Phil Hughes’ excellent season with the Twins has been a bright spot in an otherwise bleak season for Minnesota, and his final start on Wednesday had plenty of significance. Hughes whiffed five hitters and walked none, giving him an 11.63-to-1 K/BB ratio on the season — a new Major League record. However, it rained in Minneapolis for a little over an hour after the eighth inning, causing Hughes’ start to end even though he had thrown just 96 pitches. That caused Hughes to fall an unthinkable one out shy of a $500K bonus — an incentive he would have triggered upon reaching 210 innings. As Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com tweeted after the game, manager Ron Gardenhire said Hughes will not pitch in relief this weekend in order to reach the $500K bonus — meaning that poor weather (Hughes also had a Sept. 13 start rained out) will likely cost him half a million dollars. Hughes told Bollinger that he was very aware of what he needed to do Wednesday in order to secure his final contractual incentive but took the terrible luck in stride, saying, “Some things aren’t meant to be.” Hughes did earn $250K worth of bonuses for reaching both 180 and 195 innings, bringing his 2014 salary to $8.5MM.
More from the AL Central…
- Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski tells Chris Iott of MLive.com that the Tigers had scouts on hand to see Yasmany Tomas in the Dominican Republic this past Sunday, but he wouldn’t tip his hand as to whether or not his club was scheduling a private workout with the slugger. The Rangers and Phillies have both had private workouts with Tomas, who was the subject of MLBTR’s first Free Agent Profile of the upcoming offseason. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes pegged Tomas for seven years and $105MM — a contract that would be a record-setter in terms of total guarantee and average annual value for a Cuban player.
- While the White Sox figure to add to their bullpen this offseason, Jake Petricka has carved out a role as future member of the group, writes Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. The 26-year-old Petricka has seen time in the closer’s role this season, converting 14 of 18 save opportunities and pitching to a 2.88 ERA in 72 innings. While he doesn’t have an elite strikeout rate (6.9 K/9), his 63.9 percent ground-ball rate ranks fifth among qualified relievers. Fellow right-hander Zach Putnam — he of a 1.98 ERA in 54 2/3 innings — also figures to be a bullpen cog for the South Siders going forward, Kane notes.
- Though he was only drafted three and a half months ago, Brandon Finnegan has emerged as a bullpen weapon for the Royals, and assistant GM J.J. Picollo tells Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star that the team won’t rule out Finnegan breaking camp with the team in 2015. The team’s ultimate vision is to use Finnegan as a starter, so it’s more likely that he begins next year at Double-A or Triple-A, McCullough notes. Still, the team plans to replace James Shields internally, writes McCullough, and Picollo refused to put any hard limitations on Finnegan’s trajectory: “I don’t think it’s out of the question that he would start (the season) in the major leagues. … I’m not saying it’s what we’re going to do. But he’ll be given an opportunity to win a job on the team.”
Would be a classy move for the Twins to either pay his bonus or at least do something special for him. That season he gave them was outstanding. And paying out on a bonus that they don’t have to would generate plenty of goodwill within the club and with potential free agents this off-season.
Completely agree. The money is a drop in the bucket and more than made up for by the savings of trading Correia and Willingham, and would generate a ton of good press and goodwll.
Only question is, I guess, are they allowed to do it? (If not, I’d just let him pitch out of the ‘pen regardless of what Gardenhire said.)
can tell you one thing. If they don’t come give him the chance to get that final out Hughes and his agent will definitely remember come contract time.
Hughes signed a contract, delivered wonderfully, and was paid extremely well for his work. The Twins are under no obligation to give him a dime more, nor put him in a position to get an extra out. We ought to remember just how much of a business this is. But it’s a two-way street. As fans, we often gripe about player’s chasing the last dollar. This is a counter-argument. It’s also a wonderful opportunity for the Twins, with Hughes, to do something terrific for the community. Together, they could build a playground, or renovate a local community ball-field, for less than 500K and get a huge PR bonanza. That’s good business as well.
That’s an excellent idea. It would boost both the reputation of the Twins and Hughes. It’s a business and I understand that. However setting up such a situation for charity would be good for both the Twins and Hughes. Whether the Players Association would allow it to happen without recourse is a potential block to the charity idea.
I remember when people said the Twins did a massive overpay on Hughes. I knew he would exceed very well outside of NY (Of course…I and I’m sure no one, was expecting him to set the all time K/BB ratio record. That’s crazy)
I’d say Hughes was the 2nd biggest FA steal last offseason to Nelson Cruz.
Man, a lot of holes for the White Sox this offseason. Hoping to not see another patchwork job done to the bullpen but there are other gaps to be filled on this club still, mainly LF, and no Viciedo is not the answer there- he is a DH at best, and 4 and 5th starters. And I think the Sox would be crazy to go after Victor Martinez. They need to learn from the rapid decline of Paulie and Dunn to see what VMart can wind up being. If they are really talking about pushing to win you cannot make another bad contact that will clog up the lineup for 4 years (ala Dunn). While there are holes to fill you need somewhat younger players to fill those spots, not aging veterans
Not really an accurate comparison with VMart to either Dunn or Konerko who were more power hitters. VMart is more of a contact hitter having a power surge this year. He’d never had a 30+ home run year until now. Much like Miguel Cabrera he’s more of a complete contact hitter who just runs into home runs. VMart is more like former White Sox/Tiger Magglio Ordonez.