Derek’s take on a busy off-season

One of the bigger pickups that the Twins made was picking up: Nelson Cruz. Nelson Cruz has averaging around 30 home runs a season in Seattle, it was only a 1-year deal, but the Twins might give him a contract extension. Another solid pick up that the Twins made was picking up All-star Jonathan Schoop from the Milwaukee Brewers on a 1-year deal. The Twins recently picked up Marwin Gonzalez from the Astros, is very good all around player. I feel like the Twins this year might have a good year. TeamRankings.com ranks the Twins 20th out of the 30 teams not bad, not great. Another addition to the team is CJ Cron and Micheal Pineda. Micheal Pineda coming off the Disabled List (DL), will be a good addition to the starting rotation. A couple of years ago, Micheal Pineda got caught cheating on the mound, he had some substance on his neck that would help him grip the ball better and be able to throw more effective pitches (at the time he was on the Yankees).

Everybody is talking about the Machado pick up. So I will touch on that as well. He got offered from the White Sox, seven years, 175 million. He visited the Yankees and the Phillies as well as the White Sox, who were interested in Machado and Harper. Then the Padres offered Machado a ten year, 300 million contract and he took it. The White Sox organization was very mad about that, they were on a news conference and the GM was very mad. The Padres now have a decent team with Eric Hosmer, Hunter Renfroe, Wil Myers and now Machado. Machado is a very good player, but I wouldn’t have offered Machado that much money, you never know, he might get injured or suspended for whatever. All I am saying is that, that is a lot of money to give him.

Bryce Harper is the other one free agent, which nobody initially offered a contract besides his the Washington nationals. The Nationals offered him a 10-year deal to have him stay in D.C. He declined the offer, he really wants to go to another team. There has been rumors that he visited the Phillies, but no offer was final until last week when he signed a 13-year, $330 million contract. Speaking of the Phillies, the Philles picked up Andrew McCutchen and Jean Segura two very good All-stars, on top of having Rhys Hoskins, who participated in the Home Run Derby last year and hit 30+ home runs. This trade happened at the beginning of the offseason it involved the LA Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds. Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, Kyle Farmer and 7 million to the Reds for Homer Bailey, Josiah Gray and Jeter Downs. The Reds definitely got the better half of the trade. The Reds got three star players, compared to the Dodgers only getting one good player. Another big trade was Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to the Mets for Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, and a two prospects. Mets got the better bet out of the deal.
This is my article about the MLB offseason, I am trying catch everyone up with all the trades and free agency pickups, because there have been a lot. Speaking of Baseball, Spring Training is starting, if you guys want to watch it.