Top Five Twins Bullpen Shuttle Candidates

[Ted Schwerzler]

The Minnesota Twins have kicked their 2023 regular season with a strong start. Thanks to strong pitching and some timely hitting, the 26-man roster has done a good job of looking complete from top to bottom. As arms need to be shuffled in, however, which candidates can expect to be called upon?

 

Image courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Playing against the Miami Marlins for their second road series of the year, Rocco Baldelli’s Twins put up double-digit runs for the first time. Joey Gallo, Trevor Larnach, Max Kepler, and Ryan Jeffers all went deep for Minnesota, and the 11 runs made it a laugher against Skip Schumaker’s club.

Making his first start of the season, Tyler Mahle looked great as he tossed five innings of one-run ball. Punching out seven and walking just one, his velocity was mid-90’s and the stuff was reminiscent of a guy the front office flipped Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand for. As the game was in hand, Cole Sands got his first action of the year in a long relief role, and his usage brings about the question as to where Minnesota goes with that bullpen spot.

Sands is a former starter, and his 28 pitches certainly weren’t taxing even while working around five hits in two innings. However, the bottom of the Minnesota bullpen has always been somewhat of a shuttle spot for this regime, and that should be expected to continue in 2023. Here are five candidates that should be expected to factor in:

Randy Dobnak
Now healthy for the first time in roughly a year, Dobnak is back with the Saints and looking to return to the major-league level. He no longer has a 40-man roster spot after being DFA’d last September, but the Twins have plenty of money sunk into his development. Preferring to start, and having done so in his first outing of 2023 for St. Paul, Dobnak could be used in a long relief role for Minnesota. He’s a bit down the pecking order when it comes to starting arms, and being used as a multi-inning guy makes a good deal of sense.

Josh Winder
Winder has struggled to stay healthy over the course of his career, and that’s why the Twins have transitioned him to a relief role. Looking to put less of a tax on his arm, Winder could play up well in shorter stints. His stuff looked good for Minnesota last year across 67 innings and the 6.3 K/9 could see a boost as a reliever. I don’t think anyone would expect Winder to break out as a late-inning guy, but he certainly could factor in as a strong middle reliever.

Jose De Leon
Once dangled as a trade piece by the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Brian Dozier, De Leon wound up in Minnesota this year anyways. He’s no longer the shiny prospect and has had injury concerns of his own, but he could pitch his way into the Twins plans. As a reliever his strikeout numbers have jumped, and he knows how to get big leaguers out. De Leon didn’t see a ton of run with the Reds, and he has just 48 Major League innings under his belt, but an opportunity with Minnesota could present itself.

Dereck Rodriguez
We have seen Ivan Rodriguez’s son pitch in the Twins system over the years, and he finally made his Twins debut for Minnesota last year. Rodriguez has never recaptured the rookie magic from his debut with the San Francisco Giants, but maybe he can fine tune things in shorter outings. With a starter background, he certainly has the ability to push for longer outings. Rodriguez has been around the game for a long time, and he certainly wouldn’t be caught off guard by the moment.

Brent Headrick
Yet to make his Major League debut, Headrick was added to the Twins 40-man roster this offseason. He worked mostly as a starter between Cedar Rapids and Wichita last year, and the home run uptick was misleading at Double-A considering five came in his first outing. Working as a reliever for the Saints, Headrick definitely has the ability to eat innings. He is a lefty with big strikeout stuff, and that could play up even more out of the bullpen. Right now it’s only Jovani Moran and Caleb Thielbar as southpaws in the Twins pen, and Danny Coulombe went to Baltimore. Headrick has a clear path to the big leagues if he can force the club’s hand, and clearly the organization thinks highly of him in protecting his Rule 5 status over the winter.

Who else would you like to see factor into the Twins bullpen shuttle this season?

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[jorgenswest]

Is there a team that doesn’t use the 13th spot to rotate pitchers through? The need for a long reliever is so unpredictable that teams no longer carry a long reliever but instead use AAA. It makes sense. A long reliever isn’t getting regular work and once used isn’t available the next few days.

