The Twins and Joel Zumaya have agreed to a one-year contract, the team announced. MLB.com's Jason Beck first reported the deal, which could pay the Hendricks Sports client anywhere from $800K to $1.7MM based on incentives.
Zumaya, 27, told Beck that he was weighing "good offers" from three other clubs, but signed with the Twins because they offered him guaranteed money and not a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training. The Tigers were not on his short list, and earlier today we learned the Red Sox and Padres were among the clubs with serious interest.
The flamethrowing right-hander has not pitched since June of 2010 due a fracture in his throwing elbow, an injury he suffered at Target Field and the latest ailment in a laundry list of injuries. In the five seasons since his dominant rookie campaign in 2006 (1.95 ERA and 10.5 K/9 in 83 1/3 innings), Zumaya has undergone five surgeries, including two on his elbow, two on his shoulder, and one on his right middle finger.
A Twins official told Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN.com that they clocked Zumaya at 92-94 during his December workout, which was attended by 20 teams (Twitter link). Zumaya hopes join a Twins' bullpen that lost Joe Nathan but will return Matt Capps and Glen Perkins.
The Twins are now going to the WORLD SERIES, No doubt about it!
Hilarious! Haven’t heard Twins and World Series together in a long time…
If you can’t stay healthy, I guess join the Twins
Richard!!! (you’re not funny)
I agree, the X team is now going to the World Series because they signed Y player is a really lame meme that has been regurgitated over and over again. Worst of all it was neither clever nor funny to begin with.
Have fun watching him sit at home and collect money. He should be fine as long as you don’t allow him to drink from a keg, play Guitar Hero, ride a motorcycle, or lift small boxes.
or throw a fastball
This guy is fun to watch. Will be interesting how much of his velocity he can regain last I read he was in the mid 90’s..we shall see how long he can stay healthy this time.
BREAKING NEWS: Joel Zumaya re-injures right middle finger while flipping off old lady. More at 11.
Nice sign for the Twins…for once.
if this is a nice sign for the Twins, they are going to be bottom dwellers again.
Darn. Liked him for the Padres.
Especially in that ballpark. He would have benefited from pitching half his games at Petco. However, Target Field should also be a good fit for him given how the ball doesn’t sail that much as well the fact that he has some familiarity in the AL Central.
Not really. The last time he pitched a full season, Ronnie Belliard and Casey Blake were on the Indians; Torii Hunter and Rondell White were on the Twins; Angel Berroa and Tony Graffanino were on the Royals; and Juan Uribe and Tadahito Iguchi were on the White Sox. The ALC has changed.
And just for fun: Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ and Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ were on the Billboards top ten songs of the summer. Pirates of the Caribbean was the number one movie in America. George W. Bush was only one full year into his second term. And Cory Lidle (RIP 1972-2006) was still pitching for the Phillies/Yankees.
I’m not saying that he will be healthy for sure. If anything, the odds are more likely against him, given all the injuries that have piled up over the years. All I’m saying is that with the spacious ballpark the Twins have, it should benefit him, even if he may not give up much home runs. The ball doesn’t carry well there, and that should only help Zumaya if he intends on throwing more for contact.
You obviously didn’t read anything after ‘not really.’
I obviously did, as I was just replying to both you and MauerIsSoft. I don’t know what your problem is, but I am just further proving my point and giving my opinion. You probably didn’t read my first sentence which was really the main point of that post.
You’re reply to me had nothing to do with my post. Not a single thing. I would have had to read the first sentence to read the end. I agreed with the first part, but not the second part.
But the thing is, is that my last post was basically more or less the same as the original post I put up, and if you think my post had nothing to do with your post, then why did you reply to my post in the first place?? Plus even if I replied to your post, so what? I don’t see why you have to make such a big deal about it.
But the thing is, is that my last post was basically more or less the same as the original post I put up, and if you think my post had nothing to do with your post, then why did you reply to my post in the first place?? Plus even if I replied to your post, so what? I don’t see why you have to make such a big deal about it.
Lol. I’m not, you are.
Did Zumaya break into your house this morning and piss in your cereal or something? I’ve never heard anything bad about the guy, not getting your hatred for him.
He is rude to the fans and parties a little too hard. Everything I’ve said is fact.
So he hurt your feelings and now you’ll chase him to the ends of the earth? Focusing/obsessing on negative things in life is unhealthy.
Most of all Zumaya also invented the Comic Sans font!
100 pts to you!
also him being hurt for years on end doesnt help. one hit wonder. I never wanted to believe it. His bones are made of glass.
