TUESDAY, 6:08am: On the contrary, the Yankees aren’t involved in the Dozier sweepstakes, general manager Brian Cashman told MLB Network Radio on Monday (Twitter link). “I haven’t had any dialogue with the Twins about Dozier. That’s a false report,” Cashman said.
12:48am: The Yankees have checked in on Dozier, though it’s unclear how serious they are about acquiring him, reports Heyman. New York traded for second baseman Starlin Castro last winter, but his recent track record pales in comparison to Dozier’s. Castro hit .270/.300/.433 with 21 homers in 610 plate appearances in his first year with the Yankees and is owed $31MM through the 2020 season.
MONDAY: The notion that the Dodgers have “piqued” the Twins’ interest in trade discussions for second baseman Brian Dozier is “more rumor than substance,” a source told Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). That could change, however, as talks will pick up during this week’s winter meetings, per Wolfson.
In a potentially interesting development, Dozier will attend the meetings in National Harbor, Md., and is scheduled to arrive Monday, according to Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. Dozier will be on hand because of a marketing commitment, not necessarily to help facilitate a trade, but he’ll likely to have the chance to meet with newly hired Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine for the first time. Levine said earlier this week that the Twins would have to be “really inspired” to trade Dozier, but it’s nonetheless easy to imagine the rebuilding club dealing him on the heels of a career year.
While Dozier has been a more-than-steady contributor since 2013, he burst on the national scene in 2016 by becoming just the fourth second baseman to ever reach the 40-HR plateau in a season. Dozier swatted 42 homers, to be exact, and he displayed more than power with an impressive .268/.340/.545 batting line in 691 plate appearances, 18 steals and and a superstar-caliber fWAR (5.9).
As a result of both his stellar production and affordability – he’ll make a combined $15MM over the next two seasons – four to five teams are pushing to acquire Dozier, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The only identified suitor is the Dodgers, whose interest in the 29-year-old has been known since November.
Dude you are such a trooper posting 24 hours.
Fortunately, I haven’t been on nearly that long. But MLBTR is going round-the-clock during the meetings.
Awesome. I’m anxious to hear about what moves happen.
The Twins will never get as good a trade return on him as they will this offseason. First year hitting above .250, hit more than half of his career home runs this year, notorious slow starter, notoriously falls off in August and September … the list of negatives go on and on. If they hold on to him they’re gonna be stuck with him until he reaches free agency.
Exactly Buckeye46 honestly i think the dude had a fluke year and will regress. Twins better get all they can for him now as theres little to no chance he has numbers anywhere near this years. Im just hoping its not the Dodgers who get screwed lol
No fluke. This guy is the real deal. He’s worth way more to MN than they could ever get in a trade return.
Yeah, they will be stuck with a 3-4 WAR player making an average of $7.5 million over the next two years, I do not know how they will manage.
A career .250 hitter who strikes out alot is not worth what they will be asking for. And you know money is not an issue for the Dodgers.
Ofcourse money is an issue, have you not heard of the debt situation? They’ve hit a wall for now.
False and all of the bad contracts outside of Mccarty are done after the 2018 season.
2.5, 4.7, 3.3, 5.9 fWAR 2013-16… God, what weirdos would ever want that on their team?
Very little of what you said is true of Dozier
I hate to say it in this way but they will get a “good enough” return and that’s what they need.
.246 career BA .320 career OBP along with a mediocre ops. along with average defense. Is that worth giving up multiple top prospects for, which the Twins are asking for. Plus he plays in the AL Where hitters have more protection with a DH
Silly to look at career numbers without discussing trends. 18,23,28,42 HR over the last four years. Dude was hitting under .200 first like 6 weeks of last year, too, with only 5HR.
Whether or not he’s worth what the twins are asking for in a vaccuum, in a thin FA/2B market, they still might get it. Especially given his extremely friendly 2 year deal. Even if he regresses some and hits .250 and 30HR, that’s a bargain.
Oh im not doubting his price in terms of his contact all im hoping for is my team the Dodgers dont over pay for him.
grossman and mauer is not much protection
I don’t care what metrics say, Brian Dozier plays above average all star caliber defense. Sometimes you have to use the old eye test. Twins should try to extend this kid and build around him. The 4 year deal he signed to buy out arb years looks even better than it did when he signed it.
BTW i never said i would never want him so stop putting words into my mouth, All im saying is he is not worth what the Twins are asking for.
What are the Twins asking for him?
Bellinger and Deleon plus a few toss in’s
I’d be surprised if that got that, but a team should always ask for the moon before going down to something more realistic. Never hurts to ask because someone may get desperate (though I can’t see anyone being too desperate for a 2B).
Only name I have for sure heard was DeLeon. Sounded like Urias and Bellinger are untouchable, which they should be in a trade for Dozier.
I like De Leon.
Wouldn’t want them to trade Dozier without him as part of the return.
Dan uggla 2.0
Oh my. Not even close. I’ve watched both players a fair amount and Dozier is much better all around. And I was an Uggla fan
Uggla K’d more but their avg, obp and slg are all extremely close. And they are a power hitting 2b…
Comparisons are fun. He’s not that much different from Jeff Kent at this point in his career.
Sure, they both were second baseman that hit for a lot of power and hit for middling averages but Dozier is an above average defender and strikes out less.
Haha you literally replied at the same time i did.
Hey Connor, since you believe $15 million each of the next 2 seasons is affordable (even for a small market team like the Twins), maybe you can explain how McCutchen’s $14/yr is affordable to Jeff Todd.
He is making $7.5 million each year. That is affordable. Just have to read a little more closely.
Jeff Todd must be loaded if $14m/yr is affordable to him.
Why does everybody hate on Starlin Castro. He’s a young player and hit 21 HR and batted .270. Those are pretty respectable numbers. Plus he’s getting paid under $8 million a year for the next 4 years
My bad. His contract averages at under $8 million a season but he will be getting paid $9 million this season and gets a $1 million raise every year.
His OBP is usually down but idk if that’ll ever change.
The Twins better cash in on those final two months of Dozier’s performance, because without those numbers he would’ve continued his regular performance as another Dan Uggla. His style of play won’t sustain itself, just like Uggla, so they need to get as much as they can while his stock is at its highest. They could get some top tier prospects in a trade.
Starlin Castro is a SS not 2nd Baseman. He just plays 2nd