Why do the Minnesota Twins Hate Jorge Alcalá?

[Matthew Taylor]

The Minnesota Twins’ handling of Jorge Alcalá this season has been among the more puzzling choices that we have seen from this front office. After getting sent down yet again last week, all Twins fans can do at this point is throw up their hands.

 

Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

 

Jorge Alcalá’s career with the Twins to this point has been filled with ups and downs--in terms of performance, in terms of health, and in terms of roster status. Bursting onto the scene in 2020, Alcalá quickly worked his way into a middle- to high-leverage role with the club and thrived, posting ERAs of 2.63 and 3.92 in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Unfortunately, injuries kept him from building upon the nice start to his career. In 2022 and 2023, the righthander only threw a combined 19 2⁄3 innings before running into arm issues in each season.

Coming into the 2024 season, though, Alcalá was feeling good about where he was from a health standpoint, and his stuff looked strong in Spring Training. The Dominican native looked primed for a bounce-back season. To begin the season, it sure looked like the preseason optimism from Alcalá and the Twins was warranted. Alcalá was immediately utilized in the second game of the season in the seventh inning of a one-run game, and he looked back to his old self.

From there, though, the handling of the right-handed reliever got really weird. 

While Alcalá started the season looking like one of the best arms in the Twins’ bullpen, the workload that the Twins put on the reliever was curious. Over the course of the first six appearances on the season, the Twins asked Alcalá to throw multiple innings on three separate occasions, along with throwing on back-to-back days on another occasion. Alcalá did all of this without allowing a single run and striking out batters at a career-high rate. Considering the fact that each of the previous two seasons were marred by arm injuries, that kind of workload just didn’t seem to be prudent.

Rather than limiting his workload at the major-league level, the Twins decided to send Alcalá down to Triple-A, despite his having a 0.00 ERA and coming off his best performance of the season. Rocco Baldelli cited performance for the demotion.

Did I mention that he had a 0.00 ERA with a career-high strikeout rate at the time?

Alcalá’s usage remained odd in Triple-A, where his first appearance for the Saints was a two-inning outing in which he threw 34 pitches. After three weeks in St. Paul, Alcalá re-joined the Twins. After (another) scoreless outing against Boston in his first appearance back with the Twins came perhaps the most mind-boggling deployment of the reliever yet.

Last Tuesday, the Twins opted to have Alcalá throw multiple innings again, the fourth time in his eight big-league appearances. This time, he was asked to throw a career-high 48 pitches. It ended up being a rough outing for Alcalá, who allowed four runs on four hits and two walks, but it’s worth calling out that all four of those runs came in the second inning of his outing. Following the performance, Alcalá was once again sent to the minors, where he remains.

The entire situation has been befuddling. Why did the Twins send down Alcalá with a 0.00 ERA and point to performance, when all of his metrics were career bests? Why are the Twins insisting on using Alcalá as a multi-inning reliever, when he is more effective in one inning and comes with giant health question marks? All of this has been extremely confusing, with no great answers.

To make matters worse, the Twins bullpen is a bit in flux right now, with depth needed behind Jhoan Durán and Griffin Jax. If the Twins can bring back Alcalá in the same one-inning role to which they assign all of their other relievers, I’m confident that Alcalá could have a huge impact on this bullpen. It’s up to Baldelli and the rest of the decision-makers, though, to realize that their use of Alcalá up to this point has been misguided and that it’s time for a change.

 

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[bean5302]

Agreed. I have no idea what Baldelli is doing right now with the bullpen. It's non-sensical to me.

[Riverbrian]

I don't know but I'm not afraid to post a theory. 

1. Duran and Jax are not going to be sent down.

2. Thielbar, Okert and Jackson can't be sent down and are not going to be released at this point of the season.  

3. Alcala, Funderburk and Sands are the only other bullpen arms with options.

4. Of those three choices... If they send down Cole Sands they will burn his last option and he has been pitching well. Leaving Alcala and Funderburk as the cleanest choices if they need to make a move. 

