Jorge Polanco’s Twins Tenure is Approaching an End

Is it, Cody?

Polo and Kepler are going to be two huge decisions the front office must make at year end.  I can see them going either way with each.  Personally, don't have a clue what they will do or even an opinion on what they should. 

Both have been a huge part of the Twins for as long as many of us can remember.  If either or both are gone, will be missed by many of us.

Exercise the option. Use him as a "super sub" at 2B, SS, and 3B

He's not worth $10.5M, there are always similar options available in free agency for less. The Twins are only paying Solano $2M, for example. I wouldn't mind if the Twins bring Polanco back but they should definitely decline his option.

I would bring him back and not take Farmer to his third year of arbitration. Farmer is at 5.85 million now and that will increase so the difference in salary between Polanco and Farmer isn’t significant. Farmer may be healthier but has no upside and is 33.

To me the choice is to keep one of the two veterans or let go of both. I am keeping Polanco. They won’t have 12 position players better than him. The team will be better with him.

The the twins have injuries, I think we pay him and hope he. Stays healthy the early part of the season. We could then trade him. I see we could get good value in a trade. Besides I think we have room for him with buxton and kirloff going thru what they have with injuries.

A couple questions come to mind when considering Polanco for 2024.  Does Lewis remain at 3B or does he become a super utility?  Do they believe Lee will be here by June 1st next year.  Do they believe in Prato as a bench player at 2B/3B.   Are they bringing Gordon back?  I could see keeping Polanco instead of Farmer.  They both don't fit on the roster IMO. 

I guess the other question is can they get something back in trade.  With all the other options, he is expendable if they can get back a decent prospect.  The best option could be to keep him until the trade deadline while working in Lee/Prato/Severino the early part of 24.

19 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

He's not worth $10.5M, there are always similar options available in free agency for less.

Agreed. The Twins only exercise the option if another team wants him in a trade. 

The Twins missed the boat on trading high on Polanco with numerous guys coming up in the minors (Julien, Steer, Martin, etc.). Great player whose body has taken a toll.

15 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

I would bring him back and not take Farmer to his third year of arbitration. Farmer is at 5.85 million now and that will increase so the difference in salary between Polanco and Farmer isn’t significant. Farmer may be healthier but has no upside and is 33.

To me the choice is to keep one of the two veterans or let go of both. I am keeping Polanco. They won’t have 12 position players better than him. The team will be better with him.

 

I don’t see how you don’t pick up his option.  You paid Gallo 11 mil this season you paid farmer 6.  Polanco gives you depth at both 2nd and 3rd and he has likely trade value since it’s a 1 yr deal or value at next yrs deadline.  
 

I am not sold on Julien at 2B long term or Lewis staying healthy and playing 3B.  

Good player but he is part of that Twins collective who has never won a playoff game. He has a good legacy in the regular season so we'll leave it as that. Time to move on. I would have traded him at the deadline but the injuries understandably weakened that possibility. 

7 minutes ago, High heat said:

I don’t see how you don’t pick up his option.  You paid Gallo 11 mil this season you paid farmer 6.  Polanco gives you depth at both 2nd and 3rd and he has likely trade value since it’s a 1 yr deal or value at next yrs deadline.  
 

I am not sold on Julien at 2B long term or Lewis staying healthy and playing 3B.  

They also have Lee/Prato/Severino knocking at the door and let's hope a healthy Miranda reasserts himself.  It's fair to assume he is a bench player if Lewis is healthy.  Would the $10M be better spent on pitching while rolling with one of the several other options?

I'd absolutely bring him back. There is no need to be in a hurry to move on. $10.5 mil is what 1.5 WAR? Yeah, Yeah, what about Lee and Lewis. That's a 2024 trade deadline issue, maybe. Lee hasn't earned it yet and to part with Polanco I think that needs to be true 1st. After the 2024 season is the time for this topic. IMO

39 minutes ago, jorgenswest said:

I would bring him back and not take Farmer to his third year of arbitration. Farmer is at 5.85 million now and that will increase so the difference in salary between Polanco and Farmer isn’t significant. Farmer may be healthier but has no upside and is 33.

