In one of the more predictable items of early offseason business, the Twins have decided to exercise their club option over designated hitter Nelson Cruz, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). That decision will not need to be made formally until after the conclusion of the World Series, but it seems the Minnesota organization has already chosen a path.
When Cruz was asked recently about his contract situation, he responded in a manner that almost suggested he would be waiting with baited breath: “I don’t have that call,” he said, “but hopefully they can pick up the option.” But it didn’t take an act of benevolence, or even require much deliberation, for the Minnesota organization to settle upon a return.
This campaign came to a bitterly rapid end, but Cruz was right to note recently that the future seems bright for the Minnesota organization. That’s due primarily to the team’s array of youthful talent, strong farm system, and tidy baseball ops balance sheets. But it’s also based upon the ability to retain Cruz on the heels of a campaign in which he provided valuable leadership and immense offensive production. The veteran DH swatted 41 dingers and turned in a .311/.392/.639 slash during the regular season before producing yet more strong output in the team’s fruitless ALDS appearance.
Cruz was already an elusive free agent bargain, having returned 4.3 wins above replacement (by measure of both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference) at a cost of just $14MM. Now, the Twins get another bite at the apple for just $12MM. (The alternative was to send Cruz back onto the open market with a $300K buyout.) It might have been interesting to debate the open-market value of a 39-year-old DH after such a massive season, and then to see how the situation would play out. But we may safely presume that Cruz would have attracted ample interest at or above that price point, likely over multiple years.
Good for you, Nelson Cruz.
yeah those steroids worked out for him… Must have been passing them around the team too with guys hitting BOMBS that could barely hit homers before. mitch garver max kepler hitting the bombs when they never hit more than 20. maybe they all had stomach infections… That was cruz’s defense when he failed last time. lol
A no-brainer.
Yap
if mlb returns to normal balls in ’20, twins will regret this move.
Yeah, no joke., from 2014 – 2018, he hit 40 homers, 44, 43, 39, 37. That 41 homers he hit this year came out of NOWHERE.
Lol!!
And most of those were in Seattle. Not a hitter’s park…..
BOOO to this sentiment! You have no belief
So what’s your explanation for the other 3 years he hit 40 HR’s or the last two years he comb6to hit 76? Or the fact that he’s a career. 277 hitter who just hit .311. Yeah clearly the modest 12 million they have to pay him is way to big of a risk for a 4+ win player.
@Vizionaire are you trying to be funny or are you just not that bright? Cruz has always raked and at $12 million even if he only hit 25 bombs he’d still be worth it.
I have it on the BEST authority that MLB players will have normal balls in 2020…
Not only he would be affected, every player would be. Dude can rake and has a great swing, he can still swat 30 with non juiced balls.
Normal Balls ?
What info do you have that MLB and others don’t seem to have ? Regret, I don’t think the Twins or thousands of Normal Twins Fans are regretting this move !!
… do you have any idea about baseball or just kidding??
PED stigma aside I’m rooting for him to get to 500 homers. He’s proven it wasn’t just the juice that made him good imo.
just because he hasnt gotten caught recently doesnt mean he has stopped.
Mlb test offenders more frequent
I’m sure people haven’t figured out how to beat drug tests. That could never happen.
This is America. You’re innocent until proven guilty. Unbelievable!
I wonder what chemical agency he has found this time. Seventy Seven HRs in his 20s. 324 in his 30s and suspended for PED use.
If only they would have signed him earlier, Polonco wouldn’t have been caught.
Well he only played 300 games in his 20s.
You really think Nelson Cruz would’ve had multiple offers at or above that point for multiple seasons? I don’t know about all of that. I think he would’ve gotten a better one year deal with another club option. But I can’t imagine teams handing out multi year guarantees to a 40 year old.
Let’s note his comments came before the implosion in the playoffs. He might want to end his career on a high note. Twins got a playoff curse.
Cruz knows he’s probably 80-90% likely to be in the playoffs next year so long as he hits. On a 1 year deal, the Twins will flip him to a contender at the deadline if the Twins are out of the chase and keep him if they’re in the chase.
