We’ll track the day’s smaller arbitration agreements in this post:
- The Twins have announced a deal with righty Kevin Jepsen. He’ll earn $5,312,500, per the club, which lands nearer to his $5.4MM asking price than the team’s $5.05MM filing. MLBTR had projected him at $6MM, though, so Minnesota will certainly save some cash as against the projection system’s expectations. Jepsen came to the Twins from the Rays on deadline day last summer in exchange for minor league righties Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia. The 31-year-old finished strong, logging ten saves and dropping his already-solid earned run average to a 2.33 mark on the year. Over his 69 2/3 total innings, Jepsen struck out 7.6 and walked 3.5 batters per nine. While the season was a success on the whole, it wasn’t all roses: Jepsen’s K rate dropped (he had struck out better than a batter per inning in each of the prior two campaigns) and he lost just over one full tick on his average heater. Then again, his swinging strike rate was still in the double-digits, and he still ran up his fastball at a sturdy 94.5 mph average. The 31-year-old figures to play an important role in the Twins’ pen before hitting the open market after the season.
I think you mean Jepsen struck out better than a batter per inning instead of a batter every 9 innings.
Nvm. Just got fixed.
I really think he has leadership qualities and I am glad the Twins picked him up last year. I liked him when he was with the Angles and now I like him much better! He has those abilities that will work well as a set up guy or as a closer. And he can actually speak in front of a camera
Could this potentially be the next Joe Nathan?
That’s too bad. Maybe the Reds would have thought of bringing him back,or at least kick the tires. Oh well.