The Twins have non-tendered first baseman C.J. Cron, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic (via Twitter). Righty Trevor Hildenberger was also not tendered a contract, the club announced.
MLBTR had projected Cron to earn a $7.7MM salary in his final season of arbitration eligibility. Hildenberger was not yet eligible for arbitration.
That already seemed like a fairly hefty rate of pay. Any uncertainty in the decision may have been resolved when Cron underwent surgery on his thumb at the tail end of the season, introducing some health questions.
Cron has for the most part been a quality big-league hitter. He was humming along nicely last year before the thumb issue arose. After a rough stretch, he finished his season with a .253/.311/.469 slash and 25 homers in 499 plate appearances.
As for Hildenberger, who’s closing in on his 29th birthday, the past two seasons just didn’t go as hoped. He burned through the upper levels of the farm and looked strong in his 2017 debut. But he was knocked around a bit in 2018 and never caught his breath in a truncated 2019 showing at the MLB level. There’s hope yet that Hildenberger will establish himself as a quality reliever, but he may have to do it elsewhere.
Welcome to Detroit C.J. You’re the type of player Avila will overpay.
Good move he’s not nearly a good enough hitter for first base
Sano to 1B Donaldson to 3B confirmed
Confirmed as a rumor maybe….
Confirmed? You are rather full of yourself.
C.J. will land on his feet.
Cats always do.
Underrated imo. He’s been up and down full time and platooning, but never really given consistent time, and when he did, he hit 20+bombs and batted around .250. Mabye get him cheaper than 7.7 mil. True, there are better first baseman, but I’d rather have him at 7.7 mil than what we overpaid for an oversaturated 1B market aka Eric Hosmer @ 20 mil a year. I bet ya there were thoughts about him platooning, can u believe a 20 mil player platooning? Anways, if I’m a small market team or a team trying to build my way up, I’d go for him, or someone like Jesus Aguliar, not like the Padres acting like big spenders with nothing to show for.
Well said!
I’m not overly surprised on either of these, but I like both players. Hopefully the Twins will make them offers at least. Best of luck to them in any case.
tough, but understandable break for CJ. He’ll get a gig somewhere, but entering this market as strictly a first baseman is tough.
Whatever you say, CROWELL
Cron seems like someone David Stearns would target. Could be a solid replacement and possibly even an upgrade over Thames. I’m guessing he’ll get a 1-2 year deal with an AAV around $5MM.
Brewers, 2 years $10mil for Cron?
CJ > Yankees
Get Trevor Gardenhoser, Mariners! He’d be a great fit.
Tigers have a lot of options for cast off 1st basemen
CJ to Texas?
I throw my hair back, check my nails, baby how you feeling? Twins gonna strike on 1 more BIG BAT!