Christmas may be over, but the Twins got themselves a late gift. On Thursday morning, reports surfaced that Minnesota had signed free-agent designated hitter Nelson Cruz to a one-year deal worth $14 million in 2019 and with a $12 million option for ’20. It’s a modest commitment to one of the game’s more reliable bats for a lineup in desperate need of power.
A big part of Minnesota’s slip from wild-card team in 2017 to 84 losses last season was the offense falling on its face. The Twins went from being the seventh-highest scoring team in the bigs in 2017 at 5.