Twins Letting Jonathan Schoop and CJ Cron Walk to Division Rival for Cheap is a Curious Decision

The Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers were on opposite ends of the spectrum in the AL Central, with the Twins winning the division with a record of 101-61, while the Tigers were cellar-dwellers with a 47-114 record.

That figures to even out just a tiny bit, as the Twins made the curious decision to let their starting first baseman, C.J. Cron, as well as second baseman Jonathan Schoop both sign with the Tigers on incredibly cheap deals.

Cron and Schoop both signed one-year, $6.1 million deals with the Tigers and will immediately slot in as their starting first and second basemen. Essentially, the Tigers just stole the Twins' right side of their infield.

Both Cron and Schoop contributed decent numbers towards the Twins' playoff efforts, with Cron hitting .253 with 25 home runs and 78 RBIs, and Schoop hitting .256 with 23 homers and 59 RBIs. Those are more than serviceable numbers in this day and age, especially considering that neither of them played over 125 games on the season.

The Twins must be confident in Luis Arraez's skills, as the rookie hit .334 over 92 games; if he can build off that effort as a newly-minted member of the starting lineup as their second baseman, the Twins will be more than ecstatic.

On the other hand, the Twins have a couple of options at first base, as they could start utility man Marwin Gonzalez or shift Miguel Sano over from third base to play first in what would certainly be one of of the major storylines heading into the 2020 MLB season.

They'll be missing a lot of the depth they had in the infield with Cron and Schoop on the roster, however.