Crede Ditches Pale Hose For Twins

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Feb 23, 2009 6:00PM

Joe Crede, a key part of the White Sox 2005 World Series run, has parted ways with the South Side squad and joined the division rival Minnesota Twins. Crede had spent his entire major league career with the Sox, including his best year of 2006, which saw him bat .283 with 30 HR and 94 RBI, but injuries kept him sideline much of the last two seasons. In only 97 games in 2008, he managed to belt 17 HR and drive in 55 runs.

The 30-year-old third base slugger was a free agent this season and the Twins had been working on getting a deal with Crede's agent, the lovable Scott Boras. ESPN reports the deal is for one year and worth $2.5 million, though incentives could drive it as high as $7 million. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, "We've been thinking about this guy for a while, never knowing whether it was going to work out or not. But it finally has. When his name was out there recommended, I said yeah, I would love to have this guy. Absolutely." And what do Crede's teammates think of their former third basemen heading to a division rival? Said Mark Buehrle, "It's nice for him to play, obviously don't want to face him all the time. I think it's going to be tough playing 80 games on turf. I don't how that's going to hold up on his back. Obviously we'll see. Hopefully he's going to be healthy all year. Hopefully he doesn't help them out too much."