Chatting before tonight’s ALDS opener, Twins slugger Nelson Cruz made clear that he’s hoping to stay in Minnesota for at least one more season. MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park was among those covering the interview (video via Twitter).
Cruz’s contract paid him fourteen million well-earned dollars this year. It also came with a $12MM club option. The team would owe just $300K if it declines to pay that sum for Cruz’s age-39 campaign.
“I want to be back,” says Cruz. “I don’t have that call, but hopefully they can pick up the option. The future looks really bright for us so I want to be part of a winning team for many years.”
Cruz likely won’t need to twist any arms in the Minnesota front office to achieve his desired end. He just homered in tonight’s game and launched 41 long balls over 521 plate appearances. With a monster .311/.392/.639 batting line on the year, Cruz topped all but three hitters leaguewide with a 163 wRC+.
If anything, Cruz’s immense output and affordable option serve to highlight what a bargain his contract seemed at the time. Even with the anticipation of another tepid market for defensively limited sluggers, MLBTR predicted a two-year, $30MM pact. He’d figure to have as much or more earning power this winter, making it quite likely the option will be picked up without much second thought.
In the age of drug testing its just amazing at what hes doing at his age. His career started off slow but hes been a force for a while now
Long-time AAAA-player. Massive minor-league numbers took a bit to translate. Reminds me of Joey Gallo today.
How is a 400 plus home run hitter a long time AAAA player?
I think he meant that Nelson Cruz didn’t get things going early in his career. He didn’t take off until his late-20’s.
Age 24-27 HR=22, matching his lowest total in a single season since then.
ill give him some credit, he’s really done well avoiding those tests since his last failure.
No brainer?
There’s a chance he falls off next year but he’s put up zero warning signs. If he plays 2 more years he’s gonna get close to HOF numbers.
He’ll get close on numbers, for sure. Another couple of 40 HR seasons and he’s near 500. Still, zero chance he gets in – he’s effectively Gary Sheffield, PEDs and all.
A couple of younger DH types out there this year.
Should decline the option and see if Castellanos is singable first.
Why? He’s going to cost twice as much for someone who put up worse numbers.
No matter what Castellanos is I don’t think he is “singable” maybe sign-able but he just doesn’t look like he could sing.
Cruz is a huge factor to the Twins’ success. He’s done everything to prove he’s worth more than he signed for. Zero chance they decline that option……
In would think you would give him that $ on a one year deal.
Of course he’s going to say that. What’s he going to say Hey Twins , Don’t pick up my option please.
One year at 12 sounds like a bargain to be truthful.
He could regress with his age but with that stat line you take that risk every time. As long as he doesn’t fall off a cliff when he regresses he’ll earn the 12. For 2019 stats it’s a steal with some regression it’s still a deal and production hard to find and replace. Nice gesture for him to say it but it’s a formality at this point he hit at least one that I know of already tonight.
I sat behind Cruz on a plane from LA to seattle last off-season. He was with a trainer and spent the flight reviewing MMA workout videos. The dude’s a beast and I admired his commitment.
Didn’t he get caught using? That’d put a kibash on HoF. This guy has been a blast watching! His career is filled with high light bombs. Seems a decent enough fellow.
Suspended with Texas. Bring him back. Ask for a raise. He seems to have benifited from those drugs. Filled out and stayed filled.
Yes he was caught. Hasn’t been caught lately and people have forgotten I guess…
its irked me too. ive been sick of people singing his praises when its obvious he still uses. want proof? how has he not dropped off after the positive? Just like Braun was has he frequently brutalized Phils pitching before he fell off so much even the juice couldn’t save him.
You know they have regular testing right? Just because your jealous of him doesn’t mean you can ignore facts.
@DarkSide did he snub you for an autograph sometime? Or are you an old Rangers fan still pissed that he left after ya’ll lost two World Series in a row? Or can you simply not accept the fact that people do in fact learn from their mistakes and get better not only as people, but as players too? He admitted his mistake and still talks about his regret. The difference between he and Cano is that Cano won’t own it, Nelson does. That man has better preparation and conditioning than players nearly half his age. Guys fizzle in the league because they get old and stagnant and Nelson has obviously refused to be that guy. Get the chip off your shoulder.
testing is not regular per player. there is simply a chance each week a player will be tested.
none of these things. i wolnt say people dont learn from their mistakes, but i wouldnt go as far as to say that i believe someone has stoped using when they preform just as well after they were supposed to have stopped.
Testing is regular for players that get caught using. Do you think they didn’t test Polanco regularly and irregularly after he tested positive and banned 80 games to see if they could catch him using again. I would bet that 50-75% of the league has used something that is banned league wide at some point in their career. Get off your high horse and let it go.
Piazza got in
Great observation
So what? He never failed a test.
They’d be idiots not to pick it up.
He has been such a huge clubhouse leader the twins and when combined with his stats this year the Twins would be dumb not to pick up his option.
Can’t see a likely scenario where they don’t pick up his option.