The Minnesota Twins Might Have a New Closer

[Cody Schoenmann]

Image courtesy of © Pablo Robles-Imagn Images

Last Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins traded for Yoendrys Gómez from the Tampa Bay Rays, for cash considerations. Bouncing between the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay, and now Minnesota since the beginning of the 2025 season, Gómez has embodied the nomadic reliever trope, being vaguely desired by many clubs but rostered long-term by none. Despite hopping between clubs, the 26-year-old finished his 2025 campaign relatively strongly, netting a 4.84 ERA, 4.85 FIP, and 22.6% strikeout rate over 48 1/3 innings pitched for the White Sox. Chicago flipped Gómez to the Rays this offseason alongside fellow right-handed reliever Steven Wilson, for outfielder Everson Pereira and utility prospect Tanner Murray.

Unfortunately, he struggled to begin his 2026 campaign with Tampa Bay, posting a 6.23 ERA, 7.28 FIP, and a less impressive 15.9% strikeout rate over 17 1/3 innings. Tampa Bay had Gómez using a five-pitch mix, which isn’t unique for a right-handed reliever. The righty primarily utilized his four-seam fastball and sweeper, both of which graded out as true plus pitches. Yet, he also often used his sinker, cutter, and changeup, all of which graded out below average. Opposing hitters generated a 142 wRC+ against his sinker this season and a 303 wRC+ against his cutter while Gómez was with Tampa Bay.

 

To preface, hitters also excelled against Gómez’s four-seamer when he pitched for Tampa Bay, with a 186 wRC+. As noted earlier, the pitch graded out well above average (121 Stuff+ at FanGraphs), suggesting his struggles were the product of bad luck rather than a low-quality pitch, but there are things to clean up. Command will be crucial.

 

Gómez did, however, excel at throwing his sweeper with Tampa Bay, netting an elite -100 wRC+ and 125 Stuff+ at FanGraphs with the pitch. So far, albeit in a sample so small as to be almost meaningless, Minnesota has effectively cut his sinker, cutter, and changeup from his repertoire entirely, with him using his four-seamer and sweeper in 14 of his 17 pitches thrown with the Twins.

 

Again, I am analyzing a 17-pitch sample. Still, Gómez has excelled with a two-pitch mix for the Twins, posting a 0.00 ERA, 3.13 FIP, and plus grades on both pitches through 1 2/3 innings. Gómez also earned his first save with the club on Sunday, mowing through Daniel Schneeman, Angel Martínez, and Travis Bazzana on 10 pitches. The newly acquired relief arm has been stellar in his first three appearances for Minnesota, functioning as a breath of fresh air for what has been the fourth-worst bullpen in baseball, according to Wins Above Replacement at FanGraphs (fWAR).

Given that Cody Laweryson, Garrett Acton, and Cole Sands are on the 15-day IL; Kody Funderburk was surprisingly demoted to Triple-A St. Paul on Sunday; and Justin Topa, Taylor Rogers, and Anthony Banda have struggled mightily to begin their respective 2026 campaigns. Minnesota’s bullpen is arguably the most volatile in the sport. Yet, with volatility comes opportunity.

 

Andrew Morris has capitalized on his opportunities in various roles. Eric Orze has impressed despite blowing a save against the Seattle Mariners in late April. And 39-year-old Luis García has been thrust into high-leverage situations despite joining the club on Apr. 28. Given that Minnesota targeted Gómez from Tampa Bay and that he has immediately succeeded in high-leverage situations, the 26-year-old could quickly become Minnesota’s preferred high-leverage arm.

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[Vanimal46]

I'd much rather give the late inning opportunities to a 26 year old with a potential future than the three 35+ year old pitchers we're keeping around for whatever reason. The Twins should be claiming guys like Gomez on the waiver wire as much as possible. Let's start building something instead of treading water at best with guys who won't be a part of the 2027 Twins and beyond (looking at you, Garcia, Topa, Banda, and Rogers). 

[Exiled in Illinois]

My, don't we all like grasping at straws:)

[mike8791]

You've got to be kidding!!  Either that or desperate.

[Major League Ready]

I would be thrilled with this acquisition if Gomez became a reliable 7th inning option.

[bunsen82]

Tampa Bay -  Gomez you are not good enough to be in our bullpen.  DFA

Twins -  1 week later . . . Gomez you are our closer.   

