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Twins Sign Jason Castro

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The Twins announced on Wednesday that they’ve signed free-agent catcher Jason Castro to a three-year, $24.5MM contract, as was initially reported last week. Minnesota, one of the rare teams that discloses financial details of signings themselves, announced that the deal is slightly front-loaded, with Castro set to earn $8.5MM in 2017 and $8MM in both 2018 and 2019. The team’s 40-man roster is now full following the signing of Castro, though they’ll presumably vacate one spot in advance of next week’s Rule 5 Draft, when they have the first overall selection.

Castro, 29, drew strong early interest in a market that featured few immediate, near-regular catching options. With Wilson Ramos carrying a second ACL tear with him into free agency, Castro’s standing was significantly improved — as was that of other top options such as Matt Wieters, Kurt Suzuki, and Nick Hundley.

[Related: Updated Minnesota Twins Depth Chart]

Aug 23, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro (15) enters the dugout before playing the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. The Pirates won 7-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Age was undoubtedly a factor that worked in Castro’s favor, but he also intrigued with his blend of left-handed power and reputation as a framing guru. Though he has never returned to his breakout 2013 levels of production at the plate, and is deficient in the on-base department, Castro has hit double-digit home runs in each of the last four seasons and has historically posted approximately league-average power (in terms of isolated slugging).

In the defensive department, Castro has consistently rated as one of the game’s best at winning borderline strikes for his pitchers (by measure of both StatCorner and Baseball Prospectus). Though he’s average in other regards behind the plate, that leaves Castro as a top-quality run preventer, at least if one accepts the more aggressive assessments of pitch framing’s capacity to impact run expectancy.

There are plenty of limitations to his game, too, of course. Most notably, Castro carries only a .215 batting average and .291 OBP over the past three seasons. There’s a lot of swing and miss to his game (32.7% strikeout rate last year), though he can take a free pass and just boosted his walk rate to a career-best 12.0% in 2016.

With proper platoon usage, though, those problems can perhaps be offset. Castro hit just .149/.237/.241 last year when facing southpaws, but posted a much more useful .231/.331/.426 slash over his 279 plate appearances against righties. Those numbers mirror his career marks, which suggest there’s little reason ever to send him out without the platoon advantage.

For the Twins, Castro represents the first major acquisition of a new-look front office led by Derek Falvey and Thad Levine. With Kurt Suzuki departing this winter — bringing with him a glove that framing metrics were not fond of — that pair set out to find a replacement. Falvey and Levine evidently believe in the value of pitch framing, targeting Castro and staying on him even as the price tag moved to a fairly lofty level.

Minnesota will presumably pair Castro with John Ryan Murphy, who was picked up last winter in hopes he’d turn into a quality receiver. Though the 25-year-old scuffled badly at the plate in the majors, and hit just .236/.286/.323 in his 290 Triple-A plate appearances, he has shown more bat in the past and is considered a highly-talented framer in his own right. The club also just added Mitch Garver, another right-handed-hitting backstop, to the 40-man roster, so he’ll provide another option.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the signing (Twitter links), and Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweeted the exact guarantee. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Twins Hire Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer, LaTroy Hawkins As Special Assistants

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The Twins announced on Monday that they’ve hired Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer and LaTroy Hawkins as special assistants in the team’s baseball operations department. (La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported last week that the trio would likely be hired in that very role.) Each of the three will be in Spring Training this year and will serve “as a resource for players and coaches in the mental and fundamental aspects of the game,” according to a team press release. The trio will also be visiting Minnesota’s minor league affiliates throughout the season, where they’ll work in an instructional capacity with the team’s young talent. Hunter, Cuddyer and Hawkins will also work with Twins executives and coaches “to ensure development in player understanding of culture, talent evaluation and organizational vision.”

At the introductory press conference for new chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and new general manager Thad Levine, the latter spoke highly about the impact that former Rangers star Michael Young had on the organization upon joining the Texas front office in a similar capacity to the roles that Hunter, Cuddyer and Hawkins will be taking on with the Twins. While both Falvey and Levine were billed as more modern, statistically savvy executives to help bring the Twins up to speed in that department, the duo also emphasized the importance of veteran leadership and organizational culture in their first formal sit-down with the Twin Cities media. Today’s hirings certainly mesh with those principles.

