The Diamondbacks have signed outfielder Jason Kubel, tweets Tom Krasovic. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, who confirmed the agreement earlier today, now tweets that it's official and that Kubel has passed his physical. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports says the deal is worth $15MM. The Wasserman Media Group client obtained a two-year deal with a mutual option for 2014.
Kubel, 29, will play left field for the Diamondbacks according to Rosenthal. The surprising acquisition likely pushes Gerardo Parra to a fourth outfielder role, meaning Arizona is sacrificing defense and hoping for more offense. Perhaps Parra, a 2011 Gold Glove winner, will become a trade target for other clubs. Kubel hit .273/.332/.434 in 401 plate appearances for the Twins this year, missing nearly two months with a left foot sprain.
Kubel spent his entire career with the Twins after being drafted in the 12th round in 2000. His best season came in 2009, when he hit .300/.369/.539 with 28 home runs. The Twins signed him to a two-year, $7.2MM extension in January of '09 and later exercised a $5.25MM option for 2011. The Twins had interest in re-signing him, especially after Michael Cuddyer inked a deal with Colorado. The Indians and Phillies also inquired on Kubel this offseason. The Twins will receive a supplemental draft pick for their loss.
Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers has committed $36.75MM this offseason to free agents Kubel, Aaron Hill, Willie Bloomquist, John McDonald, Takashi Saito, Henry Blanco, and Lyle Overbay, as our free agent tracker shows. He also acquired Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow in a trade with the Athletics.
Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Chris Young AND Skaggs AND other prospects for Garza? That’s the funniest thing I’ve seen in awhile.
They signed him again?
Do some reading before you comment. Deal is confirmed, he passed the physical.
They signed him again?
This news beats out Yu Darvish for sure…
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huh?
How is he cocky? He has done nothing to show that. If you get a ball thrown at your head and then hit a homer on the next pitch, feel free to pimp it a little. If the other team wants to make a big deal out of it by having there next games pitcher scream ‘I’m going to hit you,’ then hitting him, then complaining when he gets ejected, then so be it. But that doesn’t make him cocky.
I’m a Dodgers fan so I’m biased, but I don’t think that’s quite what happened…
The only way this makes sense if if the DBacks are planning on shipping one of their other OFers out this offseason. You don’t watch a youngster like Parra have a breakout year and then bench him, that really wouldn’t make sense.
I can only imagine the Braves(Jurrjens/Prado), Rays(Davis), and maybe even the Cubs(Garza) have some interest in the youngsters in the Arizona outfield. Of course, no one is expecting them to trade Upton but Chris Young, Parra, or Ryan Roberts could be up for grabs right now. Remember, the Dbacks have a little cash to spend and only have four men in their(very good) rotation at the moment.
Usually draft picks are the way to go. While it is nice to get a more finished player, if he has upside and is near major league ready, chances are you aren’t getting him for a half-season rental. Unless that team already has seen something they don’t like in the player and is gladly jumping at the chance for new blood.
I keep going back and forth. I want to say that it was a good playoff move by the DBacks, spending some money on a guy you know you overpaid for in relevance to the amount of ABs he is going to get, but did it anyway cause you know you have the makings of a badass team. If so, good idea to lock up a player who could have a very good offensive year if one of the youngsters (Parra or Goldschmidt) end up going through a rough spell or two.
On the other hand, Arizona isn’t NY, and I can’t see them spending 7.5 mil on a guy that is only going to play 3 days a week. If that’s not the case you are cutting into development time for the youngsters, and the platoon’s really don’t match up at all either.
To clearify: The “anybody” ARZ gets is from the Nationals (and maybe a complementary piece from the Rays).
I actually like Kubel… as a DH. He just straight up shouldn’t be playing in the field though, I don’t care if you have Andruw Jones & Jim Edmonds in their prime out there with him, he will still stink it up.
If you look at the D-Backs off season, that’s an awful lot of money committed to players who aren’t out and out difference makers. I like the Cahill trade (for both teams) but Arizona’s free agent signings have been somewhat questionable… Like paying $7.5 million for a LF who is considerably worse in the field and only slightly better on offence than the cheap youngster you already have. It isn’t a efficient use of resources IMO.
I would think Parra for Beckham would be the DBacks part of the trade. Upton to Washington probably Norris, Lombardozzi and or an arm.
Trade Young and Parra to Cardinals for Jay and Greene?
CY’s poor 2010 was due largely to trying to play through injury. He still drew the 6th most walks in the league and is a 30/30 threat every year whil playing exceptionally high level defense. It’s tough to imagine any scenario where Kubel is CY insurance. Kubel plays AWFUL defense in LF and can’t even hold CY’s strap in CF. Parra COULD move to CF if needed, but his play out there in limited spruts with the Dbacks was actually painful to watch. He has the speed, but needs to develop that “feel for it” that the elite CFs seem to have.
Parra is a phenomenal 4th OF, so much so he needs to be traded to be a starting LF for someone else.
At $15MM I don’t see Kubel being the 4th OF. Now if he was shifting to 3B, that might be a different story. Not sure if he could do it or not though, and it seems KT and Co. are not going to be experimenting with that.
I think the “Derrick Hall told him to spen money or else” bit might, just might, be something to consider. For 2011 Hall told KT he could, if the player was right, go out and make a big spending signing. KT made a run at Konerko but lost. So he sat on the money. This year it was made clear that KT had that same latitude again, and again KT seemed content to sit on the money. I think Hall wants a “big signing” in order to try and infuse some excitement into the fanbase. Meanwhile he has KT spending like he’s with the Padres still waiting until a REAL difference maker comes along. Oh well…
Jason Kubel…not so happy here. He will have some power next year, but Parra was just fine. It’s not that Kubel is a bad defensive player, he just doesn’t match Parra’s ability defensively. I am not saying it’s a bad signing by KT, I just think we could have used are money more smart, and gone all in for Kuroda.
I might as well through in Jason Kubel’s 2012 Projections:
AVG. 279, 26 HR, 83 RBI, 1 SB.
If he does that, he will have hit more HRs than Gerardo Parra has hit in his entire career.
Now if they platoon lefty righty next year with Chris Young/ and Parra then the signing would make sense. Young has a microscopic batting average against right handed pitchers and Parra can play center field.
are you high?