Twins Sign Nelson Cruz; Next Target is (CP) Alex Colome
Just hours after flirting with Marcell Ozuna, the Minnesota Twins have agreed to a one-year deal with designated hitter Nelson Cruz, worth $13 million. Cruz has been the main bat in this Twins lineup for two years now and he will be returning for one more.
Sources: Nelson Cruz signs one-year deal with the #MNTwins is worth $13 million.
โ danhayesmlb (@DanHayesMLB) February 3, 2021
Over the last two seasons in Minnesota, Cruz has been one of the best hitters in baseball. He has played in 173 games and hit .308/.394/.626 (1.020) with 57 homers and 141 RBIs.
Cruz will be 41 years old when the season ends, but he hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down. If he can be 80% as productive as he has been the last couple seasons then this is a great move. Tom Brady is 43 and playing in the Super Bowl this weekend.
Other Details
The Twins reportedly (Darren Wolfson – KSTP) offered Marcell Ozuna yesterday, on top of extending a new offer to Nelson Cruz. It’s hard to believe that wasn’t a negotiating tactic at this point, especially since the offer to Ozuna wasn’t all that competitive.
Dan Hayes (The Athletic), who broke the Cruz signing, reports that the Twins offer to the Dominican slugger had sat no higher than one-year/$11 million, up until two weeks ago when they started to up the ante. If another team would have swooped in with a two-year deal then the Minnesota Twins would have walked away, according to Hayes.
Alex Colome up next?
Nelson Cruz wasn’t all Dan Hayes was scooping late last night. He also reports that the Twins are “interested in the services of right-hander Alex Colome”. I suspect that the relationship between the Twins and Colome is much more than “interesting”, if Hayes is writing it into the bottom of an article breaking the Nelson Cruz contract.
Colome would fill the desperate need Minnesota currently has at the back-end of their bullpen and answer the question on whether they trust Taylor Rogers in the closer role.
UPDATE: Hayes’ report regarding the Twins’ “interest” in Colome is now being confirmed by Jon Heyman.
After getting Cruz back in the fold, #MNTwins focus now is on bullpen, including the back end, and Alex Colome is one of many on their radar. May sign multiple guys for pen.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 3, 2021
How good is Alex Colome?
Alex is 32 and he’s been in the league for five seasons. He started in his first full season in the big leagues but has been much better in the bullpen, where he’s been since 2016. He hit super-saiyan level in 2020.
Year | IP | ERA | ERA+ | FIP | WHIP | SO/9 |
2015 | 109 | 3.94 | 99 | 3.85 | 1.304 | 7.2 |
2016 | 56.2 | 1.91 | 211 | 2.92 | 1.024 | 11.3 |
2017 | 66.2 | 3.24 | 130 | 3.37 | 1.200 | 7.8 |
2018 | 68.0 | 3.04 | 135 | 3.44 | 1.176 | 9.5 |
2019 | 61.0 | 2.80 | 164 | 4.08 | 1.066 | 8.1 |
2020 | 22.1 | 0.81 | 558 | 2.97 | 0.940 | 6.4 |
Career | 424.0 | 2.95 | 140 | 3.54 | 1.177 | 8.2 |
Eric Strack and Cooper Carlson | Minnesota Sports Fan
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