Cole Sands makes it 6 candidates and the first to have the opportunity of the 13th pitcher to move off the shuttle. Jax took that opportunity last year and earned a key role in the pen.

Which of these 6 do you think will take advantage of the opportunity and earn a regular role in this year’s pen?

[South Dakota Tom]

You have to start with the 40-man slots, so Headrick and Winder.  That 13th pitcher slot is valuable, but I don't want to expose anyone to waivers to use it if we don't have to.

[stringer bell]

24 minutes ago, South Dakota Tom said:

You have to start with the 40-man slots, so Headrick and Winder.  That 13th pitcher slot is valuable, but I don't want to expose anyone to waivers to use it if we don't have to.

If Ronnie Henriquez gets healthy, he could be a candidate as well. He’s throwing at Fort Myers, but hasn’t faced hitters yet according to the last injury report. Henriquez, Winder and Headrick are on the 40-man making their promotion easier. 

[Rosterman]

I would keep puishing Headrick as a possible starter. Nice to have a lefty starter, and if nothing else, he transitions into a long relief role if he can get out enough batters on both sides.

If I were the Twins, I would be pushing Dobnak as a total long relief guy, seeing if he has the ability to pitch, say, multi innings every other day, or even some back-to-back work. That is his way to the majors right now. The Twins have the ability to experiment with Dobnak at St. Paul, and run the gamut with folks like DeLeon, Rodriguez and others if they need to rotate guys in-and-out. With basically only one 40-man roster spot in play (unless they can 60-day someone else), you call up, play and lose he guy if he isn't already on the 40-man. 

I'm glad out starters are showing getting thru the 5th inning and pushing faster towards the 100 pitch limit emposed on such arms these days. We still need to think srong about the perfect 10th inning bullpen arm who can keep that runner from scoring.

[FlyingFinn]

1 hour ago, South Dakota Tom said:

You have to start with the 40-man slots, so Headrick and Winder.  That 13th pitcher slot is valuable, but I don't want to expose anyone to waivers to use it if we don't have to.

Actually, if you are on the 40 man and out of options, you become much less likely to be called up for this 13th pitcher spot. Megill and Ober are better than Sands right now but, since they are better, the Twins want them pitching regularly. Because the Twins think less of Sands, he is the one they put in this 13th spot, who may not pitch for 10 days.

If the Twins are willing to DFA you, you can be a prime candidate for this. Dobnak, Deleon, Rodriguez, Sands, Sanchez all fit this bill. All have been DFA'd already (except Sands) and another team didn't claim them. Ober, Winder, Megill, and Headrick would all be claimed if DFA'd IMO and therefore the Twins don't want use up their options.

If the Twins need a 40 man roster spot and want to replace pitcher with pitcher, the ones I see as possibilities to be DFA'd are Sands and Balazovic (he has to start pitching better soon).

[roger]

Great seeing Winder on the mound in Fort Myers.  Two years ago this kid was as good as anyone in the organization.  Hopefully, moving to the pen will be the answer and he will be healthy the rest of this year and beyond.  In my opinion, he is the one that could be better than someone destined to the back end of the pen.  Could see him developing along the lines of Jax.

[Doctor Gast]

With this strong rotation there is little need for long relief. which is a good thing because Baldelli doesn't know how to use long relief, he sometime uses a glorified short RP that pitches 2 innings. My hope for Dobnak is to keep him in AAA starting & get back to his old self so we can ship him off to CO, where they are desperate for a GB SPs.

Winder has the stuff to be a SP but not the arm yet, hopefully later once he's correctly broken in. He should take over Sands place once he's 100%.

[Ricky Vaughn]

If there is an open spot on the 40 man Dobnak should get some opportunities. If they need to they can designate him and send down without worrying  about someone claiming him due to the guarantied money owed him.

[Shaitan]

I'd argue that you have to be on the 40-roster to be a shuttle candidate. Otherwise, you're probably one-and-done.

[South Dakota Tom]

Should they be worried about burning options on any of them?  They should expect Winder to come up at some point and don’t the others have them all remaining?  

[Linus]

Other than Winder I don’t want to see any of these guys. You can add Sands Pagan and Moran to that list as well. This bullpen is a ticking time bomb.