MLB PLAYER NEWS

Dozier a big part of Twins’ future

The Sports Xchange

March 27, 2015 at 12:44 pm.

Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Twins locked up a big part of their future this week when they signed second baseman Brian Dozier to a four-year contract. The deal kicks in this season and buys out Dozier’s arbitration years, making him a free agent after the 2018 season.

“Everything is headed in the right direction and hopefully the four-year deal is just a steppingstone for something even possibly longer,” Dozier said, according to MLB.com. “I’ve stated it many times: I want to be here forever.”

The deal is a good one for each side.

Dozier, who turns 28 in May, gets financial security over the next four years and also gets a raise this season; he was scheduled to make just $590,000 but will now pocket $2 million. The deal calls for raises each season, paying Dozier $3 million in 2016, $6 million in 2017 and $9 million in 2018.

If Dozier continues his ascent, the contract will be a good one for the Twins. One of the better second basemen in all of baseball last season, Dozier hit 23 homers, stole 21 bases and scored 112 runs — becoming the first Twins player in a decade and just the sixth in franchise history to reach the 20/20 plateau.

“We anticipate he’s in the prime of his career,” general manager Terry Ryan said. “I suspect it’s going to spike, some of the numbers he has put up.”

Dozier has increased his home run and stolen base totals in each of his first three seasons. Despite a batting average that dropped two points from 2013, Dozier’s on-base percentage rose 33 points to .345, thanks to 89 walks — 38 more than in 2013.

That improved plate discipline helped Dozier become a staple near the top of Minnesota’s batting order and will do so again this season.

“It gave us some cost certainty; it gave Brian some security,” assistant general manager Rob Antony said. “There’s nothing to say that a year or two from now, we can’t revisit that situation and do something else.”

There is precedent if the Twins and Dozier want to extend the deal down the line. After signing pitcher Phil Hughes to a three-year, $24 million contract before the 2014 season, Minnesota signed him to a five-year, $42 million extension that reworked the final two years of his original deal and added three additional seasons, keeping Hughes in Minnesota through 2019.