When will we start seeing changed to MLB Roster?

[jaimedude]

Should be obvious by now to both the Front office and MLB staff that the bullpen personel needs a bit of an overhaul. Twins are 29th out of 30 in strikeout rate by the entire bullpen. 14 different relievers have been used. Infield defense ranks 26th in MLB. The AAA team doesn't look like it will give much of a boost from the bullpen but can help the Twins on defense, Especially short stop. There likely needs to be a couple trades to boost the bullpen. The starting staff and the hitting has been decent enough to win games. If the bullpen isn't fixed soon, the curtain likely has already dropped on the 2026 season. 

[RpR]

Keaschall, Lee and Lewis are abysmal players with the glove, but the Twins have used defense extras to spot fix that problem in close games, in the past.  

It would be nice if they brought Kreidler up, sent lewis and Keaschall down to St.Paul but that -  Might - improve their bats but using Julien as an example , the iron gloves rarely go away.

It took a long time before Julien's gaping whole at Second was removed and as you said, St.Paul has no players better, with the exception of Kreidler, and maybe Culpepper.

In the next month things might change but right now pitching is the major problem so glove work is probably not a big deal on the FO's mind.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

I think we will see more recycling of retreads for the bullpen. Brebbia, Altavilla, Bowman, Smith. I suspect we'll see at least two over the next few weeks.

 

[stringer bell]

I don't see many possible answers for the bullpen in 2026, unless some current starters are moved to the 'pen and thrive. David Festa is coming off injury and perhaps he is most logical candidate to go to the bullpen. SWR has been ineffective as a starter, but has been better the first time through a lineup so a move for him is also likely. After a slow start at Triple A, Zebby Matthews has pitched much better his last few starts. He might be an answer to some of the team's bullpen woes. Finally Kendry Rojas has the kind of stuff that might play well as a reliever.

I would think that a couple of these guys would be at the heart of a revamped BP, either later this year or in 2027.

[Greglw3]

4 hours ago, RpR said:

Keaschall, Lee and Lewis are abysmal players with the glove, but the Twins have used defense extras to spot fix that problem in close games, in the past.  

It would be nice if they brought Kreidler up, sent lewis and Keaschall down to St.Paul but that -  Might - improve their bats but using Julien as an example , the iron gloves rarely go away.

It took a long time before Julien's gaping whole at Second was removed and as you said, St.Paul has no players better, with the exception of Kreidler, and maybe Culpepper.

In the next month things might change but right now pitching is the major problem so glove work is probably not a big deal on the FO's mind.

I think Lee has stabilized significantly in the last 10 games or so defensively, especially turning double plays. Keaschall has had some misadventures but I see some stabilization from him over the last week.

With Lewis, he seems to be sporadic, playing a little better defensively lately but truthfully, Tristan Gray is a better player offensively and defensively than Lewis, at least for now.

The overarching problem is a historically bad bullpen. I’ve been following the Twins since a little boy in 1965 and this is by far the worst bullpen ever. The only rival to it was when Ron Davis was the closer and blowing games left and right.

I wonder if Kopech is healthy enough to close. If so, they should go out and spend the money on him. Or if he’s not healthy, go with a rotation of Ryan, Bradley, Abel, Prielipp, maybe Morris or Festa and have Bailey Ober close games. Ober could pitch 2 inning saves and would be the quality of a real major league closer.

Bowman has a 1.65 ERA at St. Paul and Kendry Rojas 1.32 AAA, 0.00 Twins. Roa unscored upon in 3 innings and 0.67 WHIP. Garcia isn’t going to work and Taylor Rogers probably not either. Banda not working out.

It’s high time for Jeremy Zoll and Tom Pohlad to swing into action. Not another day with this bullpen!

 

[stringer bell]

One guy isnt going to have much effect on the ‘pen. Adding two or three hard throwers might. The veteran arms mentioned above by @Greglw3 really are small changes on the margins. Converting starters seems to me to be tge way to go. 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

32 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

One guy isnt going to have much effect on the ‘pen. Adding two or three hard throwers might. The veteran arms mentioned above by @Greglw3 really are small changes on the margins. Converting starters seems to me to be tge way to go. 

Agreed, but there’s 1,000 big league innings to pitch yet this season and the rotation is already into the 7th man on the depth chart. Prielipp, Ober, Sim are ticking time bombs… they need to keep starters stretched out.

the failure to reinvest into the bullpen last August and September and the offseason is leaving such a stain on this season.

now, they need to wait until there’s fewer innings in front of them.

[Greglw3]

2 hours ago, stringer bell said:

One guy isnt going to have much effect on the ‘pen. Adding two or three hard throwers might. The veteran arms mentioned above by @Greglw3 really are small changes on the margins. Converting starters seems to me to be tge way to go. 

Yes, I agree, which is why I mentioned Kopech and Bailey Ober as the top options. I agree the others like Bowman, etc. are, like you said, small changes around the margins but worth taking as a secondary step since they’re likely to be better than some of the truly awful 7-9 ERA guys we’re using.

If they really wanted to get serious, they could go out and make a trade with all minor leaguers available except Rojas and Walker Jenkins, who is getting closer and closer!

