The Minnesota Twins wrapped up a fairly-active Winter Meetings with a flurry of activity on Thursday before departing Orlando to return to snow-packed Minneapolis.
The highest-profile of those moves was signing reliever Fernando Rodney to a one-year deal. Rodney, who turns 41 just before Opening Day, is coming off a fairly strong season closing for the Arizona Diamondbacks. His 4.23 ERA last season looks shaky on the surface, but is backed by a 3.03 FIP which adjusts for a sub-standard strand rate (61.1 percent against a career-average of 73 percent).
Rodney signed for $4.5 million with incentives that can drive it up to $6 million for one year, with a team option for the second year with identical terms.
If Rodney was doing what he did in 2017 but was five years younger, he’d have been in line for a longer and more lucrative deal — and most likely both. The track record just isn’t that long for 40-plus pitchers throwing in the mid-90s.
But that’s exactly what Rodney has done, sitting at 94.6 mph on his fastball last year — not far from his career average of 95. He’s completely scrapped his slider — he never used it much in the first place — and is strictly a fastball-changeup guy at this point. He mixes and matches two- and four-seamers according to PITCHf/x on Fangraphs, but for the most part it’s been 60 percent fastballs and 40 percent changeups for pretty much the entire time the technology has existed (since 2007).
Despite his somewhat boring two-pitch mix, Rodney has maintained a double-digit whiff rate for five of the last six years, with his last two years checking in over 12 percent — above his career rate of 11.5 percent. With a 40-year-old reliever, things can fall apart at any time, but there’s no real reason to expect Rodney to become a pumpkin outside of that.
His command has been a bit spotty — 5.1 and 4.2 BB/9 over the last two years — but he’s been over a strikeout per inning for in five of the last six years while inducing grounders at 50-plus percent for eight of the last nine years.
The short answer is this: Rodney gives the Twins protection on the back side of their bullpen, and something they don’t have much of in terms of strikeouts and velocity.
It’s a savvy pickup.
In addition to adding Rodney, the Twins selected right-handed pitcher Tyler Kinley in the Rule 5 draft. Kinley turns 27 in January and has only pitched briefly at Triple-A with poor results.
Kinley reached Triple-A New Orleans in 2016 as a 25-year-old, but posted a 7.45 ERA in 9.2 innings (eight earned runs, 14 runs total).
Kinley is 6-foot-4, 205 pounds and a graduate of Nova High School in Davie, Fla. — the same alma mater as former Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak. Swarzak signed a two-year deal with the New York Mets during the Winter Meetings.
Kinley was listed in J.J. Cooper’s Rule 5 draft preview on Baseball America under the sub-heading of “Flamethrowers with Work to Do,” and the righty is noted as a member of the century club with a “blistering 97-100 mph fastball” which blew away A-ball hitters but was waylaid by command as he moved up the ladder.
If Kinley makes the team, he’ll be the third major leaguer from Barry University. Left-handed pitcher Henry Owens, who was a well-regarded prospect of the Boston Red Sox before recent struggles, is now with the Arizona Diamondbacks while catcher Yan Gomes is with the Cleveland Indians.
The Twins also lost two pitchers in the Rule 5 draft. Nick Burdi was selected with the third overall pick by the Phillies, and subsequently flipped to the Pittsburgh Pirates for international slot money. Luke Bard was selected later in the round by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Burdi was No. 2 on Cooper’s list of prospects, and it’s not surprising that he notes Burdi would most likely be in the big leagues if not for his injury. The 24-year-old righty was cruising at Double-A Chattanooga with a 0.53 ERA and 20-4 K/BB ratio over 17 innings before the injury. His 2016 season was also derailed by injuries, as he pitched just three innings while dealing with a bruised humerus — a very rare injury for a pitcher.
Bard was listed under the subheading of “Nearly Ready Relievers,” and has also been besieged by injuries but came back to post a solid season in 2017. Bard spent most of his season at Double-A Chattanooga (52.1 of his 65.1 innings) before moving to the Red Wings, and overall posted a 2.76 ERA, 99-24 K/BB ratio in 65.1 innings and a WHIP of 1.33. Bard boasts good velocity, but Cooper intimates that the slider can be a bit spotty.
The Twins have selected a player in the Rule 5 draft in three of the last four years, and nine times since 2005.
Per a team release, these are the Twins selections since 2005:
- 2016 – Justin Haley, RHP
- 2014 – J.R. Graham, RHP
- 2012 – Ryan Pressly, RHP
- 2011 – Terry Doyle, RHP
- 2010 – Scott Diamond, LHP
- 2008 – Jason Jones, RHP
- 2006 – Alejandro Machado, IF
- 2005 – Jason Pridie, OF
The Twins have two open spots on their 40-man roster, and will have another one open up if/when they add newly-signed starter Michael Pineda to the 60-day disabled list to start the season.
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