Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
He’s back! The Minnesota Twins and Jason Kubel have reportedly agreeded to terms to bring the left-handed hitting slugger back to Minnesota. CBS Sports had the report first:
jason kubel agrees to deal with #twins. nice homecoming.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 13, 2013
Darren Wolfson of KSTP/1500ESPN was the first to report that the deal for Kubel was a minor league deal:
Minor league deal for Kubel.
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) December 13, 2013
Kubel was drafted in the 12th round of 2000 draft by the Minnesota Twins and was with the team until 2011. After that Kubel went on to have a remarkable year with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012. 2013 was not too kind for Kubel and he split time between the D-Backs and the Cleveland Indians.
2013 Kubel’s Numbers:
97 Games, .216/.293/.317/.610, 5 HR, 32 RBI
Twins fans know that Kubel is typically better than this. Parker Haggeman of Twins Daily made a pretty good point on Twitter:
Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press talked to Kubel towards the end of the 2013 season and reminds us of this quote:
Jason Kubel told me on season's final weekend he was open to returning. "Yeah, for sure. I loved it here. I really miss the guys."
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) December 13, 2013
Twins PR man Dustin Morse confirms some details and unveils a Twins Fest update:
Welcome back Kubs! Jason Kubel signs a minor league deal with @Twins with an invitation to major league camp. He will also be at #TwinsFest
— Dustin Morse (@morsecode) December 13, 2013
The band is getting back together, but can they still play in tune?