Hello readers,
I’ve got a few changes planned for this Twins Column. The first is the one I’m ready to announce! Based on feedback from you, I’m going to get a weekly livestream going, talking about the Twins on whatever that popular social media website is being called now. The first one is scheduled for tomorrow, so look for that on my facebook page.
News broke this week that the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a contract extension with former Twins up-and-comer José Berríos worth $131 million over 7 years, according to multiple media outlets.
As pointed out by Kaitlyn McGrath in The Athletic, once you factor in that Berríos was expected to get about $11 million in salary arbitration in 2022, this basically looks like a contract extension worth $120 million over 6 additional years, or $20 million per season.
He came up and got paid. I saw at least a few Twins fans who were celebrating on his behalf, and I think that’s a good reaction to this news.
The Twins tried and failed to reach a contract extension that they liked. Then the Twins fell out of the postseason race, and they traded him to the Blue Jays, who in just a few short months have convinced him that Toronto is where he will spend the bulk of his MLB career.
It’s here where we ask the question of the piece.
Should the Minnesota Twins have signed José Berríos to this contract extension?
I’ll present my thought process, which might look a little like defending the Twins, so I’ll say high up in this piece that the front office may well end up looking misguided or cheap or both for this particular decision. Having successfully warded off any accusations of bias, let’s proceed.
Let’s just for argument’s sake say that José Berríos is a top-25 pitcher and will be, when healthy, for the duration of this lengthy contract, which will see him celebrate his 33rd birthday before its completion.
