It Took Nine (9) Games for the 2025 Minnesota Twins to Hit a Bullpen Crunch

[Eric Blonigen]

Nine games into the season, the Twins' bullpen is already a bit stretched. What are the options to bolster the relief corps and mitigate this early-season swoon?

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

The Twins are just two games into a run of 12 straight without an off day. The remainder of that stretch includes seven in a row against division rivals and three more against a strong Mets team. Currently two games back from the division lead, the Twins are in position to create some separation in the standings. There’s only one problem: the bullpen isn’t exactly fresh, after back-to-back short starts from Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack, and an extra-innings game on Sunday.

Monday’s starter, Simeon Woods Richardson, isn’t exactly known for length at this point in his young career. He hasn't completed five innings in a start since last Aug. 27, even counting spring training, and he last pitched into the sixth on Aug. 10. Cole Sands, Jhoan Duran, Louis Varland and Justin Topa will all be down after pitching back-to-back days. That leaves the team with just Danny Coulombe, Darren McCaughan, Jorge Alcala and Griffin Jax available for the first game against the Royals, among players who have been active with the team this week.

The season is still incredibly young, but after two turns through the rotation, only Pablo López is averaging more than five innings per start. In fact, in five of the nine contests, the team's starter has failed to get an out in the fifth. Luckily, the relief corps is pretty deep at the major-league level, but reinforcements will almost certainly be needed over the next few days. McCaughan, a journeyman with a career 5.93 ERA across parts of four seasons, is likely the odd man out. It would be surprising if he isn’t designated for assignment Monday, in favor of a fresher—and hopefully better—arm. But where will this arm come from? There are two pretty realistic possibilities, and a third that I believe makes a ton of sense.

Calling Up a Triple-A Reliever
This is the most straightforward option, and there are two guys who could make sense. Kody Funderburk is on the 40-man roster, and could easily be a like-for-like replacement for McCaughan. He’s been a bit underwhelming in brief stints with the Twins, but has the stuff to be a medium-leverage arm. He has also been great so far with the Saints this season, with five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings and a 0.82 WHIP. However, because the season isn't yet 15 days old, Funderburk's option can't be reversed unless the team places a pitcher on the injured list.

Scott Blewett is another realistic option. He did well for the Twins in 2024, and aside from the unfortunate last name, he belongs on a big-league club. However, he’s not on the 40-man roster. Calling him up would probably result in the Twins losing him when Brock Stewart or Michael Tonkin are ready for action, and we know they prefer to preserve legitimate depth whenever possible.

Waiver Claims
Claiming another team’s castoff is the second likely option. Similar to the Blewett situation, the Twins would likely lose anyone they claim within a couple of weeks. Derek Falvey has shown a willingness to quickly part ways with waiver pickups. The downside here is twofold. First, it isn’t clear that guys who aren’t good enough for another team’s bullpen would actually improve the Twins'. The second challenge is that this process may be slower than what’s convenient to shore up the bullpen at the beginning of this stretch of games.

There has been a fair bit of roster churn across baseball, even this early in the season. There have been a half-dozen guys who have been designated by their teams recently, but most are the same sort of fungible relievers as McCaughan. Padres lefty Tom Cosgrove and Mariners righty Hagen Danner are both currently in DFA limbo, but neither even made those teams' rosters to open the season. This probably doesn't make too much sense.

Free-Agent Signings
There are a number of free agents whom the Twins could pursue, should they be interested (and have the ability to free up some cash, which there’s no indication they will do). Drew Smyly, Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes, and Brooks Raley are all unsigned. So is the real prize, David Robertson. Yes, this is his age-40 season, but he’s still really good. He could slot in at the back of the bullpen, deepening an already enviable group. He declined a mutual option with the Rangers this offseason, taking a $1.5 million buyout. It’s not clear what his services would cost, but this sort of move would certainly boost fan morale and could be worth the expense. After all, what’s another $7 million in debt, when you're $425 million in the hole? This would be worth it.

