Brad Peacock

The Twins signed veteran righty Brad Peacock to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A St. Paul, Brandon Warne of Access Twins tweets. Peacock was recently granted his release from a minor league deal with the Royals.

Once a high quality starter and reliever for the Astros, the now-34-year-old Peacock’s career has been derailed by injuries in recent seasons — most notably 2020 shoulder surgery. Peacock also battled persistent neck and shoulder issues throughout the 2019 campaign.

From 2016-19, Peacock was one of the most valuable and underrated members of the Houston staff, logging a combined 320 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball through 42 starts and another 86 relief appearances. He handled both roles well, pitching as a starter, a one-inning setup option and a multi-inning reliever throughout that time.

Unfortunately, thanks to the slate of neck and shoulder issues, Peacock has pitched a total of 7 2/3 Major League inning since that time. The results have been poor, to say the least: 11 runs on nine hits, four walks and a pair of hit batsmen. He’s fanned just six of 38 opponents in that time (15.8%) and worked with diminished fastball velocity.

None of that sounds particularly promising, but Peacock’s 2022 campaign gives far greater cause for optimism. The right-hander was nothing short of outstanding with the Royals’ top affiliate this year, pitching to a 1.64 ERA with a 27.6% strikeout rate, a 9.8% walk rate and a strong 50% ground-ball rate through 38 1/3 innings of relief (across 35 appearances).

The Twins are widely expected to acquire at least one, if not multiple relievers between now and Tuesday’s 5pm CT trade deadline, and the signing of Peacock won’t change that outlook or reduce their urgency to augment what has been an awful bullpen outside of righties Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax. That said, there’s no harm in taking what’s effectively a free look at a once-excellent reliever who’s enjoying a resurgence at the Triple-A level this season. If Peacock continues to show well with the Saints, it’s conceivable that he could get a look in the Majors sooner than later, but his addition amounts to little more than a dice roll that will complement more impactful acquisition(s) in the coming few days.

12:00pm: The Royals have now formally announced the signing.

11:39am: The Royals have signed right-hander Brad Peacock to a minor league contract, per their transactions log at MLB.com. The former Astros hurler was eligible to sign during the lockout because he wasn’t on a 40-man roster at season’s end, though he did briefly pitch with the Red Sox in 2021.

Now 34 years old, Peacock has spent the bulk of his career in Houston, appearing in parts of eight seasons as an Astro. He was a particularly versatile and vital member of the pitching staff from 2016-19, when he amassed 320 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball and split his time between the rotation and bullpen — pitching quite well in both roles. Unfortunately for both Peacock and the Astros, shoulder and neck injuries derailed his 2019-20 seasons. Peacock ultimately underwent shoulder surgery in October 2020 after he’d been limited to just 2 1/3 innings that season.

Peacock signed on with Cleveland last offseason and was traded to Boston in late August (a post-deadline deal made possible by the fact that he’d been on a minor league contract and had not been on the 40-man roster at any point prior). He made two appearances as a replacement player following a Covid-19 outbreak on the Red Sox and was tagged for nine runs in 5 1/3 innings before being returned to Triple-A (and removed from the 40-man roster). Things didn’t go much better for Peacock in Triple-A, as he combined for an 8.00 ERA in 36 innings between his two stops.

There’s obviously a good bit of work to do for Peacock to reestablish himself, but it’s easy to see why a team would take a flier on an arm of his caliber. At his peak, in 2018, Peacock punched out a dominant 35.3% of his opponents against just a 7.4% walk rate. He’s absolutely overwhelmed right-handed opponents throughout his career, yielding an awful .199/.280/.338 batting line in those situations. Lefties have generally been a problem for Peacock (career .265/.349/.480), as has turning a lineup over for a third time. That said, if his shoulder and neck are healed up from his 2019-20 woes, he could prove a similarly successful minor league reclamation project to Trevor Rosenthal and Greg Holland from the 2020 Royals.

As things stand, there are already a few spots spoken for in the K.C. bullpen. Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont, Jake Brentz and Domingo Tapia all likely have spots locked down. Well-traveled righty Joel Payamps had a solid showing in 2021 and is also out of minor league options, which could give him the inside track on a fifth spot. Gabe Speier and Dylan Coleman were strong in small showings but will likely have to earn a spot in Spring Training (whatever form that takes). At the very least, there appears to be an opening for a veteran swingman — a role with which Peacock is quite familiar.