AL Central Notes: Morales, Kubel, Rodon

The Twins’ decision to sign Kendrys Morales is not only a short-term boost to the club but could have long-term benefits as well, writes Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs. While the Twins haven’t been good to this point, they’ve also been better than many expected, and adding Morales could help keep them in contention should other aspects of the team pick up. If not, Morales will become a valuable trade chip come late July. The elements of Morales game that scared other teams — rust and his price tag, specifically — will have faded, making him an above-average bat that can be added for a useful prospect.

Here’s more on Morales and the rest of the American League Central…

• The Twins’ first call to agent Scott Boras regarding Morales came on Wednesday of last week, assistant GM Rob Antony tells Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link). Three days later, the two sides had an agreement in place. Berardino adds that the deal is a testament to GM Terry Ryan’s recovery from skin cancer treatment, as Ryan handled the entire negotiation process on his own without any assistance from Antony.
• Berardino also tweets that Jason Kubel, whom the Twins designated for assignment to clear roster space for Morales, indicated to Ryan that he likely wouldn’t have interest in accepting an assignment to Triple-A Rochester should he clear waivers.
• The White Sox are confident that they will work out a deal to sign third-overall draft choice Carlos Rodon, reports Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com. GM Rick Hahn said that the club went after the top player on its board, and was not deterred by the fact that he is being advised by Scott Boras. “I tend to be an optimistic guy,” said Hahn. “I never anticipate problems. Look, in reality, we have a history with Scott, a positive history with Scott. … A fair amount of this concern, or discussion on how this could be difficult, I think is unnecessary and really not significant to us determining what’s going to happen here.” Rodon’s slot comes with a $5.72MM allotment, but was said before the draft to be seeking a bonus of over $6MM. With a shade over $9.5MM in pool money at the team’s disposal, Chicago could potentially use savings from other picks if it decides to go over slot for Rondon.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.