Josh Willingham is now one step closer to joining the Minnesota Twins. the free agent outfielder passed his initial physical Thursday morning and he is expected to finalize the deal Thursday afternoon. Jerry Crasnick confirmed the news late Thursday morning that Willingham would likely be a Twin by the end of the day:
Josh Willingham has passed physical and agreed to 3-year, guaranteed $21M contract w/
#Twins. Will be announced today.
Willingham has attracted the attention of several other clubs during the free agent process according to ESPN:
Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Colorado and Boston are among the other clubs that expressed interest in Willingham during the free agent process.
Willingham is a career .262 hitter with 132 home runs for the Marlins, Nationals and Athletics. He batted .246 with a career-high 29 homers and 98 RBIs for Oakland in 2011. he is expected to shore up the Twins outfield as well as provide some much-needed offensive pop.