Twins ink Zumaya

[love_that_reefer]

Free agent reliever Joel Zumaya has told Jason Beck of MLB.com that he's agreed to a one-year deal with the Twins.
Zumaya said he has "good offers" from three other clubs, but he chose the Twins because they offered him guaranteed money rather than a minor league deal with a spring training invite. The injury-prone right-hander will earn at least $800,000, with the possibility of getting $1.7 million if he reaches all of his incentives. Zumaya missed the entire 2011 season due to elbow surgery and hasn't appeared in more than 31 games since his rookie year in 2006. He was throwing in the mid-90s during a recent workout, though, and isn't a bad gamble on what looks to be a reasonable deal.

I always loved seeing this guy reach triple digits on the radar gun but he could never stay healthy. He's had five surgeries since 2006 with two on his elbow, two on his shoulder and one on his middle finger. It's not a huge commitment so this could be a solid pickup for the Twins who need bullpen help.

[Kingdom]

Low risk possible high reward. Not a bad move and the twins need depth in the pen.

[catman]

If he can stay healthy (a very big if), the Twins got a great power arm. Hopefully, Gardy and Andy will be able to use him properly.

[mntwinsfan]

Use is key. If he can pitch say 80 games it was well worth the risk.

[love_that_reefer]

80 games?!? That's unheard of these days with relievers.

[catman]

He's done for the season with a torn UCL. Can this guy ever catch a break?

[realmofotalk]

He's done for the season with a torn UCL. Can this guy ever catch a break?

Haha, you said "break". His right arm is nothing if not habitually broken.

[HollywoodLeo]

You know a guy is injury prone when he's done for the year before spring training even begins.

[realmofotalk]

Low risk possible high reward.

More like high risk, low (possibly no) reward.

[HollywoodLeo]

How is it high risk? They lost 800K, which is a lot to you and me but chump change to a MLB payroll.

[realmofotalk]

Just because he isn't getting Darren Dreifort money doesn't make him any less of an injury risk.

[HollywoodLeo]

Right. But if you give virtual pennies to the injury risk there isn't much you're putting at risk. The "low" in "low risk" isn't suggesting that the odds of him getting injured are somehow smaller. It's saying that what they risk losing is not much compared to what they potentially (even if low odds) gain.

It's like me paying a dollar for a PowerBall ticket. Sure, the odds of me hitting the jackpot may be smaller than the odds of me being killed by a meteorite in my sleep tonight but it's just a dollar. low risk/high reward.

[realmofotalk]

Your whole idea that small payroll teams like the Padres never make bad moves because their most expensive signing in franchise history, $11.5 million to Orlando Hudson, is just a drop in the bucket to larger market teams is short-sighted.

[HollywoodLeo]

I'm not sure where you get "small market teams like the Padres never make bad moves" out of anything I said, but ok.

[realmofotalk]

Sorry, I'm used to San Diego fans arguing incoherently.

"You want to talk about bad signings? I can list all the cash the Dodgers wasted as well. Andruw Jones, Kevin Brown, Jason Schmidt, blah blah blah"