Twins Claim RHP Jharel Cotton

[Seth Stohs]

According to Robert Murray, the Minnesota Twins have claimed RHP Jharel Cotton from the Texas Rangers. 

 

Today, the Twins announced that Alexander Colome has become a free agent after his mutual option for 2022 was not picked up. 

Teams are making roster moves, as they do every year at this time. Players are being removed from the 40-man rosters and teams will be making claims. 

Cotton has been in the majors since 2016, but underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2018 and hadn't returned to the majors until this year. 

The most impressive of his 2021 work happened in AAA-Round Rock, where he pitched in 24 games, and in 42 innings, he walked 17 and struck out 57 batters. That's an eye-popping strikeout rate.

He was promoted to the Rangers on July 30th and struggled initially, ballooning to a 6.23 ERA towards the end of August. But he had a September to remember, posting a 1.62 ERA and just a 465 OPS against. Most significantly, he walked fewer batters.

He also seemingly changed his third pitch mix from when he last appeared in the majors. He's still throwing his fastball about half the time, but he has completely give up on a cutter to throw a standout changeup more often and .... surprise, surprise ... mix in a slider. He also occasionally throws a curveball. 

He won't blow batters away with his velocity. Cotton averaged about 93.5 mph on his fastball, and that matches what he did before Tommy John. 

As mentioned, he had not pitched in the big leagues since 2017 when he made 24 starts for the Oakland A's. He has missed a lot of time due to injuries, mostly to his elbow even after surgery, but the 29-year-old has always had an intriguing arm. Cotton is eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason, with MLB Trade Rumors projecting a $1.2M salary for next year. The increased price tag likely contributed to Texas parting ways.

The Twins have also announced the move. In addition, Rob Refsnyder was outrighted. 

 

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[Doctor Gast]

Interesting. Wonder why the lowly Rangers let him go? And wonder who the Twins are going to let go before friday?

[Brandon]

Tw Twins missed an opportunity to get Wade Miley.  He could have been had probably for someone we were going to let go.  but at most a low a flyer as the Reds just let him go for nothing.  The Cubs got him.....

[Rosterman]

24 minutes ago, Doctor Gast said:

Interesting. Wonder why the lowly Rangers let him go? And wonder who the Twins are going to let go before friday?

Arbitration eligible. Servicable, but a high whip. Hoping, perhaps, to keep him in their minor league system but not on the 40-man. 

[Unwinder]

Good to see the Twins back to business as usual with reasonable but not-particularly-exciting waiver claims.

[mikelink45]

5 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Interesting. Wonder why the lowly Rangers let him go? And wonder who the Twins are going to let go before friday?

If I am not mistaken the Rangers were another losing team.   By WAR (fangraphs) Texas only beat out Arizona with a total of 4.5  We were 24th, five above the Rangers.  I thought bad teams raided the good teams, not the worse teams.  

[jmlease1]

59 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Tw Twins missed an opportunity to get Wade Miley.  He could have been had probably for someone we were going to let go.  but at most a low a flyer as the Reds just let him go for nothing.  The Cubs got him.....

sort of. Twins missed out on an opportunity to trade for him and apparently couldn't work out a deal for someone they were going to waive. But the Cubs were 1 ahead of the Twins on the waiver claim line. I don't blame the Twins for not giving up an asset for a $10M pitcher they had decent odds of getting for free. Literally one more team passes and they could have had him.

Cotton is interesting; I assume the Twins see him as being a bullpen piece at this point? He's got some solid peripherals and might be someone who could make an impact. His results ended up being decent enough for Texas after barely pitching the last 4 years, so if he's sound I have no problem with him competing for a RH spot in the bullpen.

[Vanimal46]

Decent dart throw. I am guessing he’ll go through the waiver wire process again and compete for a bullpen spot in spring training. 

[AceWrigley]

and . . . he looks good in powder blue. ?

[Brandon]

29 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

sort of. Twins missed out on an opportunity to trade for him and apparently couldn't work out a deal for someone they were going to waive. But the Cubs were 1 ahead of the Twins on the waiver claim line. I don't blame the Twins for not giving up an asset for a $10M pitcher they had decent odds of getting for free. Literally one more team passes and they could have had him.

Cotton is interesting; I assume the Twins see him as being a bullpen piece at this point? He's got some solid peripherals and might be someone who could make an impact. His results ended up being decent enough for Texas after barely pitching the last 4 years, so if he's sound I have no problem with him competing for a RH spot in the bullpen.

Our rotation needs help.  I don't think giving up a low A flyer would be a huge over pay on someone like Miley.  Going into the offseason needing only 2 starters instead of three improves our negotiating leverage significantly.  Especially if we resigned Pineda leaving us needing only one more starter.  but I am not going to keep crying over it.  just wanted to point out that we missed an easy opportunity.  Miley could turn into the next Happ for us at his age as well and see his production drop.

 

[chpettit19]

Feels like a pretty routine claim, then waive and see if you get him through but don't care if you don't move here. Expect we'll see a lot more of these.

[DJL44]

14 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Our rotation needs help.

 

Wade Miley would have been the best pitcher on the roster. I don't understand this at all. Give up any prospect ranked #15 or lower on the MLB list.

[Rosterman]

Twins have one open spot. Have maybe 5 names, 7 at the furthest msot, to add from the minors.