Solid pick-up by the Twins. Not too often they pick up the low-risk/high-reward types. Hope he does well for them.
If the Twins are paying him more than league minimum, he’s high risk.
Hope he can recover, he was awesome to watch. Although I’m not happy about him staying in the division!
Won’t matter. We won’t have to face him while he’s on the DL.
Ill 2nd that! Also getting a little tired of seeing the Tiger fans jumping on the hate wagon over Joel..what gives.
He was an exciting player, and has a lot stacked against him.
I hope this is just a depth move and they’re still planning on signing a bullpen arm such as Dan Wheeler or Todd Coffey. I do like this signing though.
good signing, had no idea he was even on the market.
Hope this doesnt come back to bite the Tigers. Irony: Zumaya last appeared on the mound when he broke his elbow throwing a pitch at Target Field in 2010.
Thanks for 2006, Joel.
I hope the Twins end up in the cellar but Zumaya personally does well/stays healthy.
As a Twins fan, I hope you’re both wrong and right.
And I hope that Verlander somehow ends up needing Tommy John surgery.
The real Verlander btw.
Wow, anyone else you hope has a career threatening injury?
Karma is going to get you…keep that in mind when the doctors inform your family that they had to perform TJ surgery on your elderly grandmother.
I hope Orlando Cabrera gets struck by lightning.
Sad to see a team completely built around injury prone players, should be an interesting year for Minnesota and if they struggle, they have no one to blame but themselves.
Not all of the recent signings are high injury players. Doumit is a solid pick-up and wasn’t expected to be an everyday player to begin with. Marquis is generally a healthy pitcher. Getting hit so hard by a line drive that it broke his leg last season is hardly his fault.
No excuses for Willingham and Zumaya though. Those are certainly in the injury-prone category.
Another great signing. I don’t expect the Twins to really contend with the big boys of the AL next season but they are clearly focused on addressing specific team needs. It’s good to see!
How is Zumaya addressing anything?
I think the theory is that he will prevent injuries to everyone else by getting there first.
Tapir? What!?!?!? lol
Wow you must really loving eating those sour grapes! Twins bullpen was atrocious last year. If zumaya is indeed throwing in the low to mid 90’s he’ll be a welcome addition. There’s risk but the reward could be worth it!
He throws 92-94, has no control, and can’t stay healthy. If anything, it’s a low risk/no reward.
throwing 92-94 right now shows that he can probably throw 98-99, and his curveball should be fine. Of course he’s likely to be injured, that’s why he got 800k. But if he stays healthy he could be a 5m arm for 1.7m. I’m confident you don’t have the authority to say that he has no chance to be healthy.
And I’m confident you don’t have the authority to say that he has a chance to be healthy. This is a two way street.
you are just completely negative. How could there be no reward? Its low risk with only good potential.
I’m negative towards Zumaya because he has not shown me anything to be possitive about.
But is this twin really the end of the world for the twins fans? If he doesnt pan out doesnt its not like they gave him 6yr/150 mil Last i checked the bullpen kinda was awful last year for the twins and they werent about to pursue Fielder. Good signing and could bring some good late innings work
If he stays healthy enough to throw 35 IP out of the bullpen next season he’ll already be an upgrade over the MIN bullpen of 2011.
I’m telling you, there is a very good chance that won’t happen. He’s only done it twice and one of those times was 38.1 IP.
Carroll, Doumit, Marquis, Willingham, Zumaya – this is a nice list of high upside signings here.
Terry is that you?
As long as Mr. Ryan is addressing team needs without blocking the potential of our young players in the near future, I am happy. If every need is addressed they will have no choice but to improve on last years debacle. 2012 Draft is going to be huge for the Twins, they have 7 TOP 100 picks as well as the #2 overall pick. It’s been a long time since the Twins have picked this high and this often.
Better pick a power pitcher with that second pick.
Plus you all got Matt Maloney, Jared Burton and Daryl Thompson from my Reds. All servicable ML arms.
…who apparently had no role to fill on a team like the Reds that appears to be in “go for it this year mode”. Tells me all I really need to know about them, I’m afraid. As a Twins fan, this puts me in the position of hoping the GM of some other team is an idiot.
Hey Joel,
Hire some movers for your move to Minneapolis.
matt capps isn’t even a good batting practice pitcher,how does that fat turd still collect a mlb paycheck?