 

Now, these options make some sense in terms of bullpen quality, but neither solves the need to eat some innings immediately. Even Robertson will, presumably, need onboarding and a bullpen session or two to demonstrate readiness before he can help anyone. So, let’s look at the next couple of options. 

Converting Marco Raya
If the Twins want a long reliever, Marco Raya could also be an option. Thus far in his career, he has rarely gone more than four innings in a start. Many evaluators believe he may end up in the bullpen, anyway, and they could decide that trying him for a few innings at a time with the big-league club makes sense. Of course, the Twins have been slowly stretching him out with the intention of a full starter’s workload, so this would only make sense if they, too, secretly believe he will end up a reliever. His stuff will almost certainly play, and he’s no higher than ninth on their starter depth chart. Still, this would be a sudden pivot.

The Unconventional Option
If the Twins wanted to get a tiny bit creative, they could decide to do something they really haven’t done much of before: call up a starter from the Saints and plan to piggyback Woods Richardson with, say, Zebby Matthews for the next couple of turns through the rotation. They could plan on four or five innings from each and give the bullpen a full day off on the piggyback days. As luck would have it, Matthews is set to start on Tuesday, but if he was a bulk guy on Monday, that would be five days' rest for him. In this scenario, no players would be lost due to 40-man churn (assuming they feel comfortable optioning someone like Topa or Varland to St. Paul), and the Twins would add a high-caliber arm to the bullpen.

With how Matthews’s stuff has been playing up so far in 2025, this almost makes too much sense to not at least try it, and it gets my vote. It feels far-fetched, though. In all likelihood, we're about to see Blewett join the pen. What's less clear is whether that will be enough to help the team survive this difficult early stretch.

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How do you feel about these options? Would you like to see a reliever call-up? Converting Marco Raya? Claiming someone off waivers? A piggyback situation? Or, do you think this is all unnecessary? Let’s chat below!

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[Doctor Wu]

Not a shocking situation. When your starters can only pitch 4 or 5 innings, or worse. you are going to wear out the bullpen fairly soon. 

[Sjoski]

It really is—the modern bullpen carousel is like playing Russian roulette with five loaded chambers. You might survive an inning or two, but eventually someone’s giving up a moonshot. Yesterday it was Jax turn...today or tomorrow...pick your poison. 

Rocco burned through seven relievers yesterday.  That’s not strategy—that’s panic. And with each call to the ‘pen, the odds of someone blowing it increase.

 

[Doctor Wu]

As for the question at the end of the post, I think it's too soon to panic and start calling up Zebby or Festa or another bullpen arm. Let things run the course for another couple of weeks and then make some callups or demotions (maybe Paddack to the pen?) or make some adjustments. April 8 is not the time to sound the alarm. 

[rv78]

This really boils down to one thing. Poor managing. If the Twins were 6-3 instead of 3-6 you could say this strategy is working, but it clearly isn't. They are averaging almost 5 pitchers used every game. Anyone with half a brain knows that isn't sustainable. Even in the 1 game where they only used 2 pitchers Rocco failed. Starting Ober when he was physically drained from the flu was a poor decision. The guy who bailed him out that day, Dobnak, isn't even on the roster. The decision not to keep a long reliever or two on the roster and use them as such when needed is stupidity. This FO and Rocco can't leave soon enough. Enjoy the show, kool-aid drinkers.

[Patzky]

30 minutes ago, Doctor Wu said:

As for the question at the end of the post, I think it's too soon to panic and start calling up Zebby or Festa or another bullpen arm. Let things run the course for another couple of weeks and then make some callups or demotions (maybe Paddack to the pen?) or make some adjustments. April 8 is not the time to sound the alarm. 

I'd prefer to keep McCaughan around and send Louis down; he has plenty of options if I'm correct. Neither will be available for several days anyhow and we won't lose either.

[tony&rodney]

Nobody needs to be sent down. The 4 available relievers are plenty adequate. Panic is not much of a plan. Going forward the Twins will need to think about where Paddack realistically fits, but Falvey won't allow that change yet. Falvey sets the roster, Baldelli decides who plays.

