The Twins have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran infielder Adam Rosales, tweets Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The Hilliard Sports Management client has a $1MM base salary on the contract and another $250K worth of incentives available to him. He can also opt out of the deal on March 19 if he hasn’t been added to the MLB roster.
Rosales spent the 2018 season with the division-rival Indians, playing the bulk of the year with their Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, where he hit .239/.313/.445. Rosales came up to the Majors for 13 games in September, though he received just 21 plate appearances. An 11-year veteran, Rosales is a career .226/.291/.365 hitter with at least 580 innings of experience at all four infield positions and a brief bit of work in left field as well.
At first glance, it looks like it’ll be a tough task for Rosales to break camp with the Twins, who already have Ehire Adrianza and Ronald Torreyes on the 40-man roster as utility options. Catcher/infielder Willians Astudillo can also fill in around the diamond, while Tyler Austin offers more pop and a backup option at first base. That said, Rosales will seemingly receive an opportunity to earn his way onto the club as a veteran bench piece and, at the very least, the contract offers him the ability to showcase for other clubs leading up to his opt-out date.
Twins are making some big moves this offseason
Not!
Wow four down votes for saying something that is true, I didn’t know that many front office folks in the twin cities were following mlbtr so closely. Hey guys, try winning the easiest divison in baseball why dontcha?
You got an upvote from me………………………………………………….NOT! Just kidding……………………..NOT! No seriously, I did give you your third NOT upvote. I actually did NOT give you an upvote……..NOT.
Derek?
Surprised it wasn’t Oakland or Texas that signed Rosales, followed by a series of waiver claims shuttling him back and forth between the two.
Great. That really fills our biggest need of closer and top of rotation starter. This is like the Vikings getting another defensive player when they have needed O-Lineman for years and years!
Because a team is unwilling to spend 40MM – 80MM on one player, you think that means they shouldn’t explore depth at 1/40 – 1/80 the cost? Really?
Typical Twins shopping at the lower end and trying to tell their fans they are all in. Just come out and say we don’t want to be competitive we just like to own the team and suck up any revenue and the perks.
Dude, where is your logic? Every team adds last-leg vets on minor league deals before Spring. They obviously don’t see him as a critical piece, and probably not even a piece of the active roster. A minor signing of this sort (for any team) certainly is no indication of where the franchise is headed, nor of a front office’s frugality. Also, if you actually followed the Twins, you would know that the FO has stated to fans just the opposite of your claim, that they aren’t all-in this year. Nothing about your post is correct.
I don’t understand how twin fans can be happy with the front office. What they are really saying is that if buxton/sano/kepler etc don’t have huge years, we are shutting it down for another couple seasons of rebuilding, I for one would not be happy about that considering the state of the division. All you need to do is make the playoffs and then its a roll of the dice. Sitting back and saying well we arent gonna make any big moves because no one is beating the astros/red sox/whoever in the playoffs is such ridiculously pessimistic thinking.
I’m not thrilled with the front office. I think they’ve made same low-risk, cost-effective moves to marginally improve the team. They haven’t ruined anything. But I have to agree: at some point you ought to go all-in. After the surprise ’17, and with it being their third season, there’s pressure for results. This is a hotseat season for the FO.
And I agree with that, the small moves they’ve made have been positive without ruining anything long term, which is why I think, and you may agree, that now is the time to give out a contract of say 3-4 years to Dallas or Craig. It still doesn’t really ruin any long term spending outlays, and it gives you a much better shot in a winnable division without spending prospects until the middle of the season if you’re in it or you keep them if you are not and really they still have a solid team for 2020 then too.
Why doesn’t everyone realize this?
Why doesn’t everyone realize this? It is so obvious
You know, signing 20 guys who aren’t wanted on the MLB roster and have no space to make the roster all to $1M contracts is the same as signing 1 player to a $20M contract in terms of expense. The only difference is you actually want the $20M player.
The expense would be the same if all 20 of those guys made the MLB roster. They wouldn’t.
I wasn’t speaking in specific to this contract as the Twins haven’t signed 20 $1M contracts MiLB or MLB this year, rather the Twins’ overall methodology to sign a of guys who could be viewed as largely redundant with replacement players instead of upgrading to higher dollar players who will likely provide value even if they decline.
The “risk” on longer term top player contracts is blown out of proporation and the front office seems incapable of explaining this to the ownership. You’re going to spend big dollars no matter what. Spending more on fewer players generally means you have a core to build around.
This team typically spends $30-$40M a year on acquired rotation arms, for example.
2014 = $31M (Correia, Pelfrey, Nolasco, Hughes)
2015 = $29.4M (Pelfrey, Nolasco, Hughes, Milone)
2016 = $39.2M (Nolasco, Hughes, Milone, Santana)
2017 = $38.7M (Nolasco/Santiago, Hughes, Santana)
2018 = $45.0M (Hughes, Santana, Odorizzi, Lynn)
None of those pitchers were viewed as front line starters when signed. They were all expected to be mid to back end rotation guys. Some of them weren’t even wanted on the MLB roster after minor decline and the Twins dumped prospects just to be rid of them.
Rosales will opt out of his contract when he doesn’t make the team. The Twins have to do something to restock AAA. They have some depth at pitcher but there’s not much on offense to help when the Twins have injuries. The better prospects are at lower levels.
I’ve been pretty happy with the moves made by minnesota this offseason.
If we’re not gonna sign anyone else (especially a closer) why not make a trade?? Is Jose Leclerc available??