LOL -  you can't make this stuff up.  Even still Gomez has a spark that could be something, but it shows how little actual relievers we currently have in the bullpen.  

[Road trip]

Sure... roll the dice, Gomez appears to be able to clear the low bar of "better than Luis Garcia".

I've still got some emotional scars from the Ron Davis years, but I have little doubt that this collection of relievers has a good chance to go down in history as "Worst Twins Bullpen".

[Craig Arko]

Gondor has no closer. Gondor needs no closer.

[Danchat]

27 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

Tampa Bay -  Gomez you are not good enough to be in our bullpen.  DFA

Twins -  1 week later . . . Gomez you are our closer.   

LOL -  you can't make this stuff up.  Even still Gomez has a spark that could be something, but it shows how little actual relievers we currently have in the bullpen.  

Kinda reminds me of the excitement around trading for Banda after the Dodgers DFA'd him... he was unironically called "elite" by some. Let's give Gomez a shot but it's way too early to have an article like this. 

[darwin22]

12 minutes ago, Road trip said:

Sure... roll the dice, Gomez appears to be able to clear the low bar of "better than Luis Garcia".

I've still got some emotional scars from the Ron Davis years, but I have little doubt that this collection of relievers has a good chance to go down in history as "Worst Twins Bullpen".

You definitely are 1 of many longtime Twins fans that still have emotional scars 40+ years after "RD experience"-- I still seem to remember, cant remember the year, but I think it was 1984 that RD, with his family in tow, at the home opener with a full house at the Dome getting booed mercilessly by the capacity crowd as he had blown at least a couple of games on a west coast road trip to start the season. That was classic!   Who knows how things will turn out with Gomez moving forward.  You'd think that possibly the "baseball gods" will throw us fans a bone that he at least can be serviceable.

[jkcarew]

It’s an embarrassment of riches is what it is. The only problem now is for Shelton to figure out how to distribute the oncoming avalanche of save opportunities in a fashion that keeps all these stallions happy.

[jmlease1]

54 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

Tampa Bay -  Gomez you are not good enough to be in our bullpen.  DFA

Twins -  1 week later . . . Gomez you are our closer.   

LOL -  you can't make this stuff up.  Even still Gomez has a spark that could be something, but it shows how little actual relievers we currently have in the bullpen.  

it also shows how fungible relievers are; Gomez was poor for Tampa, but might go on a run where he's more than adequate for us. The samples will be small even when you throw together a whole season.

Of course, I don't see a lot of good reasons to dub Gomez a "closer" of any kind; he just looks like a guy that might reasonably pitch close & late or take over as the designated 9th inning guy. We need both so...

[shimrod]

If he can just not walk the leadoff hitter he'll be better than anyone else in the pen. 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

The life of a 4A relief pitcher. You have a job as long you are semi-effective. One-too-many bad outings and you are on to the next organization.

I have absolutely no qualms about continued swings at low-cost guys. It is really the only option available as the FO is not allowed to spend any money on higher-end guys.

[Fatbat]

It’s as if the Tampa pitching mgr told Gomez to throw his 3 worst pitches often “and he did”.  The Twins wisdom team tells Gomez DONT throw those 3 pitches “and he hasn’t”.   
Are we brilliant or does someone in Tampa need to be replaced?  
 

[AceWrigley]

"The Minnesota Twins Might Have a New Closer" will probably be the tag line of a weekly article for the rest of the season.

[Patzky]

2 hours ago, Exiled in Illinois said:

My, don't we all like grasping at straws:)

 

20 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

It’s as if the Tampa pitching mgr told Gomez to throw his 3 worst pitches often “and he did”.  The Twins wisdom team tells Gomez DONT throw those 3 pitches “and he hasn’t”.   
Are we brilliant or does someone in Tampa need to be replaced?  
 

They couldn't make Taj or Ryan work either who knows? Maybe they can make Wallner work? Y'all got anymore of those disposable arms?

[PatPfund]

If the bullpen train is a wreck, I guess it doesn't matter if this is the boxcar with "closer" stenciled on it.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

2 hours ago, jmlease1 said:

it also shows how fungible relievers are; Gomez was poor for Tampa, but might go on a run where he's more than adequate for us. The samples will be small even when you throw together a whole season.