[Eris]

Ultimately the solution involves some combination of having the SP throw 6 or 7 innings (a stretch considering only Lopez is reaching 5 innings per start) or having more than 1 reliever who can throw 2 or more innings. Looking at todays game which burned through 8 pitches, both Sands and Varland could have been expected to throw multiple innings—possibly Jax as well. 
 

[mikelink45]

No mention of our favorite DFA pitcher - Dobnak.  I would also be in favor of Paddock in the BP and Zebby in the rotation.  Something has to change. 

[Whitey333]

Yes indeed the bullpen is already cooked and it's only 9 games.  Those of us that are concerned about their 3-6 start get ridiculed because it's only 9 games. The team bothers me at the end of 9 games because they are playing the same way they were during tge collapse last year.  Boring, undisciplined baseball flawed fundamentally.   There is very little life in this team.  I still believe that gamed in April matter.  At the end of the season those wins and losses still count.  This year they really needed to get off to a good start.  So much for that.  OH that's right it's only 9 games.  They don't matter.  Right? Right?  

[CRF]

Having starters go 4-5 innings, whether by managers choice or necessity, does not bode well for any bullpen. That HAS to change. 

[Blyleven2011]

What will the front office do with an over worked bullpen  ...

They will definitely do what the fans do not expect or want  !!!

[Fire Dan Gladden]

Why is anyone arguing about SP going 5 innings? This has been a MLB-wide issue FOR YEARS.

Should we as fans really be surprised the BP is a roller coaster?  According to stats, the Twins should DFA Jax, Varland, and Alcala, while giving heavy innings to McCaughan, Coulombe, and Dobnak. Cole Sands should be the new closer with Topa as set-up.

EDIT: McCaughan has been DFA'd for Blewitt. So we have that going for us...

[DJL44]

Travis Adams could come up and pitch long relief.

[LambchoP]

Starters are not pitching deep into games which is going to tax our pen too much. Looks like we need one, probably two long men in the pen if this is going to continue. I think some combo of Dobnak, Mccaghan and Paddack in the pen with Zebby taking his rotation spot would be best. Stewart getting healthy or signing Robertson to a one year deal would certainly benefit up the pen as well. After the disasterous start to the season I don't see us spending any money on free agents unfortunately:(

[1985Fan]

The game on Saturday was part of the problem. After gaining the lead, Rocco decided to use BP arms for one inning each. Short starts have to be followed by someone from the BP going at least two innings. The parade of arms from the BP left only Jax as a the unused high leverage option in the pen when the next day is a Paddack start! Not smart management. 
If Rocco doesn’t have confidence in every arm in the BP, then they shouldn’t be on the 26 man roster. If you’re on the roster, Rocco should use as needed. The way he manages the BP, he goes all in on every game regardless of the rest of the series or short term future. He burns out the BP by pulling starters early and throwing everyone into the game. This is his MO. This situation will continue with him as manager. 

[1985Fan]

Twins have called up Blewett and designated McCaughan. 

[SD happy]

McGaughen released and Blewett brought up. I was hoping for Zebby to come up and piggyback with SWR today, sending down Varland for a couple weeks.

[SD happy]

23 minutes ago, SD happy said:

McGaughen released and Blewett brought up. I was hoping for Zebby to come up and piggyback with SWR today, sending down Varland for a couple weeks.

I mean DFA, not released, yet.

[GopherJeff]

When a SP only pitches 4 or 5 innings, why not use a "long" reliever - someone that can go 2-3 innings - before going to the standard one-inning-per-pitcher route. This could be a dedicated RP or someone that could potentially be a SP when the string of consecutive games, w/o a day off, gets long.

[Patzky]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

No mention of our favorite DFA pitcher - Dobnak.  I would also be in favor of Paddock in the BP and Zebby in the rotation.  Something has to change. 

Is there a ten or fourteen day turnaround for recalling Dobnak?

