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Subject: "Donaldson to Twins (4/92mm)" Previous topic | Next topic
Walleye
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Wed Jan-15-20 08:27 PM

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"Donaldson to Twins (4/92mm)"


          

Because the Twins' off-season roster excisions (Cron, Gibson, etc.) were pretty likely outcomes, I thought this would be a good idea immediately when the season ended, but it didn't seem like a very realistic match given the entire Twins' history so I gave up on it. Then the Twins remained in the periodic "Who's Gonna Sign Josh Donaldson" rumors all the way through November, so when December came around I actually started to believe it. Then somewhere around mid-December, I sort of gave up on it again because their co-rumored-destinations (Nats, Braves in particular) seemed more likely to spend the money and just as logical fits for Donaldson's skill.

So I'd given up on it for the last 3-4 weeks, and then it happened and now the Twins have a third baseman who is kind of old and has an injury history but has been extremely good with the bat and the glove for awhile and last year as well. First I was really pleased, because the Twins signing a notable free agent like this is really rare. He's probably the most notable. Then I was nervous because I was sort of aware that he's a player I tend to overvalue because he just destroys the Twins (having this officially confirmed was actually really nice - the STrib had a piece about how is the best hitter ever against the Twins for a player with more than 100 pa) and the back end of this deal (which is apparently a record for a player of his age? I feel like I heard that somewhere) could get pretty grim - and grim at a time that could heap a nasty 23mm contract on the back of a payroll that will just have started reckoning with Sano and Buxton and Kepler and Polanco and Berrios and Rosario's expensive years (their rate on Polanco and Kepler and Sano's extensions all seem like good bargains if they hold their present performance but I'm speaking broadly here) with a notoriously frugal ownership.

But then I backed out of that nervousness because of the last point. This roster always had a window, and there probably won't be much attempt to prop it open. Which means that if you're a fan and you have no decision-making power in whether a billionaire decides he's going to throw a few more stacks on the money fire this year. Just like I have no influence over whether a fastball gets any of the outside corner or whether a long fly dies on the fence, I also don't have any control over whether the front office will commit to competitiveness. And then maybe the arbitrariness is part of the fun and that I should embrace my absolute lack of agency.

I think this makes the team substantially better for the next two years, and those will be particularly important years. Sano wasn't a very good thirdbaseman, though he actually seemed committed to staying as viable there as possible. And honestly, he was sort of fun to watch at third. A legitimately great arm, one of the best in the league at the spot. And spry coming in on bunts. Surprisingly spry. But he was also inert as he got larger so the fun will have to just remain in my memory. Donaldson has been somewhere between good and excellent over there, and though I think it's a bit of a dodge to pretend that Sano will just be an acceptable defensive firstbaseman immediately I'm going to, uh, do it anyway.

Having one really strong defender in the infield will be nice, because I don't think Polanco and Arraez are that good there (and that the FO agrees as it seems to be prioritizing flyball guys so that the by-contrast-excellent defensive outfield can run around and snag flies) but obviously this is about Donaldson's bat, which has been just really fun and great. He has always drawn walks, but he broke out as an on-the-old-side minorleaguer by learning to hit the ball over the wall. I feel like he was one of the first guys to really talk enthusiastically about the uppercut swing thing. Maybe not the first guy to really care, but the first one I remember specifically evangelizing about it. I guess it worked well for him, unless I'm thinking of somebody else.

The team's righthanded power is going to be pretty immense, but it's not really an unbalanced lineup. Plus it's not a bunch of big fat sluggers either. It was just really fun to watch last year, and though everybody seems to be expecting a correction on the baseball so there won't be multiple teams pinging three hundred homers, I sort of think this team is going to continue to really hit. Somebody's going to get hurt. And somebody's going to go backwards. But Baldelli seemed really adept last year of working the deep bench. Having Marwin Gonzalez must be like a manager's dream, he's basically a tenth starter who can keep everybody fresh.

If the wheels stay on through the 2021 season, I think this will have been worth it. It's a big deal signing but it's not like they're fully moving uptown. So I won't say it's a World-Series-or-Bust signing. I just want to have a similar amount of fun watching baseball in 2020 and 2021 as I did in 2019.

There's other stuff to talk about. That Sano-at-first thing probably. How much Arraez remind me of Luis Castillo except that I really, really liked Luis Castillo and it's hard to me to imagine another player coming along who's that good which then makes me realize I've been posting about the Twins for like fifteen years and while Luis Castillo was good it's not like he was so good that in thirteen years after his tenture with the Twins they couldn't gin up another high-contact, high-walk, low-power second baseman who was vaguely square shaped. And Dobnak and Smeltzer who both seem to be treated as rotation likelihoods and I don't really think either of them is very good.

______________________________

"Walleye, a lot of things are going to go wrong in your life that technically aren't your fault. Always remember that this doesn't make you any less of an idiot"

--Walleye's Dad

  

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Donaldson to Twins (4/92mm) [View all] , Walleye, Wed Jan-15-20 08:27 PM
 
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