The Twins are in agreement on a minor league deal with right-hander Paul Clemens, reports SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). The Ballengee client was recently released by the Padres. While the 29-year-old won’t factor into Minnesota’s Opening Day roster plans, he can serve as a depth option for an unstable rotation and as a potential long man in the bullpen as well.
[Related: Updated Minnesota Twins depth chart]
Clemens split the 2016 campaign between the Marlins and Padres, logging 10 innings for the former and a considerably larger 61 1/3 inning for the latter. Clemens finished the year in the San Diego rotation and posted solid surface-level numbers down the stretch, recording a 3.67 earned run average in 16 appearances (12 of which were starts).
A bit of a deeper look suggests that Clemens had some good fortune in posting that solid mark, though; his 6.9 K/9 rate, 3.4 BB/9 rate and 40.3 percent ground-ball rate were all worse than that of a league-average starter in 2016. ERA alternatives like FIP, xFIP and SIERA all pegged Clemens for a mark in the 4.80 to 5.00 range. In parts of three big league seasons, Clemens has a 4.89 ERA with 6.3 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in 169 1/3 innings between the Astros, Marlins and Padres.
The Twins are poised to enter the season with a rotation consisting of Ervin Santana, Phil Hughes, Hector Santiago, Kyle Gibson and one of Adalberto Mejia or Tyler Duffey. Well-regarded young righty Jose Berrios was recently optioned to Triple-A, and the team’s rotation depth took a notable hit earlier this month with the news of Trevor May’s Tommy John surgery.
Good call for the Twins. In case multiple starters are injured at once or our bullpen guys don’t prove their worthy of staying in the majors, we’ve got someone to fall back onto.
Not exactly the most groundbreaking deal of the offseason but nice to have extra options.
It’s not
He has no options either so if he is brought up he’ll have to stay on the 25 or be released
Or waived and accepting an outright…
With the twins?
Lol not really
This is a random comment but does any anyone know if he’s related to Roger Clemens? Same last name and both are pitchers.
No relation between the two.
Thanks for clarifying Steve, I always like reading your articles here on MLBTR.
If the Twins can’t afford to compete, why don’t they move. Are their fans willing to watch garbage all the time?