• Ryan Must React

    by
    Nick Nelson
    Published on 02-27-2012 11:25 AM
    33 Comments Comments
    In his efforts to augment a bullpen that last year ranked last in the league in ERA, FIP and WHIP, Terry Ryan's moves essentially amounted to re-signing Matt Capps and adding Joel Zumaya to replace the departed Joe Nathan.

    That was hardly a recipe for guaranteed substantial improvement, and now with Zumaya's unfortunate yet unsurprising injury news, Ryan's passive approach to addressing this unit in a buyer's market looks all the more irresponsible.

    With their sole bullpen pickup gone for the year, the Twins may react by trying to find another outside arm they can plug in. They'll now only have to pay Zumaya $400K, and his contract included incentives that escalated to $1.7M, so you'd have to figure they have $1.3M left in the budget to spend on a replacement.

    That amount would have been plenty to sign a reliable relief guy such as Chad Qualls or Todd Coffey earlier in the offseason, but unfortunately all those hurlers are now off the board. The free agent market is exceedingly thin at this point, whittled down to such names as Michael Wuertz and Danys Baez – neither of whom have been effective since 2009.

    A trade would appear to be the more palatable solution. There are some interesting players who might be available, the most notable of them being Koji Uehara of the Rangers. Owner of a 2.56 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 140-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio over the past two seasons, Uehara is an elite right-handed reliever and Texas has been dangling him all winter. The problem is that he's set to earn $4 million this year, and it's hard to believe the Twins would stretch their budget that far given their reluctance to spend even a million on an additional arm to supplement the Zumaya signing.

    Then again, maybe this is the moment where the Twins finally put their money where their mouth is. They've claimed that they're serious about contending. They've claimed that there's wiggle room in their reduced budget, and that ownership is willing to add payroll over the course of the season.

    Well, then do it. Make a move and get a dependable right-handed arm for this bullpen, because right now it's tough to identify a single one.

    The time has come for Ryan to shed his past conservative tendencies and take an aggressive step aimed at putting his club in position for success. If he heads into the season with this current hodgepodge of bullpen question marks, and an inability to hold leads proves to be a crippling downfall for the Twins, all the good things Ryan has done during the offseason will be overshadowed by his baffling inactivity on the relief market. That would be a shame.
    This article was originally published in blog: Ryan Must React started by Nick Nelson
    Comments 33 Comments
    1. Roger Sterling's Avatar
      Roger Sterling - 02-27-2012, 06:26 PM
      Anthony Slama is not even in major league camp. There's no chance the Twins are considering him for a bullpen spot to open this season, and I'd imagine there's very, very little chance he ever pitches for the Twins again. Whether you agree with them or not, they've never thought particularly highly of him.
    1. thrylos98's Avatar
      thrylos98 - 02-27-2012, 06:33 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by gil4 View Post
      Trading Young and Slowey for nothing were defensible
      in which way?
      other than the fact that they were not liked by Gardy?
      I'd rather see them trade Gardy than those two...
    1. SCBackroads's Avatar
      SCBackroads - 02-27-2012, 06:51 PM
      It is what it is. I'd play the cards dealt because Twins teams over the past decade have done more with less. Remember all the complaining on the web when Joe Nathan was anointed as the closer? Holy moley! I thought a rabid group of fans with pitchforks ans torches was going to sack the dome. That deal turned out just fine. This bevvy of righthanders they've got might surprise...like that little know Breslow kid did a few years ago.
    1. Steer's Avatar
      Steer - 02-27-2012, 07:04 PM
      Not to high on Gardy either. Stubborn ways were o.k. when winning but a few more losing seasons and the chorus will be louder for his hide. Waiting to see a few games.
    1. Nick Nelson's Avatar
      Nick Nelson - 02-27-2012, 07:18 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by thrylos98 View Post
      Rewind to 2004 Spring Training. The Twins had 2 left over pitchers (Romero and Rincon) and a bunch of "misfits", including a guy who they designated as their closer who was decent as a late inning reliever, an injury risk but not "established" (Nathan), 3 waiver wire/cheap signs (Guerrier, Roa, Fultz) and a kid (Crain). That pen on paper was very very iffy. Let me know if you disagree.
      Nathan had not been "decent" as a late-inning reliever, he was flat-out dominant. The prior year in San Francisco he'd posted a 2.96 ERA and 83/33 K/BB ratio in 79 innings while holding hitters to a .186 average. Granted, shifting him into the closer role was an experimental risk, but that's the kind of guy I'll take my chances on. Romero and Rincon were both established big-league relievers and Crain was a Top 100 prospect in baseball. That bullpen might've been somewhat iffy, but it doesn't compare to this year's group, which has one player who was successful in the major leagues last year. One.

