David Festa Nears Return From Injury As Twins Weigh His Future Role

[Richie the Rally Goat]

4 minutes ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

as bad as the bullpen is, the rotation is threadbare already. Prielipp, Rojas, Festa, Mathews, Morris… none of them are getting to 5 innings in a start reliably or more than 110 innings total on the season.

while 3 or 4 of the 5 are likely destined to the bullpen (if they stick in the majors), and they desperately need to move them to the bullpen now, they need them all to stay stretched out just to get the innings.

For some reason I can’t edit my post… and I’m a moderator…

To clarify my thought, this team is one injury away from having two bullpen games per week. They still need to pitch 1100 innings this year. They need the bulk in 2026, towards the end of the season they need to convert starters to relievers for 2027 and can afford to with fewer innings in front of them.

something they should have done last year…

[jorgenswest]

I would put him in the Saints rotation when he returns. That won’t prevent him from being in the bullpen at some point this season. A starter’s routine will be better for his recovery.

[JADBP]

On 4/23/2026 at 11:58 AM, Patzky said:

Would be a nice idea.. I'm not holding my breath 🫁 

The chance of the Twins holding on to Ryan are about 0.0000000%.  Full stop. 

[bean5302]

14 hours ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

For some reason I can’t edit my post… and I’m a moderator…

To clarify my thought, this team is one injury away from having two bullpen games per week. They still need to pitch 1100 innings this year. They need the bulk in 2026, towards the end of the season they need to convert starters to relievers for 2027 and can afford to with fewer innings in front of them.

something they should have done last year…

You mean having 9 bullpen arms pitch per game and forefeiting every other game because the team has no pitchers isn't a viable strategy?

[miller761]

There is nobody in the bullpen right now that can get those tough outs in the 8 or the final outs in the 9th. In my opinion the current team has an offense that can win games and starting pitching that can win games. We would have a winning record right now if the bullpen could get those tough outs. Many have had the chance and failed. Give Festa a chance to close. What is there to lose? There is much more to gain. You can then build your earlier relievers based on who is doing well and matchups. We have 4 who could do that job. There is nothing more deflating to team morale than what is happening now. We build a lead and lose the game. That is why we have not won a 1 run game yet. This is the majors and only 1 stat matters - wins. I think Festa at the back of our bullpen gives us a much better chance of winning. 

[LA Vikes Fan]

Right now we are 7 starters deep with Lopez and Festa out - Ryan, Bradley, Ober, Abel, SWR, Prielipp, and Matthews.  Morris can also be stretched back out although I see a real future for him in the bullpen, maybe even in higher leverage situations. Rojas is not quite ready but we saw in his work earlier that he isn't far off. Festa has shoulder issues that may limit his workload. A look at the Saints roster shows no bullpen help unless you believe in Matt Bowman. Everyone else there is doing poorly with maybe Peredes or Drew Smith as an option,

Bring Festa back in the bullpen. We have the starter depth and we need bullpen pitching badly. We don't have to decide a path until next year: he won't be able to build back up a a starter until at least late July or August any way so he's no real help this year. Festa has shoulder issues that will limit his workload even if he does build back up. Try him as a late inning reliever this year and then decide.  

[tony&rodney]

Soon the Twins should see how Festa looks and then we might see some movement in the bullpen. Seems like Festa could be a tough guy in the pen.

Still think that hitting and fielding are the top two problems for the team.

[amjgt]

On 4/28/2026 at 6:52 PM, JADBP said:

The chance of the Twins holding on to Ryan are about 0.0000000%.  Full stop. 

Do you mean after 2027 or after this coming trade deadline.

I agree that the odds of keeping him beyond 2027 seem extremely low (Basically zero). But what they plan to do with Ryan for 2027 has a big impact on what we should be doing with guys like Festa. 

I'm sure the FO actually isn't quite sure at this point what they think will happen. Injuries are a variable that they can't control, but the FO really needs to decide what they think is going to happen at the trade deadline. 

I actually don't mind if they trade Ryan, but if it's not seen as part of a larger plan, it's going to go over very poorly with the fan base. What might that larger plan be? Not sure. Pablo extension? Not sure what the parameters of that might look like, but I have it on good authority that Pablo just moved into a new place in Minneapolis, so it could be that he's open to staying here for a while. 

If you pair a Pablo extension with trading Ryan I think I could be convinced that makes some sense. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, amjgt said:

Do you mean after 2027 or after this coming trade deadline.

I agree that the odds of keeping him beyond 2027 seem extremely low (Basically zero). But what they plan to do with Ryan for 2027 has a big impact on what we should be doing with guys like Festa. 

I'm sure the FO actually isn't quite sure at this point what they think will happen. Injuries are a variable that they can't control, but the FO really needs to decide what they think is going to happen at the trade deadline. 

I actually don't mind if they trade Ryan, but if it's not seen as part of a larger plan, it's going to go over very poorly with the fan base. What might that larger plan be? Not sure. Pablo extension? Not sure what the parameters of that might look like, but I have it on good authority that Pablo just moved into a new place in Minneapolis, so it could be that he's open to staying here for a while. 

If you pair a Pablo extension with trading Ryan I think I could be convinced that makes some sense. 

What fan base? They have awful attendance. They need to start over and go young. 

[amjgt]

3 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

What fan base? They have awful attendance. They need to start over and go young. 

I think it's a mistake to conflate awful attendance with no fan base. 

We have a very unhappy fan base. But not NO fan base.

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, amjgt said:

I think it's a mistake to conflate awful attendance with no fan base. 

We have a very unhappy fan base. But not NO fan base.

Doesn't matter if they don't pay. 

[amjgt]

Of course it does. 

Getting fans back is a much different proposition than creating new fans from scratch. 

[laloesch]

On 4/28/2026 at 7:52 PM, JADBP said:

The chance of the Twins holding on to Ryan are about 0.0000000%.  Full stop. 

If that's true the Twins had better trade him by this deadline otherwise they are losing a front of the rotation starter for practically nothing.  They should have been taking calls for him last year seriously.