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Elliot Soto

Twins Re-Sign Elliot Soto To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have signed infielder Elliot Soto to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He will presumably get an invite to major league Spring Training, though that hasn’t been officially announced.

Soto, 33, signs with the Twins on a minor league deal for the second straight season. In 2022, he got selected to the 40-man roster in June but was designated for assignment a day later without getting into a game. Over 92 games in Triple-A, he hit .223/.320/.342. That production was 19% below league average, as evidenced by his 81 wRC+, but Soto has long been considered a glove-first player. Since he didn’t get into an MLB game this year, his major league résumé remains very slim. He got into three games with the Angels in 2020 and hasn’t made it back into a big league game since.

Minnesota’s infield picture is uncertain at the moment, with shortstop Carlos Correa opting out of his contract to become a free agent and third baseman Gio Urshela having been dealt to the Angels. They are reportedly making an attempt to lure Correa back and also acquired Kyle Farmer as a safety net in case they can’t succeed in that effort. For now, they have Farmer at short, Jorge Polanco at second, Jose Miranda likely at third and Luis Arraez at first. Nick Gordon can play second but also the outfield, then there’s also the wild card that is Royce Lewis, who will be coming back from surgery on a right ACL that he’s torn for a second time. Injuries have been a running problem for the Twins and Soto will give them an sure-handed depth option in Triple-A if they need it. He’s capable of playing anywhere on the infield and has even moved to the outfield on occasion.

15 Players Elect Free Agency

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As the postseason rolls along, players hit minor league free agency daily. It’s customary each offseason for dozens of players to hit the open market, separate from the players who reach MLB free agency at the end of the World Series based on the expiration of their contracts while having six-plus years of MLB service time.

Any player who is not on his team’s 40-man roster at season’s end but has three-plus years of MLB service, multiple career outright assignments and/or seven-plus seasons in the minor leagues has the right to elect free agency. Everyone in today’s group falls under that umbrella. The majority will take minor league deals over the winter, although one or two could find a big league deal as a bench piece or middle-inning reliever.

MLBTR covered 34 players who qualified for minor league free agency last week. We’ll periodically provide updates as plenty more hit the open market, as reflected on the MiLB.com transactions log.

Pitchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Twins Activate Joe Ryan, Designate Elliot Soto

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The Twins announced that right-hander Joe Ryan has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list to start this evening’s game against the Mariners. To create space on the active and 40-man rosters, infielder Elliot Soto has been designated for assignment.

Ryan has missed a bit more than three weeks due to virus issues. The length of his absence necessitated a one-game rehab stint with Triple-A St. Paul, where the righty tossed three scoreless innings last Thursday. He’s now ready to return to the MLB rotation, where he’s made eight starts this season. Through 43 1/3 innings, the 26-year-old owns a sparkling 2.28 ERA with a solid 24.3% strikeout rate. Acquired from the Rays as part of last summer’s Nelson Cruz trade, Ryan was surprisingly tabbed Minnesota’s Opening Day starter and has allowed fewer than three earned runs per nine innings over his first 13 big league appearances.

Soto was selected onto the major league roster yesterday, and he loses his spot after just one game. The 32-year-old didn’t play in last night’s win over Seattle, leaving him without an MLB appearance since a three-game stint with the 2020 Angels. Signed to a minor league deal over the winter, Soto has hit .213/.327/.331 with a pair of home runs in 159 trips to the plate with St. Paul.

Minnesota will likely place the right-handed hitter on waivers within the next few days. Having previously been outrighted in his career, he’d have the right to refuse a minor league assignment in favor of free agency if he passes through unclaimed.

Twins Select Elliot Soto

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The Twins announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Elliot Soto from Triple-A St. Paul. Right-hander Cole Sands was optioned to St. Paul to make room on the active roster, while righty Cody Stashak was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Stashak underwent season-ending shoulder surgery recently.

Soto, a 32-year-old journeyman, made his big league debut with the Angels in 2020 and went 2-for-6 in a brief three-game cup of coffee. Originally a 15th-round pick by the Cubs back in 2010, he’s seen action with the Cubs, Marlins, Rockies, Angels, Dodgers and now Twins over a 12-year minor league career. He was never a top-ranked prospect with any of those teams, although Baseball America at one point rated him as the best defensive infielder in the Cubs’ system.

Thus far in 2022, Soto has appeared in 41 games with the Saints and posted a .213/.327/.331 batting line. He’s a career .262/.341/.371 hitter in 1680 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. The Twins recently lost Royce Lewis for the season when he re-tore the ACL in his surgically repaired knee, and a seemingly minor hamstring issue for Nick Gordon have thinned things out a bit further. Gordon exited Saturday’s game against the Rays early and didn’t start Sunday, though he entered the game in the eighth inning.

Even if Gordon is available to start, Minnesota had been playing with a short bench and a 14-man pitching staff prior to optioning Sands, so Soto will give manager Rocco Baldelli a bit more flexibility.

Cam Bedrosian Elects Free Agency; Mets Claim Jacob Barnes From Angels

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The Angels announced that they have outrighted righty Cam Bedrosian, catcher Jose Briceno and infielder Elliot Soto to Triple-A. Bedrosian has elected free agency in lieu of accepting the assignment. The team also lost righty Jacob Barnes to the Mets via waivers and reinstated fellow RHP Justin Anderson from the 60-day injured list.

Bedrosian, whom the Angels drafted 29th overall in 2010, debuted in 2014 and has been rather successful at times, evidenced by his 3.70 ERA/3.60 FIP across 277 2/3 innings. But the 29-year-old has seen his velocity tumble from the mid-90s to the lower 90s in recent years, including a career-worst 92.3 mph in 2020. Bedrosian still managed a 2.45 ERA/2.92 FIP this season, but he only threw 14 1/3 innings and logged the worst K/9 (6.75) and groundball rate (34.1 percent) of his career. The Angels would have owed Bedrosian a projected $2.8MM to $3MM in arbitration for 2021, his last year of team control.

Barnes is the first acquisition for the Mets since new owner Steve Cohen was approved Friday. The 30-year-old was a fairly effective reliever with the Brewers from 2016-18, but his run prevention numbers have gone off the rails with the Brew Crew, Royals and Angels since then. Dating back to 2019, Barnes has pitched to a 6.75 ERA and walked 4.62 batters per nine over 50 1/3 innings. He did, however, post a 24:4 K:BB ratio and average upward of 95 mph on his fastball in 18 frames in 2020.

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