      Quote Originally Posted by ben View Post
      That's probably a good reason not to "take an aggressive step" with a trade for relief pitchers, at least for a team in the Twins' position.
      I see a lot of comments like this. It's interesting that I'm the one getting accused of negativity when in fact I seem to be one of the few who actually believes the team could contend this year. It's because of that fact that this kind of inaction frustrates me.

      Do I believe one relief pitcher is going to be the difference-maker for this team? No. But having an established guy that you can somewhat count on to complement Perkins in the late innings gives you a lot more margin for error with some of the other guys they'll be trying out.
    1. mike wants wins's Avatar
      mike wants wins - 02-27-2012, 07:58 PM
      I think it odd people put credence in spring training, but not years of performance in the minors and majors....They blew it by not taking advantage of the oversupply of RH RPs when they had the chance. Now, I'm not interested, even a little, in trading a potential MLB position player for a RP. I think this team is unlikely to be contending, so let's not sell the future for the present. That time was 3-10 years ago, and they Ryan didn't do it then to close gaps on very good to great teams. I don't think it's likely he does so on a team that looks iffy.
    1. Pitz's Avatar
      Pitz - 02-27-2012, 08:43 PM
      I'm curious who the Rangers would want from the Twins in return for Koji. I agree that Koji would be a great addition to the bullpen but I'm not sure the price is right in terms of who the Twins would trade to get him.
    1. Highabove's Avatar
      Highabove - 02-27-2012, 10:06 PM
      This is a Market where much of the Media tows the Company line. You will not get an alternate view from the likes of Phil Mackey. The Centric Guys will give you a point of view which you may not see with the main stream media. If you want Kool Aid, there's plenty to chose from.
    1. gil4's Avatar
      gil4 - 02-27-2012, 10:59 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by thrylos98 View Post
      in which way?
      I'd rather see them trade Gardy than those two...
      Unfortunately, Gardy wasn't going anywhere based on one bad season. Slowey seemed to have annoyed more than just Gardy, although it might have been just Gardy and Souhan. The case could be made that he had burned bridges and had to go, and nobody was going to give up much to get him.

      Young's salary was starting to become significant and he doesn't do enough well to justify it. I would have preferred to see him in RF to see if his arm could offset some of his defensive shortcomings (like it did for Cuddyer), but he didn't hit enough to justify a spot as a DH or corner OF.
    1. Fanatic Jack's Avatar
      Fanatic Jack - 02-28-2012, 07:18 AM
      Nick,

      Terrific article. I could not agree more!!
    1. destes's Avatar
      destes - 02-28-2012, 10:59 AM
      lets hope that Terry Doyle can pick up a bunch of productive innings it would be a pleasant event if a rule 5 pick proved to be a good grab
    1. James Richter's Avatar
      James Richter - 02-28-2012, 01:06 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Roger Sterling View Post
      Anthony Slama is not even in major league camp.
      Neither is anybody they'd sign or trade for.
    1. Roger Sterling's Avatar
      Roger Sterling - 02-28-2012, 02:51 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by James Richter View Post

      Neither is anybody they'd sign or trade for.
      The people who are expecting them to sign or trade for somebody are likely going to be as disappointed as you will be expecting them to give Anthony Slama a spot.
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