Coming into the 2019 Major League Baseball season, relief
pitching was a very serious question mark. For the most part, the guys
Minnesota’s front office has told us to trust in have looked the part. Ryne
Harper has been a great story, and Matt Magill has flashed solid stuff. The
back end of Taylor Rogers, Blake Parker, and Trevor May work. Unfortunately, that’s
where things end.
There’s been a revolving door at the bottom of Minnesota’s
bullpen, and the options to call upon are dwindling. Fernando Romero has been
up multiple times, without seeing any significant success. He’s been knocked
around at Triple-A, and despite great stuff, the transition to relief hasn’t
gone smoothly. We’ve seen Tyler Duffey a few times, and despite dominating
Triple-A, the beautiful bender has yet to see solid run in the big leagues.
Rocco Baldelli has been given lefty Andrew Vasquez, and
former starter Adalberto Mejia looks to have flamed out. Addison Reed was on a
path back through a surprise rehab stint, but he’s been hit around the park for
Rochester. The only other 40-man option is lefty Gabriel Moya, who has also
been bad since returning to Triple-A and hasn’t ever shown a significant level
of success at the big-league level.
Non-40-man options are also a difficult ask at this point.
Jake Reed was going well for Rochester but has hit the skids. D.J. Baxendale
and Ryan Eades have gaudy ERA numbers and are allowing far too much contact.
Beyond that, you’d need to dip another level down and be relatively convinced
that the big jump would be warranted.
The good news is that the Twins are 27-15 while looking in
command of the AL Central. The bad news is that Trevor Hildenberger nearly
surrendered a four-run lead, and Mike Morin was called upon to face both Mike
Trout and Shohei Ohtani in massive spots today. If that development alone doesn’t
call for some action, I don’t know what does.
Craig Kimbrel still is unsigned and can be acquired for
nothing more than cash. Yes, at this point you’d need to part with a draft pick
to sign him. Waiting until after the draft could be smart, but the number of
teams willing to bring him in without pick compensation being thwarted likely rises
in number as well. On the trade front, there’s more than a handful of bad teams
that can part will relievers. Typically deals are consummated in late June at
the earlier. Though the asset capital may be higher when looking to acquire
talent earlier in the year, it’s worth weighing what the immediate and extra
impact would be should they get into Wes Johnson’s hands sooner.
At the end of the day it boils down to the simple principle
that the Minnesota Twins have opportunity in front of them. Given their
trajectory and roster construction, this isn’t a team that should be playing
for 2020. You don’t need to mortgage the farm for a one-year run but
capitalizing in years where you can make noise is a must. Right now, the
greatest deficiency this group has is its bullpen. Although the collective has
held strong, it’s been on the back of a small inner group that is going to be
burned through come summer.
