By Jordan Long
The Minnesota Twins made a move they hope will improve the offense. The Twins hit .250, 15th in all of Major League Baseball. One of their problems was home runs. They couldn’t hit the long ball with 166, 23rd in all of baseball. They agreed to a contract with designated hitter Nelson Cruz for one year at $14.3 million but has a team option for 2020 at $12 million.
Cruz should help the offense. He will be the designated hitter for the Twins. He has a total of 203 home runs since 2014, the best in the majors over that span. The only player close is Giancarlo Stanton with 188.
Cruz was in Seattle last year. He hit .256 with 37 home runs. Cruz can be in scoring position. Last season he had 18 doubles. Cruz is not just a power hitter but is able to drive his teammates home when they are on base. He had 97 RBI’s.
What is also going to help the Twins is his ability to stretch the count. He usually stays away from pitches outside the zone. This allows Cruz to reach base. He had 55 walks last year.
The downside is his strikeouts. Cruz has times where he is not patient at the plate. He will swing at pitches outside the zone on tight counts and won’t make contact. Cruz struck out 122 which is down from 2017 when he had 140.
The Twins also added C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop to the roster this offseason. Cron smacked 30 home runs while Schoop slugged 21 home runs. This could be the heart of the lineup with Cruz, Cron, and Schoop.
The Twins look like a more dangerous team offensively. They are hoping these moves make their record better than it was last year at 78-84. There is still work to be done for the Twins to make the postseason in 2019, but they are well on their way. ffffffffffffff
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