Article: BREAKING: Nelson Cruz Agrees To Deal With Twins

[Seth Stohs]

Jeff Passan from Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Twins have agreed to a deal with designated hitter Nelson Cruz.According to Enrique Rojas (ESPN), the deal will be worth $14 million and includes a club option for $12 million in 2020 (with a $300,000 buyout)

 

In other words, Cruz is guaranteed $14.3 million and the deal could be worth as much as $26 million over two seasons.

 

The 38-year-old has been an All-Star the last two years and five of the last six seasons. In 2018, he hit .256/.342/.509 (.850) with 18 doubles and 37 home runs with the Seattle Mariners. The three previous seasons, he had an OPS over .900.

 

Formerly an outfielder, Cruz has only played in the field during games in the National League the last couple of seasons.

 

According to Jon Heyman, the Astros and Rays both made very competitive offers to Cruz, but he chose to sign with the Twins. One can't help but wonder how much his relationship in Texas with Thad Levine factored in, or if it was solely about the money.

 

You may recall that Nelson Cruz served a 50-game PED suspension near the end of the 2013 season. In the five seasons since then, he has hit .281/.356/.5411 (.897) with an average of 25 doubles and just over 40 home runs per year.

 

The Twins roster was at 40, so an additional roster move will need to be made when the deal is complete.

 

More details to come.

 

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[Mike Sixel]

Speechless. In a good way.

[Puckett34]

 

[AlwaysinModeration]

And a one-year deal to boot! Nice.

 

I hope they find a way to keep Austin and Cron, in that order.

[Squirrel]

Speechless. In a good way.

Heh, my first thought was, ‘Hmm, wonder what Mike has to say about this.’ I guess nothing ... but in a good way.

[PseudoSABR]

One year deal with an option. Ideal. 

 

Let Austin and Cron battle for the 1B spot in ST, and then cut bait with one. 

Edited December 27, 2018 by PseudoSABR

[Vanimal46]

Much needed big bat in the middle of the lineup. Good job Falvey and Levine!

[rdehring]

WOW!  

 

I have previously stated that I believe the decline we saw last year will continue, thus, we will see less home runs this year and another dip in average and OPS.  But the fact it is a one year contract WITH a Twins option alleviates much of my concern.  Good short-term risk to help this team in 2019.

 

Also read that he may be a good leader/role model for some of our young Latin players, thinking of you Mr. Sano.  Would be fantastic if Cruz did perform at a level close to last year and worked well with Sano, who I understand has been working hard on his conditioning this winter.

 

Big question is who will be gone from th4 40-man and how they will accomplish it.  I expect it will be one of the outfielders, Granite or Reed.  Expect they won't have room on the 25-man for Cron, Cruiz and Austin, although would like to see Austin stick until spring training. 

 

Now forward to the playoffs TWINS!

[John Kelsey]

Love it, nicely done Falvine. 

[RatherBeGolfing]

 

And a one-year deal to boot! Nice.

I hope they find a way to keep Austin and Cron, in that order.

 

Can't keep both, no way. Which is fine, I'm totally on board with it but let's get this out of the way now

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Really happy with the one year plus option deal.

 

Deleted URL as it was not an official announcement. Team has not confirmed

Edited December 27, 2018 by Sconnie

[wsnydes]

I can't decide how to feel about this. On one hand, he's a much needed true middle of the order bat they need. On the other, he effectively blocks a DH rotation to get younger guys like Garver and Austin ABs. I'm hoping Austin actually wins the 1B job so that's less of an issue.

 

All in all, Cruz does make the order better, which I am happy about. Trying to figure out how the pieces fit is a much better scenario than not having the pieces to begin with.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Can't keep both, no way. Which is fine, I'm totally on board with it but let's get this out of the way now

Well, you can. It involves a 12-man pitching staff and a four-man bench (C, IF, OF, 1B). The problem is you then have three righties for 1B/DH.

 

Of course, if Austin can play some OF, he could certainly get starts against lefties in place of Kepler or Rosario.