Of course, I don't see a lot of good reasons to dub Gomez a "closer" of any kind; he just looks like a guy that might reasonably pitch close & late or take over as the designated 9th inning guy. We need both so...

This season and this transaction shows us exactly why relievers are not as fungible as Zoll thought they were...

[GNess]

They might, but they probably don't.

[Muppet]

I can probably throw the ball all the way to the catcher from the pitchers mound. For $500,000 I’ll be the new closer. 

[Patzky]

Watching the Guards decimate the Angels crap staff.. it's depressing as hell.

[DJL44]

Can we get Tampa to give up on some more pitchers?

[Sjoski]

New closer ...good one... 😀😃🙂

Even a broken watch is right twice a day.

 

[LastOnePicked]

"Gómez has excelled with a two-pitch mix for the Twins, posting a 0.00 ERA, 3.13 FIP, and plus grades on both pitches through 1 2/3 innings."

Every now and then, a little sentence just tells you everything you need to know about how a Twins season is going so far.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

9 hours ago, Exiled in Illinois said:

My, don't we all like grasping at straws:)

As Twins fans, straws are all we have to grasp.

[stringer bell]

You never know where your bullpen ace will come from. Recently, the Twins have had success converting starters (Jhoan Duran, Griffen Jax, Louis Varland) but sometimes closers come off the discard pile like Lism Hendriks. Gus Varland has been DFAd numerous times and he’s closing games for the Nationals.

If the Twins try to have a youngish guy like Gomez be a closer or a guy relied on in high leverage, good for them. There’s a small chance it will work and maybe the club has a good arm for multiple years. Signing guys in their mid to upper 30s to one yesr deals, the upside is hard to see 

[tony&rodney]

No complaints from me if it works. If at first you .....

[DocBauer]

Why not? At least in the short term, he throws hard, has a solid K history, and is still only 26yo. He's exactly the kind of "claim" they should be grabbing. (*I understand they actually sent cash in order to jump the waiver wire*) They might make an adjustment to where he stands on the mound, maybe tweak his arm angle, and maybe refine one of his "bad' pitches, or teach him a new one next offseason and suddenly they have a 7th inning, high velocity, good K arm that's only 27yo.

Or he may totally wash out and be gone in a couple 2-3 months.

But I'd rather give arms like his an opportunity instead of more 36-39yo veterans who have almost ZERO chance of helping the team in the future. No don't get me wrong, an older veteran who has the ability to produce one more solid season under the sun can add some depth and experience to a rebuilding pen. But you DON'T rebuild a bullpen where 50% of your arms are those aged veterans.

Unfortunately, injuries have had a rather major influence on the pen rebuild. It begins with losing Lopez for the season. That's been a HUGE loss to be sure, but it happens to other teams as well. But it has had a trickle down affect, as have other injuries and setbacks to the rotation. 

Bradley has largely mitigated the loss of Lopez, though OF COURSE you'd rather have BOTH of them in the rotation. Abel has really impressed thus far! But now HE has had an injury setback. (Of course, so has Bradley for the moment). It APPEARS neither has a MAJOR injury, and will be back, the question remains how long each will be out. And let's not forget that Prielipp hasn't looked out of place, or rushed, even though he kinda was. 

There's the possibility Festa would have remained a SP in the short term for depth. But his future is in the bullpen as a high leverage, power arm. But now we're just hoping he's 100% and ready to go by the 2nd half of this season.

Morris could be another Jax, a guy who throws 94-96 and can touch 97 with a full bag of additional offerings. Throw him only 1 or 1+ innings and he would probably sit 96-97 and hit 98, maybe even 99 once in a while. And like Jax, he would have a former starters repertoire of 2 or 3 additional pitches, maybe even 4, where he can keep both LH and RH hitters off balance. But instead, so far, they are reluctant to do so as they might have to place him in the rotation at some point. So a full conversion hasn't taken place yet.

