Life After Jhoan Duran: Sizing Up the Spring Closer Competition

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

For the better part of the last few seasons, the Minnesota Twins did not have to think very hard about how they were going to finish games. When a lead made it to the ninth inning, the ball went to Jhoan Duran, and the rest of the league usually understood what came next.

Duran developed into one of baseball’s most dominant closers thanks to his overpowering fastball and splinker combination that made even elite hitters look overmatched. He brought consistency to a bullpen that had spent years searching for a true shutdown presence. When he took the mound in save situations, there was a level of calm that had been missing in Minnesota for a long time. That stability is now gone.

At last year’s trade deadline, the Twins made the difficult decision to part ways with Duran, along with Griffin Jax and Louis Varland. All three had experience pitching in high-leverage roles, and any one of them could have entered spring training as the favorite to close games in 2026. Instead, Minnesota will attempt to piece together the ninth inning with a mix of veteran reclamation projects and internal arms looking to take the next step.

LHP Taylor Rogers
Minnesota signed Rogers to a one-year, $2 million deal, but that does not mean the left-hander cannot provide value in the closer role to begin the season. In fact, it probably makes the most sense for the Twins to lean on his experience early in the year, given the number of other lefties projected to make the bullpen, like Kody Funderburk and Anthony Banda.

On a recent episode of Inside Twins, Rogers spoke about the adjustments he has made later in his career to rely more on sequencing and pitchability as his velocity has dipped. He also mentioned that new bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins has been a valuable resource when it comes to finding ways to extend a reliever’s career and remain effective in high-leverage spots. Rogers seems to have the inside track to the closer role, but he’s told Twins manager Derek Shelton that he must earn the spot.

RHP Liam Hendriks
Hendriks has been one of the best closers of his generation, but the reality is that he has thrown fewer than 20 innings over the last three seasons. Since 2022, Hendriks has dealt with seemingly constant adversity, beginning with a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that offseason, which delayed his 2023 debut until May 29. He was only able to make five appearances that year before suffering an elbow injury that ultimately required Tommy John surgery.

“[He’s a] veteran guy that people speak so highly of in the game in terms of who he is as a human being,” Shelton said. “Obviously, he’s had some challenges in his life over the last couple years. Just talking about the person, [we're] excited to add him into that group.”

If Hendriks can rediscover anything close to his previous form, he could quickly move to the front of the closer conversation.

RHP Cole Sands
Sands might possess the highest upside of anyone currently projected to make the Twins’ bullpen. However, he also seems like a candidate to slide into the fireman role that Jax occupied in recent seasons, which takes him out of the full-time closer conversation.

Minnesota may prefer to keep Sands flexible enough to enter during the middle innings to escape a jam or bridge the gap to one of the more traditional ninth-inning options. He has been working on adding a gyro slider that could help neutralize left-handed hitters more consistently.

“So the big idea here is just try and put lefties away," Sands told reporters this past week. "And that's kind of where the gyro came into play. And we're always going to continue to push all, you know, all these pitches to try and execute lefties as well as I [do against] righties.”

RHP Justin Topa
Topa arrived in the Jorge Polanco trade after a breakout season with the Mariners that saw him post a 152 ERA+ and a 3.15 FIP. He has recorded a handful of saves throughout his career, which gives him at least some credibility in late-inning situations. However, his 18.3 K% last season suggests his skill set is better suited for a setup role. Minnesota will need reliable right-handed options throughout the year, which should still allow Topa to carve out meaningful opportunities even if they do not come in the ninth inning.

Dark Horse Candidates David Festa and Connor Prielipp
Festa and Prielipp are both expected to begin the year building starter workloads, but the reality is that each comes with injury concerns, and the Triple-A rotation is likely to be crowded. Both pitchers feature electric arsenals that have allowed them to succeed as starters in the minors.

Limiting their pitch mix in shorter bullpen stints could unlock additional velocity and give Minnesota another potential late-inning weapon. The organization has already seen how that transition can work with pitchers like Jax, Varland, and Sands in recent seasons.