Each of the three now-former players has retired within the past year, and each was a mainstay on the Twins’ roster at one point in his career. Hunter played parts of 12 seasons with the Twins, beginning with a one-game cameo in 1997. From that point through the 2007 season, Hunter won seven Gold Gloves and made a pair of All-Star Games. He cemented himself as one of the most productive Twins in franchise history along the way, and upon reaching free agency for the final time, elected to sign a one-year deal with the rebuilding Twins to play out the final season of his illustrious career back where it all began.

Cuddyer was a teammate of Hunter’s for most of that first run and enjoyed his own 11-year run with the Twins to open his career before testing free agency following the 2011 season. Cuddyer was a member of each of the Twins’ six American League Central Division Championships from 2002 through 2010 and drew praise in Minnesota, Colorado and New York for his clubhouse leadership as a player before retiring last winter.

Hawkins, whose hiring was first reported by Neal more than a week ago, spent the first nine seasons of his career in a Twins uniform after being drafted by the Twins in the seventh round back in 1991. He struggled as a starter for more than half of that tenure but blossomed as a reliever in the final four years of his time with Minnesota, serving as a dominant setup man for the first two of the team’s division titles.

Twins Say They Won't Trade Brian Dozier Without Excellent Return

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  • The Twins are telling potential trade partners they aren’t looking to deal Brian Dozier unless they get an excellent return, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets. Whatever their new front office’s actual intentions, it’s not surprising they would take that position — Dozier hit 42 homers last year and is signed to a reasonable deal through 2018, so his trade value should be quite high, and they could certainly wait to trade him if they wanted to. The Dodgers have reportedly had interest in Dozier recently, although a trade does not appear imminent between the two teams.

Twins Have Been In Touch With Justin Masterson

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  • Law praises the Twins for dropping Trevor Plouffe, on the grounds that his underwhelming defense makes him approximately replacement level. Law says he is curious to see whether the Twins will now turn to Miguel Sano at third base, since he is heavy for the position and has not been a good defender at the position throughout his career. (UZR and DRS rated Sano around average in 376 big-league innings at the position in 2016.)
  • The Twins have been in contact with free agent righty Justin Masterson, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets. That’s not surprising, since new Twins head of baseball operations Derek Falvey previously worked with Masterson in the Indians organization. Masterson, formerly a solid big-league starter, had an underwhelming 2016 in the Bucs organization while fighting his way back from shoulder trouble, posting a 4.85 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 59 1/3 innings covering two minor league stops.

Twins Notes: Hughes, Dozier, Payroll

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  • Brian Dozier is drawing interest from other teams but the Twins aren’t looking to tie Phil Hughes’ contract to Dozier in trade talks, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets.  Hughes still has three years and $39.6MM remaining on the extension he signed with the Twins prior to the 2015 season, and since inking that new deal, Hughes has struggled badly and battled injury problems.  The veteran righty underwent surgery to help alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome last summer, and Hughes believes he can regain his old form now that he’s healthy.
  • While Hughes may not be getting shopped, Berardino also notes (Twitter link) that the Twins aren’t looking to add payroll, even after freeing up some money by parting ways with Trevor Plouffe, Kurt Suzuki and Tommy Milone.  As one rival official puts it, “everyone knows they’re rebuilding.”

No Movement With Dodgers In Dozier Trade Talks

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  • Speaking of Dozier, Berardino also tweets that there isn’t much cooking between the Dodgers and Twins in trade discussions.  “I wouldn’t hold your breath,” one team official tells Berardino about the chances of a deal.

LaTroy Hawkins Joins Twins' Front Office; Torii Hunter Next?

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The White Sox are willing to listen to offers for just about all of their players, and industry sources regard them and the Dodgers as perfect trading partners, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan (Twitter links). Ace Chris Sale, third baseman Todd Frazier and closer David Robertson are among the players Chicago could move, and all of them fit the Dodgers’ needs, notes Passan. Meanwhile, the White Sox like several Dodgers – outfielder Yasiel Puig and prospects Cody Bellinger, Alex Verdugo, Jose DeLeon and Willie Calhoun – so it seems the two sides could line up for some sort of deal this offseason.

