Twins sign Addison Reed to 2-year deal

The Minnesota Twins have inked free agent reliever Addison Reed to a two-year deal worth nearly $16.75 million, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reports:

Reed joins Fernando Rodney and Zach Duke as late-inning options to sign with the Twins this offseason. While no closer has been officially named, Reed is coming off the strongest 2017 of the trio and is likely to take over the role.

Reed, 29, posted a 2.84 ERA over 76.0 innings last season while pitching for the Mets and Red Sox. The right-hander's dominant 2016 and 2017 seasons have lowered his career ERA to 3.40, and he boasts a solid 4.09 K/BB ratio lifetime.

Reed helps cement the back-end of Minnesota's bullpen, after the club dealt free-agent-to-be closer Brandon Kintzler to the Nationals at last year's Trade Deadline (Kintzler re-signed with Washington earlier this winter). After a surprise Wild Card appearance in 2017, the club is clearly looking to capitalize on a short window in which the Royals, White Sox, and Tigers are all in rebuild mode.

The Twins have been rumored as a potential landing spot for a top free-agent starter this winter, and little has transpired thus far to contradict those reports. If Minnesota can land either Yu Darvish or Jake Arrieta, they may be knocking on the Indians' door atop the AL Central.

Reed was linked to the Rockies, Nationals, Mets, Phillies, Cardinals and Cubs this winter, with erroneous reports at the winter meetings going as far as to say he had completed a deal with Minnesota. Despite growing up in California and attending San Diego State, Reed wanted to sign somewhere in the Midwest, according to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan.