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Donovan Solano is a 35-year-old utility infielder with 32 career home runs. He signed for $2 million last offseason to be an emergency option at second or third base and play first base or DH against lefthanded starters for the Twins. Donovan Solano also was third in plate appearances and fourth in OPS among Twins in 2023.
Solano was an afterthought coming into 2023. Although he was the National League’s Silver Slugger in the shortened 2020 season, he was never a renowned hitter and was merely league-average at the dish in 2021 and 2022. Furthermore, he was no longer considered a good defensive second baseman, mostly playing first base and designated hitter in 2022.
Going into the 2023 season, one of the Twins’ top needs was a competent right-handed bat, primarily to platoon and play some corner position. Between Max Kepler, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Nick Gordon in Minnesota, and Edouard Julien in St. Paul, the Twins had more than enough lefties and needed a bit of salt to their pepper.
The December signing of lefty Joey Gallo was not that salt. However, by the beginning of spring training, there still was no platoon bat to be found on the roster. It may have ended up being Kyle Garlick by default had Solano not signed for $2 million to no fanfare.
It bears repeating that Solano was a top-5 hitter for the Twins. He played first base more than anyone else on the roster—a bat-first position—and he was an above-average hitter, right around the average OPS for first basemen and designated hitters in 2023 (Solano’s OPS was .760—10% above league average—compared to .775 and .756 for first basemen and designated hitters, respectively).
With Solano’s contract expiring and him being 36 by the beginning of next season, it seems unlikely he will be back with the Twins in 2024, filling a similar role. Hence, it stands to reason that his role would need a replacement—some sort of right-handed corner bat who can platoon against lefties and tread water against righties if needed.
Corner positions are the easiest to find competent bats, so logic would suggest that it shouldn’t take too much work to find someone to fill Solano’s shoes. The Twins themselves found him during spring training and committed 1.3% of the 2023 payroll to him.
In theory, these bit players are a dime a dozen. In practice, however, finding the right player requires a bit more work. Now, this role player could already be in the system, as someone like Chris Williams or Michael Helman could be options there. Jose Miranda could regain his footing and take hold of that role as well.
However, if the Twins feel more comfortable finding a veteran for that role, they must choose wisely. Let me show you.
At the beginning of the season, I selected 10 Solano-adjacent players to follow through the year. They were each free agents coming into 2023 and comparable to Solano in some way, mostly in role, handedness, and salary
Among right-handed first base or designated hitter types, I chose Nelson Cruz ($1 million salary), Luke Voit ($2 million with a $12 million team option for 2024), Yuli Gurriel ($1.25 million), Jesus Aguilar ($3.2 million), and Andrew McCutchen ($5 million). I included Mike Moustakas ($740,000) based on name recognition. I also selected right-handed or switch-hitting outfielders Wil Myers ($7 million), Jurickson Profar ($7.75 million), and AJ Pollack ($7 million), as well as third baseman Evan Longoria ($4 million).
Had the Twins brought any of those guys to camp, the reaction would probably have been at least at the minimal level that Solano’s was. 2023 went well for Solano. It went poorly for almost every other name on that list.
Only McCutchen had an above-average OPS (113 OPS+, compared to Solano’s 110). Longoria was the only player beyond McCutchen to be rated as better than replacement level, per Baseball Reference (1.5 rWAR for McCutchen, 0.5 rWAR for Longoria, 1.8 rWAR for Solano). The other eight players registered negative WAR. Three players had a season OPS that started with a five: Voit (.548), Myers (.541), and Pollock (.524).
Gurriel, signed to be Miami’s everyday first baseman, joined McCutchen and Longoria as the only player to remain on the team’s roster all year. However, he played only 108 games and registered 329 plate appearances, compared to Solano’s 134 and 450 plate appearances. The other seven players didn’t make it through the year with their new teams.
Colorado traded away Moustakas to the Angels and Profar to the Padres at the deadline. Profar in particular was a curious case, as he left Colorado with -1.7 WAR then only played 14 games for the Padres, but hit quite well in that short opportunity. Pollock was traded for a player to be named later from Seattle to San Francisco, where he had six plate appearances before being released.
Cruz and Myers were released by San Diego and Cincinnati, respectively, in the middle of the year. Neither found a place to play out the rest of the season. Aguilar was released by the (with all due respect) opossum shelter that is the Oakland A’s. The Braves signed him but never played a game above AAA.
Voit takes the cake for the released crowd, as Milwaukee released him not once but twice. After the second release, he signed with the Mets but didn’t play a game. His $12 million option will not be getting picked up.
It’s easy to look at the value that Solano gave the Twins and assume that another affordable corner bat can be picked up easily, but the recent past suggests that finding that savvy veteran bat is more complicated than we might think.
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