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Rule 5 Pick Justin Haley Traded To Twins

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The Angels have agreed to trade Rule 5 Draft pick and right-handed pitcher Justin Haley for cash, Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times tweets. His ultimate destination will be the Twins, as Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press and others tweeted. When the Angels announced the deal, however, they announced that they had traded Haley to the Padres. The Padres also acquired first overall Rule 5 pick Miguel Diaz from the Twins, so it seems that Haley was part of that deal as well.

Haley was the eighth pick in the draft from the Red Sox system, and the Twins had already selected a player, Miguel Diaz, by that point. (Diaz is also a candidate to be traded at some point today.) The 25-year-old Haley pitched 146 2/3 innings between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket and posted a solid 3.01 ERA, 7.7 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. He was a sixth-round pick of the Red Sox in 2012.

Twins Interested In Clayton Richard

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  • The Twins are looking at low-cost pitching help and have some interest in Clayton Richard, 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson reports (Twitter link).  After a rough 25-game/14-inning stint with the Cubs last season, Richard was released but posted much better results after signing on with the Padres.  The lefty posted a 2.52 ERA over 53 2/3 innings for San Diego, starting nine of his 11 outings for the team.

Twins Re-Sign RHP Yorman Landa

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  • The Twins have re-signed right-hander Yorman Landa to a minor league deal with an invite to the team’s big league Spring Training camp, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (Twitter link).  Landa was non-tendered to create 40-man roster space last week.  The 22-year-old righty worked mostly as a reliever in his 223 career IP in Minnesota’s system, posting an 2.66 ERA and 8.6 K/9 but he has battled control issues to the tune of a 5.1 BB/9.

Twins Seek Controllable Pitching

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  • The Twins are seeking controllable starting pitching in all of their trade talks, tweets Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Minnesota has reportedly received a number of inquiries on slugging second baseman Brian Dozier, and other logical trade candidates on their roster (in my view) include right-hander Ervin Santana and reliever Brandon Kintzler. Dozier is controlled through 2018 for a total of $15MM, while Santana is guaranteed $28MM through 2018 and has a club option for the 2019 campaign as well. Kintzler quietly had a rebound season in the Minnesota ’pen last year and can be a free agent next winter.

Four To Five Teams Interested In Brian Dozier

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TUESDAY, 6:08am: On the contrary, the Yankees aren’t involved in the Dozier sweepstakes, general manager Brian Cashman told MLB Network Radio on Monday (Twitter link). “I haven’t had any dialogue with the Twins about Dozier. That’s a false report,” Cashman said.

12:48am: The Yankees have checked in on Dozier, though it’s unclear how serious they are about acquiring him, reports Heyman. New York traded for second baseman Starlin Castro last winter, but his recent track record pales in comparison to Dozier’s. Castro hit .270/.300/.433 with 21 homers in 610 plate appearances in his first year with the Yankees and is owed $31MM through the 2020 season.

MONDAY: The notion that the Dodgers have “piqued” the Twins’ interest in trade discussions for second baseman Brian Dozier is “more rumor than substance,” a source told Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). That could change, however, as talks will pick up during this week’s winter meetings, per Wolfson.

In a potentially interesting development, Dozier will attend the meetings in National Harbor, Md., and is scheduled to arrive Monday, according to Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. Dozier will be on hand because of a marketing commitment, not necessarily to help facilitate a trade, but he’ll likely to have the chance to meet with newly hired Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine for the first time. Levine said earlier this week that the Twins would have to be “really inspired” to trade Dozier, but it’s nonetheless easy to imagine the rebuilding club dealing him on the heels of a career year.

While Dozier has been a more-than-steady contributor since 2013, he burst on the national scene in 2016 by becoming just the fourth second baseman to ever reach the 40-HR plateau in a season. Dozier swatted 42 homers, to be exact, and he displayed more than power with an impressive .268/.340/.545 batting line in 691 plate appearances, 18 steals and and a superstar-caliber fWAR (5.9).

