The Minnesota Twins made another move on Saturday and while fans are waiting for a bigger shoe to drop, the signing of Anthony Misiewicz could help them find a left-handed arm in the bullpen.
KSTP’s Darren Wolfson reports the Twins have signed Misiewicz to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. While Misiewicz is a five-year MLB veteran, he appeared in just one game for the New York Yankees last season and spent most of the year at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Misiewicz posted a respectable 3.90 ERA with a 29 percent strikeout rate and a 7.6 walk rate in Triple-A last season, but he also had trouble keeping the ball in the park, allowing eight home runs over 55.1 innings of relief. Misiewicz also had heavy splits, holding left-handed batters to a .207/.253/.317 line in 82 at-bats while allowing a .279/.344/.485 line in 136 at-bats against right-handed hitters.
Anthony Misiewicz will compete for a Twins bullpen spot in spring training
This isn’t something that will help Twins fans forget that they haven’t signed a major league free agent this winter and haven’t signed a player for more than $5 million since Carlos Santana signed with Minnesota last February.
But Misiewicz’s signing does serve a purpose since the Twins have virtually no left-handers with major league experience. Kody Funderburk and Brent Headrick are the only two southpaws on the 40-man roster entering spring training and if Misiewicz can get left-handed batters out, it would give the Twins something they currently don’t have in their bullpen.
With unproven options like Connor Prielipp deeper in the minor leagues, Misiewicz at least gives the Twins some reliever depth with the potential to sign another free agent or make a trade to add competition in the coming weeks.