HOFer
Cruz, the ageless wonder.
Really, really, really doubt that Cruz would get more than 1/$12mil as a free agent based on the market the last two offseasons. I don’t think any player in baseball at age 39 is getting a multi-year contract. Not a safe assumption at all Jeff Todd.
I would not have made this decision, and I’m shocked that Jeff is treating it like an easy no-brainer. The man is 39 and has no position.
Plus you know… steroids.
He literally just put up a 1.000 OPS and is taking a pay cut to return for just one more year, it’s the very definition of a no brainer.
What he put up this year doesn’t matter at all. The goal is to look forward, not backwards. He’s 39 and has a very remote chance of putting those numbers up again.
Fans don’t seem to get what guys did the year before don’t matter one bit.
With that said. Could the twins have been savy and no picked up the option and maybe brought him back at 9-10 mil and saved 1.7 probably. Not sure that’s worth the potential bad media coverage and sour taste it might leave some players on your team after he had a strong season. Now 5-10 mil savings is a little different.
This wouldn’t be a issue if Mlb let teams give out better incentives. Guy like Cruz should get a extra 150k for every HR he hits after 35. Bonuses at 80,90,100 rbi. Finish the year with a OPS north of .950 triggers the same contract for following season. You produce you make money, you get old and don’t you get cut. Lots of creatively could be had but the mlbpa would never allow stuff like that players would have to actually earn their money and that’s not what the PA wants.
Very remote!!??
He’s 39 so it’s absolutely possible that he could fall off a cliff but you don’t decline an option on a guy who put up those numbers and was in the top 10 for average exit velocity (May have even been top five, not sure).
He showed zero signs of slowing down. It’s a no brained based on all the known information.
No “brainer”
MLB teams don’t have to give it out either. Cruz batted 60% above the league average at age 39. Is 40 the breakdown threshold? Cause 39 apparently wasn’t. You could’ve given Khris Davis a 2 year extension for more cash in the “prime” of his career and you saw him decline in year one. This is a one year deal for a reasonable rate for a guy who hit that well. I think there’s 4-5teams who would give up something small for Cruz right now if the Twins didn’t want him.
He hasnt had a position for years. You are not paying a dime for his defense, let alone do you expect him to see any playing time. Hes in there because his bat clearly does not age, even though he was caught cheating. If the NL had a DH you would see every single team offer a one year 13 million for him to mash 40-45 homers. Just imagine this dude playing in Miller Park or Great American ball park. He is still a beast regardless of his age, and will be getting one year deals for as long as he can hit homers.
But the NL doesn’t have a DH, so I dont see how hypothetical universes have anything to do with the real one that we actually live in.
In the real world, only 15 teams have a spot for him, and 7 of those aren’t even trying to win games. That leaves 8 teams, some of whom have better options for a guy who’s only job is to hit. Once you eliminate Boston, New York, etc… the choices dwindle down pretty quickly. No one is giving him close to that amount of money.
Does it make him a hall of famer? No his name pop up for cheating just like anyone else and still gets pay.
I’m not complaining or disappointed on behalf of Nelson Cruz or anything, but I was confused why they gave him 1 year that, with the buyout, maintained his $14.25M AAV from his previous long term deal, but the option on that year was for less money and only the buyout would’ve maintained the AAV. Why didn’t they, say, sign him for 1 year/$14M with a $250K buyout on a $14.5M option or something? I’d love to hear the logic in the contract numbers, given his previous deal.
Maybe Cruz and the Twins thought he had one more solid year in him but might regress enough to be worth less than $14.25M so $12M was an option price more likely to be exercised, that an overall 2 year/$26M deal was more palatable and likely to go to the distance than a 2 year/$28.5M deal?
Well, Cruz has made almost
100 million dollars in his
career plus he has found
a place on an upwardly mobile team. I’m glad he is happy!
I wish the Rangers had never
let him go…..
And the Brewers
And the Mariners…
This has to have been one of the easiest options in history to pick up.