Louis Varland: Painful Loss or Proof of Concept?

[old nurse]

19 hours ago, Brandon said:

I wonder how Varland could handle the closer role.  Do the Twins have confidence in that?  Do the Twins believe in Rojas more?  I do think there is a big draw in having Minnesotans on the roster for drawing more fans....I think losing a Minnesotan off the roster vs losing a reliever was the bigger negative of the trade.

 

 

The attendance did not go up for Winfield and Steinbach playing out the end of their careers as a Twin.  Homegrown does not mean home love, see Matt Wallner comments on these pages. After his bad year I don’t recall any big keep Thielbar home movement 

[Woof Bronzer]

I'm not following the "proof of concept".  The concept apparently is to spend 6 years worth of time, money, and resources developing a guy and then...dump him in order to...restart the process all over again with another player?

This seems like constantly planning for a future 5 years down the road that never happens.  In other words, the story of the last 3 decades of Twins fandom.  

 

[NYCTK]

3 minutes ago, old nurse said:

The attendance did not go up for Winfield and Steinbach playing out the end of their careers as a Twin.  Homegrown does not mean home love, see Matt Wallner comments on these pages. After his bad year I don’t recall any big keep Thielbar home movement 

Likewise, I never heard any campaign to bring in Brad Hand. 

[bunsen82]

6 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

As I’ve said here a handful of times, if Varland was from Kenosha, the value of Rojas’ upside and Varland’s ceiling would be viewed much more rationally.

Stewart was traded as a flier for Outman just to see if change of scenery would/could propel Outman back to where he once was and to let an oft injured guy bring Team longer term value via trade. He was hurt within 10-20 days of being with LA and didn’t pitch again………..I don’t see either of these guys being traded to help tank to improve draft position.

Stewart was an effective arm when healthy.  The Twins had 18 blown leads in 2025 after the trade deadline.  Let alone had you had a decent bullpen how many more opportunities you would have had at wins.  If you kept Varland and Stewart, I think it adds at minimum 6 more wins maybe 8-10 to the tally.    Then you still have a decent bullpen.  Varland closer, Stewart (8th),  Sands (7th),  Topa, Funderburk (Lefty),  fill in with other players.   

[LA Vikes Fan]

While I would like to see the Twins trade for at least one or two established relievers, I do support the idea of making some conversions from existing starters. David Festa is the most obvious example. High velocity guy, one good secondary pitch, arm problems. Classic conversion, and he could be closing by midseason. Connor Prielipp should absolutely be in the bullpen for the same reasons, John Klein is clearly headed there as well, and probably Andrew Morris wI’ll join them. Leave Matthews as a starter along with Abel, and Rojas. I would like to see Festa and Prielipp in the opening day bullpen and used in relatively high leverage roles right out of the gate. I get that starters make a lot more money than relievers overall, but the path to a starting pitching job in Major league baseball is a difficult one where most people fail. Show you’re good enough to be a starter and you’ll be a starter. Show you’re not good enough to be a starter, like Varland and Jax, and you’ll be a reliever. If you’re not a dominant starter at the AAA level your chances of being a number three or number four starter or better in MLB are pretty small. Grab the opportunity, get the bullpen, and show everybody what you can do.

[JD-TWINS]

51 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

Stewart was an effective arm when healthy.  The Twins had 18 blown leads in 2025 after the trade deadline.  Let alone had you had a decent bullpen how many more opportunities you would have had at wins.  If you kept Varland and Stewart, I think it adds at minimum 6 more wins maybe 8-10 to the tally.    Then you still have a decent bullpen.  Varland closer, Stewart (8th),  Sands (7th),  Topa, Funderburk (Lefty),  fill in with other players.   

Stewart didn’t pitch after less than a handful of outings w/Dodgers …… done for the year. after 3 2/3 innings as a Dodger.

[JD-TWINS]

13 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Stewart didn’t pitch after less than a handful of outings w/Dodgers …… done for the year. after 3 2/3 innings as a Dodger.

Varland had a 4.94 ERA in Toronto as well.

Jax had some poor outings and some solid but not great with Tampa.

Duran is what left the hole in the PEN as his role and the mental make up needed to close along with high end stuff needed ……. tough to replace. Covering the other 7 guys in the PEN are just committing to transition talent from “starting corps” along with historical relief guys.

[bunsen82]

22 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Stewart didn’t pitch after less than a handful of outings w/Dodgers …… done for the year. after 3 2/3 innings as a Dodger.

That doesn't mean he would have had an injury with the Twins,  but I understand what you are saying.  At the time neither the Twins or Dodgers were anticipating him to get injured.   Although the medicals are why there wasn't much return.  

[Brandon]

3 hours ago, old nurse said:

The attendance did not go up for Winfield and Steinbach playing out the end of their careers as a Twin.  Homegrown does not mean home love, see Matt Wallner comments on these pages. After his bad year I don’t recall any big keep Thielbar home movement 

Seems like missed opportunities for the Twins and their marketing team