To me the choice is to keep one of the two veterans or let go of both. I am keeping Polanco. They won’t have 12 position players better than him. The team will be better with him.

Farmer is the better defender and he's actually available to play most days. He's also a good short side of a 2B platoon with Julien.

35 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

A couple questions come to mind when considering Polanco for 2024.  Does Lewis remain at 3B or does he become a super utility?

I think Polanco has been the player pushing to play a utility role. It's a smart move for him, that's how he'll get his next contract.

19 minutes ago, Major League Ready said:

Would the $10M be better spent on pitching while rolling with one of the several other options?

Yes, because the young guys they were counting on the fill bullpen spots have pretty much all failed.

Definitely keep him and the logical solution get everyone playing time is a rotational dh next year to help keep players healthy.

28 minutes ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

We have a clear 5 for next year in my mind - Correa, Lewis, Kirilloff, Julien, and Polanco. Since Lewis can play SS, we don't really need Farmer. That last spot can be Farmer or Solano initially, tough choice between bat or glove,  If Lee is ready, it can be Lee, same for Miranda. Both have a ways to go to prove they belong, though. My guess is that Miranda starts the season as the RH IB, part time 3B, with Lee in AAA, and Farmer and Solano somewhere else, but that's just a guess.  

In short, there is not "logjam" that forces Polanco off the roster.  In fact, I would argue that his versatility is exactly what we need. Keep Polanco. There is absolutely no reason to trade him unless you can get a big return.  

My guess for infielders on the 40 man roster this offseason: Correa, Lewis, Kirilloff, Julien, Willi Castro, Farmer, Gordon, Miranda, Martin, Severino. Does Polanco add $10.5M worth of value as the 11th infielder when his banged up body will give you 80-100 games maximum?

1 hour ago, Teddy said:

I'm in favor of excercising this year's option, but if Polo is healthy next year (and Lee, Lewis and Correa are manning 3B, 2B and SS in some combination), where does that leave Julien? Would they consider trying him in LF the way they tried with Arraez last year?

They need them all. It is OK to have good bats on the bench.

35 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Farmer is the better defender and he's actually available to play most days. He's also a good short side of a 2B platoon with Julien.

Farmer is 33. He will decline more with glove and bat. I think the risk is he will be healthy, unproductive and on the roster. His third year arb salary will likely be around 8 million and they won’t want to release him at that salary.

I prefer the injury risk with Polanco where they can fill that roster spot when he is out.they have the depth. 

The Bomba Squad is now four years gone by.   Ed-DEE!, Boomstick and GarvSauce will always be wonderful summertime memories, while Sano remains in the camp of regret.  

As the two longest tenured Twins, Polanco and Kepler look rather unlikely to survive the process of “cost benefit analysis”.  

We are in bondage to Buxton and Correa and cannot free ourselves.   They will need to be the ones to “provide veteran leadership”.

The supporting (or leading!) cast needs to start rolling over to Lewis, Kirilloff, Julien, Wallner, Larnach, Jeffers, Lee, Martin, Walker, et. al.  
 

Of course, Polanco and Kepler could also lead us into November… then the options would be more than covered by the new round of cap and T-shirt sales! (And we’d all have a Merry Christmas 🎄)

They have plenty of money in general, and specifically there are a number of large contracts coming up leaving plenty of room to spend. The Pohlads will always be fine on the money front, but the window of being atop a terrible division with an easy road to the playoffs will not stay open long. They need to spend now to make the most of the chance they have.  And let's be clear: a soft division means you can cycle stiffs like Dallas Kueckel through the rotation in August to rest starters, it lets you send out tired relievers and worn down infielders for a spa week in St Paul and still only have to fend off PIT and KC to hold your 5 game lead.

