The Twins have reached an agreement with shortstop Andrelton Simmons on a one-year deal worth $ 10.5 million, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand Tuesday night. The club has not confirmed the move. Simmons will take over the Twins’ full-time shortstop job, while incumbent Jorge Polanco will move to a
The Twins have reached an agreement with shortstop Andrelton Simmons on a one-year deal worth $ 10.5 million, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand Tuesday night. The club has not confirmed the move.
Simmons will take over the Twins’ full-time shortstop job, while incumbent Jorge Polanco will move to a utility position. Simmons was also reportedly the main target of the Phillies after they struck a deal with catcher JT Realmuto earlier on Tuesday.
Simmons, 31, is one of the best defensive shortstops in recent memory. He owns four Rawlings Gold Glove Awards and also took home the Platinum Glove Award (awarded to the best overall defender in each league) with the Braves in 2013. The Curaçao native was the Braves’ second round pick in MLB Draft 2010 and spent his first four Major League-seasons in Atlanta before being traded to the Angels after the ’15 season. Simmons earned his third and fourth career Gold Gloves with Los Angeles, finishing as high as eighth in the American League MVP Award voting in 2017.
Simmons has since stepped back on the plate, cutting .271 / .318 / .362 since the start of the 2019 season. He is a .269 / .317 / .369 hitter in his career with 91 OPS + over nine Big league seasons. But Simmons brings elite contact power to the Twins’ powerful line-up, which is in the top 10 percent of MLB qualified players in both whiff rate and strikeout rate in each of the last two campaigns.
Matt Kelly is a reporter for MLB.com based in New York. Follow him on Twitter at @mattkellyMLB.