Twins Acquire Justin Lawrence to Bolster Bullpen

[Cory Moen]

The Twins have acquired RHP Justin Lawrence from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for cash considerations. Basically, this means the Twins paid a little extra to jump the teams ahead of them on the waiver wire to ensure they would acquire Lawrence. 

Lawrence has thrown 22 innings for the Pirates this year, and his results have been not great leading to the Pirates designating him for assignment on May 29. Over the 22 innings, Lawrence has 25 strikeouts, but has also given up 12 walks while surrending 20 runs (13 earned) in that time frame. 

Lawrence throws three pitches, a sinker, a sweeper, and a four seam fastball, throwing primarily the sinker (42.2%) and sweeper (39.6%). 

Lawrence will provide some depth in a bullpen that desperately needs it. The Twins are hoping his results can improve in a new situation. Last season, he looked much better out of the Pittsburgh bullpen, throwing 17.2 innings with 23 strikeouts and a 0.51 ERA and a 2.25 FIP. If he can get back to those type of results, he could earn some higher leverage spots in a bullpen that has struggled.

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[thelanges5]

He throws 96 so that’s good. He’s out of options and has a $1.225 million price tag. Strange move if you ask me. Assuming Paredes goes back to St Paul?

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

Hopefully they can find something with Lawrence. Looks like Shelton had him in Pittsburgh so there's some familiarity. The bullpen acquisitions thus far have at least one thing in common - control issues. Gomez seems to have turned things around but relievers that can't find the strike zone are usually a recipe for disaster.

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

5 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

He throws 96 so that’s good. He’s out of options and has a $1.225 million price tag. Strange move if you ask me. Assuming Paredes goes back to St Paul?

I wonder if it is Fundy that goes back down. Isn't Paredes going to have to be the 5th starter?

[Vanimal46]

It didn’t work the first 25 times acquiring 30+ year old bottom of the bullpen talent. Maybe it will work the 26th time. 

[Bangkok Twins Fan]

Hey, beggars can't be choosers, Welcome to the Twins, Justin. Let's hope for good results. 

[Whitey333]

Just another ho hum bullpen pitcher that another team dumped.  I hope he does well here.  It's just the continued process of throwing something at the wall and see if it sticks.  

[mark allen]

Not sure why we would do this, The bull pen has been doing great in the last month and  have Cole sands doing a rehab start. Im guessing Adams continues his back and forth to St. Paul.

[nicksaviking]

I Pirate pitcher who overuses a sinker? I thought they stopped doing that.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, thelanges5 said:

He throws 96 so that’s good. He’s out of options and has a $1.225 million price tag. Strange move if you ask me. Assuming Paredes goes back to St Paul?

Paredes goes to the rotation. Gotta be Fundy or Lawyerson

edit: ninja’d

[mrtwinsfan]

36 minutes ago, mark allen said:

Not sure why we would do this, The bull pen has been doing great in the last month and  have Cole sands doing a rehab start. Im guessing Adams continues his back and forth to St. Paul.

 Cole sands doing a rehab start.---   DOES NOTHING TO IMPROVE THIS TEAM ,  What has he ever done ?

[Mike Sixel]

Out of options? Sigh. This team..... There are probably 4 guys in the system that will never be starters they could promote and move to the bullpen.... At various levels. 

[mickster]

1 hour ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

Paredes goes to the rotation. Gotta be Fundy or Lawyerson

edit: ninja’d

Adams

[BillyBallLives]

Desperate teams do desperate things. 

Why cut SWR just to bring in Lawrence?

-- he's older ( 25 vs 31)
 
--  experience  ( 61 career starts vs 0 )

At this point the Twins aren’t building a bullpen — they’re running a halfway house for struggling relievers.

[Danchat]

58 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Out of options? Sigh. This team..... There are probably 4 guys in the system that will never be starters they could promote and move to the bullpen.... At various levels. 

That was my reaction too. They need flexibility in the pen and Lawrence gives them less. Not to mention unlike other waiver claims, Lawrence has an extensive MLB track record... as a reliever with an ERA over 5. I don't think he's gonna be the next Yoendrys Garcia.

[krink]

Hopefully he'll be another Gomez, but I have a sinking suspicion he's going to be another Garcia. Maybe the Hawk will work some more miracles!

[LyleCole]

I knew there was another waiver wire, replacement level player out there the Twins just could not wait to get their hands on!   

Like some of the other commentators, I did not have a problem with them DFAing Woods Richardson.   But I also knew that their response to that release would be to find some older, never has been arm to "bolster" their bullpen instead of giving their own internal prospects the opportunity to move up.  

This has been the real "Twins Way" for quite some time.  I really believe they need a complete overhaul in how they develop their pitching prospects, including their draft evaluations.  One issue is, their conservative approach really doesn't seem to work in any way.  Our young pitchers have plenty of arm problems that the conservative approach seems designed to prevent.  

Instead of "bolstering",  give Mike Paredes more opportunity.   They aint "rushing" Paredes as he is currently 25 years 310 days old and just made his MLB debut.  Maybe he isn't "ready" for the major leagues, but lets also give him 10-15 appearances to actually find out rather than running out to the waiver wire (I get this was a "trade") and excitedly getting another guy who will take up opportunities for our young prospects on a rebuilding team.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Please somebody find out the real story behind SWR"s DFA. There's  got to be more to this situation. 

[BillyBallLives]

7 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Please somebody find out the real story behind SWR"s DFA. There's  got to be more to this situation.

Takes about a week for it to all play out. But I agree, it all seems mysterious.  How ironic if Pittsburg ends up with him. Twins get Lawrence in the deal. What a flipping flip that would be. 

HEADLINER:
The Twins replaced a 25‑year‑old with upside by adding Justin Lawrence — a 31‑year‑old reliever who’s been getting lit up like a Christmas tree.

 
  

[Twins_Fan_in_NJ]

The Twins dismantled the bullpen last summer and the underlying theme was, it isn't too hard to build a bullpen, and here we are on June 2nd. And I give Shelton credit because I think he's done a decent job of managing the bullpen and making it look way more competent than it is.

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, Danchat said:

Lawrence has an extensive MLB track record... as a reliever with an ERA over 5. I don't think he's gonna be the next Yoendrys Garcia.

Much of his resume was with the Rockies, and his home/road splits reflect that sad fact.  On the road his career ERA is 3.83, which is much more defensible than his home ERA of 6.22.  Looks like the Twins' crack analytics team figured this out!  😀 

More worrisome to me is that he's been on the IL for shoulder and elbow problems the past two years.  His Twins tenure might be brief.

My surprise is that they paid cash for this guy, while SWR remains in DFA limbo.  I might have expected a direct trade.  Instead, the best case scenario is that they ship SWR somewhere else, also for cash.