5. The Twins used 4 relievers on Tuesday so they probably needed a fresh arm. Alcala threw two innings making him the choice over Funderburk.   

6. The Twins brought up a fresh arm in Staumont and are using this opportunity to take a look at Josh. 

That's my theory

 

[Tjwalsh65]

I think Jackson has pictures of Falvine and Baldelli :)

[FlyingFinn]

Sure are a lot of articles with the word "hate" in the title lately. I'm sure the Twins don't hate Alcala.

[weneedneshek]

Maybe he's been hesitant to fully embrace the sausage

[nicksaviking]

They clearly don't hate Alcala. Despite his recurring injury history and lack of playing time the last three seasons, the Twins have resisted removing him from the 40-man each season. 

What the Twins actually hate is cutting bait on vets on guaranteed contracts. And obviously they hate that more than they like Alcala. For being an analytically inclined group they sure fail to grasp the sunk cost theory.

[TwinsDr2021]

It seems obvious to me, he has options. Prior to this year he hasn't done much to show he deserves to be at the back of the pen or healthy enough. His best year he had a 3.92 ERA and blew 6 of 14 hold/save situations with 3 wins and 6 loses. It isn't like he has done with Duran has done. If the twins are unwilling to do anything with pitchers that have no options, the ones with options will be up and down until they don't have any longer.

[Mike Sixel]

10 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

They clearly don't hate Alcala. Despite his recurring injury history and lack of playing time the last three seasons, the Twins have resisted removing him from the 40-man each season. 

What the Twins actually hate is cutting bait on vets on guaranteed contracts. And obviously they hate that more than they like Alcala. For being an analytically inclined group they sure fail to grasp the sunk cost theory.

A million times this. Plus they are terrified of injuries, and believe blowing games to have worse players up, so they have depth, is somehow better ...

[Riverbrian]

When the Manager says "Some of those decisions, they're kind of a little on the margins... There's not a lot separating some of those guys". He is telling you the answer right there.

Options become the tie-breaker. Options are a powerful thing... they play havoc on a young player trying to establish a career and they protect veterans in the name of depth and DEPTH is absolutely necessary to get through 162 games. 

Having options most likely means that they LOVE Alcala. 

 

[Gold15]

I think he is in the Twins "dog house"

Dan Hayes of The Athletic has mentioned this a few times like in the Seattle series when Alcala did not cover home base on a wild pitch.

[Mike Sixel]

5 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

When the Manager says "Some of those decisions, they're kind of a little on the margins... There's not a lot separating some of those guys". He is telling you the answer right there.

Options become the tie-breaker. Options are a powerful thing... they play havoc on a young player trying to establish a career and they protect veterans in the name of depth and DEPTH is absolutely necessary to get through 162 games. 

Having options most likely means that they LOVE Alcala. 

 

Depth is negative if the players are bad. All teams have depth, the question is which guys on the list are better and play ..... As long as they make the playoffs, I mostly trust them to have the right guys in Minnesota, but if they blow five or six games in the name of depth.....

[nicksaviking]

18 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

A million times this. Plus they are terrified of injuries, and believe blowing games to have worse players up, so they have depth, is somehow better ...

How they don't realize that two dozen Jay Jackson's will be available on the waiver wire throughout the season is mind-bogglingly short-sighted.

[Riverbrian]

3 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Depth is negative if the players are bad. All teams have depth, the question is which guys on the list are better and play ..... As long as they make the playoffs, I mostly trust them to have the right guys in Minnesota, but if they blow five or six games in the name of depth.....

I agree with what you are saying... I think I do anyway. 

Not all teams have depth. All teams have names that take up space on a depth chart

However... Depth that can't perform well is not depth

Depth that stays on the bench is not depth... they are just names on a roster. To be depth... you have to perform decently when called upon. 

The majority of Twinsdaily faithful are probably looking at Jackson and Okert right now and waiting for them to be tossed overboard. 

Based on Rocco's "a little on the margins" "not a lot separating some of those guys" comment. The Twins are not going to toss them overboard just yet because they see the difference as marginal. 

