First base, a mystery, an opportunity

 If you ask 5 different fans, you'll see 5 different opinions on where the Twins should seek to improve their roster for 2025. A lot of this has to to with the with the limit budget. By necessity, the team will have to prioritize, rather than addressing all of their holes, so which spot is the most important? 

Both Carlos Santana's well deserved Gold Glove and Alex Kirilloff's undeserved injury driven retirement brought mor attention first base. and how the Twins are going to fill that spot. usually relied on for a boost of steady offense, and commonly used to hide poor defenders. The Twins, historically, have had good defenders at first, from Hrbek to Mientkiewicz to Morneau and Mauer, and now Carlos Santana. Kirilloff was poised to be one of those players the Twins would try to hid, in part because of bad defense, but also because injuries were already slowing him down.

Santana and Kirilloff departing in one fell swoop opens an amorphous hole that could be filled in a number of ways. They could bring back Santana, and hope for more defensive wizardry, and to continue the relationships he built with the team. This is a good chance, though, to address a glaring weakness the team had down the stretch: reliable production.

The Twins don't need a superstar hitter, they just need a professional hitter, that can steady the team in rougher spots. And the beauty of it is, all they need is hitter, they don't necessarily need a hitting first baseman. Willi Castro, Edouard Julien or Jose Miranda can be shuffled, with any of them playing an infield spot up to and including first base. 

That's why I described the hole as amorphous. It's not a difficult hole to fill. It can be filled by a lot of different players. I'll give one example of a free agent outside of MLB Trade Rumor's top 50. Randall Grichuk is not a first baseman, but fits the bill as a veteran bat. He is a right handed hitter that has played both corner outfield positions in recent years after starting in center field. This would force Castro into the infield, where he i a better fielder than Miranda or Julien at their chosen position. Either could move to first base, and problems begin to be solved.

Grichuk has a career average of .250, and a bit of pop in his bat. While he had a terrific year for Arizona this year, he did it at 1.5m, and while he will be getting a raise, at his age 33 season, it won't be substantial. Especially after the Twins pare their payroll a little bit, Grichuk, or one of the many other bat forward free agents, will be affordable, and will help flesh out the necessary depth for a long season.

The biggest hole is at first base, but that hole can be filled without adding a first baseman.