MINNEAPOLIS — The oven is still hot for the very active twins, who have satisfied their need for right-handed outfield depth by taking former Gold Glove-winning midfielder Michael A. Taylor from the Royals in exchange for Evan Sisk on Monday , the minor league helper, and Steven Cruz.
Taylor doesn’t provide an impact bat as he had a .670 OPS in 2022, but his role as right-hander insurance for Byron Buxton, whose injury history is well documented, is important. Taylor should be an immediate deep upgrade over youngster Gilberto Celestino, who posted .615 OPS last season while forced into significant action (122 games).
COMMERCIAL DETAILS
receive twins: BY Michael A Taylor
Get Royals: RHP Steven Cruz (Twins contestant #28), LHP Evan Sisk
Taylor is in the final year of a two-year $9million deal and offers the twins a right-handed option to shuffle and match in midfield when Buxton goes down, with left-hander hitting Joey Gallo and Nick Gordon in the fray, too. Given how much the Twins love to play on the train, Taylor’s career OPS of .722 against lefties could be an important consideration, even as a cornerback option or as a late-game defensive backup if Buxton is healthy.
This deal further fills in an already packed outfield situation, with Buxton, Gallo, Gordon, Max Kepler, Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach, Matt Wallner, Celestino, Taylor and even Kyle Farmer serving as potential options to roam the grass. With Luis Arraez traded away, Kirilloff and Gallo could get in stronger at first base – although that could wipe out Gallo’s defensive value – while several could go haywire at DH.
With the Twins potentially needing bullpen depth, they could still attempt to trade from that outfield depth as well, as Kepler’s name continued to pop up in trade rumors throughout the offseason.
One thing is clear though: In its current form between Buxton, Kepler, Gallo and Taylor, this has the potential to become one of the Twins’ best defensive outfields in almost any configuration, with four Gold Gloves in between and Kepler’s exemplary statcast metrics in the field. That could be a boon, especially for Joe Ryan and Tyler Mahle, who generate above-average flyballs.
On paper, this is a deep move that won’t be very prominent on the national radar – but it has the potential to be a very important one for the twins. Consider that Celestino, Jake Cave and Mark Contreras made a combined 585 plate appearances last season due to the twins’ outfield injuries, or Cave, Celestino and Rob Refsnyder made a combined 397 plate appearances in 2021.
With health considerations for Buxton and the pockmarked injury histories of Kirilloff and Larnach, outfield depth has played an outsized role in the Twins’ recent history – and Taylor could bring some veteran stability there.
In return, the twins dealt a pair of unpolished relief candidates in Cruz and Sisk, both of whom had intriguing potential at the high minors but struggled with their control.
Cruz, at 6-foot-7 with a huge fastball, culminated at Double-A Wichita but he struggled with walks. Sisk was one of the Twins’ more intriguing bullpen options at Triple-A St. Paul, as he used an extreme left-handed sidearm crossfire move – but his great strikeout rate was also dampened by control issues and very pronounced platoon splits. He was originally acquired as part of the JA Happ deal with the Cardinals at the 2021 close.