Twins Ink Blackburn
By Fetch
The Twins have announced that they have inked RHP Nick Blackburn to a 4 year contract worth 14 million dollars. This includes an 8 million option for 2014.
Blackburn has really beat the odds to become a solid major league pitcher. A former Twins #1 prospect from Baseball America, Blackburn has put up ERAs of 4.05 and 4.03 the last two years.
He has done this despite FIPs of 4.40 and 4.37 the pas two years, mainly because Blackburn doesn’t strike anyone out (career 4.43 K/9). Fortunately, Blackburn doesn’t walk anyone either, and with an improved infield defense, Blackburn should be better this year. Fangraphs did a post last year on how Blackburn doesn’t miss many bats, but then again, that’s probably a big reason why he has been able to pitch 398 innings over the past two years.
In any event, it’s nice to see the Twins front office starting to pay the money to keep their young players around.