Twins

REPORT: Twins Sign Outfielder Drew Stubbs

According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, the Minnesota Twins have signed outfielder Drew Stubbs to a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training. The team has not yet confirmed the signing.

Stubbs has played parts of eight seasons in the major leagues with six teams — Cincinnati, Texas, Colorado, Atlanta and Baltimore — with his primary exposure to fans in this market coming when he played with Cleveland during the 2013 season. Stubbs has hit .244/.314/.394 in 3,143 career MLB plate appearances while playing all across the outfield.

Stubbs came up as a highly-regarded prospect in the Reds system — peaking at No. 88 on Baseball America’s top-100 list — after they selected him with their first-round pick (eighth overall) in the 2006 draft. Stubbs was part of the trade which sent, among others, Trevor Bauer to the Indians, Didi Gregorius to the Diamondbacks and Shin-Soo Choo to the Reds back on Dec. 11, 2012 and one year later Stubbs was traded straight up for pitcher Josh Outman.

Stubbs has been no stranger to ups and downs over his career. After peaking as a 3.4-win player (via Fangraphs WAR) in 2010, the 32-year-old Stubbs has put together just a pair of 2.0-win seasons in the interim. At Stubbs’ peak, he struck out a lot but had good power and great speed, with peaks in home runs of 22 in 2010 and in steals with 40 the next season. Stubbs was exclusively a center fielder early in his career — and a very good one — but has transitioned into a fourth outfielder-type role as he’s struggled in recent seasons.

In addition to good defense, Stubbs’ calling card over his career has been hitting left-handed pitching. In 952 career plate appearances against lefties, Stubbs has hit .272/.348/.444. Contrarily, he’s hit just .231/.299/.372 against righties. His last good offensive season came in 2014 with the Rockies, when he hit .289/.339/.482 (114 OPS+) over 132 games (424 PA). Since then, Stubbs has hit just .207/.302/.365 in 112 games while shuttling between five teams.

Stubbs’ best bet would be to make the team as a fourth outfielder, with Robbie Grossman spending more time as a DH — especially against lefties.


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