Replacing a talent like Duran is not something that can be done with a single move. The Twins are not just searching for someone who can collect saves but for someone who can bring a sense of stability to the bullpen’s most important moments. That responsibility could shift month to month depending on performance and health.

There is also value in keeping the role fluid early in the season. Locking in a closer on Opening Day might provide clarity, but it could also limit the Twins’ ability to deploy their best relievers in the highest leverage spots, regardless of inning. Minnesota has leaned into that philosophy at times over the last few years and may now be forced to embrace it more fully.

Ultimately, this bullpen will look very different from the one that opened last season. New opportunities often create unexpected outcomes, and the Twins will be hoping that one of these veterans or emerging internal options can seize the ninth inning and make it their own.

If that happens, Minnesota might not completely replicate what Duran provided at the back end of games, but they could still find a path toward building their next trusted late-inning presence.

Who should be the team’s closer on Opening Day? Who will have the most saves for the Twins in 2026? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

View full article

[bean5302]

Connor Prielipp has no real injury concerns at this point. A failed TJ 5 years ago doesn't mean he's an injury concern now. Not sure why this Prielipp "injury" thing keeps getting pushed. He's been basically injury free for 2 years now.

Bailey Ober is certainly a higher injury risk than Connor Prielipp at this point, at least in my opinion. I'd actually favor moving Ober to the bullpen if the velo isn't there in Spring Training. Ober at 89-90 isn't effective. If he is able to dial it up to 93-94 out of the 'pen, he could be good.

[hitterscount]

Duran was given the ball in the 9th  when Balldelli was managing like a normal manager.... which wasn't all the time. So glad he's gone. The BP is sketchy, not a fan of closer by committee, but this could be the best approach to see who can handle the role.

[OregonTwinsFan]

Festa and Prielipp at least have a chance to be better than the rest of the mediocre bullpen arms. They have the upside of being the only legitimate high-leverage options on the roster.

[LewFordLives]

I'm intrigued by the possibility of Festa in the late innings. 

Hendriks is cooked. He's had a really good career, but I would be shocked if he's still in the organization by the end of camp.

[old nurse]

The status of the bullpen and people’s reactions lately brought up a memory of a band and their one hit.  

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Connor Prielipp has no real injury concerns at this point. A failed TJ 5 years ago doesn't mean he's an injury concern now. Not sure why this Prielipp "injury" thing keeps getting pushed. He's been basically injury free for 2 years now.

Bailey Ober is certainly a higher injury risk than Connor Prielipp at this point, at least in my opinion. I'd actually favor moving Ober to the bullpen if the velo isn't there in Spring Training. Ober at 89-90 isn't effective. If he is able to dial it up to 93-94 out of the 'pen, he could be good.

Prielipp has pitched a total of 128 professional innings all as a starter since 2023, 83 of them were in 2025.

Ober pitched 146 in 2025 injured.

[Peter Gravett]

1 hour ago, OregonTwinsFan said:

Festa and Prielipp at least have a chance to be better than the rest of the mediocre bullpen arms. They have the upside of being the only legitimate high-leverage options on the roster.

The Slim Reaper needs serious consideration. 3 pitch mix and reduced workload to assist with thoracic symptoms. Work up an entry video with theme song akin to what they did with Duran. 

[bunsen82]

1 hour ago, old nurse said:

The status of the bullpen and people’s reactions lately brought up a memory of a band and their one hit.  

 

My son would say,   you're old   LOL.   

[old nurse]

5 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

My son would say,   you're old   LOL.   

Only in age 

[CRF]

If Hendriks has anything left, which is a big "IF". That would be very nice.

[HerbieFan]

I think it's been established that a "fireman" in the 7th or 8th inning is as valuable as a closer in the 9th.  I don't think we'll see a true "closer".  It's going to be matchups, matchups, matchups all year.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

Bottom line is that they will need at least three high leverage level relievers in the bullpen to be successful, regardless of who takes over as closer.  I feel pretty good about Cole Sands. . .  well, that’s it.  It’s possible Taylor Rogers and/or Liam Hendricks still have something left in the tank — at least they have had success in the past, but we’ll see.  

