2:50pm: The Twins have announced the signing.
Jan. 14, 12:05pm: Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweets that Parker is not actually guaranteed $3.2MM but rather can max out his contract at that level. He’ll be guaranteed $1.8MM and will earn $500K upon spending 130 days on the active roster, another $400K for reaching 140 days and $250K for reaching both 150 and 160 days. Minnesota has yet to formally announce the deal, though Rosenthal suggests that could happen today (Twitter link).
Jan. 7, 5:13pm: Parker and the Twins have agreed to a deal, per Rosenthal (via Twitter). He’ll receive a $3.2MM guarantee if his physical checks out.
4:21pm: A deal is indeed close at hand, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (via Twitter), who says the sides are closing in on a pact that’ll promise Parker “slightly more than $3MM” on a one-year term.
1:00pm: Free-agent right-hander Blake Parker is close to finalizing an agreement, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Twins are “believed to be” his landing spot, Rosenthal adds.
Parker, 33, was somewhat surprisingly non-tendered by the Angels in late November. He’d been projected to earn a fairly modest $3.1MM salary, which seemed more than reasonable for a pitcher who’d notched a 2.90 ERA (3.55 FIP) with 10.5 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9 and 22 saves in 133 2/3 innings with the Halos from 2017-18. Parker did see his velocity drop by a bit more than a mile per hour, averaging 93.5 mph on his heater in 2017 but 92.2 mph in 2018, and his swinging-strike rate also took a downturn (13.8 percent in 2017; 10.7 percent in 2018).
Those red flags may have turned the Angels away, but Parker nevertheless posted solid numbers last season and would bring an experienced arm with recent success to the Twins’ bullpen mix — perhaps for the next two seasons. Parker only has four years, 36 days of MLB service time, meaning the Twins (or any team) could sign him to a one-year deal and then retain his rights next winter through the arbitration process.
Presently, the back of the Minnesota ’pen will feature veteran Addison Reed, whose 2018 season was marred by elbow issues, as well as Trevor May and Taylor Rogers — both of whom finished out the season in impressive fashion. May turned in a 36-to-5 K/BB ratio through 25 1/3 innings in his return from Tommy John surgery, while Rogers rode a newly adopted slider to 28 consecutive scoreless outings and a 29-to-3 K/BB ratio (26 innings total). Righty Trevor Hildenberger, too, should get another look despite fading considerably in the second half. Hildenberger turned in a 3.27 ERA with 8.9 K/9, 2.0 BB/9 and a 52.5 percent grounder rate through his first 87 MLB innings from 2017 through this year’s All-Star break but was clobbered for 27 runs in 27 innings in the second half of the 2018 season. Minnesota has several in-house options who could also be in the mix, but there’s certainly room for a veteran addition or two, as well.
He’s been using Ricky Nolasco’ glove for almost two seasons now so it makes sense
Hearing Nolasco’s name makes Twins fans vomit.
More like Ricky Fiasco.
+1 because you lived up to your name
he had a better career than u
I admit that was funny. As a Twins fan, that Nolasco/Pelfrey experiment still hurts to think about.
Weird the Angels would non tender him.
“Somewhat surprisingly nontendered”?? Nice reporting. Great move Angels. This was a scary guy to watch every time he came in. Inherited runners?!! This guy couldn’t hold his own breath.
There’s a problem when guys like this are non tendered.
And no one tried to snag him up until now
For the exact same money….
Hence why Minnesota signed him. Cast-offs…has-beens and over the hill guys are how they roll. The richest owners in baseball yet they don’t spend diddly on players that can make a difference. All they do is tread water.
He was non-tendered because he couldn’t hold leads.
considering the volatility of relief pitchers, he may pich very well.
Nice pickup, now all we need to do is sign Cody Allen.
I would like to see that as well , or Herrara.
Herreras gone to the White Sox I guess
This should have been Herrera instead. Twins have money to spend but go on the cheap. Smh
Cheap? After they overachieved in 2017, they offered Yu Darvish 100 million. Exactly what did you see on the field in 2018 that makes you think that they should be opening the vaults for 2019? 2019 is all about getting Buxton, Sano and Kepler back on track. Signing someone like Herrera does not accomplish that goal.
If at least two of the three underachievers provide anything in the first half and they are contending, THEN they can take a shot and give up some assets.
The Twins have money to spend, and spending money on a guy who can lock down a lead is easily justifiable, regardless of performance in prior years. If the players you mentioned play up to their capabilities, only money (short-term asset, in this situation) has been given up to lock down the back end; prospects (long-term asset and critical to any future success for small- to mid-market teams) would need to be sacrificed to improve the bullpen at the deadline.
Also, if Buxton, Sano, and Kepler do not play to their capabilities and the team is not in contention in July, then the dollars spent to acquire the closer can be converted into prospects.
