? How does he compare to Bader or Taylor? If he is anywhere close he gets my vote for a shot at CF.

43 minutes ago, miller761 said:

Can Martin handle CF defensively? How does he compare to Bader or Taylor? If he is anywhere close he gets my vote for a shot at CF.

Martin has played 12 games in Center Field in AAA; he is a rookie and the Twins are not a farm team replacement.

No to this option please.  I could see Rocco putting him in for defensive purposes late in games when then become a tie game only for him to come up against a RH reliever and be an automatic out.

For a couple $M to play against LHP and be a late game sub, OK.

I'm out otherwise. Little power, not much in the way of SB, I'd rather have Taylor back...probably healthier this year...even with some regression.

No on Bader.  What a joke to even consider him.  I would rather keep MAT.  He gets a bum rap but I'd rather see him on the team then Bader,.  How do these people know MAT will regress in 2024.  Who else on the team is due to regress?  Plenty I would assume.  And what about Buxton?  He's been nothing but a pain in the butt fixture on the injured list.  I would  be more impressed with this front office if it negotiated a buyout for Buxton (I know that won't happen.)  But all he has done for 7 of his 8 years Herr is clog up the roster and hinders the major league development of our prospects and young players.  It's way past time to move on from Buxton.  

If we get to the end of the offseason and Bader is still available for less then 5 million like we did with Salano sure.  
 

Kairmeir I think is going to be to rich and get paid.  Taylor had a career year and will also get paid and will regress.  
 

Im in the camp of play out all the internal options.  Spend the limited $ you have on a better starting pitcher instead of dumpster diving.

53 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

No on Bader.  What a joke to even consider him.  I would rather keep MAT.  He gets a bum rap but I'd rather see him on the team then Bader,.  How do these people know MAT will regress in 2024.  Who else on the team is due to regress?  Plenty I would assume.  And what about Buxton?  He's been nothing but a pain in the butt fixture on the injured list.  I would  be more impressed with this front office if it negotiated a buyout for Buxton (I know that won't happen.)  But all he has done for 7 of his 8 years Herr is clog up the roster and hinders the major league development of our prospects and young players.  It's way past time to move on from Buxton.  

I have already said Martin would be the preferred option but Bader is no joke.  A ++ defender and a + hitter against LHP has real value especially the way Baldelli plays match-ups.   He would be a nice addition given our need for a RH OFer if Buxton could be counted on for 80-100 games.  Of course, that's not the case.

1 hour ago, Whitey333 said:

No on Bader.  What a joke to even consider him.  I would rather keep MAT.  He gets a bum rap but I'd rather see him on the team then Bader,.  How do these people know MAT will regress in 2024.  Who else on the team is due to regress?  Plenty I would assume.  And what about Buxton?  He's been nothing but a pain in the butt fixture on the injured list.  I would  be more impressed with this front office if it negotiated a buyout for Buxton (I know that won't happen.)  But all he has done for 7 of his 8 years Herr is clog up the roster and hinders the major league development of our prospects and young players.  It's way past time to move on from Buxton.  

Actually Buxton's health problems has given a whole gaggle of newbies and rookies a chance to show their stuff.

Pass on Bader, just no interest in him other than if he was basically $2M or less as an extra OF. My guess is there will be a market for MAT, I like the guy, a real class act too if you see him interviewed, but guessing he will get too expensive for the limited funds the Twins will have. I could see them trying to pass off Bader as a viable candidate, hope not. A little early to put Martin out there too, pretty questionable defense and bat. He showed a little something at the end of the year last year, I'd want to see him start the year strong in order to consider him at this point. Castro pretty much fills his role right now, multiple positions and can steal bases. At $3.2M projected arbitration this year, I could see them replace Castro with Martin in 2025 to save money if he can show he belongs. Hopefully that's replacing him as a bench role and not starting CF. 

I think we need to consider a good defensive CF for backup purposes.  Same as last year, which turned into a full time roll for MAT.  CF is a defesive position where offense is a bonus.  I'd love to see Martin take that spot, but the lack of experience in CF makes me skeptical to say the least.  And we don't know if he can hit ML pitching yet either.  Kiersey?  possible.  But I still think we need an experienced ML CF.  I'd like to bring back MAT,  and if we can't get that done,  maybe Bader is the next best option.

Why even look at Bader as a CF option.He was on IL last year much as on the field.I guess he could keep Buxton company there.This Buxton situation is and has been a problem for years now.It is long past time to deal with it.If he can't play CF at the start of spring training it's time to buy him out.As far as MAT regressing next year no one can know that for sure.Why has the FO been sitting on its hands for so long on this issue.If no MAT and Buxton can't play put Castro there to start the season.

The budget is known to be lower this year, so center field will inevitably be tabbed as a place where we have enough options: possibly Buxton if we're lucky, Kepler plus a right field replacement, someone from the minors (maybe Austin Martin?). Very scarce free agent dollars will be spent elsewhere. It's back to replacement level for center field backup.

On 11/11/2023 at 8:36 AM, darin617 said:

Yikes! Pass on Bader for sure.  Why would the Twins pay 8M for a guy that can't hit right handed pitching?  How many left handed starters are there compared to right handed pitchers, probably 4 right handed to every 1 left handed if not higher. Then you are forced to platoon CF. 

MAT is a better option over Bader.

I suspect Bader will be closer to 4-5 mil. MAT is likely to cost 6-8 mil more than Bader. I'd rather allocate that 6-8 mil to a SP, via FA or trade, than MAT.

Bader had some excellent prospect pedigree and has shown signs of offensive prowess that MAT never has. Bader also strikes out at half the rate of Taylor while walking more as well.

The career wOBA, xwOBA, and wRC+ of each player, and Kiermaier for that matter, are all within a few points of each other. On that note, both Keiermaier and MAT are coming off arguably career years offensively which means likely getting overpaid for 2024 relative to the production of Bader, who is younger and coming off his worst season offensively.

If both are healthy, Bader is probably the better bet to have a marginally superior 2024 vs Taylor, possibly even Keirmaier. For half the cost, I'd go with Bader.

Based on 2023, it's important to have starting quality backups. Farmer and Taylor were huge. And there will be injuries.

But I'm not sold that Bader is starting quality. He sounds like a platoon-type to me, which just clutters the bench more than it needs to.