Padres, Nelson Cruz Agree To One-Year Deal

The Padres and slugger Nelson Cruz are in settlement on a one-year deal. The deal is pending a bodily however the consumer of Primo Sports activities Group is slated to obtain a $1MM assure.

As soon as Cruz will get right into a recreation, it is going to be the nineteenth straight season for the veteran, who will flip 43 in July. He’s lengthy been one of the crucial constant sluggers within the league however he’s coming off a down season. From 2008 to 2021, he hit 434 house runs, probably the most of anybody within the majors in that point. His batting line over that stretch was .280/.350/.536 for a wRC+ of 136, indicating he was 36% higher than league common in that point.

Nevertheless, the latest a part of his profession has been a distinct story. After being traded from the Twins to the Rays on the deadline in 2021, his manufacturing slipped. He hit simply .226/.283/.442 after the deal for a wRC+ of 95. He signed a one-year, $15MM cope with the Nationals for 2022 and tried to get again on observe however really fell additional. He hit .234/.313/.337 final yr, ending with a wRC+ of 85.

Because the season was winding down, Cruz told reporters that he was going to endure eye surgical procedure, since he had been dealing some irritation that was blocking his imaginative and prescient. He stated that it had been affecting him for a couple of yr and a half, which traces up with the interval wherein his manufacturing cratered. Assuming the operation was a hit, it’s potential that he may get again to his earlier ranges of manufacturing. However on condition that he’s outdated by skilled athlete requirements, it’s potential that typical age decline may be an element.

There’s actually some danger concerned, however it appears to be one which Padres’ president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is keen to take. Preller has proven an inclination to provide possibilities to gamers he beforehand employed when he was with the Rangers and Cruz matches that invoice. He was a Ranger from 2006 to 2013, the time when he broke out and had a few of his finest seasons. If the gamble pays off, it would add a potent bat to a San Diego lineup that’s already fairly harmful.

Cruz is strictly a chosen hitter at this level in his profession, having taking the sector solely as soon as prior to now 4 seasons, which was seven innings of first base motion for the Rays in 2021. It’s potential that Cruz and the left-handed hitting Matt Carpenter may platoon within the designated hitter function, however Carpenter can also be able to enjoying some first base and outfield, giving supervisor Bob Melvin some capability to get them each into the lineup, if he’s so inclined.

Financially, the Padres have shot their payroll as much as new heights this winter. Roster Resource calculates their spending at $250MM, which might simply be a franchise document. The figures at Cot’s Baseball Contracts have their earlier excessive at $211MM, which was final yr. Maybe extra importantly, the membership is about to be a luxurious tax payor for a 3rd straight season, having additionally paid the aggressive stability tax in 2021 and 2022. Roster Useful resource pegs their CBT quantity at $267MM, properly past the $233MM base threshold and the second $253MM threshold. As a third-time payor within the second tax bracket, they’re at present slated for a 62% tax on any further spending. In the event that they transcend the third line, which is $273MM, the speed jumps all the best way to 95% and their prime decide within the 2024 draft can be dropped by ten slots.

Héctor Gómez of Z101 Digital first reported the 2 sides had been in settlement on a one-year deal. Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the $1MM wage.

Picture courtesy of USA As we speak Sports activities.