The Twins have a core of young players that need to develop, but if they take that step forward in the first half of the season, moves like this (rather than signing a Kelvin Herrera or David Robertson, for example) are more likely to put the team in a position to sacrifice future success by spending prospects.
yes a lot of teams spend money to make prospects at the middle of the next season and it makes good sense, like buying draft picks.. except even better, they have a “professional” history you can see.
Offering Darvish 4yrs and $100M was cheap. There was almost no possibility he would have signed at that figure so making the offer was an exercise in fan service. He was asking for $180M, projected at $160M and got $126M with incentives up to $150M.
2019 is about trying to figure out what assets the Twins actually have. They’ll have about 15 absolute question marks on the roster when the break Spring Training.
Buxton and Sano both look like their careers are just about over. They’re both non-tender candidates after this year if they perform like last year.
If the front office doesn’t know what they have , they need to get a better front office: there is a reason some teams seem to develop prospects at higher rates: they correctly identify the good ones and trade off what they can of the rest..
No argument from me. I think Falvey and Levine have a maximum of 1-2 years of leash left.
They haven’t addressed the team’s absolute known needs very well. and they’ve spent too much time being indecisive rather than sacrificing potential for known quantities.
If Buxton and Sano flop this year, Falvey should be canned.
I have no idea why it’s always Falvey-Levine. They had Terry Ryan before, NYY has Cashman, every team puts the responsibility on the GM,(except when ownership weighs in). I don’t get the siamese twins (pun intended) reference to the Twins role in decision making.
They said the titles didn’t really matter, that they were a cooperative when it cam to decisions.
And with the (ongoing) state of their bullpen Cleveland didn’t feel it necessary to pursue this guy?
no need to if they dont trade thier starting core
Sure..that worked out real well last year.
He’s certainly bounced around a lot throughout his career. No one wants him and everyone wants him. Hope his next stay is a long one.
“Fairly modest $3.1 million salary”, huh? Not exactly a regular worker making $15 an hour.
Modest, relative to performance.
How much are Pat Neshek, Tommy Hunter earning?
And that’s after excluded all Coors’ Relievers.
This dude Blake Parker had a “2.90 ERA (3.55 FIP) with 10.5 K/9, 2.4 BB/9, 1.3 HR/9 and 22 saves in 133.2 IP” projected to earn just over 3M — modest after his 2018.
I read that too…and clicked the link
Seriously….
Don’t watch games if you think the players make too much. Fairly modest is obviously in a comparison to major league salaries, not to the salaries of the rest of us.
Lol the angels have no clue what they are doing. If Trout doesn’t leave after the next 2 years I would be very very surprised.
I was surprised that he was DFA, too. Parker is okay but not for a late inning reliever. He was decent in the last six weeks of the season when started to throw his curveball more. He had been mostly a fastball, changeup pitcher. He gave yp too many
Up too many homers and walks so his ERA was up along with his strand rate.
Most importantly, he only has a two year record with the second year trending down. He won’t be missed.
These are the types of comments that are made when people just look at stat lines but didn’t watch the games. Parker was “serviceable” but not worth 3 million.
He wasn’t worth 3 million dollars. However, the Angels needed to triple that salary and find RPs that were worth it.
So far… no good.
As far as Trout, I would be surprised if he left, not shocked, but surprised. He likes it here and the Angels need him to open a new park. Or at the very least, a completely renovated park.
Still shocked to see the Angels, whose bullpen isn’t great by any means, let him go. I actually enjoyed watching him pitch. Reminded me a bit of Troy Percival. Good luck to him.
Good for Parker, a guy who stuck around and really earned his shot in this game. Hope he does well for the Twins.
A guy you love to root for! Lives in a trailer too ! Not a closer, but an above average 7th\8th inning guy for only 3 mil. Nice!
The Orioles signed both Machado and Harper but they failed their physicals…….
Uh, sure.
Hahahahaha!
Just wait til next year when the twins don’t have a single dollar committed to guaranteed salary. They will try and buy a world series. and hopefully sell the team to an old school baseball fan
The Pohlad family isn’t going to sell the team. If anything, they’re grooming the next generation of the family for ownership. I also doubt that the Twins would ever spend enough to buy a World Series title.
Carl Pohlad bought the team from an old school baseball fan. That old school baseball fan’s way of running the team would never fly in today’s game.
If you want to watch old school baseball, I suggest watching an independent league team….the sport is not going back to the old ways.
Parkers FIP last year was 4.4.
For an RP, he’s not missing bats and gives up a lot of HRs. I wish him well, he’s a GREAT guy. But the Angels plan was to use that extra three million, add six or seven million a year for two or three years and get a really good RP. It didn’t work out. You are not going to outbid teams that want to overpay for relief pitching.
The Angels have a lot of work to do in the pen, since they were in on Britton, Miller and Robertson, they know it.