Hansel Robles Agrees to One-Year Contract with Minnesota Twins

Hansel Robles is Twinning

The Minnesota Twins have signed the 30-year-old Dominican professional baseball pitcher and former Los Angeles Angels closer to a one-year contract.

Hansel Robles

The deal is worth $2 million, according to The Associated Press.

Robles saved 23 games in 27 chances in 2019 when he went 5-1 with a 2.48 ERA in a 71 appearances. Last season, however, he struggled with a 10.26 ERA in 18 appearances, finishing 0-2 with one save in three chances.

He wasn’t tendered a contract by the Angels this offseason, making him a free agent. The Angels traded him for Cincinnati Reds closer Raisel Iglesias this offseason.

Robles will join the back end of a Twins bullpen led by closer Taylor Rogers, who has 39 saves in 47 chances over the past two seasons.

Robles has a 3.91 ERA in his career over 313 appearances with the New York Mets and Angels in six major league seasons.

Raisel Iglesias Acquired by the Los Angeles Angels

Raisel Iglesias will be seeing angels next season…

The 30-year-old Cuban professional baseball pitcher, a closer for the Cincinnati Reds, has been acquired by the Los Angeles Angels.

Raisel Iglesias

The team acquired Iglesias in exchange for right-handed reliever Noe Ramirez and a player to be named later or cash considerations on Monday, the first day of the virtual winter meetings.

 

Iglesias saved 92 games from 2017 to 2019, but had arguably his best season in 2020, posting a 2.74 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP while striking out 31 batters and walking only five in 23 innings.

Iglesias, a right-hander, throws his four-seam fastball in the upper-90s and also mixes in a slider and a changeup. He’s the second acquisition made by new Angels general manager Perry Minasian, coming over five days after the team acquired another native Cuban, shortstop Jose Iglesias, from the Baltimore Orioles. That day, the Angels also non-tendered five relievers, including former closer Hansel Robles.

 

Raisel Iglesias and Jose Iglesias are not related but were born one day apart. They were teammates with the Reds in 2019.

Raisel Iglesias will make $9.125 million in the final season of his three-year, $24.125 million contract, but the Angels are also receiving unspecified cash considerations in the trade. By dealing Iglesias and non-tendering Archie BradleyBrian Goodwin and Curt Casali, among others, the Reds have saved nearly $20 million in salary commitments for 2021.

Reds general manager Nick Krall told reporters the team is trying to “reallocate resources” to address its pitching depth and find a starting shortstop.

Raisel Iglesias Agrees to Three-Year Contract with the Cincinnati Reds

Raisel Iglesias is seeing Red, and a lot of green…

The 28-year-old Cuban pitcher, a closer for the Cincinnati Reds, and the team have agreed to a three-year contract guaranteeing $24,125,000, a deal that avoided arbitration.

Raisel Iglesias

Iglesias reached a $27 million, seven-year agreement in 2014 that allowed him to void the remainder of the deal once he was eligible for salary arbitration. That agreement called for $5 million salaries in each of the next two seasons.

He made $4.5 million this year, when he had a career-high 30 saves in 34 chances and a 2.38 ERA.

Rather than having Iglesias eligible for arbitration each of the next few seasons, the Reds offered a restructured deal that gives both sides certainty.

“If he does what we’ve seen him do over the next three years, there’s all sorts of ways he can outperform these numbers,” Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams said. “Obviously both sides are taking on some risk here, and both sides getting paid to take on some risk.”

The Reds are trying to emerge from a massive rebuild that has left them with three straight 90-loss seasons. Last year, they added setup men Jared Hughes and David Hernandez to the bullpen and got significant improvement. Their priority this offseason is to add a couple of veteran starters.

They also hired David Bell as their manager in the offseason. Williams said Bell and his staff are looking at different ways to use Iglesias, who isn’t limited to a ninth-inning role like many other closers. Over the last three seasons, Iglesias has 24 saves of more than one inning, the most in the majors.

“He’s appeared in crucial situations in the middle of games,” Williams said. “Obviously he’s done it as well as anybody at the end of the game.

“We want to be able to maximize the value of Iglesias.”