Duran makes Opening Day roster

[Brock Beauchamp]

Good for him! Glad to see service time manipulation wasn't used yet again.

 

[GNess]

Good to see the, "pitching pipeline" producing viable options. Now it needs to produce good results.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Yes. 

[Squirrel]

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Good for him! Glad to see service time manipulation wasn't used yet again.

 

This could be your 'I want another Liriano thing' ... did they say he'd be a starter, or in the BP? I'm assuming there will be some innings limits for him this season.

EDIT: Nevermind ... he will be used as a reliever ... https://www.mlb.com/twins/news/minnesota-twins-top-mlb-prospects-updates-2022

'Duran has been a starter throughout his career, but after elbow issues held him to 16 innings with Triple-A St. Paul last season, this opportunity in the bullpen will help him ease back into a full-season workload. In the meantime, the Twins will benefit from his firepower as one of precious few pitchers in club history capable of easily rearing back for 100 mph.'

[cHawk]

You love to see it.

[jmlease1]

I think they're seeing him as a 1-2 innings reliever now. It'll probably play up his 2-pitch mix and hopefully they'll be able to keep him healthy.

The stuff is legit; that fastball isn't just some flat, straight heater that MLB hitter will be able to time easily after they see it once or twice, and the "splinker" really falls off the table and changes eye level. he's a weapon. I'm bummed they don't really see him as a starter any longer, but this is one of the reasons I favor building bullpens internally rather than spending $14M on a guy to pitch the 9th inning.

[nicksaviking]

Obviously this doesn't close the door on him being a starter but it's more likely than not that this will be his spot going forward.

Which is actually probably a good sign that the team liked what it saw from the other young starters this spring. I suspect the team would have put Duran in AAA still functioning as a starter but several of the Winder/Balazovic/Strotman/Sands/Woods-Richardson group made them comfortable enough to consider them the next guys up.

[Danchat]

I didn't think he'd start in the majors, but with the lack of quality relievers on the team, it makes sense to break him in as a reliever. I am interested to see how he does in short bursts.

[Joey P]

In no way does this speak to his viability as a starter long term (ie next year). He just had so few innings he is not stretched out to start in the bigs. So, might as well use his arm out of the pen and not go over his innings limit. I think, barring injury, they stretch him out to start next spring. But it will be exciting to have him out of the pen this season. As long as he can throw strikes. I think our bullpen will pick up the slack from our rotation this season. 

[dex8425]

1 hour ago, Joey P said:

In no way does this speak to his viability as a starter long term (ie next year). He just had so few innings he is not stretched out to start in the bigs. So, might as well use his arm out of the pen and not go over his innings limit. I think, barring injury, they stretch him out to start next spring. But it will be exciting to have him out of the pen this season. As long as he can throw strikes. I think our bullpen will pick up the slack from our rotation this season. 

That'll be the theme for the season. Score a lot of runs, try to squeeze 4-5 innings out of the starting pitcher, hand it off to a decent bullpen while scoring more runs, win. 

[jmlease1]

1 hour ago, Danchat said:

I didn't think he'd start in the majors, but with the lack of quality relievers on the team, it makes sense to break him in as a reliever. I am interested to see how he does in short bursts.

I'm baffled by the continued assertion that the twins don't have quality relievers. Rogers is excellent, Duffey has been (and with the variance you see in relievers may well be again while changing nothing), Thielbar has been good, Alcala was excellent in the second half and is a rising pitcher, Smith is consistently solid and the team has a whole host of options to choose from as they build out the bullpen. the Twins may not have highly paid relievers or big names, but it should be a quality bullpen without Duran.

Duran should add to it with a thunderbolt for an arm and heat that few can match anywhere in the league, but we were never really missing all that much in relief.

[chpettit19]

6 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I'm baffled by the continued assertion that the twins don't have quality relievers. Rogers is excellent, Duffey has been (and with the variance you see in relievers may well be again while changing nothing), Thielbar has been good, Alcala was excellent in the second half and is a rising pitcher, Smith is consistently solid and the team has a whole host of options to choose from as they build out the bullpen. the Twins may not have highly paid relievers or big names, but it should be a quality bullpen without Duran.

Duran should add to it with a thunderbolt for an arm and heat that few can match anywhere in the league, but we were never really missing all that much in relief.

Colome really did a number on the psyche of Twins fans.

[jmlease1]

1 minute ago, chpettit19 said:

Colome really did a number on the psyche of Twins fans.

seriously. but he should be the warning not to sign high-priced veterans for your bullpen (if anything), because you never know when they're going to implode, not a message to dump more money into the bullpen.

