{"id":867712,"date":"2018-12-27T12:16:29","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T17:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=867712"},"modified":"2018-12-27T12:16:29","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T17:16:29","slug":"twins-sign-nelson-cruz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins sign Nelson Cruz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As has long been rumored, the Twins will indeed be <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/1078311473519169538\">signing designated hitter Nelson Cruz.<\/a> Cruz is a formidable hitter, collecting the silver slugger in 2017, and posting OPS of .850 or over for each of the last 5 years, and at least 37 home runs in every one of those years as well. Make no mistake, Nelson Cruz is one of the best pure hitters in the game today, even though he is moving into his age 38 season.<\/p>\n<p>With that perspective, it&#8217;s not hard to see why the Twins would want to add the slugger. He immediately becomes the best batter in the lineup. With a wider view of the move, it raises some questions, at least for me, about the plan both for 2019 and beyond. The Twins roster is full, and they will need to place someone on waivers to make space for Cruz. Will they designate Tyler Austin and his 5 remaining years of team control for assignment? That doesn&#8217;t seem prudent. But then the players with options who could be sent off the 25 man roster seem like they would make waves as well. Roster Resources thinks it will be Jake Cave, but Mitch Garver or Willians Astudillo could be the casualties as well.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure the front office understands the tough choice that has to be made, an wouldn&#8217;t have made this acquisition without that in mind. Despite an offseason in which the Twins made moves with the future in mind, the signing of Cruz is an indication that the Twins believe that the future is now. Don&#8217;t be surprised if the Twins suddenly become more aggressive in their pursuit of players that would address even more pressing needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As has long been rumored, the Twins will indeed be signing designated hitter Nelson Cruz. Cruz is a formidable hitter,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":865423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[703638948,547149087,1],"tags":[43214,1010824],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.2 (Yoast SEO v22.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Twins sign Nelson Cruz - The Sports Daily<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twins sign Nelson Cruz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Sports Daily\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sportsdailytsd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alan Draper\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Draper\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5\"},\"headline\":\"Twins sign Nelson Cruz\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/\"},\"wordCount\":287,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Minnesota Twins\",\"Nelson Cruz\"],\"articleSection\":[\"MLB News and Rumors\",\"Twins\",\"Updates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/\",\"name\":\"Twins sign Nelson Cruz - The Sports Daily\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Sep 25, 2018; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners designated hitter Nelson Cruz (23) hits a three-run homer against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Twins sign Nelson Cruz\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Sports Daily\",\"description\":\"Sports News | Rumors | Videos | Highlights | Opinion | More\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Sports Daily\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":52,\"caption\":\"The Sports Daily\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sportsdailytsd\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5\",\"name\":\"Alan Draper\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/alan-draper-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/alan-draper-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Alan Draper\"},\"description\":\"Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.\",\"sameAs\":[\"\",\"\",\"\",\"\",\"\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/author\/aland\/\",\"jobTitle\":\"Sports Editor\",\"email\":\"\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Twins sign Nelson Cruz - The Sports Daily","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Twins sign Nelson Cruz","og_url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/","og_site_name":"The Sports Daily","article_published_time":"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alan Draper","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@sportsdailytsd","twitter_site":"@sportsdailytsd","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alan Draper","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/"},"author":{"name":"Alan Draper","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5"},"headline":"Twins sign Nelson Cruz","datePublished":"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/"},"wordCount":287,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Minnesota Twins","Nelson Cruz"],"articleSection":["MLB News and Rumors","Twins","Updates"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2018","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/","name":"Twins sign Nelson Cruz - The Sports Daily","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00","dateModified":"2018-12-27T17:16:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/USATSI_11318111-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"Sep 25, 2018; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners designated hitter Nelson Cruz (23) hits a three-run homer against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/twins-sign-nelson-cruz\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Twins sign Nelson Cruz"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/","name":"The Sports Daily","description":"Sports News | Rumors | Videos | Highlights | Opinion | More","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#organization","name":"The Sports Daily","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/cropped-thesportsdaily_logo.png","width":300,"height":52,"caption":"The Sports Daily"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/sportsdailytsd"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2c8aadde2571800d0de74323730df7b5","name":"Alan Draper","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/alan-draper-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/alan-draper-96x96.jpg","caption":"Alan Draper"},"description":"Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.","sameAs":["","","","",""],"url":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/author\/aland\/","jobTitle":"Sports Editor","email":"","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":""}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}