Article: Rosenthal: Twins Agree to Deal With Addison Reed

[Tom Froemming]

Most of the attention this offseason has been dedicated to the Twins' pursuit of top starting pitching options, but it appears they just made a significant upgrade to the bullpen. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Twins have agreed to a contract with Addison Reed, who was the third-ranked relief pitcher on the market per MLB Trade Rumors.According to Rosenthal's report, which has since been confirmed by several other reputable sources on Twitter, the two sides have agreed to a two-year pact.

UPDATE: Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported the deal at two-years, $16.75 million on Twitter.

 

MLB Trade Rumors predicted Reed would fetch a four-year, $36 million deal. In that same piece, the site ranked Reed 16th among its top 50 free agents, third among relievers, trailing only Wade Davis and Greg Holland.

 

According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Reed turned down longer-term deals in order to come to Minnesota.

Reed is from California, but spent the first three seasons of his career with the Chicago White Sox. Here's a look at his numbers from Baseball-Reference:

Download attachment: Reed Numbers.png

Reed is the third relief pitcher the Twins have signed to a major league deal this offseason, joining Fernando Rodney and Zach Duke. Once the deal has been made official, the Twins will need to make room for Reed on their 40-man roster.

 

It appeared in mid-December that Reed was Philadelphia bound, but a deal never was finalized and the Phillies signed Tommy Hunter instead. There have been three relievers signed to three-year deals, all by the Colorado Rockies (Davis at $52 million, Bryan Shaw at $27 million and Jake McGee at $27 million), but it appears the Twins have been rewarded for waiting out the market. Reed's deal comes in just over what Pat Neshek got from the Phillies (two-years, $16.25 million) and just behind what Juan Nicasio got from the Mariners (two-years, $17 million).

 

Why were the Twins able to sign Reed to such a modest deal? That's a great question. Taking a look at his velocity numbers over at Brooks Baseball, there doesn't seem to be any cause for concern.

Download attachment: Reedmph.png

Here's Reed's average fastball velocity the past four seasons: 93.33, 93.27, 93.22 and 92.93. So he has lost 0.4 mph over that span, but his swinging strike rate of 13.7 percent in 2017 was the highest he's posted since his rookie year.

 

What do you think about this signing and the overall upgrades made to the bullpen?

 

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[Squirrel]

Okay ... trending up ... now let’s get Darvish done

[Comrade Bork]

Sweet!

[tvagle]

Here's up to date image of Salary Obligations

Had to make a choice in the bullpen and Duffy lost a coin flip

 

 

[tvagle]

Still need to fill that 5th starter spot....hmmm

[Brandon]

I think this signing confirms an 8 man bullpen

[Brandon]

You should eliminate last bench spot instead

[Mike Sixel]

Seems like a good move!

[hugelycat]

Very nice addition! Great to see the front office getting one of the top relief options! Not only that, but it's a very reasonable contract that shouldn't limit other moves.

[TheLeviathan]

Good move, good terms.

[Twinfan & Dad]

Bullpen now vastly improved. Dont forget about our young arms that also may help at some point this season. Now trade for Cole or Archer. Shorter term committment than Darvich and much cheaper for now. Buys us time to see what the young guys look like and how May comes back. Darvich is just going to take too long a contract at 25mm plus per year. He has too many question marks and has a history of the injury bug.

[twinsfanstreif]

Here's up to date image of Salary Obligations

Had to make a choice in the bullpen and Duffy lost a coin flip

 

 

Kinda weird that now we have an excess of good middle relievers. Interested to see what they do, I'm assuming May starts in the minors but what do you do with Duffy or if several of our minor league guys start knocking on the door? Also what if May looks really good coming back? I know it's a good problem to have but it will be interesting to see if they just hold those guys down or trade some of them. I'd be perfectly fine with our roster if we can come out with 1 more starter (preferably Darvish or Cole) but I'd maybe like to see an upgrade at DH as well, unless Sano has to shift over to DH and then we could sign Frazier

[Brandon]

Isnt this the 6th largest free agent signing in team history?

 

Hughes

Santana

Nolasco

Castro

Willingham

 

Reed

[DocBauer]

Actually saw this happening up until about a week ago. Then, just felt it was too quiet and were focusing solely on the rotation for now. Wow! Great move!

[wavedog]

Now we are talking - nice signing!

[John Bonnes]

I don’t want to rain on this parade, but this has to mean theyre out of the running for Darvish. This team isn’t going to have a $135M payroll.

[tvagle]

By my count that puts the 40-man at 41...Personally hoping for a trade to clear it up

 

Who do you think gets dropped?

 

Enns

Boshers

Duffey

 

 

[KirbyDome89]

The fact he wanted to be in the Midwest, to the point he was willing to give up a year of security, is interesting. 

[tvagle]

 

You should eliminate last bench spot instead

 

Added an 8th BP spot to my Twins Payroll Tool sheet (if you make a copy of the latest version it will be updated)

[Danchat]

 

I don’t want to rain on this parade, but this has to mean theyre out of the running for Darvish. This team isn’t going to have a $135M payroll.

I don't agree... I think they are very much still in the running for Darvish. I believe they're at around $105M right now and maybe Darvish gets $25M a year? Plus they could trade Gibson if that happens and save $4.3M. I think they could house a payroll in the $120Ms.

[darin617]

I would figure Buddy Boshers will be the first removed from the 40 man roster. After that you can go to Gabriel Moya, Aaron Slegers, & Tyler Kinley.

 

To be honest could just as well make Tyler Kinley the first sacrificial lamb cut from the roster. Why waste a roster spot on a rule 5 pitcher.

[tvagle]

 

I don’t want to rain on this parade, but this has to mean theyre out of the running for Darvish. This team isn’t going to have a $135M payroll.

 

Too Cold for anyone to be raining on the parade...it could happen

 

[crapforks]

This signing could mean Duffey spends some time in Rochester to see if he can stretch out to be a starter?

And I really hope this doesn’t mean the team is out on Darvish.

[ashbury]

I just took a look in TD's Offseason Handbook and couldn't find even a mention of Addison Reed. Oopsie?

[jorgenswest]

I would guess that the order would have been out on Darvish sign Reed rather than we just signed Reed now we don’t have money for Darvish.

 

The additions of Reed, Rodney and Duke add nicely to the bullpen at minimal commitment.

[Winston Smith]

The Hughes contract sure stinks without that it would be a lot easier to sign a top pitcher.

Not much next year, money to sign Harper!!! funny thought.

[ashbury]

I don’t want to rain on this parade, but this has to mean theyre out of the running for Darvish. This team isn’t going to have a $135M payroll.

[baumannmd]

“I don’t want to rain on this parade, but this has to mean theyre out of the running for Darvish. This team isn’t going to have a $135M payroll.”

 

I hope you’re right. I’d much rather see the Twins send a few prospects and someone from our now-overpacked middle relief crew to Tampa Bay for Archer. Or wait on another starter this season and find a better deal on a top of the rotation guy for 2019.

[pierre75275]

I don't think that us signing Reed doesn't mean we can't sign Dervish. We could back load or mid load the contract for instance

[AZTwin]

Have a stronger bullpen has to be attractive for Darvish. I know I would love it if I had Buxton behind me and these guys coming in if I got in trouble. Is it true that insurance could cover portion of Hughes? Could we trade him to a team along with international money to take the contract off our hands?