[TheLeviathan]

Him in the bullpen makes for a really interesting group for the Twins.  The rotation might be iffy, but it's hard not to look at the bullpen and feel pretty damn good about it.

[Danchat]

30 minutes ago, jmlease1 said:

I'm baffled by the continued assertion that the twins don't have quality relievers. Rogers is excellent, Duffey has been (and with the variance you see in relievers may well be again while changing nothing), Thielbar has been good, Alcala was excellent in the second half and is a rising pitcher, Smith is consistently solid and the team has a whole host of options to choose from as they build out the bullpen. the Twins may not have highly paid relievers or big names, but it should be a quality bullpen without Duran.

Duran should add to it with a thunderbolt for an arm and heat that few can match anywhere in the league, but we were never really missing all that much in relief.

Duffey had some rough stretches last year and lost 1-2 MPH on his fastball, IIRC. He's not who I'd want as the unquestioned #2 reliever on this team. 

Alclala was brutal through July and didn't step it up until August and Sepetmber. It's not a guarantee he's going to pick up right where he left off, though I do have hope for him.

I don't have much confidence in Smith, calling him "consistently solid" is baffling to me with how he posted a 58 ERA+ with the Astros, then suddenly notched a 212 ERA+ with the Mariners. That's what I'd call 'inconsistent' and I don't love guaranteeing a roster spot to an inconsistent 38 year old.

If Rogers goes now, this bullpen is probably one of the worst in the league... they're a couple injuries away from the likes of Smith/Alcala/Stashak/Duran having to hold down the close games.

[Cap'n Piranha]

27 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Duffey had some rough stretches last year and lost 1-2 MPH on his fastball, IIRC. He's not who I'd want as the unquestioned #2 reliever on this team. 

Alclala was brutal through July and didn't step it up until August and Sepetmber. It's not a guarantee he's going to pick up right where he left off, though I do have hope for him.

I don't have much confidence in Smith, calling him "consistently solid" is baffling to me with how he posted a 58 ERA+ with the Astros, then suddenly notched a 212 ERA+ with the Mariners. That's what I'd call 'inconsistent' and I don't love guaranteeing a roster spot to an inconsistent 38 year old.

If Rogers goes now, this bullpen is probably one of the worst in the league... they're a couple injuries away from the likes of Smith/Alcala/Stashak/Duran having to hold down the close games.

Fangraphs has been doing position rankings, and for what it's worth, they pegged the Twins bullpen as 8th best  (you are right however, that barring improvement from 2-3 others, this is a Rogers-reliant bullpen--a point that Fangraphs also makes).

I don't have a problem with signing established relievers to 1 year deals, so long as Falvine is willing to cut bait on that contract more quickly than last year.  Every pitcher is allowed a bad outing here or there, but if it starts becoming a bad outing more than every 4th or 5th time out, then drop 'em and move on.  If indeed they are not willing to do that, than I also agree--I don't want veteran signings, I'd rather just cycle through 15 rookie-scale/AAA/waiver wire arms until I find the 3-5 that work.

[AlwaysinModeration]

3 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

Colome really did a number on the psyche of Twins fans.

He even makes me doubt Coloumbe!

[HerbieFan]

This kid screams "Future Closer"

[Richie the Rally Goat]

10 minutes ago, HerbieFan said:

This kid screams "Future Closer"

I bet that’s awkward in the grocery store

[Game7-91]

[ashbury]

5 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

seriously. but he should be the warning not to sign high-priced veterans for your bullpen

Colome was signed for $5M in 2021.  That's not a high-priced reliever.  Indeed he had earned twice as much the prior year.  THAT was the problem: buying from the marked-down table and thinking you've outsmarted the market and gotten a premium product.

[PseudoSABR]

23 hours ago, ashbury said:

Colome was signed for $5M in 2021.  That's not a high-priced reliever.  Indeed he had earned twice as much the prior year.  THAT was the problem: buying from the marked-down table and thinking you've outsmarted the market and gotten a premium product.

I don't know.  Devoting 10 mil+ annually to a bullpen guy sounds pretty suspect.  Kimbrel's rubberbanding.  Brad Hand's dipped velocity.  Andrew Miller.  Let's see what the Braves get in Jansen.  

The Twins have taken the position that betting on 5mil relief pitcher is negligibly close to a waiver wire/project relief pitcher.  That's probably smart.

On this point, what extension would you (or anyone) offer Trevor Rogers?