Although I think the Twins overpaid to get Capps (Wilson Ramos) and overpaid him to play this year (4.75mil), he isn’t worthless. He has a career ERA of 3.51 and was pitching injured last season. He isn’t much more than a 1.0 WAR a season guy, but that is not worthless.
not to mention he had a good season as soon as one season ago
I don’t know. On one hand I like that they are trying to get more power pitchers in the bullpen to break away from the one dimensional rotation. But do you really want to trust the Twins training staff with a guy with this kind of injury history? That just seems like a terrible mix.
I know the Twins want their bullpen to be more like the Tigers’, but that does not mean they should go out and sign former Tigers pitchers.
And lastly, free Anthony Slama.
Free Anthony Slama? Given that he passed through waivers a few weeks ago, that does indeed sound like his market-correct pricetag; but I don’t see a good reason to give him away to the first taker.
*facepalm*
Anothony Slama sucks! He was claimed off waivers by the Rays and given back to the Twins because he….wait for it….sucks!
How exactly does a guy that’s had an excellent minor league track record, and all of 7 innings in the major leagues, “suck”? It honestly feels like the Twins don’t trust his stuff, which is rather disappointing to see. Plus, as far as I know, he was never claimed by the Rays. Keep on making up the truth.
Truth is, Slama is more deserving of a spot than Alex Burnett or Lester Oliveros. The only thing that kept him from a September call up was an injury.
But you are right. It was Rob Delaney that was claimed by the Rays. As far as I can tell Slama never was claimed by anyone on waivers.
Dude. That was Rob Delaney. Look up your facts.
Also, Slama is better than Burnett, Oliveros and pretty much everyone else in the BP not named Perkins.
BTW Slama’s minor league numbers In 5 Minor League Seasons.
2.08 ERA, with 2 consecutive seasons under 3 at AAA
12.2 K/9
3.8 BB/9
3.17 K/BB
185 H in 286 IP
And a 1.07 WHIP
The Twins fans will have fun watching the Twins fail and also watch Joel Zumaya blow out his arm for the 20th time in his career
so says the bitter Tigers fan.
Its hard not to be bitter when you consider how the Twins have dominated this rivalry.
I think the key here is the “non-guaranteed” part of his contract. It isn’t listed here, but other reports are saying that they can get out of the contract before the season if it doesn’t look right during spring training.
Even if they do make it our of spring training with him, 800k isn’t much for a BP arm.
My God there are a lot of negative posts on this thread. This is a great low risk/high reward signing for the Twins. Yes, everyone know he’s injury prone, yes everyone knows the injury bug hit the Twins hard last year. Should I feel proud that people need to point that out over and over again?
Let’s leave the discussion to Zumaya.
The problem is, the Twins FO is trying to compete but are going about it the wrong way. Truthfully, the team might need to go into a rebuilding period, build up the farm system and wait for players like Gibson, Arcia, Benson and Parmelee to come up and make the team solid.
But right now, the Twins moves seem to be contradictory. On one hand they sign a 38 yr. old utility infielder to be the everyday SS which seems like a rebuilding move. But then they go and sign a slugger to a heft contract which seems more like a win now move.
Honestly, I believe that Terry Ryan was brought back originally with the intent to build up the farm system. Perhaps that was the best thing he did during his original tenure. But of course with the new stadium and the $100 Million payroll, they need to put at least a decent team on the field to keep interest alive.
Its not hopeless though. If the Twins have one thing going for them, its that nobody in the Central has improved. The Tigers added Dotel, but still have a few holes of their own. The Indians only added Derek Lowe and re-signed Grady Sizemore. The White Sox actually regressed this year. And the Royals standing will depend on how much their prospects improve.
There are still a lot of ifs, but if the Twins catch a few lucky breaks, say an injury to a certain Tigers pitcher, then they might actually find their way back to the top of the Central.
Who did the Twins sign to a heft contract? Willingham? If the Twins did resign Cuddyer, they were going to get Willingham. That contract was 3 years, 21 million. You do realize this team is not much different than the team that won the division 2 years ago. Injuries decimated this team last year. If they stay healthy they can win 80+ games easily.
There is another thing that I have read elsewhere. I think it was on the Star Tribune.
Zumaya still hasn’t had a physical yet and they don’t plan on having one until later this week. So there is still a possibility this deal falls through.
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I really dislike all of the Twins/Tigers fans bickering at each other. Let’s be classy fans, people…
^^ HERE HERE. You guys need to stop acting like a bunch of haters & whiners..leave that to the WhiteSox fans.
I don’t mind taking a chance on this guy…the Twins aren’t winning a word series this year anyway, so why not see if he can stay healthy and flip him to a contender at the deadline?