Heyman: Twins agree to sign Kendrys Morales

June 7, 2014 by Mike Axisa 50 Comments

The Twins have agreed to a contract with free agent first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales, according to Jon Heyman. That came out of nowhere. The Yankees were said to have interest in Morales but not until they took some more time to evaluate Carlos Beltran (elbow) and Mark Teixeira (wrist), so now they’ll have to find lineup help elsewhere. Right field and second or third base seem like obvious spots to upgrade.

RetroRob

Well that’s surprising. Not exactly the type of ballpark I’d want to play in to build value toward true free agency at the end of this season. I wonder if it was for more than this year.
CMed21

Does this really make sense for either side? The Twins are not contenders and Morales isn’t gonna build any value playing in a park that is death on Lefty batters (Morales is way better batting left handed).
- Need Pitching & Hitting
  
  It does seem like an odd fit for both sides.
  - lightSABR
    
    And I didn’t realize that the Twins were actually trying to win right now. Weird.
Yangeddard Solarte

First Hughes then Nuney and now Morales. The Twins FO are running circles around Brian Cashman.
- BrianMcCannon
  
  Hughes? Nunez? Am I missing something here?
  - Jedua
    
    You must be new here. Eddard has been the only fan of Nunes for over a year.
    
    With Hughes he’s just trolling
    - Eric Young
      
      :D
  - Daniel
    
    Hahahahahaha
- TWTR
  
  Dumb criticism negates legitimate issues.
- Yan Solo
  
  Nunez or Solarte. You can’t have both. Pick one and get over the other already.
  - lightSABR
    
    My advice: pick the one whose on-base percentage is above .300.
Jill

The must upgrade from Roberts and Johnson. That has to be a must.
- vicki
  
  kelly johnson has the third highest isolated power (behind beltran, by the slightest of margins) on this power-starved team.
  - FIPster Doofus
    
    He has been badly misused this year.
- hogsmog
  
  Yeah Johnson has been performing his role just fine… Sure he isn’t the greatest, but is far from a ‘must’, and there are other things that definitely should be done first.
vicki

any close reader of my blather will roll his eyes, but we could’ve grabbed scott van slyke for a minor league bullpen arm at the deadline last year. cashman obviously doesn’t read rab comments.
Adam

Cashman asleep at the wheel as usual. The Twins will definitely deal Morales at the deadline or in August. No way he finishes the year in Minnesota.
- TheRealGreg
  
  Minnesota is closer to the Tigers than we are to the Blue Jays.
  
  They are still in it.
  - Yan Solo
    
    We’re about five games out in the loss column and barely behind in the WC. And about 2/3 or so of the season to play. We’re still in it as long as they play baseball instead of cricket it whatever the hell else the Yankees have been playing lately.
- Michahiro Pinaka
  
  Why does this mean Cashman’s asleep at the wheel? Maybe KM preferred guaranteed playing time.
  - WhittakerWalt
    
    Don’t you know? Cashman is always wrong, in all things. Cahsman probably screwed up that POW-Taliban swap, too.
    - lightSABR
      
      Little known fact: He also led the Bay of Pigs invasion.
TheRealGreg

Well the Twins were using Eduardo Nunez at DH so that’s probably where they will play Morales, but it is an odd fit.
- Deep Thoughts
  
  So, you’re saying Nunez might be available as a righty 3B platoon bat? Schweet.
Kosmo

although I´m disappointed , I´m not at all surprised. When the Yanks announced they would use Beltran at DH I thought it would be a very slim possibility Morales signed with NY.

I would rather NY trade for someone like John Mayberry RF/CF/1B he could fill in for Tex when needed and platoon in RF and be a much needed bat off the bench.
- TheRealGreg
  
  That would be an interesting fit. Basically Soriano and Ichiro are in a platoon now. If Soriano continues to struggle, we will need to improve that platoon.
  - Kosmo
    
    If Mayberry was traded to NY I´d rather NY DFA Soriano recall Almonte and have NY go with a platoon of Mayberry/Almonte in RF.
    - TheRealGreg
      
      Mayberry would replace Soriano out right. It would be Mayberry and Ichiro. Ichiro has been good if he doesn’t play every day/ as a bench player.
      - Need Pitching & Hitting
        
        Ichiro hasn’t been good against RHP (89 wRC+ this year, 78 wRC+ 2011-14), which is when he’d be required to play in a platoon with Mayberry.
        
        Ichiro really makes no sense at all as a platoon bat against RHP. He’d make more sense on the other side of the platoon.
- vicki
  
  that would be lovely, but what would raj want for such a cheap, useful piece? i’ve heard the rumors too, but i just wonder why they’d trade him.
Steve D Fl

I know many people were no into signing Morales( I was) but what if both Tex and Beltran go down again? at this point I say thats a 50-50
- Need Pitching & Hitting
  
  If they both go down, will it really matter if Morales is there or not?
  
  And that may well be true if only one of them went down. They really need offense in addition to a hopefully healthy Tex and Beltran.
Eric Young

Wonderful news. Morales would have only complicated our rebuilding.
TheRealGreg

You know how I am against Brian, but I think this was a good move. You can’t sign a guy because of a possibility. You sign a guy because you need him badly.
- Need Pitching & Hitting
  
  They need more offense badly, as you keep reminding us.
  - TheRealGreg
    
    Yes they do. But he’s not going to get any at bats if Tex and Beltran keep playing.
    
    Andrew Marchand @AndrewMarchand · 44m
    Yanks only made sense for Morales if Teixeira or Beltran didn’t comeback. #NoABs
    - Need Pitching & Hitting
      
      Plenty of AB’s if Beltran plays RF.
      
      At this point, they are desperate enough for offense that it probably made sense to roll the dice and have Beltran start throwing to get ready to play OF while Morales tunes up in the minors.
      - TheRealGreg
        
        Still would rather have a player that can play defense in a position of need. Because the DH position is going to shifted around to Jeter and others at times. And you would want to keep Beltran, Morales and Tex in the lineup at the same time.
        
        Need Pitching & Hitting
        
        I would absolutely prefer a player that can defend a position of need.
        But will one of similar offensive value become available, and at what price, and at what time?
        
        TheRealGreg
        
        Fair point. I think the fact that the American League is so mediocre that the Yankees believe they can hang around with this current squad and get somebody at the deadline.
D-Lite

Refsnyder to 2B, Solarte to 3B full time.

Make it so.
- Daniel
  
  Over Pirela? I’m not sure.
  - lightSABR
    
    Katoh. Kid just needs a change of scenery.
TheRealGreg

Yankees drafted Mo Jr.
hornblower

Does this mean that Jon Heyman doesn’t get his cut for trying to get the Yanks in the mix? Roller is ready if they need him anyway and he has been playing. Until they can clean this roster of Roberts, Johnson, Ichiro (7rbi’s), Sori and Anna they can’t make a move. Once they get more players in the system next week they can start to make some headway. Pirela should be the first one to get a shot. He can really hit. He’s not great in the field but if we recall Cano wasn’t that great early. His work with Larry Bowa made him better. Robbie Thompson get ready.
- Eric Young
  
  Which is why we should do some house cleaning and be (or at least attempt to be) sellers at the deadline of whatever doesn’t fit into our 2015 plan.
  
  Of course, that presupposes we have a 2015 plan.
  - hornblower
    
    Except for Kuroda who would take any of these guys?
Mike

Morales is a loser. He could’ve been part of something special here in NY.
willie w

if Boras did it there must be a strategic reason