MINNEAPOLIS -- Call it one of the most impactful days in Minnesota Twins history. Mere hours after the club made official its three-year extension with Miguel Sanó on Tuesday, reports broke that the Twins signed Josh Donaldson to the largest free-agent contract in team history, profoundly altering the course of this offseason -- and the years to come.

So, what better time to get back on schedule with a Twins Inbox?

Many of the questions on Twitter this week had to do with the situation in the starting rotation, which remains a valid question and one addressed in greater detail in an article published Thursday. With that in mind, let's dive into some other topics this week, with the understanding that pitching will likely continue to be a topic of conversation through the Trade Deadline in July.

You're almost certainly right about that. The second half of Donaldson's reported four-year deal will encompass his age-36 and -37 seasons. Assuming he isn't from the same planet as anti-aging cyborg wonder Nelson Cruz, there's a decent chance that Donaldson will underperform the year-to-year values of his deal in those seasons. But the Twins' front office knows that -- and that doesn't make it a bad deal.

Minnesota isn't paying for four seasons of otherworldly performance from Donaldson. That, of course, is the best-case scenario. But you're paying Donaldson for the value and the associated increase in championship probability he provides in the immediate future, especially when it appears clear that this roster is close to competing for a title. This team didn't get a front-end starter to prevent runs, so it needed to find runs elsewhere. Donaldson is demonstrably worth more runs on offense than C.J. Cron and more runs on defense than Sanó. He unquestionably helps this team now.

The last one or two years of this deal might hurt. But that's the price you pay to add a game-changing talent to a team that's ready to win.

Speaking to the first question: No. Keep in mind that manager Rocco Baldelli and his staff thought highly enough of Luis Arraez's bat last season that they entrusted the rookie to learn to play outfield on the fly in order to keep him in the lineup. If Arraez is anywhere close to replicating his performance from last season, he should be entrenched at second base. He did have a markedly worse OPS against lefties (.696) than righties (.887), but his on-base percentage was elite in both cases, and his Minor League performance would suggest that gap should close as he continues to acclimate to the Majors.

As for Marwin Gonzalez, there won't be any shortage of ways for Baldelli to get a bat in the hands of his "multipositional everyday player," as the skipper coined last Spring Training. Baldelli made his focus on proper rest and recovery quite clear last season, when Jorge Polanco was the only position player to start more than 137 games -- and even that was only out of necessity due to the Twins' extreme infield attrition. Gonzalez should get plenty of chances via the generous rotation of rest and the injury troubles that come up over the course of any season.

Technically not a question, but I'll bite all the same. For one, the bullpen is already a strength of this team behind the likes of Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey, Trevor May, Sergio Romo and Tyler Clippard. And that's not even taking into account others like Brusdar Graterol, Jhoan Duran and Jorge Alcala -- all of whom could play a bigger role at some point this season. Those young arms also need some chance to develop at the Major League level for the Twins to be in good shape moving forward.

Furthermore, the prospect cost of acquiring Josh Hader would be very steep -- maybe even prohibitive, considering his four remaining seasons of team control. Dominant as Hader is, given that his impact is limited to around 80 innings per season, such a package of young talent would almost certainly be better spent in a move to address the starting rotation, which has more room to improve as this team is currently built.

It does give them more flexibility to do so on paper, yes. But I think that if the Twins are going to move established Major League assets in such a deal, it's more likely to come closer to the July 31 Trade Deadline, when club leadership has had more of a chance to evaluate the true production level of this lineup and rotation.

You can't assume that this group of hitters will reach the lofty heights of last season, and I think it would need to be clear that the lineup was well-situated to weather the loss of a regular before the Twins would deal from that group. And despite all of the public discourse around the Twins' starting rotation this offseason, it's not fair to characterize it as some sort of major liability.

I'm certainly no expert in making lineups, but I do think that's where I'd slot him in. He's a very well-rounded hitter that complements his power with elite on-base ability, which would serve the Twins well as either an isolated power threat or traffic on the basepaths to set up the other big boppers in the lineup. There's no real wrong answer here, though, as Polanco and Max Kepler were also similarly well-rounded hitters last season. I do think Donaldson's experience and added pop play in his favor, though.

As to the second half of your question, I'm not sure Donaldson's presence in the lineup will affect the pitches to the hitters behind him to a significant extent. I have Cruz and Sanó following Donaldson in my projected batting order, and opposing pitchers are going to be similarly cautious with all of those guys no matter what. There's really just no break in this lineup.