[Mike Sixel]

While I've been beating the drum for acquiring longer term assets, I feel pretty good about this signing. A one or two year deal, for a very good to great player is better than the same deal for a mediocre player. If the core plays well, he's potentially helping a run to the playoffs. If not, they can deal him.

 

I hope they get a few pitchers now.

[gunnarthor]

Cruz was my #2 pick for this team (after Machado) and really glad we got him. He's an absolutely perfect fit both for the lineup and for the locker room. His RH power should play up at TF (he's crushed the ball at TF, with a career .667 slg, second best park for him of any park he's played 10 games or more in).

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Nice surprise!

[USAFChief]

Nice signing, with a very nice contract. 1 with a cheap option is perfect.

[akmanak]

Are you kidding me? This was a horrible signing. 14 million for a rental? Does anyone really think the Twins will compete now because we signed a declining 37 year old?

 

We needed pitching not some rental player. Unbelievable.

[ChrisKnutson]

Gotta love the club option, gives us the flexibility to choose whether or not we’re ready to hand significant roles to Rooker and Kirilloff in 2020. And who knows?? Maybe they all can coexist on the same 25-man roster in 2020.

[James]

 

Nice signing, with a very nice contract. 1 with a cheap option is perfect.

And a cheap buy out too.  If he's terrible, it makes it real easy to cut ties too.  Not that the buyout should be something to be happy about, but it is very team friendly.

 

I'm a big fan of this signing.

[Battle ur tail off]

I like this. He is older but still one of the better hitters in the league. Finally a guy you can slot in at #3 or 4 and know what you are gonna(should) get. 

 

The price to me anyway, sounds more than fair. There is nothing to not like about this deal. If he pushes out some younger guy, I'm not mad as I don't see any of those guys as long term keepers anyway. 

 

 

[gunnarthor]

 

Are you kidding me? This was a horrible signing. 14 million for a rental? Does anyone really think the Twins will compete now because we signed a declining 37 year old?

We needed pitching not some rental player. Unbelievable.

We needed a DH and we got one of the best bats available. I'm sure we'll still sign a pitcher or two but the rotation is probably set - Berrios, Gibson, Pineda, Odorizzi and Mejia are probably our starting rotation in April. The pen will get some additions.

[Battle ur tail off]

 

Are you kidding me? This was a horrible signing. 14 million for a rental? Does anyone really think the Twins will compete now because we signed a declining 37 year old?

We needed pitching not some rental player. Unbelievable.

 

Why not both? I still think the Twins will bring in a few relief options. They should anyway. Get out of the thinking that spending bare bones is the only way to ever work things here in Twinsland. 

[TFRazor]

Goodbye Tyler Austin. We hardly knew ye.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Are you kidding me? This was a horrible signing. 14 million for a rental? Does anyone really think the Twins will compete now because we signed a declining 37 year old?

 

We needed pitching not some rental player. Unbelievable.

*cannot tell if joking or not*

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Are you kidding me? This was a horrible signing. 14 million for a rental? Does anyone really think the Twins will compete now because we signed a declining 37 year old?

We needed pitching not some rental player. Unbelievable.

I disagree with you - this is a good signing. But I do agree it behooves them to proactively beef up their pitching staff a little more now.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Are you kidding me? This was a horrible signing. 14 million for a rental? Does anyone really think the Twins will compete now because we signed a declining 37 year old?

 

We needed pitching not some rental player. Unbelievable.

how is it a bad thing to improve the hitters?

 

Agreed, pitching is needed badly and this might inhibit funds available for future signings, but money spent on players is better than money left in Pohlad’s wallet.

 

Not signing Cruz does not mean it will be spent on pitching.

[birddog]

Great signing. Even if he is in a bit of a decline, he will still put up big numbers--huge numbers--compared to what our DHs have been giving us. Very team friendly contract from what I see. Plus, with him babysitting Sano and Baldelli babysitting Buxton, maybe we will have the output from them that we need. Twins needed a major signing(s) with all their money and this is a good start.

[KirbyDome89]

Satisfying. Go get some much needed pitching now.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I'm happy with this. He was a guy I wanted... so does this spell the end with Austin, or do we go north with 3 1B/DH types for two spots...

 

That's one heck of a PH option every night for Rocco.