The Twins obviously have a certain level of confidence in Jackson and Okert going forward. I don't know if it's a Pagan level of confidence to survive 5 or 6 blown appearances but... Alcala is in St. Paul so the margins are still thin in their assessment. 

 

[In My La Z boy]

7 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Depth is negative if the players are bad. All teams have depth, the question is which guys on the list are better and play ..... As long as they make the playoffs, I mostly trust them to have the right guys in Minnesota, but if they blow five or six games in the name of depth.....

New rule will change these plans later in the year. I think it is only 5 times in a season now you can do this regardless of options. Seems they have used 2 already for both Alcala & Funderburk. With Topa & Stewart needing to return soon they may keep Alcala down now for a while until cutting bait on someone or injury. What I don't understand is using him for more than 1 inning at a time. Sands is your "more than 1 inning guy" - and WHY Rocco didn't let him finish that Seattle game we lost I'll never know? Still not a fan of Rocco's BP management in ANY way.

[jmlease1]

19 minutes ago, Gold15 said:

I think he is in the Twins "dog house"

Dan Hayes of The Athletic has mentioned this a few times like in the Seattle series when Alcala did not cover home base on a wild pitch.

yeah, I saw this too. I'd like more information on it, but there seems to be some on-field and off-field reasons that Alcala is not favored by the organization and it's almost certainly more than just the manager. But there hasn't been much that's gotten out about it, other than Disco Dan mentioning the bit about not covering home.

From a performance perspective, he's been effective in 1 inning stints and can't seem to go 2 innings. the option issue (and his prior lack of health/availability) I'm sure are part of why he's getting bounced up and down, but there's more going on here that they're not saying.

[The Mad King]

Could be clubhouse issues or something outside of baseball that we're not privy to. And he has options left...

[wabene]

39 minutes ago, Gold15 said:

I think he is in the Twins "dog house"

Dan Hayes of The Athletic has mentioned this a few times like in the Seattle series when Alcala did not cover home base on a wild pitch.

Yeah I saw that too. I'm guessing something besides pure performance is a factor here. With most guys returning from injuries they use the kid gloves, like with Ober. Not in this case.

Whatever the problem is, manage it and get this talent back out on the mound in position to best succeed as his undeniable talent dictates. 

 

Yes I do feel a little better now

 

 

[Linus]

Someone has to pitch more than one inning. And it ain’t gonna be the top guys. 

[mike8791]

Sorry, have to disagree on Alcala.  Instead of looking at ERA, look at his %inherited runs scored.  What is it?

Baldy has found Alcala lacking in paying attention.  He's had plenty of time to learn intricacies of the game but has not.

Twins need mid-relievers who can go multiple innings.  Alcala cannot.

Conclusion: don't gnash your teeth over his "mistreatment".  He is a marginal piece on an average team.  He has no use on a contender.

[DJL44]

When I see someone ask a question in the headline I expect the article to have some answers, not more baseless speculation.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Depth is negative if the players are bad. All teams have depth, the question is which guys on the list are better and play ..... As long as they make the playoffs, I mostly trust them to have the right guys in Minnesota, but if they blow five or six games in the name of depth.....

Alcala is pretty unproven. He's pitched 11 innings and walked quite a few batters. Cole Sands looked like a shutdown bullpen reliever... until this weekend. None of Alcala, Sands, Funderburk or Staumont are a sure thing so the Twins will use options as needed.

[Mike Sixel]

25 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Alcala is pretty unproven. He's pitched 11 innings and walked quite a few batters. Cole Sands looked like a shutdown bullpen reliever... until this weekend. None of Alcala, Sands, Funderburk or Staumont are a sure thing so the Twins will use options as needed.

I understand all of that ... You may recall previous years where the stuck with veterans....

[Vanimal46]

Who comes up with these click bait headlines? Buzzfeed is hiring. 

