The Twins announced that they’ve re-signed veteran infielder Adam Rosales to a minor league contract. He’ll report to Triple-A Rochester to open the season.
Rosales, 35, had a huge spring with Minnesota, batting .278/.350/.694 with four homers and three doubles in 40 trips to the plate. He’d hoped to earn a roster spot with the Twins, but Minnesota’s addition of Marwin Gonzalez provided the team ample depth behind Jorge Polanco, Jonathan Schoop, Ehire Adrianza, Willians Astudillo, Ronald Torreyes and the injured Miguel Sano.
Rosales has experience at all four infield positions, so he can bounce around the diamond with the Twins’ top affiliate while waiting to see if an opportunity presents itself at the MLB level. The veteran spent the 2018 season in the Indians organization and tallied 21 plate appearances for Cleveland late in the season. In doing so, he finished out the year on their active roster, meaning that in order for the Twins to retain him without releasing and re-signing him, they’d have had to pay Rosales a $100K retention bonus as an Article XX (B) free agent. It’s commonplace for organizations and veteran players to sidestep that issue; Junichi Tazawa (Cubs), Andrew Romine (Phillies) and John Axford (Blue Jays) have all signed similar deals over the past 24 hours.
In 1807 plate appearances at the Major League level, Rosales is a .226/.291/.365 hitter. He’s spent time with the Athletics, Padres, Rangers, Reds, Diamondbacks and Indians at the MLB level.
Where’s that sweet, sweet Keuchel/Kimbrel news I’ve been waiting for
100K here, 100K there, I guess it adds up eventually…..
I thought he was going to hang up the cleats.
He probably should.