[lecroy24fan]

21 hours ago, Twins_Fan_in_NJ said:

I think we will see more recycling of retreads for the bullpen. Brebbia, Altavilla, Bowman, Smith. I suspect we'll see at least two over the next few weeks.

 

Smith, Brebbia, Altavilla, and Roa have combined for 3.2 IP and 6 ER today as an 8-1 lead is currently sitting at 8-7 with the bases loaded and 2 out in the ninth and Hartwig looking like the others. I think the runner on third is Roa's responsibility.  Bowman threw a scoreless inning before them, as did Adams in relief of Bash. 

So this game is going much like a Twins bullpen game. Even like today's where Topa gave up runs but finished it, as Hartwig just did.

Only arms I'd even consider for call up right now are Rojas, Adams, and Bowman. 

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, lecroy24fan said:

Only arms I'd even consider for call up right now are Rojas, Adams, and Bowman. 

I’d add Zebby Matthews, who has been very good in his last five starts. 

[lecroy24fan]

54 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

I’d add Zebby Matthews, who has been very good in his last five starts. 

I was looking at the bullpen but yes if they want a starter he'd work, although I kinda like looking at Morris if Ryan misses time.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

3 hours ago, lecroy24fan said:

Smith, Brebbia, Altavilla, and Roa have combined for 3.2 IP and 6 ER today as an 8-1 lead is currently sitting at 8-7 with the bases loaded and 2 out in the ninth and Hartwig looking like the others. I think the runner on third is Roa's responsibility.  Bowman threw a scoreless inning before them, as did Adams in relief of Bash. 

So this game is going much like a Twins bullpen game. Even like today's where Topa gave up runs but finished it, as Hartwig just did.

Only arms I'd even consider for call up right now are Rojas, Adams, and Bowman. 

I agree with you but the Twins don't have me convinced that they've seen the light...

[Chembry]

On 5/2/2026 at 9:32 PM, stringer bell said:

David Festa is coming off injury and perhaps he is most logical candidate to go to the bullpen.

I am not sure it was reported here, but Festa suffered another setback.  He reported more shoulder discomfort after facing live hitters Saturday.  This really isn't good news for him and his hopes for the 2026 season.

[stringer bell]

1 minute ago, Chembry said:

I am not sure it was reported here, but Festa suffered another setback.  He reported more shoulder discomfort after facing live hitters Saturday.  This really isn't good news for him and his hopes for the 2026 season.

Saw that as well. I dont know when Festa will be able to pitch or in what role. At this point, any contribution from him in 2026 will be a bonus. 

[bean5302]

I can't imagine a worse use of resources for this team than trying to piece together a bullpen from the waiver wire or guys nobody wanted when half the position players are pretty much replacement level and the rotation is in shambles.

I also can't imagine where somebody would think all these better bullpen arms are going to come from.

[amjgt]

This isn't specifically Twins related, but I do think it's an example of some of the tough decisions the Twins might have to start making.....

Yankees optioned Anthony Volpe to AAA. He was a very highly touted prospect (top 10 MLB prospect in 2023) that played solid defense at SS, but just never hit (OPS+ in the 80s all three years).

[strumdatjag]

On 5/3/2026 at 9:11 AM, Greglw3 said:

Yes, I agree, which is why I mentioned Kopech and Bailey Ober as the top options. I agree the others like Bowman, etc. are, like you said, small changes around the margins but worth taking as a secondary step since they’re likely to be better than some of the truly awful 7-9 ERA guys we’re using.

If they really wanted to get serious, they could go out and make a trade with all minor leaguers available except Rojas and Walker Jenkins, who is getting closer and closer!

Ober has looked good as a starter, and, absent picking up a cast-off from another team, he will be the most experienced in the rotation if Ryan goes down.  How about moving SWR to the pen?  He has the bulldog mentality that could translate into late innings success.   But the Twins won’t be able to  move anyone out of the rotation until Mick Abel returns.   The patched up rotation looks like Ober, Bradley, Prielipp, Matthews, and Abel with sparse reinforcements.   
Ultimately, the Twins will need to trade some of their over-abundance of outfielders for relievers. 

[nicksaviking]

On 5/2/2026 at 6:33 PM, jaimedude said:

If the bullpen isn't fixed soon, the curtain likely has already dropped on the 2026 season. 

The bullpen cannot be fixed soon. It couldn't have been fixed soon even if they spent a bunch of money in free agency and it certainly won't be fixed by trading for some other team's 2nd or 3rd tier relievers. Even the league's "good" relievers, tend to only be good on certain teams or certain situations. It's not a plug-and-play and definitely not a predictable spot as the nature of the players and the position is volatile and inconsistent.

Good relievers for the Twins have been the guys they've developed themselves (almost always former starters) and found their footing and place in the bullpen after about a year of trial and error. Sorry, for this particular aspect of the team, the only remedy is patience in the team finally putting the in-house starters in the pen, and then patience in them developing them. Fingers crossed it's 2027, but if they drag their feet and try to keep these guys starters, it might be even longer.