The Table Setter, Jan. 8: And Teoscar Goes To...

This weekend saw a couple of sizable trades and a few more free agents come off the board. So far, Minnesota has agreed to just a single major-league deal, and that came in under $1 million. There are more than a few storylines worth catching up on, however.

Twins Address the Pen
While the largest hole for Rocco Baldelli’s club is arguably the starting rotation, they have focused on the bullpen to this point in free agency. Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda, and Tyler Mahle’s production must be made up, but so far, the only notable arms acquired have included Josh Staumont, A.J. Alexy, and the recently claimed Ryan Jensen. Only Staumont’s deal is guaranteed, and while the Twins don’t yet have a full 40-man roster, they could look to keep Jensen around but pass him through waivers.

Since Derek Falvey took over, the Twins have been highly conservative when it comes to adding relievers. None has been given a larger deal than Addison Reed’s $16.75 million over two years, and often the group is constructed of one-year projects and minor-league signings. Finding another Brock Stewart for 2024 would be great, but the organization can’t give away another Danny Coulombe or Jeff Hoffman.

Starting Pitchers on the Move
A couple of big-name starting pitchers found new homes over the weekend. First, Robbie Ray went to the San Francisco Giants, in exchange for both Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani. It seems plausible that the Mariners will flip DeSclafani, which would finalize their transition to youth in the rotation. While Luis Castillo, George Kirby, and Logan Gilbert are all locks, Bryce Miller, Emerson Hancock, and Bryan Woo are virtually ready as well. Ray gives the Giants an option sometime mid-year, but he is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The New York Mets decided to add Sean Manaea, in an effort to fill out their rotation. Steve Cohen seemed to indicate last season in discussions with Max Scherzer that the organization was going for a reset in 2024. They also parted with Justin Verlander, and need to figure out a direction before spending big again. Manaea represents a nice upside candidate, but two years and $28 million for a guy that has a 4.73 and 4.26 FIP over the past two seasons is a hefty burden. Manaea also secured the right to opt out of the deal after 2024, should he finally position himself for the huge payday that has eluded him in his first two forays into free agency.

Dodgers Keep Spending
After inking Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to huge free agent contracts and trading for Tyler Glasnow, Los Angeles was not done. Sure, they won 100 games last year, but they came into the offseason as a flawed team with plenty of holes. Needing to find a power bat in the outfield, they were a good fit for free agent Teoscar Hern'andez.

Late Sunday night, the Dodgers got the deal done and handed out $23.5 million on a one-year deal. Hernandez had something of a down year in 2023 posting just a 106 OPS+, but he owned a 125 OPS+ from 2019-2022. Los Angeles gets a right-handed slugger who should easily make up for the loss of J.D. Martinez, and also extend a lineup that felt top-heavy before now. How the removal of a corner outfield option from the market helps Minnesota position Max Kepler in potential trades remains to be seen, but it can’t hurt if they want to go down that path.

Mauer Continues Positive Trend
Despite initially seeming unlikely to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, Joe Mauer has polled well thus far during his first year on the ballot. Through 125 revealed votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America, he sits at 81.6% of the vote, according to Ryan Thibodaux's tracker.

With an estimated total ballot tally just south of 400, he’ll need to sustain this momentum to stay above the 75% mark. Jason Sardell, who has often done a great job of predicting who will be enshrined when the dust settles based on early numbers, has Mauer getting enshrined through 96 percent of the simulations he runs. While Todd Helton and Mauer are evenly supported through votes currently made public, Sardell explains the Twins' ex-catcher's advantage thusly: “It's mostly because Mauer is doing much better than Helton with "Small Hall" voters. And voters like that are over-represented in the remaining set of ballots.”

We are just a few weeks away from Twins Fest (and the Twins Daily Winter Meltdown). While those dates aren’t necessarily reflective of when Minnesota must do something, it stands to reason they may want to push more of their offseason chips toward the middle. Would you have wanted the Twins to sign Hernández, given his surprisingly reasonable price tag? Was Manaea high on your list? Should Mauer be in the Hall of Fame? Join the conversation.