Twins Offered McCutchen Same Money - and Mets Offered More - But He Chose to "Go Home"

Played our cards on Gallo….

Can't fault him at all for doing that. More power to him and hope it works out. 

I still don't like the Gallo signing. Paid too much. This would've been interesting.

Padres signed Nelson Cruz for 1 year at $1 million.  Weren’t the Twins interested? Right handed bat, might have helped us out.

That the Twins offered this money to him, tells us the outfield situation is unsettled. 

Very happy for Cutch & the Pirates, it's good for the game. Hope he has a record year to go out on. Pirates may surprise you this year.

11 hours ago, Valdespino said:

Padres signed Nelson Cruz for 1 year at $1 million.  Weren’t the Twins interested? Right handed bat, might have helped us out.

He looks more cooked than McCutchen, unfortunately. Was pretty bad last season, struggled in the half season after leaving MN for TB the year before, can only play DH...$1M isn't much risk, but the Twins don't really have the roster spots and the upside seems low.

McCutchen would have been a reasonable fit, but also might not have that much left in the tank. I do think he's got more than Cruz and can still play the field.

10 hours ago, PseudoSABR said:

That the Twins offered this money to him, tells us the outfield situation is unsettled. 

I think it is obvious that it is unsettled.  Other than Celistino, who should be in AAA, we have no other right handed bats do we (not counting Buxton).  

1 minute ago, nicksaviking said:

The right handed options aren’t very attractive, I’d rather go with the left handed young players. If they really want another righty, it should be a bench guy. Not a guy who is on his last legs but will be expected to start.

They have to start finding room for the young bats, it shouldn’t only be Miranda. 

I could look - but maybe you already know.... Are there any young right handed players nearly ready in our system?  

On 1/13/2023 at 11:27 PM, PseudoSABR said:

That the Twins offered this money to him, tells us the outfield situation is unsettled. 

Or they needed that "veteran clubhouse presence" and thought Correa was off the table.

I view vets at that stage of their career more as a clubhouse role than a position on the field.

Yes, I grew up in the DH era, haha.

My wife is a Pirates fan, so I follow them as kind of a secondary team, and their ownership and FO is worse than what we have been dealing with in the past.  That being said, I know Cutch never wanted to leave Pirates, even if they would have been losing I believe he would have stayed with them.  I am not surprised he returned, knowing he will get regular playing time, and will get to return to his team.  Good for him, not that he needed a few more million. 

I love Nellie but I think the FO has arrived at the spot where the full-time DH doesn't make much sense anymore, particularly on this team where Buxton and Correa need time out of the field and Arraez is best leaving his glove at home. Also, Cruz has had a magic career but Father Time seems to be waiting for him. 

The Cutch move seems good for him and good for the game. If the Pirates can catch 10% of the Pujols 2022 magic it will provide some boost to their box office.