Twins agree to deal with relief pitcher Josh Staumont

The Twins made their first offseason addition to the major league roster on Wednesday, agreeing to a one-year deal with relief pitcher Josh Staumont.

The 30-year-old right-hander comes to the Twins after having season-ending surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome over the summer, a procedure that major league pitchers have had mixed results coming back from.

Prior to that, Staumont had a 5.40 earned-run average in 21 games for the Kansas City Royals. His season ended in June when he landed on the injured list with what was described as a neck strain at the time. In November, the Royals designated the once-shutdown reliever for assignment.

While Staumont had a difficult 2022 and 2023 seasons, he was once one of the best relievers in the game earlier in his career, posting a 2.45 ERA across 26 innings in 2020 while striking out 13 batters per nine innings.

A year later, in 2021, he had a 2.88 ERA in 65 2/3 innings, lowering his WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) to 1.066 and converting all five save opportunities he was given.

Things have been difficult for him since then, but the veteran reliever could make an interesting addition to a Twins bullpen that earlier this offseason lost Emilio Pagán in free agency. Staumont is the first major league reliever that the Twins have signed since shortly before the 2022 season when they signed Joe Smith, as they have often recently opted to fill bullpen needs with internal additions or waiver claims.

He is the first major league addition for a team that still needs to address its starting rotation after both Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda, two of last year’s starters, departed in free agency — and figure out what to do in center field, among other things.

While the beginning of the offseason has moved slowly for the Twins, it has been relatively par for course for this front office, which has shown that it is willing to exercise patience in the offseason and strike closer to spring training.

Both of last year’s big additions — Carlos Correa via free agency and Pablo López via trade — came in January and the Twins were adding even into spring training, signing utilityman Donovan Solano after players had reported to Fort Myers, Fla., for camp.

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