[Sjoski]

Twins once had a reliever named:

Grant Balfour...now...Scott Blewett

Whose is next?

Manny Walker ?

[Fire Dan Gladden]

6 minutes ago, Sjoski said:

Twins once had a reliever named:

Grant Balfour...now...Scott Blewett

Whose is next?

Manny Walker ?

I see what you did there... At least they aren't trading for OF James Outman

[Doctor Gast]

I've advocated every year since I don't know when. for plenty of long relief. IMO, short outings aren't unusual, especially early in the season.

[USAFChief]

13 minutes ago, GopherJeff said:

When a SP only pitches 4 or 5 innings, why not use a "long" reliever - someone that can go 2-3 innings - before going to the standard one-inning-per-pitcher route. This could be a dedicated RP or someone that could potentially be a SP when the string of consecutive games, w/o a day off, gets long.

Guy who can be depended on to pitch multiple innings effectively are unicorns. Generally they're called starters. And if you DO have one, they're unavailable for.several days at a time after you use them once.

They TRIED McCaughan yesterday. He couldn't get through even an inning. 

Because "long relievers" are a good idea that mostly don't exist.

[DJL44]

Ronny Henriquez has pitched 5-2/3 scoreless for the Marlins

[jmlease1]

I'm unimpressed with how the Twins are handling long/middle relief currently. They need to have 1-2 pitchers who can give them 2 innings without being cooked for three days and the continued 1 inning only usage isn't working great.

Varland is young and was a starter until recently. there shouldn't really be an issue for him to throw 2 innings, but he's already seems to be defined as a 1 inning guy. Either he or Sands or Topa should have been asked to throw 2 on Sat so we weren't looking at 4 guys throwing back to back on Sunday.

Of course the fact that Paddack hasn't been able to pitch 5 yet and neither has Ober is a bigger issue...but they mismanaged Ober's first start as well; maybe not such a bright idea to run out the guy who lost 8 lbs in one day because he was so damn sick after just giving him a banana bag? 

the starters can't keep running out early exits; we've had 5 starts from 3 guys that have totaled 18 innings. If Ober and Paddack are both going to stink, we're in for a rough ride. I would also say that babying SWR shouldn't be an option, so we'll see what they do today. But at 82 pitches through 4, is it really unrealistic to ask him to go out for another inning? he'd been limiting the damage and half of his innings were clean and efficient. Either you trust him or you don't.

Rocco & Maki have not impressed with the pitching management so far, and it's fair to criticize, because while some of this is on the players (WTF is wrong with Jax?) some of this is also about actual choices.

[USAFChief]

From some old geezer in the "slow start" thread:

 

It'd be nice if the starters were prepared to start the season, for one thing. 

Three series, only one starter has thrown a pitch in the 6th inning. Only one start that even reached 90 pitches. 

April is not supposed to be a continuation of spring training. 

They (and most of baseball, to be fair) continues to ask less and less of starters. 

And, low and behold, they get exactly that. Less and less.

[Guest]

If our renowned starting staff isn't going to go six, then on that day some guys in the 'pen will need to go two.  This isn't a slave labor issue, it's pitching staff optimization.

All this stuff about having "a" long man is a straw man issue if the starters go <3, 4+, etc.  Varland and Sands, as an example, are capable now of a bit more.  In hindsight, there was no downside to Duran going two yesterday.

While the offense may be turning the corner our starters remain the biggest disappointment.  Zebby's a strong kid and he's ready; Paddack to the 'pen where he can go two and take a breather....

[bean5302]

20 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

Ronny Henriquez has pitched 5-2/3 scoreless for the Marlins

Around here, that'd be grounds for writers designating him as a dark horse for the 2025 Cy Young along with the rest of the elite Twins' rotation.

Seriously, though, nice for Henriquez to look good out of the gate like that for Miami. It'll get him a longer leash this year and he might even catch on long term as a middle reliever. That said, a 4.50 FIP last year in AAA to go along with his career AAA ERA of 5.09 don't sparkle very much.