The Opportunity (and Cost) of a Wide-Open Bullpen

[stringer bell]

6 hours ago, TNtwins85 said:

We watched a shaky bullpen the last few years give up leads. Duran=injured and failed SP. Jax=failed SP. Stewart=injured and failed SP. Varland =failed SP. Coulombe=aging cheap FA to be. They flipped all these supposed studs who continually let them down for future value. Some of those guys may be recycled back to the BP. The point is they do it again as they’ve done before. I have no problem with that but the underlying issue was the offense. You could sign the 5 best relievers on the market but if they’re expected to continually protect 1 run leads they wear down. The bullpen will round out. They need some hitters! Internal and external. I don’t worry about the BP. I worry about the D and hitting.

The back end of the bullpen was composed of good, highly regarded pitchers. Very top-heavy and frankly the whole wasn't equal to the sum of the parts. Coming close to replacing those guys is a pretty heavy lift. 

Agree that the offense needs to improve dramatically or the BP doesn't matter.

[bean5302]

On 12/20/2025 at 7:53 AM, DJL44 said:

All the trades of relief pitchers last season should teach them that relievers are easy to trade at the deadline. Free agent relievers are not just help for this season, they’re an opportunity to participate at the trade deadline.

teaching them: you'll be out of the playoff race by the deadline :D

[bean5302]

The Twins are very likely to have a bad bullpen this year. It's December 21st, not November 1st. We're 1/2 way through the offseason and we haven't seen any acquisitions to the bullpen. Supposedly the RP market is pretty hot with a lot of clubs vying for interest. I can count on Falvey to be able to sign about 17 MLB minimum AAAA relievers and logjam everybody in the minors at the beginning of the season to guarantee the Twins a bad, but not terrible bullpen to open 2026.

[TNtwins85]

2 hours ago, stringer bell said:

The back end of the bullpen was composed of good, highly regarded pitchers. Very top-heavy and frankly the whole wasn't equal to the sum of the parts. Coming close to replacing those guys is a pretty heavy lift. 

Agree that the offense needs to improve dramatically or the BP doesn't matter.

I guess what I’m saying is that they’ve done this on the fly before. None of these guys were can’t miss prospects and had their share of warts. The Twins turned these guys into high impact relievers. Had most ever heard of Duran before he made the team out of spring training throwing 104. Hardly. I remember comments about Jax and Varland and how skeptical most were. Brock Stewart was an injured journeyman on his last leg. Point is the Twins turned these guys into bullpen stars. So why would the same organization not be able to do it again? Oh yes, Falveys an idiot and should be fired. I forgot. I think they can do it again and i believe they’ve got more to work with now. Yet, If they succeed it means nothing if the defense is still poor and they struggle to score more than 2-3 runs from game to game. 

[mike8791]

So in effect, Nick, you are writing off 2026 despite  Falvey and Tom Pohlad saying they want to keep Ryan, Lopez, and Buxton to be competitive.  Have you forgotten how disasters like Ron Davis, Emilio Pagan, and Alex Colome almost singlehandedly ruined the Twins chances by Memorial Day?  If guys like Topa and Sands are expected to be late inning relievers in '26 then chances of this team being competitive are nonexistent.  Nothing takes the heart out of a team, especially an offense-challenged one like today's roster, clinging to a slim lead late in the game only to see it evaporate thanks to blown holds & saves.

This will be ownership's key test going forward - acquiring by trade at least 2-3 bonafide relievers in the next month or so.  All it takes is money, probably no more than $15-20MM for all 3.  And while many of the top end relievers have signed, numerous ones remain, e.g., Taylor Clarke, Jacob Webb, Danny Coulombe,Pierce Johnson, Jacob Junis, Justin Wilson, any of whom would raise the ceiling over our bottom four.  Even cash-strapped ALC rivals like KC(acquired Matt Strohm) and Cleveland(signed Shawn Atmstrong) have made quality additions to their pens.  As the new year approaches it looks more and more like the return of dumpster-diving days in the TC.

Not to say we don't have prospects w/potential to replace what was lost in the selloff.  The problem is none of them have experience in close situations in the big leagues.  If mgt. doesn't care, then isn't a teardown more logical?  Unless we see some positive action in the next month or so, Tom Pohlad's nice introductory speech should be forever buried in the same dumpster.

[AceWrigley]

On 12/20/2025 at 3:50 PM, rdehring said:

Yes, aware of the Glick family.  My question was related to comments in the Strib article that appeared to indicate that Hicks was investing as one of more than one Minnesotan, not including Leopold.

The news release from MLB says, "Those investments have been finalized, and the new partners in the club are Glick Family Investments, George G. Hicks and Craig Leipold." These are the three investors approved by MLB, and there is no mention of any groups or other persons involved in the transaction.

[rdehring]

12 hours ago, AceWrigley said:

The news release from MLB says, "Those investments have been finalized, and the new partners in the club are Glick Family Investments, George G. Hicks and Craig Leipold." These are the three investors approved by MLB, and there is no mention of any groups or other persons involved in the transaction.

There have been subsequent articles indicating that Hicks is part of (perhaps the leader) of a group.  One reported that the owner's of the Fort Myers Mighty Muscles are part of his group.

[DJL44]

If Ober starts the season barely throwing 90 and struggling, I would probably move him to the bullpen to see if I can get the velocity bump that makes him effective.