The Twins have declined a $5.5MM mutual option on veteran right-hander Alex Colome, tweets Dan Hayes of The Athletic. He’ll instead be paid a $1.25MM buyout and return to the open market in search of a new opportunity.
Colome, 32, joined the Twins after spending two years as the primary stopper for the division-rival White Sox. He got out to a dismal start in April and had a rough final month few weeks, but from May 1 through early September was generally strong (3.06 ERA, 56.5% ground-ball rate). Of course, the unsightly bookends on his season can’t be overlooked, and Colome’s lone year in a Twins uniform will culminate in 65 innings of 4.15 ERA ball with a 20% strikeout rate, a 7.9% walk rate and a 53.7% ground-ball rate.
While it’s certainly a respectable overall season for Colome, that 4.15 ERA is a far cry from the 2.27 mark he posted with the South Siders from 2019-20. That much shouldn’t come as a total surprise, as Colome’s excellent run with the Sox was largely fueled by a microscopic .211 average on balls in play that he never figured to repeat. Colome’s 20.9% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 47.2% grounder rate are all at least loosely in line with what he gave to the Twins, but this year’s .305 BABIP from Colome fell more in line with the league average than during his time with the Sox.
The Twins likely weren’t counting on Colome to replicate that low-2.00s ERA, rather seeing him as a potential bargain late in the offseason last winter. The fact that Colome settled for a one-year deal of this nature even after that shiny ERA and an AL-leading saves total from 2019-20 suggests that the rest of the market was similarly bearish on his chances of repeating the feat.
Colome will join the middle tiers of a free-agent market that lacks too many high-end options. Raisel Iglesias is in his own tier as the clear No. 1 reliever in free agency, with breakout righty Kendall Graveman perhaps leading the second tier of options. Colome didn’t find a multi-year deal last winter, so it’s possible he’ll ultimately sign another one-year pact this time around.
As for the Twins, they’ll be on the hunt for additional arms both in the rotation and in the bullpen. Closer Taylor Rogers saw his season end in July due to a strained ligament in his pitching hand, but if his health outlook is clear then he should return to hold down the fort in the late innings again. Veteran Tyler Duffey, flamethrowing 26-year-old Jorge Alcala and graybeard lefty Caleb Thielbar should all have roles in that late-inning mix next year, too, but the Twins figure to bring in at least one arm — if not multiple arms — in order to bolster that group.
Bye. Thanks for nothing.
If the Twins turned it down that means he accepted it. He was like “I want to come back to the Twins!” The Twins were like, “No!”
Not super shocking he’d try to opt in. He had a couple ok months but overall was a disaster. He was a humongous part of the twins stumbling out of the gate. And his April ERA was saved by like 3-4 runs not being “earned” because he himself made an error. Just a horrible signing for the twins
Not necessarily. It’s probably likely the Twins in this case would have to notify Colome of their intention first because of the wording around the option. The contract as reported when signed stipulated that if the Twins exercised the option, but Colome declined, the $1.25M buyout is forfeited. That means if Colome made the first move and notified the Twins he was declining the option, the Twins could immediately accept the option. The 2022 contract is still canceled as one of the parties in the mutual option declined, but the Twins would also save $1.25M on the buyout.
I think it’s likely Colome would have accepted the option, and maybe he did, but his agent almost assuredly would force the Twins to make the first move to avoid any screwup on the buyout.
I think I read on this site that players have to pick up or decline the option first before the teams does. My guess is he figured they would decline but still wanted the 1.25 so he picked up his end.
Yes. I’m sure the process is clearly outlined to prevent the player from accidentally losing his buyout.
He single-handedly sunk their contending chances at beginning of the season
I think their offense not producing like they should and defense also had a hand in going from contenders to flops.
Is no one going to mention their starting pitching ? Lol
Be honest. It was a group fail.
Here is another buy low candidate in free agency that has the potential to bring a big payoff at the trade deadline. I hope my Rangers are in on him.
My Rangers have a shrewd history of grabbing these guys and cashing them in, going all the way back to Eric Gagne, who netted us David Murphy. Last year, it was Ian Kennedy, who helped net us Spencer Howard.
He pitched well in the last month or so, definitely a good buy low candidate.
2022 Phillies closer
He didn’t do bad down the stretch. 3.47 ERA/3.45 FIP from July onward. Might be a good buylow candidate for a club with a few good bullpen arms already looking to add a reinforcement or two, or a rebuilding club.
DUDE SUCKED!! I don’t believe his stats tell the whole story, I swear, every time he came in with runners on, they scored – run gets charged to other pitcher(s). I wanted him off the Twins by April 30th, 2021.