[Doctor Gast]

With some higher-level teams coming in we need our best RPs up here. Alcala is doing well so we need him up here & used responsibly. We need to bring up Varland to cover innings in long relief along with Sands (in lower leverage) & later Canterino. Thielbar is still serviceable but other non-option RPs are not dependable & unnecessary with Varland & Sands. So they can be traded or DFAed. & yes it's ridiculous how they are using Alcala.

[Rosterman]

I don't think they hate him. I felt he was destined to start at AAA, just to get back into shape. The Twins basically lost him for two seasons. He needs to return to full form, keep his head in place, and then focus on being a major league standard.

And, also, I feel the bullpen guys need "hard roles" in the Rocco universe, not just "it is their turn to pitch" or "we will let you take a hit because we want to save arms."

Alcala's last stint...he never should've started that second inning. It was still a game to win. But Roccoc being Rocco...I blame Alcala's stint on Baldelli totally.

 

[SaberNerd]

The ERA has been fine, but he's walked 13% of hitters while only striking out 22%.  He hasn't given up a single HR this year, but last year he gave up 5 in 17.1 IP.  I don't believe that he suddenly has figured out how to not give up HR, which leads me to not buy him being a pitcher with an ERA in the 3s.

[JD-TWINS]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I don't know but I'm not afraid to post a theory. 

1. Duran and Jax are not going to be sent down.

2. Thielbar, Okert and Jackson can't be sent down and are not going to be released at this point of the season.  

3. Alcala, Funderburk and Sands are the only other bullpen arms with options.

4. Of those three choices... If they send down Cole Sands they will burn his last option and he has been pitching well. Leaving Alcala and Funderburk as the cleanest choices if they need to make a move. 

5. The Twins used 4 relievers on Tuesday so they probably needed a fresh arm. Alcala threw two innings making him the choice over Funderburk.   

6. The Twins brought up a fresh arm in Staumont and are using this opportunity to take a look at Josh. 

That's my theory

 

That is correct.

The conspiracy theory against Alcala seems a bit silly to me.

He walked guys early and worked out of it - hence Rocco’s talk about specific things to work on…….I’m sure this is & has been a point of emphasis with the whole Pen & particularly Alcala.

His last outing , the multi inning use was twofold reasoning. First, the Pen was burned and nobody left to throw. Second, he needs to get outs - period. If he gets screwed on a call or somebody kicks the ball, he needs to bounce back & perform. His lack of effectiveness lead to the extended outing and large number of pitches. It was unfortunate series of events but Alcala needs to carry most of the responsibility.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, SaberNerd said:

The ERA has been fine, but he's walked 13% of hitters while only striking out 22%.  He hasn't given up a single HR this year, but last year he gave up 5 in 17.1 IP.  I don't believe that he suddenly has figured out how to not give up HR, which leads me to not buy him being a pitcher with an ERA in the 3s.

HR/FB rates are not remotely stable at 17 innings pitched and nearly 20% of his "fly balls" have been popups this year. He's a bit of a fly ball pitcher, but so long as he's generating a lot of weak popup batted balls, he'll be fine as a middle reliever, IMHO.

The only "large" sample size in a season we have for Alcala is 2021. It started a bit rocky for him, but he was excellent to end the season, allowing only 1 HR over his final 23 appearances.

[IndianaTwin]

3 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

I don't know but I'm not afraid to post a theory. 

1. Duran and Jax are not going to be sent down.

2. Thielbar, Okert and Jackson can't be sent down and are not going to be released at this point of the season.  

3. Alcala, Funderburk and Sands are the only other bullpen arms with options.

4. Of those three choices... If they send down Cole Sands they will burn his last option and he has been pitching well. Leaving Alcala and Funderburk as the cleanest choices if they need to make a move. 

5. The Twins used 4 relievers on Tuesday so they probably needed a fresh arm. Alcala threw two innings making him the choice over Funderburk.   

6. The Twins brought up a fresh arm in Staumont and are using this opportunity to take a look at Josh. 

That's my theory

 

So you're saying it's not a conspiracy?  /s

Agree with many -- option availability and timing are key.