Twins claim two pitchers, kick off talks with Cruz

Any news in the offseason is news worth sharing. Within the multitude of club options being rejected within the past few days, the Minnesota Twins have made a couple of minor acquisitions. I’ll throw in a nugget of additional news below as well!

• The Twins claimed righty Ian Gibaut from the Texas Rangers today. Blog Overlord TJ has already written about the newcomer, which I have linked to (and where you should click) here. The Houston, Texas, (where Bob Wills is still the king) native has played in 24 major-league games, accruing 26.2 innings of work. The soon-to-be 27-year-old has a lifetime 6.08 ERA and 4.78 FIP to his name to go with a 10.2 K/9. Why did they sign him? Read TJ’s article, dammit!
• Minnesota claimed another pitcher off of the waiver wires today, this one by the name of Brandon Waddell. The former Pittsburgh Pirates southpaw pitched in two games this last season, putting in 3.1 innings of work and allowing an earned run, two walks, and striking out two batters. His 2019 stats between Double-A and Triple-A in the Pirates system did not look very exciting: 6.29 ERA in 97.1 innings of work across 36 games (14 starts), 111 K, 49 BB, 11 HR, 1.603 WHIP, 9.9 H/9, 4.5 BB/9, 10.3 K/9. He may be some competition for other lefty arms in the system.
• LaVelle E Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune noted tonight that the Twins and Nelson Cruz have sat at the table and started talking about 2021 more seriously. Boomstick has been a delight to have in Minnesota for the past two seasons as he’s batted to a .308/.394/.626 (1.020) slash line in 173 games. That includes 57 homers and 141 RBI between his age-38 and -39 seasons. Many fans are clamoring for his return; some are not!