Nelson Cruz, Padres finalize $1 million, 1-year contract

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Longtime slugger Nelson Cruz and the San Diego Padres finalized a $1 million, one-year contract on Monday.

The perimeters agreed to the deal on Jan. 11, pending a bodily.

The precise-handed-hitting Cruz, who turns 43 on July 1, is anticipated to platoon at designated hitter with 37-year-old lefty hitter Matt Carpenter, who signed a one-year take care of the Padres final month.

Cruz is a seven-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger Award winner who has 459 house runs in 18 massive league seasons. He had 10 homers and 64 RBIs in 124 video games with Washington final yr. He didn’t play after Sept. 13 because of a watch situation that required offseason surgical procedure.

Cruz acquired a $3 million buyout after the Nationals declined a mutual choice.

Cruz has 18 postseason homers and performed in consecutive World Sequence with the Texas Rangers. San Diego reached the NL Championship Sequence final yr earlier than dropping to Philadelphia.

With the Padres, Cruz will likely be reunited with former teammates Manny Machado and Juan Soto. Cruz is famous for his veteran clubhouse presence, and was given Main League Baseball’s Roberto Clemente Award for character, group involvement and philanthropy in 2021 whereas with Tampa Bay.

Cruz will likely be common supervisor/participant with the Dominican Republic within the World Baseball Basic this spring. Machado and Soto may also play for the Dominican Republic.

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