 

Still on the bubble now: Astudillo, Cave, Garlick, Rooker, Coulombe, Dobnak, Gant, Garza, Jax, Smeltzer, Stashak, Thorpe. Be interesting to see who goes!

[prouster]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

If I am not mistaken the Rangers were another losing team.   By WAR (fangraphs) Texas only beat out Arizona with a total of 4.5  The were 24th, five above the Rangers.  I thought bad teams raided the good teams, not the worse teams.  

Bad teams have only bad players, and good teams have only good players. Is that your point?

[Mauer4HOF]

17 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

Twins have one open spot. Have maybe 5 names, 7 at the furthest msot, to add from the minors.

 

Still on the bubble now: Astudillo, Cave, Garlick, Rooker, Coulombe, Dobnak, Gant, Garza, Jax, Smeltzer, Stashak, Thorpe. Be interesting to see who goes!

We need to have seen the last of Cave and Tortuga in my opinion.  Both put up negative WAR last year, I think Willians had 75OPS+ and Cave 50.  While they both offer roster flexibility because they. can “play” multiple positions we are stealing ABs from our prospects.  Top teams don’t use up hundreds of ABs on players well below league average, unless they are stellar on defense.

[Monticore]

Where would the poor Turtle go if he was dropped? 

[NatteringNabob]

13 minutes ago, Monticore said:

Where would the poor Turtle go if he was dropped? 

Hopefully not onto his back

[DocBauer]

Came up through the Dogers system primarily, as a SP, with a little time with Oakland. Solid numbers as a SP in regard to K/9, WHIP, as well as hits vs IP. Looks like he missed a little time here and there in milb. 

Decent FB and has a slider and a change that is hopefully good enough to keep LH hitters honest. I'm encouraged by his 2021 AAA numbers after missing 2yrs and his September finish which was outstanding.

Smart flier pick up. And remember, this is what happens this time of year. Moves are just beginning to take place. Lots of little moves like this take place for every team, not just the Twins. And half of the signings of this type get waived again with the hope of sliding through. And sometimes you get a steal. Nobody needs to feel anxious about an early November flier pick up. 

[Nine of twelve]

25 minutes ago, Monticore said:

Where would the poor Turtle go if he was dropped? 

To a team that has room for a player who does a lot of things, but everything below average.

[mikelink45]

3 hours ago, prouster said:

Bad teams have only bad players, and good teams have only good players. Is that your point?

I hope not, but bad teams seldom release good players if they intend to improve. 

[4twinsJA]

4 hours ago, Rosterman said:

Twins have one open spot. Have maybe 5 names, 7 at the furthest msot, to add from the minors.

 

Still on the bubble now: Astudillo, Cave, Garlick, Rooker, Coulombe, Dobnak, Gant, Garza, Jax, Smeltzer, Stashak, Thorpe. Be interesting to see who goes!

Of 12 players listed,  I hope 7 are gone for sure, 2 maybes , and want 3 back with Twins. Gant and Garza maybes, hope Rooker, Dobnak, and Jax back.

[Seth Stohs]

A year ago at this time, the Twins claimed Ian Gibaut and Brandon Waddell. Those two certainly don't have the track record that Cotton does, but that's one side of the waiver claim situation.

Two years ago, the Twins claimed Matt Wisler and he was terrific. That's the other side of the waiver claim situation. 

Can Cotton be the second coming of Wisler? I mean, I think so... but that seems to be about the range of where this type of player could be.

[Prince William]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

I hope not, but bad teams seldom release good players if they intend to improve. 

David Ortiz was released and not a single team claimed him. You cover your butt by saying seldom. but every team makes mistakes.

[Prince William]

I don't know what the problem with claiming this guy is. Cotton should be better than a couple of the retained players in the bullpen. Who knows, a magic Wes could even elevate his game

[Greglw3]

16 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

and . . . he looks good in powder blue. ?

Long live the powder blue!!!

[DJL44]

Nobody wanted to trade for Wade Miley's $10M contract and he was one of the best pitchers in the major leagues last year. Randy Dobnak and the remaining $8M on his contract should be quite easy to get through waivers.

[gman]

Decent fastball and changeup sounds like, maybe he could be taught a decent slurve based on his previous breaking ball experience.

[jjswol]

20 hours ago, Brandon said:

Tw Twins missed an opportunity to get Wade Miley.  He could have been had probably for someone we were going to let go.  but at most a low a flyer as the Reds just let him go for nothing.  The Cubs got him.....

The Twins probably didn't want to pay him.

 

[tony&rodney]

Miley may have had some injury issues. His season ended with some tough outings. Did the Twins have a chance to gain medical knowledge concerning Miley? A trade of someone like Lewis Thorpe might have been possible. We will never know.

The Cotton pick is decent and normal activity this time of year. Hopefully, he does not block others. Teams look to "hit" on one claim each year.

[rv78]

23 hours ago, Rosterman said:

Twins have one open spot. Have maybe 5 names, 7 at the furthest msot, to add from the minors.

 

Still on the bubble now: Astudillo, Cave, Garlick, Rooker, Coulombe, Dobnak, Gant, Garza, Jax, Smeltzer, Stashak, Thorpe. Be interesting to see who goes!

Hopefully all of them......Tho I doubt they will part ways with Dobnak, Rooker and Jax.