I think someone from the smoking scrap heap of bullpen arms may actually be pretty good, but it’s going to take some time for that to happen.  First part of the season could be a little scary.  By July, we may have something resembling a functional bullpen.  

Also.  TRADE TREVOR LARNACH RIGHT NOW FOR ANY KIND OF BULLPEN ARM YOU CAN.  It won’t be a star, but could be someone functional and that would be plenty useful right now. 

[dberthia]

Want an old man reference? Whoever is selected as the closer will be like the Maytag repairman- left with nothing to do. The only difference is he was bored because the product was great- not something that can be said about our on-field product.

[bean5302]

6 hours ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Prielipp has pitched a total of 128 professional innings all as a starter since 2023, 83 of them were in 2025.

Ober pitched 146 in 2025 injured.

The Twins weren't limiting Ober's innings in 2025. Was there ever a reasonable world where the Twins would let Prielipp throw 150 innings in a year over the past 2 seasons?

Ober's track record of injuries was long as he came up through the minors. He got the point where it looked like he was past them, and with a little added velocity, his ceiling grew.

Last year, if we're to believe it was all the hip stripping his velocity, then that's a pretty significant injury again Ober's over 30 now. Will the velocity come back? If he's throwing 89, do you want his likely 6.50 ERA in the rotation?

 

[RaoulDuke]

I think it will be by committee to start.  Who is throwing good and who does the match up favor out of Rogers/ Hendriks/ Chafin/ Sands. 

This year is going to be a large audition to see who gets the back of the bullpen spots going forward.  The super vets are there to stabilize things in the first half of the year, if any prove they still have something in the tank they probably get traded at the deadline.  They are going to run a lot of young arms through to see what sticks.

I think Festa is the most likely candidate to switch and succeed in the pen, Prielipp could if they deem his time as a starter over, Raya has real potential in the pen, Bradley could be an interesting experiment if he can't stick in the rotation, ect.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

13 hours ago, bean5302 said:

The Twins weren't limiting Ober's innings in 2025. Was there ever a reasonable world where the Twins would let Prielipp throw 150 innings in a year over the past 2 seasons?

Ober's track record of injuries was long as he came up through the minors. He got the point where it looked like he was past them, and with a little added velocity, his ceiling grew.

Last year, if we're to believe it was all the hip stripping his velocity, then that's a pretty significant injury again Ober's over 30 now. Will the velocity come back? If he's throwing 89, do you want his likely 6.50 ERA in the rotation?

 

Vs 90 innings of Prielipp’s 5.5 ERA and 60 innings of scrap heap reliever’s 12 era?

If Ober is healthy enough, he’s the second or third starter on this team. If hes not, things are pretty bleak. It would be reasonable to expect 160-180 innings of 3.5 ERA if he’s healthy, but last year he wasn’t and they still got 146 innings of 5.1 era. I think somewhere between those two is pretty reasonable.

Prielipp’s most innings in a season are a good reliever’s workload, 80-100 innings fewer than what you can expect from a reasonably healthy Ober.

Agreed with the injury concerns for Ober, but I also agree with the injury concerns for Prielipp. Managing his work isn’t because he’s 100% all systems go.

[JD-TWINS]

21 hours ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Prielipp has pitched a total of 128 professional innings all as a starter since 2023, 83 of them were in 2025.

Ober pitched 146 in 2025 injured.

Not sure how Bean can disagree with your comments? Prielipp threw 83 innings last year, as you stated, and that was as what he describes as a “healthy starter”. He threw 7 innings in College in ‘21 & zero innings in ‘22. Then he bounced back to throw 6 2/3 in ‘23 and 23 1/3 in ‘24.

He’s essentially the definition of a guy that needs to have innings monitored and be handled with kid gloves.

