Here Comes the Injury Bug: Who Can Backfill in the Bullpen?

[Riverbrian]

On 3/6/2025 at 7:12 PM, jorgenswest said:

If the plan is to exclusively use Castellano in low leverage they should return him now. There are no low leverage roles for a competing team.

Your very first sentence was easy to understand.

[jorgenswest]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but the rigid structure I'm understanding is:
Castellano isn't good enough to be in the bullpen.
The Twins have no options but to keep him on the roster the entire year if he makes it out of camp.
The Twins must deploy Castellano in scenarios they don't want to use him.
Castellano will therefore result in the Twins losing games they should have won.

My argument would be:
Castellano's peripherals in AA last year were better than any Twins prospect not named Zebby Matthews.
Castellano has multiple potential plus pitches which could make him a potent weapon out of the bullpen (or possibly even the rotation) even out of camp.
The Twins can evaluate Castellano for his current and future value before offering him a roster spot during Spring Training.
The Twins can give Castellano work in reliever work in blowout games to see him in action early in the season before the bullpen gets worn down and they can shuffle #7 bullpen arms back and forth in AAA to keep relievers fresh.
The Twins can work out a trade or send Castellano back to the Phillies if they feel he's not worthy of the 8th spot in an MLB bullpen (or better).

There are many guys in the rotation or bullpen which are suspect where it would be awfully hard for me to argue they're going to increase the winning percentage of the team in a way that elevates the teams status at the end of the season vs. a small sample of Castellano.

Matt Canterino - shoulder strain (serious)
Michael Tonkin - shoulder strain (will miss at least a couple weeks)
Justin Topa - shoulder tightness (testing)
Zebby Matthews - right hip strain (not serious)
and we've got a few weeks to go.

Who do you trust more? Kody Funderburk or Eiberson Castellano and if that's Funderburk, is that by enough to lose a probable #10 org prospect?

It really changes the meaning of what I wrote when you omit. 

“Castellano needs to show enough that he can be trusted on the occasions he is needed in higher leverage. If he isn’t ready they need to send him back.”

Without it you make it sound like I know that he will not be effective. I haven’t seen him pitch. I don’t have the skill to use the data available to me to make a determination of readiness. We have just wasted a whole bunch of time if the argument is about whether he is ready because I have no business being part of that argument. I have no idea. For fear of wasting more time…

The Twins will need to make multiple moves with the bullpen over the course of the season. Last April 13 the Twins sent optioned Alcala after 6 outings (3 of them 2 innings) while giving up 0 earned runs. It was at least the second time in the young season the Twins needed to make a bullpen move. I do not support a move where they option out an effective reliever while retaining a clearly less effective pitcher that can’t be optioned. 

 

[USAFChief]

To repeat: there is no such thing as a low leverage reliever. 

If the Twins braintrust thinks Castellano can be an effective MLB reliever, great. Keep him. 

But they can't (and I doubt will) keep him if he's not effective, pretending it won't affect the W/L record. They can't (and I doubt will) go into three season thinking "his spot's not important."

Fortunately, I doubt they believe he can spend even 2 weeks on the roster without being needed for important innings, much less a season.

Because they understand there's no way a 7 man bullpen isn't worse than an 8 man.