He hadn’t been connected to the Cubs directly, and he still has a bit of a PED suspension to serve out, but it’s still notable that righty Michael Pineda is signing tonight with the Twins on a two-year, $20 million deal.
I'm told it's a 2 year $20 million deal for Michael Pineda & the #MNTwins https://t.co/7t4xOHr2D5
— Pierre Noujaim (@TheNoujFOX9) December 6, 2019
Michael Pineda returns to Twins. 20M, 2 years.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 6, 2019
Pineda, 31 next month, had Tommy John surgery in 2017, then signed with the Twins while he rehabbed, finally returning for a mostly full season in 2019 (minus the PED suspension). Over 146.0 innings, Pineda posted a 4.01 ERA (and earned it), which was about 14% better than league average by ERA-. It was a really good return year for a guy who hadn’t ever fully lived up to his peripherals before last year.
That is to say, I can see why he’s getting a pretty sizable contract for a guy with big question marks – he was always probably going to get the biggest deal among those types. This is right around the range he was projected to get by FanGraphs, which had him ranked as the 20th best free agent overall, one spot behind Cole Hamels (who got nearly as much for just one year with the Braves).
Are we now gonna see a run on these lower-tier guys, or was this just a happily unique fit on a return deal with the Twins after Kyle Gibson departed to the Rangers and Zack Wheeler chose the Phillies?