The Minnesota Twins have signed veteran infielder Tim Beckham to a minor-league contract, according to Dan Hayes of The Athletic. (Players are allowed to ink only minor-league pacts during Major League Baseball's owner-imposed lockout.)
Beckham, who recently celebrated his 32nd birthday, appeared in 45 games last season with the Chicago White Sox's Triple-A affiliate. He hit .279/.330/.545 with 11 home runs in 182 trips to the plate. It should be noted that Beckham did not appear in the majors with the White Sox. Indeed, he hasn't taken a big-league swing since 2019, back when he was a member of the Seattle Mariners organization.
Beckham has appeared in nearly 500 big-league contests for his career, amassing a .249/.302/.431 (98 OPS+) slash line with 63 home runs and 3.8 Wins Above Replacement. The Twins will mark his fifth organization, as he's previously spent time with the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Mariners, and White Sox.
The Twins are currently projected to use Jose Miranda as one of their utility infielders, according to Roster Resource. Beckham could serve as an insurance policy, be it in case of injury to Miranda, or in case the Twins deem him to be not ready for a full-time big-league gig.
Beckham was, of course, selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft. That decision, though defensible at the time, has become one of the great "what if" questions for the Rays organization -- specifically as it relates to how the Rays would have fared had they chosen now-retired catcher Buster Posey instead.
Coincidentally, the player drafted directly after Beckham, Pedro Alvarez, also found himself in the news cycle this week. The Milwaukee Brewers announced on Friday that they had hired Alvarez as an assistant to their player development staff.
