Market for Nelson Cruz 'accelerating'

Nelson Cruz may be nearing a contract for the upcoming season. A few American League teams and a lot of National League teams are currently in the mix. Enrique Rojas of ESPN reports at least eight teams are interested and lists the Dodgers, Brewers and Padres as three of them.

Cruz has been one of the best pure bats in baseball for over a decade, as he has posted a wRC+ of at least 106 each season since 2008, and a wRC+ of at least 122 in each season since 2013. Despite that, his market has increasingly been limited to American League teams due to his defensive limitations. The last time he played more than five games in the field was 2016, and the last time he played the outfield at all was 2018, though he did play one game at first base in 2021. With the new CBA expanding the designated hitter to the National League, that doubled the slugger’s market.

This incredible production has all occurred despite Cruz being one of the oldest players in the league, as he’ll turn 42 in July. The slugger had a mixed season last year, producing a line of .294/.370/.537 and a wRC+ of 141 with the Twins but slashing just .226/.283/.442, wRC+ of 96 after being traded to the Rays. 

Despite that limited production down the stretch, the overall line on the season was still strong: .265/.334/.497, wRC+ of 122. With the universal DH now in place, he figures to be an upgrade in just about any team’s lineup. On MLBTR’s list of Top 50 Free Agents, Cruz was predicted to land a one-year contract of $12M.

Interest from the Padres has been a source of speculation given that the club’s president of baseball operations, A.J. Preller, has a penchant for acquiring players who were with the Rangers during his time as assistant general manager, such as Yu Darvish, Jurickson Profar and Nomar Mazara. Cruz was a member of the Rangers from 2006-13, largely overlapping with Preller’s tenure there, which lasted from 2004-14. As the Padres are a National League team that didn’t have the DH until a few days ago, they have no incumbent at the position, making it easy to slide Cruz into the lineup for an immediate upgrade.

The Brewers would certainly benefit from bringing Cruz onto the roster, as their success last year was largely built around pitching. On the offensive side of things, the team put up a season-long slash line of just .233/.317/.396. That amounted to a wRC+ of just 91, ranking them 23rd out of the 30 teams in the majors. Despite that tepid offense, they went 95-67, winning the NL Central on the backs of their superb mound work. Using their new DH opening on a slugger like Cruz would be an simple way of starting to turn that weakness into a strength.

As for the Dodgers, they are never shy about spending money to upgrade their roster, having been one of just two teams to pay the CBT tax last year. The club might be looking to add some offensive pop after losing Corey Seager to the Rangers. Although they will have a full season of deadline-acquisition Trea Turner to make up for that loss, adding Cruz into their new DH slot would be a way to further bolster their already-potent offense.