The Twins took a step to improve themselves up the middle on Tuesday, agreeing to a one-year, $10.5 million deal with shortstop Andrelton Simmons, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Shortstop Andrelton Simmons and the Minnesota Twins are in agreement on a one-year, $10.5 million contract, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 27, 2021

Simmons, 31, spent the past five seasons with the Los Angeles Angels after beginning his career with the Atlanta Braves. Simmons slashed .297/.346/.356 with no home runs and 10 RBIs in 30 games last season before he opted out for the remainder of the season on Sept. 22 because of concerns about COVID-19. In nine big-league seasons, he has hit .269/.317/.379 with 67 homers and 406 RBIs in 1,060 games.

As Passan notes below, the Twins will move Jorge Polanco from short to second base and Luis Arraez will be used in the super-utility role that Marwin Gonzalez has played in recent seasons. Simmons is considered one of the best shortstops in the game and has won four Gold Gloves in his career. Simmons is first among shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved since 2012 at plus-191, according to Fangraphs. The next closest is Arizona’s Nick Ahmed at plus-80.

Jorge Polanco is a -34 over that stretch, by the way.

0 is average for Defensive Runs Saved, which means the gap between Simmons (+191) and Polanco (-34) *defensively alone* is 225 runs since 2014.

Think about that.

— Phil Mackey (@PhilMackey) January 27, 2021