Should the Twins bring back Jorge Polanco in free agency?

The Mariners declined the $12 million 2025 club option for Jorge Polanco 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 for either side, as Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani both got injured for the Twins. Should Minnesota consider bringing him back this winter?

The argument in favor of a Twins reunion with Polanco is that he might not cost much and could have a decent shot at a bounce-back year with the only MLB organization he had ever known prior to 2024. The 2019 All-Star had a 111 OPS+ in over 800 games with the Twins, including a mark of 110 or better (100 is the league average) in every year from 2018-23 except for the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

It's hard to believe Polanco is suddenly the .213/.296/.355 bat (93 OPS+) that he was in 118 games with the Mariners this past season. Maybe that's the case — his advanced contact metrics don't paint the picture of someone who was unlucky — but maybe not. Before last year, the switch-hitting infielder had been a consistent bat-to-ball producer with above-average power. The 2019 juiced ball season was far from Polanco's only quality campaign; he hit .255 with 63 home runs in 336 regular season games between 2021-23, which is 30.4 homers per 162 games.

As noted by Eno Sarris, Polanco's strikeout rate was a big issue during his Seattle tenure, but there's a theory out there that hitters sometimes struggle due to the batter's eye at T-Mobile Park.

The biggest thing that changed for Jorge Polanco in Seattle was the strikeout rate, and the issues with the batting eye there are well documented. He also was striking out more like he normally does late in season. I think he’ll be an above league average bat again next year. pic.twitter.com/iAa1HohV4j
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) November 1, 2024

The argument against bringing Polanco back is that it would be recycling someone who once had success with the Twins but might not be the same player he used to be. He's a second baseman, and signing him would get in the way of Brooks Lee's path to everyday at-bats. Lee struggled across 50 games as a rookie this year, but the 23-year-old remains one of the Twins' top prospects and projects as a big part of their future if he hits the way the organization believes he will. Another top prospect, Luke Keaschall, could also become part of the mix at second base as soon as this season.

Then again, the case could be made that the Twins shouldn't pencil Lee in as their starting 2B without competition, considering he has no track record of MLB success. They certainly can't count on much from Edouard Julien after his struggles in 2024. And if they end up trading someone like Willi Castro this offseason, they might not have much in the way of infield depth, especially when you consider how injury-prone Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa have been.

In a year where the Twins won't have much money to spend due to self-imposed payroll restrictions that aren't expected to go away, Polanco could potentially be a useful "buy low" signing if he's willing to return to Minnesota on a fairly inexpensive deal.