Twins Sign Pitcher Chi Chi Gonzalez to Minor League Deal

[Matthew Lenz]

The Minnesota Twins have signed Chi Chi Gonzalez to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. This article will give you a look at Gonzalez’s background and what impact he might have on the team in 2022.

 

Chi Chi Gonzalez is a 30-year-old, right-handed starting pitcher who has pitched over 260 innings as a starter (47 starts) and reliever (14 appearances) in the big leagues. He actually has ties to Twins General Manager, Thad Levine, who drafted him 23rd overall with the Texas Rangers in 2013, and made his major-league debut in 2015 with the club. He basically missed all of 2017 and 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery but has 44 appearances (34 starts) over the last three years with the Colorado Rockies. Over 184 1/3 innings since 2019, Gonzalez had an uninspiring 6.10/5.48 ERA/FIP and a 1.66 K/BB ratio, but this signing isn’t of the same ilk as some others that Twins fans may be used to from the last couple of offseasons.

Gonzalez’s arsenal (if you want to call it that) consists of primarily three pitches: a 92 mile per hour fastball, an 86 mile per hour slider with below-average movement, and an effective 84 mile-per-hour changeup that drops off better than most. Completely speculating here, but I wonder if the Twins think they can tinker that slider to be more effective which is a huge project to take on based on his Baseball Savant profile shown below.

Over the last two offseasons, fans have grown frustrated by the one-year “show me something” type deals that have been handed out to the likes of Homer Bailey, JA Happ, Matt Shoemaker, etc. This deal quite literally has no risk or obligation to the Twins being that it’s a minor league deal. While the Twins are rumored to be involved in talks with higher impact teams and players, the fact is that right now the Twins rotation and bullpen are MAJOR works in progress. While Gonzalez might not make the big league club, he provides added competition to various young guys we have in camp. And ultimately, he becomes a depth piece should our prospects show that they need some additional seasoning in the minor leagues.

It’s not an exciting move in the least, but you shouldn’t be viewing this deal as some of the others. Realistically, this acquisition will have little to no impact on the season and the offseason should be defined by whether the Twins are able to close on any of those rumored deals.

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[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

You can never have too much good pitching.  Not sure this qualifies as such.

[mikelink45]

Thank you for a real assessment and no effort to make him seem like more than he is.  If we are just filling the ranks I am fine with it.  What I wonder is what we are losing since MLB is cutting the number of players each team has in the minors. 

[DocBauer]

Just another filler arm for AAA. Period. Could he suddenly find better bite with his slider and maybe find new life? Maybe. Maybe he finds new life as a bullpen option. It happens. But like Rodriguez, I think he's just depth for AAA. But unless we trade a couple young arms in a move for a quality ML SP or other, it feels like there's already enough talent to fill up the St Paul rotation already. But, there could be a move, guys do get hurt, and depth to just have your AAA team competitive doesn't hurt I guess.

[IndianaTwin]

Hopefully Gladden handles this better than Les Nessman:

 

[SanoMustGo]

Chi Chi Gonzales?  Honestly, who cares?

 

[terrydactyls]

I thought he was a golfer during the Arnold Palmer/Jack Nicklaus era?

[The Mad King]

This is a "hey I believed in him when I drafted him, I feel an attachment" signing. He'll go to AAA and maybe something clicks. Or not. Either way it doesn't cost much. 

[specialiststeve]

All I can think of is when he gets a strikeout is that he puts his imaginary putter in his holster and pumps his fist... wait... wrong Chi Chi...