Jose

Miranda

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli made waves last week when he said that newly-signed 1B Ty France was “going to play a lot.” That had cast some doubts on how much Miranda was going to play in 2025, but Gleeman believes that “there’s still abundant playing time available to Miranda [at first base], as well as at designated hitter and third base.” Miranda is coming off a strong 2024 season, hitting .284/.322/.441 with nine home runs and 49 RBI in 121 games despite playing through back injuries at the end of the season. If Miranda can get 500 plate appearances across those three positions, he could be a real fantasy value in drafts.

The non-guaranteed deal is worth a reported $1 million. According to the Pioneer Press’s Betsy Helfand, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said today that France is “going to play a lot. That’s really the best way to put it.” It seems like bad news for fellow right-handed hitter José Miranda, who looked like the favorite to start at first base a few days ago.

The Twins were unable to bring Carlos Santana back and didn’t pursue other potential first-base solutions, so it seems like the team will now move forward with Jose Miranda and Edouard Julien as potential options at first base. However, Castro could now also enter the mix which would complicate matters. The 27-year-old veteran played at least 25 games at five different positions last year, so he figures to bounce around a bunch again in 2025; however, if he gets some starts at first base, that could call into question the playing time upside for both Miranda and Julien.

With Carlos Santana signing in Cleveland, Gleeman notes that “almost all of the water has been drained from the free agent first baseman pool.” That means the Twins may have few options except to enter 2025 with Miranda as their every day first baseman. The 26-year-old had a solid year in 2024, hitting .284/.322/.441 with nine home runs and 49 RBI in 121 games. He doesn’t strike out a lot, but he also doesn’t draw many walks, so he doesn’t get much of a bump in OBP formats. He has a little more pop in his bat than he showed in 2024, but Miranda is likely a .270-.280 hitter with 15 home run power, which makes him more of a corner infield target in most formats.

Minnesota has a glaring hole at the keystone and Lewis might make sense as an everyday option there, especially if it opens up at-bats for Brooks Lee and Jose Miranda at the hot corner. Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey told reporters last week that the club isn’t committing to moving Lewis yet because they don’t know what their roster will look like when spring training starts. It would be a significant development for Lewis’ fantasy value as second base is the weakest positional group (besides catcher) in the entire fantasy landscape heading into 2025. The talent is undeniable, but Lewis will need to avoid the injured list next season if he’s going to evolve into a four-category fantasy monster.

Miranda’s season is officially over. He was scratched from Thursday’s lineup with lower back tightness and held out of Friday’s game. Miranda hit .284 with nine home runs and 49 RBI on the year.

Miranda had been in the lineup batting ninth as the designated hitter. He’s been replaced by Austin Martin, who will bat ninth and play left field. Royce Lewis is now the designated hitter and Willi Castro will play third base.

It seems the Twins again favor Jose Miranda, though that’s something they’ve been going back and forth on. Julien figured to sit against the lefty on Thursday, but tonight’s game is second consecutive absence versus a righty, too. Julien had a decent run in his first few weeks back in the majors, hitting .289/.351/.404 from Aug. 16 to Sept. 7. However, he’s gone 1-for-22 with no walks in his last six games.

Miranda is actually hitting just .229/.254/.328 in 138 PA against lefties this season, compared to .324/.368/.517 in 280 PA versus righties. Both those figures are probably flukes, but neither is working in Miranda’s favor right now; he just sat out three out of four games against righties, too.

The Twins currently seem to prefer Edouard Julien at second base and Royce Lewis at third after trying Lewis at second base last week. Neither Miranda nor Julien is hitting much at all at the moment. Kyle Farmer, on the other hand, just went 4-for-9 with two homers against the Angels earlier this week. However, he’s also out of the lineup for a second straight game.