Should the Twins bring back Jorge Polanco as a free agent?

The Mariners declined Jorge Polanco’s $12 million club option for 2025 on Friday, making the former Twins infielder a free agent for the first time at age 31. He had a rough season in Seattle after being traded in a January deal that didn’t work out. out for both sides as Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani were both injured for the Twins. Should Minnesota consider bringing him back this winter?

The argument for the Twins reuniting with Polanco is that he might not cost much and could have a decent chance of a rebuild in a year with the only MLB organization he’s ever known until 2024. The 2019 All-Star Game had 111 points. OPS+ in over 800 games with the Twins, including a mark of 110 or better (100 is league average) every year from 2018 to 2023, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

It’s hard to believe Polanco is suddenly the .213/.296/.355 (93 OPS+) bat he was in 118 games for the Mariners last season. Maybe that’s true—his advanced contact metrics don’t paint a picture of someone who’s down on his luck—or maybe not. Until last year, the switch-hitting infielder was a consistent bat-to-ball player with above-average power. The 2019 juicy ball season was far from Polanco’s only quality campaign; he hit .255 with 63 home runs in 336 regular season games from 2021 to 2023, for a rate of 30.4 home runs per 162 games.

As Eno Sarris noted, Polanco’s strikeout rate was a big issue during his time in Seattle, but there is a theory that hitters sometimes struggle because of the batter’s eye at T-Mobile Park.

The argument against bringing Polanco back is that it would be a re-working of a player who once had success with the Twins but may not be the same player he once was. He’s a second baseman, and signing him would stand in the way of Brooks Lee getting everyday at-bats. Lee appeared in 50 games as a rookie this year, but the 23-year-old remains one of the Twins’ top prospects and is seen as an important part of their future if he gets where he wants to be with the organization. Another top prospect, Luke Kishall, could also make the team at second base this season.

On the other hand, one could argue that the Twins shouldn’t insert Lee as a starting 2B without competition, given that he doesn’t have a track record of success in the MLB. They certainly can’t expect much from Edouard Julien after his problems in 2024. And if they end up trading someone like Willy Castro this offseason, they might not have much infield depth, especially considering how injury-prone the team is. Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa were there.

In a year where the Twins won’t have much money to spend due to voluntary salary caps that aren’t expected to go away, Polanco could potentially be a useful buy-low acquisition if he’s willing to return to Minnesota for a fairly inexpensive deal.