Twins officially sign Doumit to a one-year deal

MINNEAPOLIS The Minnesota Twins officially signed catcher Ryan Doumit to a one-year contract Wednesday. And while the 30-year-old Doumit is versatile able to play the outfield and designated hitter Twins general manager Terry Ryan made it clear the team plans to use Doumit plenty behind the plate as the backup to Joe Mauer. "First and foremost, we consider Ryan a catcher," Ryan said. "He's got switch-hit capabilities. You know the situation last year. We just didn't have enough depth and offense out of the position when Joe went down. This is an added bonus that Ryan's athletic enough to go out and play the outfield and certainly can DH. He does bring some pop in his bat." Mauer missed two months early in the season with bilateral leg weakness, forcing backup catcher Drew Butera into the starting role. The Twins used Steve Holm and Rene Rivera as Butera's backups. But none of those three options brought much to the table offensively. In 93 games, Butera batted just .167 with a .210 on-base percentage and just 12 extra-base hits. Rivera's average was even lower (.144) in 45 games. Holm made just six appearances before he was demoted to Triple-A Rochester. "I talked to Drew about this because I knew it was going to affect him directly," Ryan said. "Drew is a pretty good compliment here because we all know he can catch and throw. He had trouble with the bat. But he's going to come in and compete for a spot just like normal and see where that roster sorts itself out with how many catchers we carry." The Twins are hoping Mauer returns fully healthy for the 2012 season and will be able to catch a majority of Minnesota's games. When Mauer is behind the plate, Doumit can play the outfield or DH. He's also played a handful of games at first base during his seven-year career, all with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The ability to play multiple positions for the Twins is part of what drew Doumit to Minnesota despite other offers. "I looked at it as an opportunity to be versatile, an opportunity to catch a little bit, DH a little bit, play a little outfield," Doumit said. "It's just something that I was very excited about. It was an opportunity to be a part of a winning organization." The 2011 Twins team had its fair share of injuries, with Mauer's perhaps the highest-profiled of the season. Doumit, too, has a history of injuries. He broke his ankle last season during a play at home plate, and played in just 77 games as a result. In 2009, Doumit fractured his wrist while sliding into a base and only played in 75 games for the Pirates. But Doumit said he feels a bit "snake bit" by those two injuries. "I just kind of look at it like freak things," Doumit said. "I don't think it has anything to do with conditioning. I don't think it has anything to do with anything other than the fact that this is a rough game and I play a rough position. I chalk it up to that." When Doumit was healthy last year, the switch-hitting catcher was a productive hitter. He batted .303.353.477 with eight home runs and 30 RBIs in 77 games. He's a career .271 hitter in seven seasons and has surpassed 10 home runs three times. "He didn't get as many starts or at-bats as he'd like, but in the ones he did get, he hit pretty well," Ryan said. "He had a nice year last year for a limited amount of at-bats." Doumit's ability to play right field could provide especially valuable for the Twins, who could lose right fielders Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer to free agency. But Ryan said Minnesota will continue to look for help at that position in the free agent market, as well as designated hitter. "We signed him first and foremost as a catcher," Ryan reiterated. "We're certainly looking to fill that outfield spot. The DH, I think it's safe to say that with Ryan and Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer and maybe whoever else comes in to play outfield, we'll have a little bit of a floating DH, I would say. I'm not positive of that quite yet because we've got a long ways to go this winter to finalize a roster."