Now for some American League notes:

  • Former Twins reliever LaTroy Hawkins has joined the team’s revamped front office as a special assistant, reports Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. And longtime outfielder Torii Hunter, one of the greatest Twins ever, could be next. Hunter told Berardino he has had “several conversations about” taking on a role with the Twins, adding that he and the club “will talk here in the near future.” Hawkins and Hunter, both of whom retired after the 2015 campaign, spent a combined 21 major league seasons with the Twins. Minnesota chose Hawkins in Round 7 of the 1991 draft and Hunter in the first round in 1993.
  • Although the Yankees are on the hunt for starting pitching, they could take advantage of a weak market and shop contract-year right-hander Michael Pineda, Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggests. Even if New York opts against that and only adds to its rotation, Sherman doesn’t see the team going to three years for free agency’s best option, onetime Yankee Rich Hill. New York has shown interest in Hill, Jason Hammel and Derek Holland this week.
  • The Orioles did not add outfielder Mike Yastrzemski or catcher Audry Perez to their 40-man roster Friday, meaning both minor leaguers could end up leaving the organization in December’s Rule 5 draft. Baltimore is at least hoping to retain Yastrzemski, the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Mike Yastrzemski hit just .221/.312/.369 in 385 plate appearances at Triple-A Norfolk in 2016, though injuries negatively affected him. “He had a labrum problem and he also had a core injury that he had to have surgery on, so he’s got a little work to do to be ready for the spring,” said general manager Dan Duquette. Scouts regard Yastrzemski as a potential fourth outfielder in the majors and Garcia as a possible reserve backstop, and Kubatko expects someone to draft the latter.
  • Along with the previously reported Roger McDowell and Frank Viola, Orioles Double-A pitching coach Alan Mills, Cardinals minor league pitching coordinator Tim Leveque and Rangers minor league pitching coordinator Danny Clark are vying to replace the departed Dave Wallace as Baltimore’s pitching coach, per Kubatko. The club is looking to make a hire soon, perhaps as early as this weekend.

Trevor Plouffe On End Of Twins Tenure

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  • While third baseman Trevor Plouffe is disappointed the Twins moved on from him Friday, he saw the writing on the wall after agent Nez Balelo met with the team’s new baseball department heads – Derek Falvey and Thad Levine – last week, per Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. “They probably want (Miguel) Sano to be run out there every day (at third),” Plouffe told Berardino. “This guy has unlimited potential. I hope I was able to help him become a good player. I’m happy they made the decision as quick as they did. It gives me the chance to sign on with somebody else.” Even though he’s fresh off a subpar season, Plouffe shouldn’t have much difficulty finding work – the only better third base options on the market are Justin Turner and Luis Valbuena.

Twins Outright Juan Centeno

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  • The Twins placed catcher Juan Centeno on outright waivers as part of their roster moves today, the club announced.  Centeno hit a respectable .261/.312/.392 over 192 PA with Minnesota last season, easily the most playing time he has received during his four years in the bigs.

Players Added To The 40-Man

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We’ll use this post to keep track of the players being added to their teams’ respective 40-man rosters today, which is the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Players must be added to the big league roster within either four years (if they were 19 or older at the time of their original signing) or five years (if 18 or younger) of their signing year in order to be shielded from selection.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo took a look at some of the biggest names who face roster decisions, though most of those won’t be much in question. At the fringes, teams must also consider the major league readiness of the player, since that factors heavily into whether they’ll be taken and kept. Any drafting team, of course, must keep a player on its active MLB roster for the full season (with certain exceptions relating to the DL) in order for their control rights to vest. Adding a player to the 40-man too early can have its own risks, because it limits flexibility and could require a team to expose that player to waivers if a need arises. With 26-man rosters reportedly under consideration, the Rule 5 draft could be quite intriguing this year, and that may bleed into today’s decisions as well.

Below is a division-by-division rundown of the names that were added to each team’s 40-man roster (plus the various waiver claims that spawned from teams trying to outright players to protect Rule 5-eligible prospects). We won’t delve into each player’s background, but if you’re looking to a little more about the names that were added, I’d highly recommend this tremendous, in-depth examination of each team’s additions by Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper. If you want to see how the moves look in the context of a team’s roster, head over to Roster Resource for your club’s depth chart.

Onto the moves…

American League West

American League Central

American League East

National League West

National League Central

National League East

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