As a result of both his stellar production and affordability – he’ll make a combined $15MM over the next two seasons – four to five teams are pushing to acquire Dozier, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The only identified suitor is the Dodgers, whose interest in the 29-year-old has been known since November.

Twins Sign Ben Paulsen To Minors Contract

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The Twins have signed first baseman/outfielder Ben Paulsen to a minor league deal, 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson reports (Twitter link).  The contract contains an invitation to Minnesota’s big league Spring Training camp.

Paulsen was outrighted off of Colorado’s 40-man roster in September and granted free agency after the season.  The 29-year-old saw regular action for the Rockies at first base and in left field in 2015, when he hit .277/.326/.462 with 11 homers over 354 plate appearances, but he appeared in just 39 games last season and spent the bulk of 2016 at Triple-A.  Of Paulsen’s 517 career PA in the bigs, 458 of them have come against right-handed pitching (he has a .758 career OPS against southpaws) and he has significant home-away splits — an .810 OPS at the batter-friendly Coors Field and a .705 OPS on the road.

With Joe Mauer locked into the Twins’ first base job, Paulsen can provide some left-handed hitting depth, or an alternative to Byung Ho Park (a righty bat) or the switch-hitting Kennys Vargas at DH.

Twins, Dodgers Discussing Brian Dozier

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Twins general manager Thad Levine revealed earlier this week that the team would have to be “really inspired” to trade second baseman Brian Dozier. It’s now possible the Dodgers will do enough to wow Minnesota into dealing Dozier, as Los Angeles is aggressively pursuing the slugger and has “piqued” the Twins’ interest, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). The second base-needy Dodgers have been after Dozier throughout the offseason.

Twins Notes: Dozier, Hitting Coach, Ryan

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Second baseman Brian Dozier has drawn trade interest from multiple teams this offseason, but the Twins would have to be “really inspired” to even consider moving him, new general manager Thad Levine revealed to season ticket holders Tuesday (via Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press). “Teams that are trying to win immediately have a lot of interest in (Dozier) and they should,” Levine stated. “He’s an exceptional player, but we view him the exact same way. We don’t have an immediate replacement. No one’s replacing his 42 home runs. Even if he backs off a little bit from that, we don’t have an immediate replacement for that.” The Twins do have a potential in-house successor in Jorge Polanco, but the 23-year-old would have a tough act to follow in the event of a Dozier trade. In addition to the 42 homers Levine mentioned, Dozier slashed .268/.340/.546 and accounted for 5.9 fWAR in 691 plate appearances last season. The Twins don’t seem close to contending, though, and Dozier only has two years remaining on his contract. Those factors have led to plenty of speculation about Dozier’s future as he prepares for 2017 – his age-30 season.

More from Minnesota:

  • New Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey announced the hiring of James Rowson as the club’s hitting coach Friday. “James is someone who possesses all of the attributes of an impact coach and he’s held in high regard by those who’ve had the chance to work alongside him. It was clear to (manager) Paul (Molitor), Thad, and myself that James is the perfect fit for our organization moving forward,” Falvey said. Rowson’s previous experience as a major league hitting coach came with the Cubs from 2012-13. He spent the past three seasons as the Yankees’ minor league hitting coordinator and will now take over for the fired Tom Brunansky.
  • Falvey left room for his predecessor, longtime GM Terry Ryan, to remain with the organization in some capacity. Ryan declined, however, and he explained his decision to Berardino. “I’ve been there 30 years. I think to be fair to everyone that’s there, especially Derek and Thad, I probably need to go elsewhere,” Ryan said Thursday. The 63-year-old Ryan, whom the Twins fired in July, joined the Phillies as a special assignment scout earlier this week.

Twins Avoid Arbitration With Eduardo Escobar

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  • The Twins have agreed to a $2.6MM price tag with infielder Eduardo Escobar, according to Heyman (via Twitter). He had projected at $2.9MM in his second season of eligibility. The 27-year-old had posted two consecutive seasons of above-average production, but limped to a .236/.280/.338 slash over 377 plate appearances last year.
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