I think he should be a reliever in ‘26 to monitor innings more easily/effectively and get most value, but I’m a fan and it doesn’t matter what I think. Whether a starter or a reliever or some combination, I cannot see any scenario that Prielipp throws more than 110-120 innings in ‘26.

[LambchoP]

I have to believe Kopech could be had real cheap or even on a minor league deal at this point with Spring training under way. We should be set with 4 lefties, but we definitely still need some better arms from the right side. Signing Kopech and then picking up a legit late inning veteran in a trade would at least help. Plus, we need to clean up this horrible roster construction. Way to many DH's, far too many LH outfielders, no legit infielders and not much of a bullpen. This needs to be addressed.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Vs 90 innings of Prielipp’s 5.5 ERA and 60 innings of scrap heap reliever’s 12 era?

If Ober is healthy enough, he’s the second or third starter on this team. If hes not, things are pretty bleak. It would be reasonable to expect 160-180 innings of 3.5 ERA if he’s healthy, but last year he wasn’t and they still got 146 innings of 5.1 era. I think somewhere between those two is pretty reasonable.

Prielipp’s most innings in a season are a good reliever’s workload, 80-100 innings fewer than what you can expect from a reasonably healthy Ober.

Agreed with the injury concerns for Ober, but I also agree with the injury concerns for Prielipp. Managing his work isn’t because he’s 100% all systems go.

We've never seen Prielipp pitch in MLB, and I don't think he'll get the opportunity as a starter to pitch in MLB if he looks like his stuff won't play, and he wouldn't be a top 100 prospect if he looked like a 5.50+ ERA pitcher. Also, not sure how a scrap heap reliever pitches 60 innings in your scenario? Doesn't seem realistic all all to me. Don't really have to worry about it. I don't think Prielipp will have any significant innings limits this year. He'll be limited based on season length at AAA. It's almost impossible to get more than 130 innings in AAA, and I expect Prielipp's capped innings limit will likely be 150ish.

We have seen Ober pitch in MLB with an 89mph fastball, and it wasn't MLB caliber. 5.00+ ERA is not MLB caliber. If he's healthy, AND if his velocity is back, this isn't a debate at all. Ober is next in line after Ryan. Nobody is going to question that. In fact, Ober's arguably been the better of the two pitchers.

[BSLinPA]

Just back from Fort Myers.  Inappropriate to call Liam "cooked" (perhaps our definitions differ).  Make no mistake, the motivation and determination remain.

I fully expect presently non-40 man roster RPs Hendriks, Chafin and Altavilla to contribute at the big league level during 2026. Will it be with the Twins......time will tell.

Hendriks and Chafin are Rule XX(B) guys, so if not added to the 26 man roster or the 40 man roster as injured by March 20, they must be granted their unconditional release or be paid a $100,000 retention bonus.  Even if retained via the bonus payment, Rule XX(B) provides an opt out date of June 1 if not added to the 26 man roster or the 40 man roster as injured by May 28. If playing competitive baseball, would the Twins "spring" for the extra $100G for another two months' worth of time to decide (further evaluate at StP)? I can envision a scenario in which they could have trade value at the deadline.

Appears that while Altavilla has the MLB service time to qualify, he was released by the White Sox prior to the end of the season (ERA at MLB and MiLB was below 2.50 at both levels, with 29 and 26 IP, respectively). Unless opt outs were negotiated as part of his minor league deal, the Twins will have the  chance to monitor his performance at StP.

 

[bean5302]

11 minutes ago, BSLinPA said:

Just back from Fort Myers.  Inappropriate to call Liam "cooked" (perhaps our definitions differ).  Make no mistake, the motivation and determination remain...

 

Cooked means the stuff is gone, not the heart. Hendriks' stuff was definitely gone in recent seasons. Whether that was because he needed to build back up after cancer treatment and TJ we'll probably find out in Spring Training. 

[miracleb]

I think it will end up being Banda....

