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  • Report: Twins to Sign RHP Jhoulys Chacin to Minor League Contract

    Seth Stohs

    By Seth Stohs

    Reports from Jon Heyman and Robert Murray indicate that the Twins have signed veteran right-handed pitcher to a minor league contract.

    Image courtesy of Dan Hamilton, USA Today

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    While Chacin is signed to a non-guaranteed, minor league contract, it is very likely that he will be in the Twins Opening Day rotation.

    When Nick put together his list of still-available starting pitcher options recently, he ranked Chacin at #2 behind only RHP Taijuan Walker.

    The addition of Chacin, who is coming off of a tough 2019 season, provides the Twins rotation with some short-term stability as the team waits for Michael Pineda to return from his suspension and Rich Hill to return from his elbow injury.

    Chacin doesn't bring upside, but his sturdiness is valuable. The 32-year-old has made 22+ starts and thrown 100+ innings in each of the past four seasons. He struggled mightily for Milwaukee and Boston in 2019 (6.01 ERA), but previously put up a 3.69 ERA over 373 innings between 2017 and 2018, holding opponents to a .227/.309/.365 slash line.

    If he fails to turn things around from last year, Chacin can still eat up innings until Michael Pineda is available in mid-May, But if he finds his prior form, Chacin can become another mid-rotation asset. One needn't look too hard to see similarities here with Anibal Sanchez a couple years back.

    This move on its own still doesn't necessarily mean that the Twins will stop shopping for starting pitching. Mostly likely, any further signings would also be on minor league deals.

    Seth Stohs has been blogging about the Minnesota Twins since May 2003. A founder and owner of Twins Daily, Seth has been a Twins fan for 40 years and has a passion for covering the minor leagues and prospects.
    Follow Seth Stohs on Twitter: sethtweets

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    Featured Comments

    Penthang

    Penthang 210

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I see this as a really solid move. While my preference is that Thorpe, Dobnak, Smeltzer hold down the last two slots in the rotation to start the season the simple fact is that pitchers get hurt. This gives them some insurance, as well as giving Wes an opportunity to show us what he can do.

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    Thrylos

    Thrylos 8,325

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    Let's see: 

    Chacin: 32 y.o, career 4.03 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.331 WHIP, 7.3 K/9; minor league contract with up to $3M in incentives

    Kyle Gibson: 32 y.o, career 4.52 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.411 WHIP, 7.0 K/9; 3 years $27M + $4.5M in incentives

     

    And Chacin played his first 6 seasons in Colorado.

     

    Methinks that the Twins did better...

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    Thebigalguy

    Thebigalguy 212

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    By now, we know this signing is typical of Falvine's MO. There's little risk involved. The upside is if he finds his 2018 form. If he doesn't, either he can help until Pineda is back or can be sent down. He's one of many options. Falvine has a philosophy: throw them all at the wall and see who sticks. There's no ace in that deck, but somebody will heed the call, you all.

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    Shaitan

    Shaitan 2,017

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    I have thought more about this move and if the Twins truly give the rookies a chance to compete and they cannot beat him out I am really disappointed in them.  If however the rookies are not given a real chance I am disappointed in the team.

    That's the rub. You can't just hand a rookie the job either. Sometimes they need more seasoning or that mental wake-up call.

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    howieramone2

    howieramone2 1,198

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    It's actually much more like reading the 2 Walker threads a couple days ago. Seems the 1 inning he pitched in the final game of season was intended as a farewell tour. He can't pass a physical. No way he'll get a nice bump like Perez.

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    LylesCrocodiles

    LylesCrocodiles 57

  • Provisional Member

    • Posted

     

     

    Thrylos

    Feb 02 2020 11:50 PM

     

    Let's see:

    Chacin: 32 y.o, career 4.03 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.331 WHIP, 7.3 K/9; minor league contract with up to $3M in incentives

    Kyle Gibson: 32 y.o, career 4.52 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.411 WHIP, 7.0 K/9; 3 years $27M + $4.5M in incentives

     

    And Chacin played his first 6 seasons in Colorado.

     

    Methinks that the Twins did better...

     

     

    This is solid move. Spring training competition is a great thing to have. Especially when it comes to the last few arms to make the team. I think they break camp with Berrios Odo Bailey Chacín Dobnak.

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    joemama

    joemama 120

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I agree with what many of you have said: good, low/no risk, cheap insurance policy, with some upside. Most have considered this insurance in case two of Dobnak, Smeltzer, and Thorpe really struggle in camp. I consider the bigger "insurance" factor to be insurance against injury. Prior to this signing, there were really only 6 viable candidates for the season-opening rotation - the three above plus Berrios, Odorizzi, and Bailey. It's pretty easy to imagine a couple guys having minor issues (or worse) come up during camp and needing short stints (or worse) on the I.L. It's nice to have insurance, especially insurance with upside.

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    Doctor Wu

    Doctor Wu 761

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    This one ticks all the boxes, up to a certain point: low risk move, potential upside, veteran presence in the rotations Let's just hope he has  enough in the smoke & mirrors department to fool a few batters this year. All in all, I like this signing.

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