This Intriguing Washington Nationals Utility Player Could Mend Twins' Infield Depth Concerns

Why do the Nationals want to trade Tena?

I hope we hold onto Castro as he's a great utility guy. Even if we did move him though, we have better in house options than this guy. What we need is a power hitting first baseman. Walker is a perfect fit in just about every way, except for payroll....

I don't have much hope for Julien at 2B, but Lewis could be starting there, that leaves Lee, Castro & IMO Martin, Helman & later Keuschal could do the the job. We have Lee, Castro, Lewis & Miranda at 3B. We have Correa, Lee, Castro & maybe Lewis (?) at SS, I don't think we need Tena. I'd like someone a little better than Lee at SS but we can manage.

A good replacement for Julien; he strikes out as often and fields as well as Juline.🤢

I appreciate these sorts of "out of the box" ways of thinking or suggesting trades. Never say never. That said, this guy doesn't sound like a great fit for the Twins, and I'm not even sure why the Nationals would want to trade him so soon after acquiring him late last season. 

I'll bet my paycheck that one of Julien, Martin or Helman IS on the opening day roster for the Twins and Tena is NOT.

With the Twins operating under salary constraints, they will likely see which internal options fulfill the utility role. Assuming they let Castro walk to save money. It wouldn’t surprise me if they find a trade for Correa to save money, which would leave Lewis and Lee for third and short, Keaschall and Julien for second, and Miranda, Martin and Hellman or other minor leaguers for infield depth and utility roles.

This acquisition will put us over the top for sure. 

6 hours ago, Otaknam said:

With the Twins operating under salary constraints, they will likely see which internal options fulfill the utility role. Assuming they let Castro walk to save money. It wouldn’t surprise me if they find a trade for Correa to save money, which would leave Lewis and Lee for third and short, Keaschall and Julien for second, and Miranda, Martin and Hellman or other minor leaguers for infield depth and utility roles.

Hmm, the Twins will finish sixth in a 5 place division!

I'm not sure I quite understand the idea that Lewis wants to play SS.  He struggled with 3B last year as a result of leg issues, a hip flexor issue, and his arm strength had issues.  He used to have a cannon and that was certainly not the case in 2024.  There has been talk of moving him to 2B, shorter throw, less athleticism needed in the era of JUST. HIT. HR's.  Heck, he's even been mentioned as a possible 1B or LF (where arm strength is nice, but not required).

I agree with the idea that if Castro is dealt to open up some budget space and to bring back talent where the Twins could shore up perceived weaknesses, that a guy who can at least adequately handle SS is the primary replacement player.  This is why I believe two, low cost options should be considered (if the Twins do not go with an internal option).

Cody already mentioned Ahmed Rosario, the former Guardian, Dodger and a couple other teams.  He's branched out to playing some OF now, so I don't know if that is an indication that he's fallen a long way at SS or that he's needed to play more positions than SS (2B, 3B, OF)to make himself more attractive to other teams.  The Dodgers have needed a SS ever since they let Cory Seager go and Rosario conceivably could have claimed that job.  But he didn't.  He's not a bad option considering that he makes consistent contact and has much better speed than Farmer.  But I wonder if he could do the job for 2-months if Correa had an issue.

The other low cost alternative would be Jose Iglesias.  He will be 35 this coming season and he's always been known as a very slick gloveman.  He came up as a SS and is also solid at 2B and 3B.  He has become a very consistent bat to ball guy.  Doesn't run much anymore but can take the extra base as a baserunner.  He's not a HR guy but since 2019 he's had just one season with an OPS less than .700.  In fact his career OPS is .710.  He can hit you a double far more regularly than Donovan Solano and he can actually play very good defense.  Spotrac has Iglesias at $1.5 million for 2025.  If the Twins move on from Castro and his $6.3 million they can certainly afford that. 

He could be a one year bridge to give one last chance to Julien or one more year bridge to guys like Keaschall and Helman.  

This team needs OF help not more IF help. They already know Buxton will miss time. For how many years have they needed a RH bat that isn't named Margot. The biggest problem in the IF is cleaning up the fielding. The one thing that would help there is stop all the rotating players. It may also be a problem at 1st base with Santana not being there. This team should maybe look at Lewis in LF as that would fix the RH bat and keep him in the lineup.