[killercarewoliva]

On 2/21/2026 at 11:37 AM, OregonTwinsFan said:

Festa and Prielipp at least have a chance to be better than the rest of the mediocre bullpen arms. They have the upside of being the only legitimate high-leverage options on the roster.

Prielipp has great potential but he has yet to show an earned run average. that's even ready for AAA. Mr. festa also great potential but his and run average is hardly even ready for AAA. look at what it was at the major League level.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

We've never seen Prielipp pitch in MLB, and I don't think he'll get the opportunity as a starter to pitch in MLB if he looks like his stuff won't play, and he wouldn't be a top 100 prospect if he looked like a 5.50+ ERA pitcher. Also, not sure how a scrap heap reliever pitches 60 innings in your scenario? Doesn't seem realistic all all to me. Don't really have to worry about it. I don't think Prielipp will have any significant innings limits this year. He'll be limited based on season length at AAA. It's almost impossible to get more than 130 innings in AAA, and I expect Prielipp's capped innings limit will likely be 150ish.

We have seen Ober pitch in MLB with an 89mph fastball, and it wasn't MLB caliber. 5.00+ ERA is not MLB caliber. If he's healthy, AND if his velocity is back, this isn't a debate at all. Ober is next in line after Ryan. Nobody is going to question that. In fact, Ober's arguably been the better of the two pitchers.

Prielipp’s ERA in AAA last year was 5.1. It never gets immediately better jumping to the bigs.

it probably wouldn’t be 60 innings from a single scrap heap reliever.

The “good relievers”, Sands, Rogers, they’re getting 60 innings each. Every inning that the rotation doesn’t pitch that it is currently planned for is being pitched by waiver fodder. Think Genesis Cabrera. The current bullpen has 3 minor league signings who are pretty much locks. Every inning the rotation pitches is an inning that the 14th to 16th reliever in the pecking order doesn’t.

[OregonTwinsFan]

47 minutes ago, killercarewoliva said:

Prielipp has great potential but he has yet to show an earned run average. that's even ready for AAA. Mr. festa also great potential but his and run average is hardly even ready for AAA. look at what it was at the major League level.

I look at their FIP rather than ERA, and their numbers are much better. That and their numbers are also much better when going through the order the first time, which indicates that they would do better on short relief stints as opposed to starting and going through the order multiple times.

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, killercarewoliva said:

Prielipp has great potential but he has yet to show an earned run average. that's even ready for AAA. Mr. festa also great potential but his and run average is hardly even ready for AAA. look at what it was at the major League level.

Festa’s ERA v. 3-5 guys at a time has a chance to be much, much better than his ERA trying to throw 4-6 innings per outing.

Prielipp is obviously a question mark - also though, potentially respectable in short bursts of 14-22 pitches per outing.

[farmerguychris]

I'm of the mindset that the traditional 'closer' can be part of the past.  Put your best pitcher in to face the best batters - 7th, 8th, or 9th.  That could mean we'll have 3-4 guys with at least 10 official 'saves'. 

Didn't think about having Hawkins being in the coaching staff could help us get an extra year out of older pitchers who may be running out of gas. If anyone can tell experienced guys how to make the best of what they have left in the tank - it would be him.

 

[howeda7]

3 hours ago, farmerguychris said:

 

Didn't think about having Hawkins being in the coaching staff could help us get an extra year out of older pitchers who may be running out of gas. If anyone can tell experienced guys how to make the best of what they have left in the tank - it would be him.

 

Hawkins will inspire Ryan Pressly that he has one more year left in him.

[nicksaviking]

Pagan, Colome, Robles, Clippard, Romo, Rodney, Reed, Kintzler.

Can we avoid the part where we desperately try to make cast offs that other teams didn't want into the back of our bullpen and just skip ahead to giving the jobs to the internal starters that everyone had largely written off as busts?

I don't understand the point of this charade. Rogers, Hendricks, Topa? They ain't long term answers, and this team ain't short term competing. And even if they were, those guys still aren't the answer.