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The last time Ty France put up a strong offensive stat line for a first baseman was in 2022. When the Twins signed him to a minuscule, non-guaranteed deal this week, it made good sense. At 30 years old, France could have a bounce-back performance, and the Twins needed some competition for José Miranda at first base. Now that more information is coming out, it seems as though the Twins are enormous fans of France. That could be a problem.
It sounds like France’s non-guaranteed deal was only classified that way as a formality. After France couldn’t find a job all offseason and 29 other teams declined to guarantee him a deal, the Twins see him as a near-everyday player. It’s great that the Twins have high hopes for France, but him being a perceived veteran option could turn out to be a problem, based on the track record of the Derek Falvey regime.
At this point, it’s safe to say that the Twins value veteran status exceptionally highly. Having strong leadership and a wealth of experience is undoubtedly valuable, but the Twins have taken it a bit too far at times. It seems that every season, there are at least a few veterans who receive opportunities beyond what they’ve earned through their performance. These occasions often come at the expense of younger players with more hypothetical upside, or just wind up feeling like poor uses of roster spots.
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with giving France an opportunity. The problem is in the Twins' history of handling these types of players. There is little evidence of this regime being able to have a quick hook when it comes to poor-performing veterans. In France’s case, it sounds like he’s already been awarded a significant role with the team, despite being two full seasons removed from being an impact player. Miranda, admittedly, doesn't have a wealth of experience playing first base. Still, many defensive metrics indicate that France is a worse defender.
The Twins must turn a new leaf and be well prepared to make a difficult decision if France isn’t right to begin the season. His experience and the team’s lack of a well-prepared alternative would make it difficult for them. Getting poor offensive and defensive output at first base for a significant chunk of the season would simply be too damaging to a roster that didn’t have the capital to make major additions elsewhere this winter.
We do have to wonder, too, whether this amounts to an important schism between Baldelli and the front office. There's no way for an executive to more clearly send the message that a player is fungible than by signing them to a rare, uniquely low-ceiling and team-friendly contract. For Baldelli to signal an expectation of plugging in such a player every day creates some unavoidable cognitive dissonance. How much of this problem, over the years, has been about the front office—and how much has been Baldelli cleaving too tightly to veterans, perhaps using his own influence to fight off Falvey's efforts to move out non-producers? Is this a source of real or potential friction between the skipper and his bosses?
Hopefully, France will have a resurgent season, and the Twins' belief in him will be justified. If that isn’t the case, the team needs to do what they’ve struggled to do in the past and not let their miscalculation cost them too significantly. Whether that comes down to the manager or the front office, however, is hard to discern—and that makes it hard to feel much confidence that they'll break their pattern if things go poorly.
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