Should the Twins trade Jorge Polanco, what would happen?
A possible deal has been discussed by all, but what will it actually look like?
The Minnesota Twins’ offseason plans are still mostly outlined in pencil, but one aspect seems to be almost certain. The team’s most valuable asset is Jorge Polanco, and it’s looking more and more likely that he will be traded this winter.
Sonny Gray signed a free agent contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, so the Twins will need to find a replacement. A smaller payroll makes things more difficult and eliminates the Twins from contention for one of the best pitchers available, such as Blake Snell or Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
It’s unlikely, but maybe they’ll shock the world the way they did with Carlos Correa.
Using Polanco to acquire starting pitching through a trade is a much more practical approach. In addition, Kyle Farmer and Max Kepler are thought to be top trade chips who could be utilized to help find a replacement for Gray—a target that seems to be in the Twins’ sights.
In any case, the most constant talk around the Twins this offseason has been about Polanco being traded. What happens after a trade goes down is something that hasn’t been as widely discussed, or perhaps even thought about.
Should the Twins trade Jorge Polanco, what would happen?
We are aware that adding a starting pitcher to the rotation will be at least partially responsible for the fallout. Joe Ryan is a reliable No. 3 starter, and the ideal candidate would be someone like Logan Gilbert, who can fill in as Pablo Lopez’s thunder.
What transpires after that, particularly with regard to Polanco’s production being replaced in the lineup, is another matter. His bat has always been able to step up when the team needed it, making him one of the league’s better defensive second basemen.
Polanco was one of the Twins’ more reliable hitters and helped spark the offense during a period when it was flagging in the summer. One issue is resolved by trading him for starting pitching, but will the team end up in a similar situation to what happened with Luis Arraez the previous season?
Pitching turned into a strength for Minnesota after Arraez was traded to Miami for Pablo Lopez. Also, it was a deal that frustrated fans to bring up whenever the Twins offense struggled during periods of the season and Arraez appeared to have a legitimate chance of finishing with an.400 average.
If given the chance, every Twins fan would trade Arraez for Lopez once more; however, at that moment, the biggest risk involved the fact that Minnesota lacked the capacity to replace Lopez’s output. Jose Miranda was being moved over to third, and Alex Kirilloff was recovering from an injury.
Donovan Solano and Joey Gallo ultimately platooned to provide depth, but Lopez’s lack of output proved to be the real cost.
Polanco, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same gap when traded as Arraez, so the Twins can trade him for pitching. Though his glove is far from perfect, Eduoard Julien is Polanco’s logical replacement. Another young Twins prospect who is anticipated to contribute is Austin Martin, who is anticipated to be the next to break through as part of the youth movement. Another is power hitter Yunior Severino, who was granted a spot on the 40-man roster by the Twins this season to keep him out of the Rule 5 Draft.
Not to mention that Brooks Lee is in the system and should be called up shortly, and in the event that everything else fails, there’s always the Hail Mary option of switching Royce Lewis to second base.
The point is that there is a shortage of depth at second base to replace Polanco, unlike when the Twins traded Arraez. Even though Arraez was and still is one of the team’s best players, he is a fan favorite, so trading him doesn’t make the decision any easier to bear.
Minnesota can afford to deal him to strengthen the pitching staff, though, and doing so might end up creating an even better long term situation for the roster.
