Teams will officially offer arbitration or non-tender their arbitration-eligible players by 7:00 tonight. The other option is to agree to terms before the deadline. 

 

 

Here are the Twins arbitration-eligibles with MLB Trade Rumors' projections:

 

Twins (10)

Sam Dyson – $6.4MM
Ehire Adrianza – $1.9MM
C.J. Cron – $7.7MM
Trevor May – $2.1MM
Eddie Rosario – $8.9MM
Miguel Sano – $5.9MM
Byron Buxton – $2.9MM
Taylor Rogers – $3.9MM
Tyler Duffey – $1.1MM
Jose Berrios – $5.4MM

 

 

Dyson was previously released.

 

The Twins announced that Ehire Adrianza agreed to a guaranteed $1.6 million deal for 2020. (remember, arbitration contracts are not fully guaranteed until late in spring training)

 

Keep up with more moves here and discuss any that they make. Of course, the decision everyone is wondering about is CJ Cron. 

The Twins reached an agreement with Adrianza last year on a last-day deal... 

Will go on record Seth, and predict that the Twins will retain Cron.  Don't know if they will offer arbitration or finalize a one year deal prior to 7pm?  But expect he will be their firstbaseman next season.

 

Will go on record Seth, and predict that the Twins will retain Cron.  Don't know if they will offer arbitration or finalize a one year deal prior to 7pm?  But expect he will be their firstbaseman next season.

 

I kind of think they could re-sign him for quite a bit less if they non-tender him and start negotiations once he finds other offers lacking as a free agent.

I think they'll try to work out a lower deal for him... I would tender him, but my guess is that they will non-tender him if they don't reach an agreement. 

I'm predicting a 1 year deal for Cron for $6MM. 

I'm hoping and thinking they will retain Cron. 5.5mil

 

Nice to see Adrianza signed. He's been a great team player imo.

I hope they make a deal for Cron and then use him as trade bait. 

 

I hope they make a deal for Cron and then use him as trade bait. 

I don't like that approach to dealing with players. They are real people with lives and that is just a mean way to run a business.

I don't like that approach to dealing with players. They are real people with lives and that is just a mean way to run a business.

Plus they probably wouldn't get much for him at his arbitration salary.

I will jump in the guess CJ Cron's arbitration salary with 6.6M prediction.

Cron non-tendered

 

2 years in a row non-tendered... Good luck to him. I’m okay with this as long as there’s a plan in place to get someone better.

Cron non-tendered

 

https://twitter.com/DanHayesMLB/status/1201643625899151360?s=20

1 of 2 things are going to happen, in my opinion:

 

1. Josh Donaldson is signed to a 2-4 deal with a 20-25 million $ annual rate, and Sano is moved to first base.

 

2. Cron is signed close to spring training at 4-5 million $ for a 1 year contract.

 

I really don’t see a lot of good trade options (lack of decent first basemen in the league). I’m betting Raley gets called up somewhat soon (or makes opening roster) if Cron is kept.

who is the replacement? Marwin not a good enough bat imo. Kiriloff/Rooker with the early edge?

I am surprised by this in light of the Moustakas contract. I think it's more likely that Sano will open the season at 3B. Maybe they want to clear a spot for an internal option (Rooker?). This can't only be about money. What's $7 million for a one year deal compared to the risk involved in what it would take to land Donaldson?

 

1 of 2 things are going to happen, in my opinion:

1. Josh Donaldson is signed to a 2-4 deal with a 20-25 million $ annual rate, and Sano is moved to first base.

2. Cron is signed close to spring training at 4-5 million $ for a 1 year contract.

I really don’t see a lot of good trade options (lack of decent first basemen in the league). I’m betting Raley gets called up somewhat soon (or makes opening roster) if Cron is kept.

Sano has 26 ML starts as a 1B, and 6 errors. We might want to think twice about this.

 

Sucks but expected. He’s been lost for a long time. Hope he finds his groove elsewhere!

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/twins-non-tender-c-j-cron.html

 

Hildenberger also non-tendered. I don't understand that one at all. He wasn't even arbitration eligible.

I think the Twins are stashing money to sign a big-time pitcher (Wheeler/Bumgarner/etc). My guess is the Twins front office views Marwin Gonzalez starting the year at 1B as acceptable if they get a big ticket item as a pitcher. Gleeman and Bonnes pretty much nailed this one on their podcast.

 

Sucks but expected. He’s been lost for a long time. Hope he finds his groove elsewhere!

I don't get the timing of this. Why not have done this a week ago and protected Jax? I guess they just don't see Jax in their future plans?

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/12/twins-non-tender-c-j-cron.html

Hildenberger also non-tendered. I don't understand that one at all. He wasn't even arbitration eligible.

I can understand dropping him off the 40 man. So by doing this he can now be picked up by another team? But if not he would be  a non-40 Twin?

Even though I predicted they'd keep Cron, I'm ok with them not doing so right now. Good luck to him, and the Twins.....

 

I think the Twins are stashing money to sign a big-time pitcher (Wheeler/Bumgarner/etc). My guess is the Twins front office views Marwin Gonzalez starting the year at 1B as acceptable if they get a big ticket item as a pitcher. Gleeman and Bonnes pretty much nailed this one on their podcast.

I'm guessing Marwin remains a super utility. I would guess an internal guy gets 1B, or maybe a trade for someone like Trey Mancini.

Well, they are clearing up payroll but I still don't think they'll land someone like Wheeler or Donaldson but dropping Cron's modest salary suggests they will do something.

 

If they end up just letting Gonzalez hold it down, I will not be pleased.

If Hildenberger wasn't in their plans, they should have cut him loose sooner, so he had more time to work out his options.

 

Well, they are clearing up payroll but I still don't think they'll land someone like Wheeler or Donaldson but dropping Cron's modest salary suggests they will do something.

 

If they end up just letting Gonzalez hold it down, I will not be pleased.

Nor would I. Nor would I be pleased if the assumption is that minor-league options such as Raley, Rooker...or even Kirilloff/Larnach ...would be ready to produce offensively in the majors, in a pennant-race year, and at that position.

 

If Hildenberger wasn't in their plans, they should have cut him loose sooner, so he had more time to work out his options.

 

He has as much time as all but a handful of free agents. I'm not sure I get this.

Winter meetings haven’t even happened yet. Hildenberger has plenty of time to sign a minor league deal somewhere. I’d be surprised if Jax is even taken in Rule V, let alone stored on a Major League roster for the entire year. This is a non-issue, in my opinion.

 

Like others, I could have gone either way on Cron. I’d rather they use that money to get a pitcher, but this opens another hole they need to fill somehow. It might also indicate that his thumb isn’t healing how they’d like. I guess we’ll see. Good luck to Cron and Hildenberger alike.

 

Nor would I. Nor would I be pleased if the assumption is that minor-league options such as Raley, Rooker...or even Kirilloff/Larnach ...would be ready to produce offensively in the majors, in a pennant-race year, and at that position.

 

These guys are ready.  At a certain point you got to give them the opportunity and see if they can run with it.   If not, a trade at the deadline is certainly an option as well.  I would rather look at internal options here (Donaldson if he's cheap, but it doesn't look that way based on Mouse's deal).    Go grab a quality SP, like Wheeler, with the money savings.