When the Twins swung a trade with the Yankees in March to shed Josh Donaldson from the roster and his salary from the payroll, much of the focus was on who was leaving than on who was coming back.
Donaldson had been the Twins’ big-ticket free-agent signing a couple of years earlier, but the Twins were looking to get out of the remaining two years of the outspoken slugger’s big contract, and they found a taker in the Yankees, who required the Twins to send along their newly-acquired shortstop, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, in the package.
In the process, the Twins cleared payroll space that they quickly dedicated to star shortstop Carlos Correa. But they also received a third baseman who outperformed Donaldson in nearly every way.
2022 RECAP
Nobody appeared in more games for the 2022 Twins than third baseman Gio Urshela, who along with Luis Arraez, led the team in games played, playing in 144 of the team’s 162.
Urshela was fourth on the team with a 3.1 bWAR (Wins Above Replacement per Baseball Reference). He hit .285 with a .767 OPS and a 121 OPS+ (100 is league average) while playing solid defense at the hot corner. All those numbers bested the season Donaldson had — for a fraction of the cost. Urshela earned $6.5 million to Donaldson’s $23 million in 2022.
Urshela fit well in the clubhouse, proved to be a steady, veteran presence and provided his fair share of clutch moments for the 2022 Twins. When Urshela wasn’t over at third, you could find rookie Jose Miranda there. While Miranda wound up spending more time at first base, the infielder has said he feels more comfortable at third base, the position he primarily played in the minors.
2023 OUTLOOK
Urshela is entering his final year of arbitration, where he is due a raise that is estimated by MLB Trade Rumors to be around $9.2 million for the 2023 season. While the Twins could decide to run it back with Urshela, they also could opt to non-tender him and turn to the younger Miranda to handle the position — though infield defense would take a hit.
“He finished in a really good spot. Obviously, he played really well down the stretch, and he was in a great teammate, great person in here,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said of Urshela. “All of those are conversations we’ll start to have as we get closer to November and December. So, we’ll have to have that dialogue then. But we’ll have some decisions to make, not just on him but a few others in the arbitration space. We’ll figure that out in time.”
During the same media session, Falvey also said that they want to keep third base in the mix for Miranda and it just “worked out roster-wise” that Miranda wound up playing first base a lot in 2022. Non-tendering Urshela and making Miranda their primary third baseman would give the Twins more flexibility, clearing first base for Arraez and Alex Kirilloff to spend time there.
“I think our best team, our healthiest team, has Jose playing a lot of games at third, and ultimately some at first, but we want him to play both corners,” Falvey said.