Minnesota Twins: Robbie Grossman looks likely to be non-tendered
The Minnesota Twins are facing the deadline to tender contracts to arbitration eligible players and Robbie Grossman could be one player who is non-tendered.
The Minnesota Twins have already made it past one significant offseason deadline as they chose to protect Nick Gordon, Luis Arraez, and LaMonte Wade from the Rule 5 draft. Next on the to-do list of the offseason is to make decisions on whether or not to tender a contract some arbitration eligible players. The Twins don’t have any players who look to end up with a big pay day, but with the 40-man at 39 this presents a prime opportunity to create room for free agent additions.
Jake Odorizzi represents the largest total projected arbitration salary for 2019 with MLB Trade Rumors predicting that the right hander will collect a $9.4 million salary. His rotation mate is the next on the list with a projected $7.9 million. Both are likely fixtures in the Twins rotation for 2019 with a trade being the only way that either would exit the Twins roster.
There are some position players like newly acquired C.J. Cron ($5.2 million) and Eddie Rosario ($5.0 million) that make up the likely third and fourth highest amount of money via arbitration that any Twins player will make in 2019. Both are also safe from this non-tender deadline. It is the next guy on the list who has been pointed at for a while as a potential non-tender casualty, Robbie Grossman.
Grossman still has value, but with the recent addition of Cron and an already full outfield, it is hard to see where there is room for him on the Twins roster in 2019. In the end, $4 million for a player who is a liability defensively in the outfield and not enough of a power hitter to be a DH just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It looks like it is time for Jake Cave to be the Twins 4th outfielder while Cron will get first crack at the open 1B/DH position on the roster.
When MLB Trade Rumors released their projections, Grossman was the only player that looked to have any chance of being non-tendered. As time has passed it has begun to look like Ehire Adrianza also has the possibility of being non-tendered. Adrianza is not projected to make much at $1.8 million, but at 29-years-old we know basically who Adrianza is at this point (which is pretty replaceable) and the Twins may choose to go in a different direction for their utility infielder needs.
Next. Minnesota Twins claim C.J. Cron. dark
As players are non-tendered from other teams we will also keep our eye on any players that available that may be a potential add for the Twins. Just as other teams will evaluate if a player like Grossman or Adrianza could be a positive addition to their rosters.