Wolfson: Twins expected to attend Michael Wuertz auditions

[Parker Hageman]

1500ESPN.com's Darren Wolfson tweets that the Twins may be one of several teams looking at free agent Michael Wuertz's tryouts next week.

 

In our TwinsCentric Offseason GM Handbook, here's what I wrote about him:

 

To take a page out of the Rays’ playbook, Wuertz is the kind of inexpensive talent they would roll the dice on. Sure, he’s got plenty of problems, he has suffered shoulder injuries the past two seasons, his fastball’s velocity was down to 88-mph last year and his command was nearly non-existent. However, because of his slider that he favors, he still was able to get a swing-and-miss at a very high clip (12.4%). In the season’s first-half, he was effective, throwing 25.1 innings with a 2.49 ERA and a good 23/12 K/BB ratio. On top of that, he held opponents to a .189 batting average against. From July onward he struggled mightily, throwing 8.1 innings with a 9/14 K/BB ratio and a repugnant .476 batting average against. For a million bucks (or more hopefully a minor league deal), the gamble that Wuertz can regain his early season success is merited.

Dating back to 2009, the Austin, Minnesota native held baseball's highest swinging strike rate (15.9%) according to Fangraphs.com's data. The right-handed Wuertz leaned heavily on a slider throughout his career and tossed it 63.4% of the time in the past three seasons, which considering his hand and wrist injuries may have made that particular pitch harder to throw.

 

It is hard to tell where he is at in this point of his career but with a vacancy left by Zumaya, simply taking a look at Wuertz cannot hurt.

[Gernzy]

Contract for around a million maybe, but we really shouldn't overpay for him. Waldrop, Burton and Maloney have all looked great so far this spring. We might not even need Wuertz at this point, but of course you can never have enough pitching.

[Neinstein]

I bet they don't bite... after Zumaya, it seems they've been looking from within only.

[Thrylos]

I would not mind if they sign him to a MiLB contract and keep him in Rochester in case one of the pitchers who come up North fails at the June/July time points. I am not sure that he will be ready to start the season, othewise he would have had the pitching in front of scouts audition a few months ago. Signing him to an MLB contact at this point would be nuts because he will not be ready for the season, he will be 33 and only had one good season (WHIP <1.36) after 2006.

[twinkiesfan11]

Unless they're getting a major home state discount I hope they pass. With the recent injury history he doesn't seem like enough of an upgrade to take innings away from the other 20+ prospects and development projects they already have in camp.

[Neinstein]

I would not mind if they sign him to a MiLB contract and keep him in Rochester in case one of the pitchers who come up North fails at the June/July time points.

This would be good.

[Seth Stohs]

Good on a minor league contract... definitely not a major league contract.