Any chances of the Minnesota Twins signing second baseman Brian Dozier to a multiyear contract extension before he reaches free agency are dead, sources said Wednesday.
Dozier does not plan to hold any in-season discussions with the team and will hit the open market as part of a stacked free-agent class in November.
Dozier, 30, is likely to be a prime target for multiple clubs next offseason. He is tied with Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs for 11th place in Major League Baseball with 127 HRs since 2014, and he earned his first career Gold Glove last year. He also has appeared in 620 of a possible 648 games over the past four seasons and posted a career-high .359 on-base percentage out of the leadoff spot in 2017.
The Twins, a surprise American League playoff team last season, made multiple upgrades to the roster over the winter. They acquired Jake Odorizzi, their Opening Day starter, in a trade with Tampa Bay, and they signed starter Lance Lynn, relievers Addison Reed and Zach Duke, and first baseman/DH Logan Morrison as free agents.
But if they want to retain Dozier, it will either have to come during a brief window after the World Series or after Dozier files for free agency and is available to all 30 clubs. Dozier is part of a monumental free-agent class that also includes Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson, Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel, Charlie Blackmon, Andrew Miller, Daniel Murphy, Cody Allen, Adam Jones and Andrew McCutchen, among numerous others. Starters Clayton Kershaw and David Price can join the class if they exercise opt-out clauses in their contracts.
Dozier is one of several players who have indicated to their teams that they do not plan to talk contract once the season gets underway. Blackmon, who finished fifth in MVP voting and won the National League batting title with a .331 average for the Colorado Rockies in 2017, recently told ESPN that he would not entertain contract-extension offers from the club after the start of the season. The Rockies play the Arizona Diamondbacks in their opener Thursday in Phoenix.
"I've already made it clear that when it's baseball season, I play baseball,'' Blackmon said. "I don't do contract stuff, so if you want to do contract stuff, you can do it before the season or you can do it after the season. But in between, I'm a baseball player and I play baseball and I don't need distractions.''