Article: The Duffey Dilemma

[drjim]

I don't buy this reliever narrative as stated above.

 

Perkins and Graham were locked in.

 

Fien, Thompson and Boyer were pitching above their ability early in the season and the Twins wisely rode them.

 

Duensing was obviously bad but it seems the patience was rewarded. Stauffer not so much but they moved on.

 

This leaves one clear spot as well as occasional 8 man bullpen and injury replacements.

 

Th is is where they used Pressly, Tonkin, O'Rourke, Thielbar. Just because they haven't dipped into the next tier down doesn't mean it was a mistake. They went after wins aggressively when they had the chance. It was the right move.

[Otto von Ballpark]

They rode Thompson way too long. Boyer arguably too. Given their upside, the leash should have been much shorter with those two.

 

Also not sure why we had to get more looks at Thielbar and Tonkin, who were actually seen plenty in 2014. New faces would have been more informative.

 

Finally, O'Rourke and May have yet to pitch any really meaningful innings in relief. We've somehow gone about 4 months without actually testing any new high upside options.

[Otto von Ballpark]

And if Achter and Darnell are strictly triple emergency options, use those 40 man spot to evaluate Rogers and Duffey in advance of Rule 5 like we somehow failed to do with Gilmartin last year. (Or were we just being smart and aggressive and chasing wins with Burton and Swarzak late in the 2014 season?)