MLB Rumors: NL West Team At The Top of Nelson Cruz Suitors

At last summer's trade deadline, one of the teams that dispatched scouts to keep a close eye on 41-year-old Minnesota Twins DH Nelson Cruz, were the San Diego Padres. Now, with the universal DH an actual thing in the NL, they are expressing interest in signing Cruz as a free agent. 

Padres are one of many teams in on DH extraordinaire Nelson Cruz, who is expected to decide this weekend. It’s mostly NL teams who need a DH now that are in on Cruz. Padres GM AJ Preller has the connection from Texas, where Cruz became a star.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 12, 2022

As noted by MLB Insider Jon Heyman, Padres GM AJ Preller knows Cruz well from his days as Director of Scouting and then Assistant GM at Texas, where the ageless DH was making his mark in the big leagues over most of Preller's 10-year tenure. 

Since then, Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey has confirmed Preller's interest in Cruz to The Athletic. “A.J. was serious, for sure.” 

Cruz's 32 home runs were better than any Padre in 2021 not named Fernando Tatis Jr.  His numbers haven't slowed down over the course of his career; in fact, Cruz has FAR more home runs in his last eight years, since turning 34, than he did in the first nine years of his career. 

The Padres also suffered from some clubhouse issues last season, and if they're in need of a team leader, there are not many better candidates around the sport than Cruz. Falvey, his boss last season in Minny, called Cruz “the best teammate I’ve ever seen."

Photo credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports