Will Piggybacking Carry Over into 2026 and Plug the Twins' Bullpen Holes?

[Greggory Masterson]

Image courtesy of © Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins have eight players with at least 10 big-league starts under their belts (or at least piggyback bulk outings): Pablo López, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson, Taj Bradley, Zebby Matthews, David Festa, and Mick Abel. There has been much handwringing this offseason about how that lot will be sifted and sorted.

The team hasn't shown any openness to rolling with a six-man rotation on Opening Day, even when that meant leaving a good pitcher on the outside looking in, as was the case with Ober in 2023. In fact, they’ve been more likely to open the year with a four-man rotation, given the number of off days MLB schedules at the beginning of the year. In 2019, for instance, they used Martín Pérez out of the bullpen for the first couple of weeks.

By contrast, in the bullpen, the Twins lack options. As opposed to the starting rotation, which has eight names for five spots, the bullpen is closer to having five spots for eight names. There are Anthony Banda, Cole Sands, Taylor Rogers, Justin Topa, Kody Funderburk, and Eric Orze, who seem earmarked for the pen, and Travis Adams threw a few dozen innings for the Twins last season. Veteran non-roster invitees to spring training—like Dan Altavilla, Liam Hendriks, or Julian Merryweather—could factor in as well.

But it’s all still very up in the air. Those other two spots (or three, depending on your opinion on Orze) could also be taken by starting pitching prospects like Connor Prielipp, John Klein, or Marco Raya—or, maybe, some of that work can be taken by whoever of the top eight starters doesn’t make the rotation.

There has been talk of starters being moved to short relief. Festa is probably the name most bandied about on this topic. But what if we aren’t talking about short relief?

The Twins have, in the past, attempted to carry a designated long reliever. It’s almost become a hackneyed cliché to bring up how poorly that plan worked in 2021 with Randy Dobnak or how Cole Sands spent half the year in the majors in 2023 while only throwing 21 innings. But in 2025, they rolled out a new scheme.

The long relievers were on a schedule, similar to the starting pitchers. They did this in the minor leagues with a handful of pitchers, such as Adams, Pierson Ohl, Cory Lewis, Trent Baker, and Darren McCaughan. Instead of starting every fifth or sixth day, these pitchers would pitch in relief every fourth day, on three days' rest, throwing about 60 pitches (if it was going well).

It may well have been an experiment, or simply a way to keep arms on the farm stretched out when the minor-league teams had an abundance of starting pitchers on the roster. It should be noted that the premium pitchers were not asked to fill this bulk, piggyback role. Matthews, Festa, Abel, Bradley, and Kendry Rojas started in every one of their appearances at St. Paul, and Andrew Morris only relieved twice.

But it was a strategy that the Twins seemed pleased with. After the trade deadline selloff, they introduced the pitching plan to the major leagues. Adams and Ohl both pitched piggyback bulk days, as did veteran Thomas Hatch, and Abel piggybacked twice. This wasn’t a long-term setup, as Adams and Ohl eventually settled into short-relief roles, but it may have been a proof of concept for the team.

So, what if the solution to having too many starters and not enough relievers is solved with the same move? Instead of sending a starting pitcher to the minors to lie in wait, what if the Twins designated one of their younger arms as a scheduled bulk reliever? There are some real benefits to this.

First, as stated, the Twins would be able to keep their best pitchers out of the minors. If everyone is healthy, they can only keep two of Woods Richardson, Bradley, Matthews, Festa, and Abel in the rotation. Even if someone like Festa were converted to short relief, that would still require two of those other names to be stashed in St. Paul—wasting bullets, as the kids say. And there are already plenty of starting arms in Triple-A, including Prielipp, Klein, Raya, Morris, Lewis, and Kendry Rojas.

Second, it fills one of the eight bullpen spots—and with someone who will rack up innings. A designated piggyback pitcher throwing two to four innings every four days likely leads the bullpen in innings and would be one of the better performers on a rate basis as well. With a six-man rotation, the bullpen has to cover the same number of innings with fewer pitchers, but with a designated piggyback reliever, the other seven relievers are likely throwing fewer innings than they would otherwise.

Third, it keeps the next line of defense stretched out. The sixth starter, if pushed into regular bulk relief, is always ready to step into the rotation should any injury occur. If they were instead throwing short relief, it may take time for them to prepare to throw five innings in a start—which is part of the reason the sixth arm often starts in Triple-A. If they are throwing 60 pitches every four days, though, they’re ready to step in immediately.

Fourth, it also probably keeps the rotation a little fresher. The scheduled bulk reliever’s presence allows the regular starters to go a little shorter when they’re being piggybacked, reducing wear and tear.

This is all well and good, and could be a perfectly viable way to keep someone like Matthews or Abel in the majors if they don’t make the rotation, but it’s not a sure bet to work. There are some practical issues—the biggest being in-game decision-making.

If Ryan is rolling through five frames on a low pitch count, but it’s his scheduled bulk day, should manager Derek Shelton pull him to hand it off to Abel? If it’s a one-run game, should López be removed and the game be turned over to Matthews in the sixth? How long should he throw? Would it be better to turn the seventh inning over to a setup man, or would Woods Richardson pitch the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, since that’s what the schedule said?

It’d take some real commitment to the philosophy to see this play out in practice. A minor-league team or a team out of contention can more easily commit to such a plan, because its wins and losses are less meaningful. But what about a team that (at least by the claims of their owner) expects to be competitive?

For decades, analysts have asked what the future of pitching structure is. In 2009, Dave Fleming suggested a three-three-three rotation in which three pitchers each pitch once through the lineup in each game, for a total of three innings each. (Tony La Russa even tried to implement a version of this in 1993, when he was managing the A's.) Bullpen games and openers are not as popular as they once were, but they have still altered the way we think about divvying up innings. The Rockies briefly tried to carry us back to the days of the four-man rotation (but with hard limits on pitch counts at around 75), in 2012. As we move ever closer to whatever the next age of pitchers is, the Twins seem primed to take one of the first steps toward truly shaking up the four-day rest paradigm, whether it works or not. Could we see them implement it this season, and become the next trailblazers?

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[Cory Engelhardt]

If this were to play out, I can’t see using a bulk reliever with either Lopez or Ryan. So maybe that means those two don’t pitch back to back. But I don’t hate this concept in theory. 

[IndianaTwin]

Seems like you answered your own question. At the minor league level, where the emphasis is on development and you're monitoring pitch counts for everyone, sure. At the major league level, you don't handcuff yourself that way. 

That's not to say there isn't a place for a reliever that's able to handle multiple innings, but you can't lock him into a pattern. 

[Old Twins Hat]

What about Shelton, what's his record like in terms of using Openers, or piggy-backing?

Any insight there?

[AceWrigley]

Interesting that both teams mentioned in the article as being innovators in how they use their pitching staff finished last in their respective leagues in ERA and ERA+. I wonder how much of their "innovation" was more about just getting through the season more than anything else.

[LA Vikes Fan]

This probably doesn't work for the top 3 starters on the Twins, but I could see an argument for this system maybe for SWR or Bradley. I could see a situation where the Lopez, Ryan, and Ober starts are handled the traditional way and the SWR starts in particular are basically SWR for 5-6 innings, Festa or Matthews for 3-4 innings. Sounds interesting in theory but very hard to implement and really prevents SWR from becoming a solid #3 guy who you hope can go 7 innings, happy if he goes 6, and expect at least 5 kind of guy, Seems like a bad idea given how well he pitched in the second half of 2025. I get the concept, but I just don't see this working. 

[ashbury]

Key to such a plan is that the manager really has to manage.  There are plenty of hidden pitfalls that I wouldn't be able to guess about but the manager will have to navigate in order to keep the staff healthy, productive and happy.  One disgruntled pitcher could throw off the team's vibe.

[mark sills]

I like this idea.Think it solves the problem of converting starting pitchers to rp. Think it worked pretty well in. double and triple a. Leave Ryan and Lopez out and use two starters on the other three.spots..

[DJL44]

It's a terrible idea. It turns your 5-man rotation into a 10-man rotation with 3 relief pitchers remaining for high leverage. It takes innings away from your best pitchers and gives them to your worst pitchers, then takes away the 1-inning let-it-fly advantage away from your worst pitchers. This negates all the advantage you get from your bullpen. I'd much rather see Joe Ryan pitch into the 7th than trying to squeeze a third inning out of Travis Adams or John Klein.

[OregonTwinsFan]

I don't like the idea. It's like forcing a square peg into a round hole. It takes away from the natural flow of the game when a starter goes as long as he can and then go from there.

[USAFChief]

It's basically unworkable.

"Joe Schmoe will pitch 4 innings every fourth day" lasts for maybe one time. Maybe. In the meantime you're short one guy in the bullpen. 

 

 

 

[old nurse]

3 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

Seems like you answered your own question. At the minor league level, where the emphasis is on development and you're monitoring pitch counts for everyone, sure. At the major league level, you don't handcuff yourself that way. 

That's not to say there isn't a place for a reliever that's able to handle multiple innings, but you can't lock him into a pattern. 

The Twins have used pitch counts for starters for the last few years. Lopes and Ryan were at 100, SWR, Festa and Mathews at 80. There is no reason you can’t have a couple of pitchers relieving on an every  fourth day schedule   The 1 in four chance of Lopez or Ryan pitching in the 7th falling on the fourth day of a long reliever would not happen that often

[The Great Hambino]

9 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

It's basically unworkable.

"Joe Schmoe will pitch 4 innings every fourth day" lasts for maybe one time. Maybe. In the meantime you're short one guy in the bullpen. 

 

 

 

40% of the time that 4th day will land on a Lopez or Ryan start, so you're losing any benefits you're theoretically getting on those days.

It's theoretically possible if you were to pair two guys together and tell them "the first eight innings are yours come hell or high water" and that was your fifth spot in the rotation, and you were committed to letting your top guys and others who are on a heater pitch deeper into games.  But that falls apart in practice because that's not a reasonable expectation.  It would be different if they were in evaluation mode like at the end of last year and you can live with the downsides in order to gain more experience/information, but they're in competition mode.

So, yeah.  Unworkable

[Linus]

Quite simply (assuming you are trying to win) you want your best pitchers pitching the most innings and the high leverage innings. I’m definitely not worried about figuring out a way for Travis Adam’s to pitch more. 

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

If it were my choice, none of this would ever happen. I dont have the words to explain how maddening it was to watch a pitcher throwing a great game, with a low pitch count in the 5th and he got pulled from the game. Scheduled or not. The analytics are fine to a point but sometimes you just gotta let these guys pitch if they're having a great day. A manager needs to be able to make that choice, to leave a pitcher in the game when hes in the zone. It even happened to Joe and Pablo. 

[IndianaTwin]

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

The Twins have used pitch counts for starters for the last few years. Lopes and Ryan were at 100, SWR, Festa and Mathews at 80. There is no reason you can’t have a couple of pitchers relieving on an every  fourth day schedule   The 1 in four chance of Lopez or Ryan pitching in the 7th falling on the fourth day of a long reliever would not happen that often

1. New manager. Same pitching coach, but new manager. 

2. Ober and SWR (sorry the goofy spacing).

  

So Ober for sure and even SWR were well into the 80s and 90s when pitching well. SWR didn't get so deep into the game innings-wise as we'd like in many of those starts, but that's more about becoming more efficient and getting outs on fewer pitches. 

At any rate, I think there are four guys who (pending health) who would be expected to have a "full" starter workload. 

 

[Jim H]

One of things the author and many others don't realize is that the Twins minor league starters weren't on a 5 man rotation. They pitched once a week. The same day every week unless they were hurt or ill. This was true of all full season teams in the Twins organization. The starters were all on pitch counts and other limitations as well. If you ever wondered why all the Twins minor league starters pitchers have so few innings, that is why.

This plan explains in part the minor league bulk pitcher thing. You have to cover innings somehow and designating a couple of bulk pitchers on each staff would be one way to do that. Also nearly all minor league pitch more than 1 inning an outing.

My opinion is that this organization plan helps explain why the Twins minor leaguers seem so unprepared to pitch in the majors. They aren't used to 5 man rotation or 1 inning at a time use. They never pitched enough to learn sequencing, holding on runners, or fielding their position.  Most throw hard and can spin the ball. Many can throw strikes but have spotty command.

[chpettit19]

I love this idea and I've been suggesting they use it for a long time. You don't have to take Pablo Lopez or Joe Ryan out after 5 innings because it's a "bulk day." Or 6 innings. Or 7 innings. Or 8 innings. Hopefully 9 innings because they threw a shutout and the Twins managed at least 1 run and the game is over. 

If the Twins (or any team trying something like this) are going to be so rigid as to say "well it's been 5 innings, have to take him out" no matter who is pitching and how they're pitching, then, no, don't do this. It's a terrible idea and will never work. But if they can be flexible and use their brains then I love the idea. 

I think the 2026 MN Twins are uniquely setup to try this idea. Anyone here want to standup and proclaim the back of this pen to be too good to risk trying Festa for the 8th and 9th or Abel for the 7th through 9th or Bradley for the 6th through 8th before Rogers against 2 lefties and a righty in the 9th? We're not looking at Varland, Jax, and Duran to close out games anymore. We're looking at Topa, Rogers, and Sands. Why are people even pretending to fight for that as something we have to turn the ball over to instead of Festa, Bradley, Matthews, or Abel for an extra inning?

If Pablo or Ryan go 6 or 7 or 8 or 9 then your bulk guy gets an extra day rest. Just like a normal starter gets an extra day rest when there's an off day in the schedule or they get sick or they're a little tight in the morning or whatever. No, the Twins should absolutely, positively, 100% not be so rigid as to pull Pablo or Ryan after 5 simply because it's a "bulk day" and Abel is scheduled for 4 even though Ryan has 15 Ks through 5. But let's not pretend Pablo, Joe, or anyone else is going to average 7 innings a start this year. Maybe, MAYBE, 1 Twins starter will average almost 6 innings a start this year. We can't have 1 or 2 guys going 3 or 4 innings on those days? If Pablo or Joe go 8 then have that guy close it down. It's not like we're skipping Jhoan Duran to go to Festa or Abel or whoever. We're skipping somebody none of us want closing anyways.

I love this idea and I hope they do it. I honestly want 2 or 3 guys doing the bulk thing. Because our best pitchers are our starters and our starter prospects. Our pen is a joke. It's awful. I don't want 70+ innings out of Eric Orze. I want 100+ out of Mick Abel. 

[bean5302]

First, I don't agree with the idea pitchers who are used to throwing 50-60 pitches can suddenly jump to 90-100 pitches effectively or without risk to injury.

Second, it wipes out your bullpen in practice. If pitchers are used to being used every 4 days and throwing 50-60 pitches, they're not going to be available on 1 or 2 days of rest when one of the very few relievers you have left just do not "have it" one day.

You never know when you need a bullpen to soak up 1 inning or 8 innings, and going from 10-30 pitches to 50-60 pitches to 90-100 pitches is not something pitchers can adapt to in short time frames.

[Greggory Masterson]

2 hours ago, Jim H said:

One of things the author and many others don't realize is that the Twins minor league starters weren't on a 5 man rotation.

Odd, very basic thing to claim that I don't know and does not change the fact that, yes, the Twins utilized scheduled bulk days in the minor leagues.

[Greggory Masterson]

6 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Second, it wipes out your bullpen in practice. If pitchers are used to being used every 4 days and throwing 50-60 pitches, they're not going to be available on 1 or 2 days of rest when one of the very few relievers you have left just do not "have it" one day.

Want to make sure you know that my intention here was not to say that there are four bulk relievers, each pitching every fourth day. If they do carry this over (I'm not sure I'd be on board with it), I'd assume it'd be with exactly one of them.

[bean5302]

6 minutes ago, Greggory Masterson said:

Want to make sure you know that my intention here was not to say that there are four bulk relievers, each pitching every fourth day. If they do carry this over (I'm not sure I'd be on board with it), I'd assume it'd be with exactly one of them.

I could see that working more frequently. With just one longer reliever, there's less danger of bullpen arms running out, but there's still the issue of... when do you need the long reliever? 

If Ober and SWR go 3 innings back to back, you can't use your long reliever again. If all 5 arms are good enough to go 6-7 innings for a week through the rotation, you waste your long guy.

I think the theory is good if everything were stable. I just don't think there's ever a cop when you need one.

[Greggory Masterson]

Just now, bean5302 said:

If Ober and SWR go 3 innings back to back, you can't use your long reliever again. If all 5 arms are good enough to go 6-7 innings for a week through the rotation, you waste your long guy.

Yeah, I've been trying to sketch out what that could look like. Could be something like:

Short:
Sands
Topa
Orze/Hendriks
Rogers
Banda
Funderburk

Long:
Adams

Piggyback:
Festa

[Peter Gravett]

Thought-provoking Gregg. Fun discussion here.

[jmlease1]

It's an interesting idea and there are ways that you could make it work by using 1 "starter" as a bulk/long man that might be smart. I think the better way to look at it that you have a guy in your bullpen who will be expected to go 2-4 innings when he enters the game rather than having a parade of guys out of the bullpen to finish the game.

You're unlikely to make it work well consistently pairing guys up I suspect, but could it work well if you look for opportunities to have your long man pitch multiple innings every week rather than holding them only in case of a guy having a short start? Sure. Instead of sending out 4 one inning guys to finish the game after SWR or someone gives you 5 good innings but a high pitch count, you send in a Festa or Matthews with a goal of having them go 3 innings, and maybe even finish it off depending on the game situation. They can still fill the old long man role most of the time if someone gets shelled early or injured mid-game too.

It's not really piggybacking, more like going with a long man that you don't treat like the worst pitcher in your bullpen...

[Jim H]

19 hours ago, Greggory Masterson said:

Odd, very basic thing to claim that I don't know and does not change the fact that, yes, the Twins utilized scheduled bulk days in the minor leagues.

Your 7th paragraph suggests the Twins were putting pitchers into bulk reliever roles instead of fitting them into 5 or 6 man rotations. Since the once a week plan for starters in the minors has been in place for a couple of years it would seem that 4 day rotation for bulk pitchers was instituted at least in part to guarantee more innings for certain pitchers.

My point is that this plan doesn't seem to prepare pitchers for the majors very well. It is probably a bit off your topic. I personally don't really think this plan for the minors was necessarily being used as a template for how pitchers should be used in the majors. I could be wrong.