Well, it happened anyway. The Minnesota Twins and free agent third baseman Joe Crede struck an agreement for one year that will net Crede $2.5 million and possibly as much as $7 million in incentives. I realize I’m in a very small majority of Twins fans when I say I really don’t like this deal that much. I think the Twins were already fine with a platoon of Brian Buscher and Brendon Harris at 3B and the addition of Crede very likely means that Buscher will remain at Rochester when spring training ends – delaying his development as a major leaguer yet one more (unnecessary) year.
With lefties Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel in the middle of the lineup, the Twins have been trying to find a right-handed hitter with power since losing Torii Hunter in free agency. Before the start of last season they traded prized pitching prospect Matt Garza to Tampa Bay as part of a package for outfielder Delmon Young who hit just 10 homers in his first season in Minnesota. And while that was a disappointment I fully expect that Young will rebound with a 20 plus homer season for the Twins in 2009 – provided he is the team’s starting leftfielder. Young has wrongly – and quite callously – become a focal point for the Twins failure to succeed and many out there in Twinsland were very vehement about a trade of Young for a third baseman. That would have been sheer stupidity as Young will most definitely become a dynamic offensive weapon and for the first time in many, many seasons the team has multiple capable major league ready outfielders that provide a solid & very deep bench. Besides, the lack of home run production didn’t hurt the team in 2008 – after all they finished third in the AL with 829 runs scored.
The Twins front office, as well as manager Ron Gardenhire, were enthusiastic supporters of this signing, touting his power-hitting numbers and Gold Glove winning defense. Crede did get off to a great start in 2008 hitting 16 home runs and making the All Star game – but he managed just one homer after the All Star break and played sparingly in the second half because of recurring back trouble. He worked out for MLB scouts during an early winter session and Minnesota attempted to negotiate a contract then with no luck. Reportedly Crede’s agent, Scott Boras, wanted a $7 million per year contract and the Twins found that entirely too much – and they should have! Boras also stated (multiple times in fact) over the winter and even into the beginning of spring training that San Francisco was ‘a strong suitor’ for Crede also. I don’t think this was ever the case but rather just a negotiating chip Boras was using to try to get leverage. Why else would Crede have agreed to just $2.5 million and have the rest placed in incentives? Because nobody else was trying to sign him that’s why!
Crede will have an impact on the Twins batting lineup no doubt and his contributions should give the team a few extra wins in 2009. We’ll have to wait and see if his power effect & Gold Glove defense are with us for all of 2009 or discover that playing on the artificial turf of the Metrodome is bad for his back.
Filed under: AL Central, Twins Baseball
