The Twins have reached an agreement with shortstop Andrelton Simmons on a one-year deal worth $10.5 million, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Tuesday night. The club has not confirmed the move.
Simmons will take over the Twins’ full-time shortstop job, while incumbent Jorge Polanco will move to a
The Twins have reached an agreement with shortstop Andrelton Simmons on a one-year deal worth $10.5 million, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Tuesday night. The club has not confirmed the move.
Simmons will take over the Twins’ full-time shortstop job, while incumbent Jorge Polanco will move to a utility role. Simmons was also reportedly the Phillies’ top target after they agreed to a deal with catcher J.T. Realmuto earlier on Tuesday.
Simmons, 31, ranks among the best defensive shortstops in recent history. He owns four Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and also took home the Platinum Glove Award (given to the best overall defender in each league) with the Braves in 2013. The Curaçao native was the Braves’ second-round pick in the 2010 MLB Draft and spent his first four Major League seasons in Atlanta before he was traded to the Angels after the ’15 season. Simmons earned his third and fourth career Gold Gloves with Los Angeles, and he finished as high as eighth in American League MVP Award voting in 2017.
Simmons has taken a step back at the plate since then, slashing .271/.318/.362 since the start of the 2019 season. He is a career .269/.317/.369 hitter with a 91 OPS+ over nine big league seasons. But Simmons does bring elite contact ability to the Twins’ powerful lineup, ranking within MLB’s top 10 percent of qualified players in both whiff rate and strikeout rate in each of the last two campaigns.
Matt Kelly is a reporter for MLB.com based in New York. Follow him on Twitter at @mattkellyMLB.