So thinking about this question in terms of opportunity, Polanco is, at the very least, better than Lee and Castro and Gordon and Solano and Gallo. Farmer is still valuable for defensive value and half a platoon, Lewis and Jullien are worth more, and Correa far more.  By the end of next year Lee may have pushed toward the front, but clearly not this year. Polo should be able to replace Solano, Farmer can be your SS backup and Castro can be the second utility guy that we always seem to need. We still need a CF if we choose to upgrade from Taylor's good glove, 15 HR and weak average, but I don't think Gordon is that guy and it's pretty clear Gallo isn't either.

So I'd easily keep him while we're in Win Now mode (which we certainly should be.) There will be plenty of opportunities for these guys because I assume that we'll continue to have injury problems in the future, same as every team these days, and we'll be needing extra fielders all over the place. This is a fine problem to have, and the solution is to replace older role players with our younger, improving guys when they prove themselves ready. The choice isn't which youngster to get rid of, but which geezer to upgrade, and Polanco isn't that guy when you have some of these others around.

1 hour ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

One more thought. Let's not get too tied up with getting every player a set position where they will play "every day". That's not the way modern baseball works.  The twins need 6 infielders for the 2024 roster, at least 2 of whom can play SS. Those 6 will play in various combinations during the course of the season and their performance, injuries, etc. will determine who plays how much. We have a clear 5 for next year in my mind - Correa, Lewis, Kirilloff, Julien, and Polanco. Since Lewis can play SS, we don't really need Farmer. That last spot can be Farmer or Solano initially, tough choice between bat or glove,  If Lee is ready, it can be Lee, same for Miranda. Both have a ways to go to prove they belong, though. My guess is that Miranda starts the season as the RH IB, part time 3B, with Lee in AAA, and Farmer and Solano somewhere else, but that's just a guess.  

In short, there is not "logjam" that forces Polanco off the roster.  In fact, I would argue that his versatility is exactly what we need. Keep Polanco. There is absolutely no reason to trade him unless you can get a big return.  

Thank you for addressing this.  In today's game flexibility is key, it is not very common for a player to be truly "blocked".

For a player like Polanco, being on the roster is more than just the numbers on the back of the card.  Leadership and mentoring can be huge for a team like the Twins that have a bunch of young middle-infielder types on or near the big league level.

Not as much of a lock as Kepler, but I think there is a good chance his option is exercised.

20 minutes ago, Cris E said:

So thinking about this question in terms of opportunity, Polanco is, at the very least, better than Lee and Castro and Gordon and Solano and Gallo. Farmer is still valuable for defensive value and half a platoon, Lewis and Jullien are worth more, and Correa far more.  By the end of next year Lee may have pushed toward the front, but clearly not this year. Polo should be able to replace Solano, Farmer can be your SS backup and Castro can be the second utility guy that we always seem to need. We still need a CF if we choose to upgrade from Taylor's good glove, 15 HR and weak average, but I don't think Gordon is that guy and it's pretty clear Gallo isn't either.

Castro has been far more valuable than Polanco this season. Baseball Reference has Castro as the #1 Twins position player.

I agree that Polanco could effectively replace Solano but is that worth $10.5M?

4 hours ago, DJL44 said:

My guess for infielders on the 40 man roster this offseason: Correa, Lewis, Kirilloff, Julien, Willi Castro, Farmer, Gordon, Miranda, Martin, Severino. Does Polanco add $10.5M worth of value as the 11th infielder when his banged up body will give you 80-100 games maximum?

The Twins treat their veterans very well , for the most part, so Polanco's future is probably with the Twins, at that;  all those players listed above, some one/s are not coming back, or simply are staying in AAA  until they are needed, or traded.

Orthodontists probably love Julien playing 2nd as it makes the coaches grind their teeth every time a ball comes his way, Gordon is not a good as Castro, Miranda's boat is in the same dock as Gordon, the AAA rookies will have to sparkle in Spring Training to not remain at AAA, or with the Twins .

Spring Training will be very interesting next year.