Let's also examine the 24yo Klein for a moment. So far in 2026, at AAA, he's allowing a hit per, OK-ish BB per numbers, and his usual K+ per 9. But his ERA is AWFUL due to being bitten by the HR ball. And maybe he's not quite ready yet for ML duty. And maybe I'm completely wrong, but when I read the MILB reports, it always seems that he threw well in his first couple of innings...on his 4 every 4 day program...before allowing runs AFTER those first couple of innings. And IF what I THINK I've been watching is factual, then isn't he getting a chance to throw maximum effort of high 90's, with a starter's repertoire, for 1 or 1+ innings as a POTENTIAL late inning arm at the ML level instead of the 39yo Garcia? No insult meant to Garcia, but he won't be pitching for the Twins...maybe no-one...in 2027.

And maybe I'm stretching too far here, but one time Twins MILB pitcher of the year Cory Lewis fell on some hard times at St Paul. A couple minor injuries didn't help. But he's also a very unique arm. If he could just throw 93-95 for 1-2 innings, mix in a couple additional off speed/breaking offerings and then throw that weird/nasty/crazy Knuckleball of his, he could be a valuable 6-7th inning offering from the pen. Alas, he is ALSO hurt. And much like Festa, we're just waiting to see how far out his recovery really is.

And I'm actually sorry to go here as I'm just really not sure if he has real potential or not, but is it at all possible a healthy Adams MIGHT have actually learned a few things in his 2025 debut and MIGHT be the 8th man who could eat 2-3 IP every few days to better allow the few decent arms available in the pen to have an extra day off? But, of course, he also was hurt to begin the season.

I was actually kinda impressed by what saw out of Acton. He's nothing special, but I think he's got the "guts" and decent enough stuff to maybe be a middle man. But of course, he's also hurt right now. At 27yo, he's still got a chance.

Sands has shown the potential to be a setup man, or at least a good middle man. He hasn't shown or proven yet what he might be. But OF COURSE, HE'S also injured right now.

Cody Lawyerson, a later round draftee, has ALWAYS performed as an organizational player, but despite results, always seems to slip by Management's attention because he doesn't throw 98 out of the pen. He gets a shot late in 2025 and looks OK. SHOULD have been brought up DAY ONE after the "Red Room" trade deadline, but our FO has BLINDERS at times for non top 20 prospects. They let him go. The Angels let him go. The Twins pick him up and he continues to do what he's always done, just get guys out! And after a great ST and a solid start to 2026 what happens? He ALSO gets hurt.

The mismanagement of Ownership and the FO simply can't be denied or ignored. And I refuse to excuse them for their mismanagement of any sort of bullpen rebuild.

BUT...with no apologies given...it's really not hard to see where a plan to convert arms to the pen has been deflated by injury followed by injury, followed by injury that has affected that plan. 

There is a real crux here. The Twins are not a great team. But they have potential to be a good team. The defense has been a little better, but isn't great. The offense is OK, with some flashes. It could be better. The rotation has been surprisingly solid despite losing Lopez, Bradley and Abel taking steps, Prielipp defying a too early call up, Ober doing a Greg Maddux impersonation, and SWR being the the only bump in the road. He's just NOT THIS BAD. He's been very solid, and GREAT to end 2025. We really need him to find himself again, and SOON.

Apologies and congratulations for those still reading, but this IS reality. Despite all the injuries, we're also seeing TOMORROW with our rotation. We've seen an OK offense while waiting for parts of our future lineup struggle with some minor injuries, or slow starts to 2026. But we're also only about 1/3 of the way through. Any DECENT BP probably has us .500 if not a couple of games above. 

But the Twins CAN change that. MAKE the Morris conversion to the pen and forget him possibly needed in the rotation.  I KNOW the FO is "scared" about the rotation, but Matthews is looking good. Abel and Bradley shouldn't be out long. SIM is just too damn good to be this bad.

And MAYBE you just keep Rojas up for now. I DON'T want to rob the organization of a quality LHSP with the stuff he has. But Santana and Lirano were a couple of the most outstanding LHSP the Twins ever had. IF the intention for 2026 is to compete...while also HOPEFULLY making room for prospects and the future...then maybe accepting Rojas in the pen for now, making Morris a 1 IP guy, getting Klein up here, and YES, giving a shot to a  26yo like Gomez to see to see if you got something. 

[Permanent Twins Fan]

I'm hoping he doesn't become a regular closer because the Twins are tracking very well to set the MLB record of most pitchers getting a save in a season. The current record is 15 from the D-Backs last year. The Twins have had seven guys get saves this season, and we are only in May. Making Gomez the closer would really throw a wrench into their chase for the record.