In a move to fill two middle infield spots, the Minnesota Twins have signed Curaçao native Jonathan Schoop and Venezuelan Ronald Torreyes to one-year contracts.
The void in the infield was created when the Twins traded Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar at the non-waiver trade deadline.
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Schoop, who was non-tendered by the Milwaukee Brewers, is coming off an off year in which he batted a sub-par 233/.266/.416 with 21 homers and 61 RBIs in 131 games with Baltimore and Milwaukee. Especially with the Brewers, Schoop did not live up to last year’s numbers as he had a career year with 293/.338/.503 with 32 homers and 105 RBIs in 160 games. Also, Schoop’s defensive numbers went down a bit as his fielding percentage dropped 10 percentage points compared to 2017. Nevertheless, Schoop committed as many errors as last year (fifteen) but the number of games he played was significantly less than in 2017, 116 in 2018 and 159 in 2017.
Schoop’s one-year deal is said to be worth $7.5 million.
Ronald Torreyes was non-tendered by the Cubs last Friday after the Yankees traded him to the Windy City. The 26-year old Torreyes slashed .280/.294/.370 with seven doubles and seven RBIs in 41 games with New York last season. Torreyes is a utility infielder that can play middle infield and third base. Of the forty games, Torreyes played with the Yankees in the past season, he played twenty at second base and nine as a shortstop. In those games, he did not commit an error. On third base, however, he committed two errors, resulting in an .882 fielding percentage.
The Twins have several prospects at shortstop, who aren’t ready yet to make the step to the Bigs. That explains the move by the Twins to sign both Schoop and Torreyes to one-year contracts.
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