Donovan Solano finds home with Padres after big 2023 season with Twins

SAN DIEGO – Donovan Solano had a long winter, longer than any other MLB player.

Not until April 17, three weeks after Opening Day, did Solano sign a contract for 2024, a minor league deal, and not until May 6 did Solano get called up from Class AAA.

All that after what was arguably the best season of his career, a year spent playing three different positions for the Twins and helping them claim an American League Central championship.

But when he shopped around for a new contract as a 36-year-old? Nobody seemed interested.

“I was surprised, too. I don’t know what teams were thinking,” Solano said Monday between hugs with former teammates. “I tried. I continued to train, tried to push forward as best I could.”

His preference was to return to the Twins, and why not? His anticipated role as a pinch hitter and part-time first baseman had expanded into a career-high 134 games, 95 starts and 450 plate appearances in 2023. He was one of three Twins to collect more than 100 hits, his .282 batting average led the team and his 26 doubles were second to Carlos Correa’s 29.

“It was special. It was special because it was good teammates, good city, I made good friends,” Solano said. “We made the playoffs, which was amazing for me. I really was [hoping] to come back in Minnesota. It was a special time for me.”

The Twins were noncommittal, though, wary of his age and seeking a potential upgrade. Though he came relatively cheap — he earned only $2 million with the Twins — the team was in the midst of paring payroll, too.

Still, in January, the Twins appeared interested in bringing him back. “They told me they maybe would sign me again. I was in the middle of [a group of potential] players, so I have to wait,” Solano said. “The next day, [Carlos] Santana made a deal” with the Twins, ending their interest.

Solano’s not bitter, though. “They know how to run their business,” he said. Besides, he landed in a place and a situation that thrill him.

“I was excited to come back and play in the big leagues. A contender team, too,” Solano said of the San Diego Padres, for whom he has hit .304 in 66 games primarily as a fill-in during third baseman Manny Machado’s hip injury. “I know San Diego wanted to wait and see what happened, like with Minnesota. When they say they want me, I was so excited.”

Solano, who said he regularly remains in touch with Correa, Willi Castro and Jose Miranda, spent a half-hour in front of the Twins dugout Monday catching up with his old friends. And he wasn’t the only one.

Luis Arraez was alongside Solano for nearly as long, hugging and laughingly reprising complicated handshake routines with former teammates.

“I cried when they traded me,” Arraez said of the 2023 deal that sent the Twins’ reigning AL batting champion to Miami for Pablo López and two minor leaguers. “I played my whole career there. I never forget Minnesota. I miss Minnesota. I still have an apartment there.”

His former manager misses him, too.

“He’s just a very unique, special hitter. There’s no one else in the league that does what he does,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Arraez, who became a Padre, via a trade with the Miami Marlins, two days before Solano. “I got a lot of enjoyment watching Luis play. He just gets hits at a rate that really nobody else in the game does. That’s fun.”

As somber as he was postgame, Jorge Alcala won’t have any trouble putting his five-run inning against the Texas Rangers on Sunday behind him, pitching coach Pete Maki said, because he realizes “that even quality pitches sometimes get hit.”

Still, Maki subscribes to the theory that it’s important to get good relievers back on the mound as soon as possible after such a meltdown.

“You don’t want to have to sit on that for too long,” Maki said. “Every reliever will tell you they want to get right back out there.”