Should Yoendrys Gómez Remain the Twins’ Closer in 2027?

[Sam Caulder]

Image courtesy of Denny Medley - IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Twins’ reliever Yoendrys Gómez has been one of the biggest positive storylines across the team's 2026 season. After being acquired from Tampa Bay for mere cash considerations back on May 6, Gómez quickly established himself as one of the most reliable arms in the Twins’ bullpen. In fact, you could make an argument that he’s been the team’s best reliever since arriving in Minnesota.

Across 47 innings as a Twin, Gómez owns a 3.83 ERA and a 3.54 FIP. That kind of production quickly turned him into the Twins’ closer, and he has been extremely reliable in that role. He has gone 21-for-23 on save opportunities since arriving in Minnesota. If you looked at just that stat, you might be a little confused by the question I’m about to propose: Should Yoendrys Gómez remain the Twins’ closer in 2027?

Despite his impressive reliability in the ninth inning this year, there are some reasons to be skeptical about whether this level of success is sustainable. The underlying data would indicate that there has been A LOT of luck involved in Gómez’s results this season. His expected ERA sits at 5.74, which is significantly higher than the 3.83 ERA he has posted since joining the Twins. Now, some of that inflated expected ERA comes from his struggles with the Rays earlier this season. But the majority of his season has come in Minnesota, so it’s not like the Twins can simply chalk all of those underlying numbers up to his time in Tampa Bay.

One of the biggest reasons for that inflated expected ERA is the quality of contact he has allowed. His hard-hit rate of 44.9% ranks in just the fifth percentile among MLB pitchers. That’s concerning for any pitcher, but it’s especially alarming for someone like Gómez. His ground-ball rate ranks in the first percentile among major league pitchers. Hard contact on the ground is one thing. Hard-hit fly balls and line drives are a completely different story. That’s not exactly the profile you want from your closer.

There’s also the command piece of the equation. Gómez has walked 29 batters over those 47 innings with the Twins, which comes out to a 13.5% walk rate. Yes, relievers generally have higher walk rates than starting pitchers, and there are plenty of successful bullpen arms who can survive with less-than-perfect command. But 13.5% is still an extremely high number. Put all of that together, and there are some pretty obvious red flags beneath Gómez’s impressive results. That brings us to the big question the Twins will have to ask themselves this offseason: Does any of that actually matter if he’s getting the job done? As mentioned, Gómez has blown just two saves since arriving in Minnesota. However, both have come in his two most recent outings on Wednesday and Saturday. Outside of that, he has been incredibly effective in the role. So, does it really make sense for the Twins to move off of him?

In my opinion, Gómez should start the 2027 season as the Twins’ primary closer. But that leash better be TIGHT, and I'd prefer to see more of a closer-by-committee situation. There's enough in Gómez’s profile to believe that he can be a quality reliever moving forward. He generates a good amount of whiffs, and his Stuff+ rating sits at 113, with 100 being league average. That’s the kind of pitch profile you want from a closer. The problem is that good stuff can only get you so far if you aren’t consistently locating it and are allowing too much hard contact. If the loud contact and command issues start catching up to Gómez next season, the Twins are going to have to be willing to make a change.

Luckily for them, they already have another potential option. The Twins acquired Jeff Hoffman from Toronto at the trade deadline, and he has plenty of experience pitching in the ninth inning himself. Hoffman is also going to be paid like a closer next season, which makes it even more important for the Twins to give themselves some flexibility with how they handle the back end of the bullpen. He's had some struggles of his own in a lot of the same areas Gómez has, but there have also been several stretches of utter dominance over the course of his major league career. And going into next year, Hoffman may have some extra buzz with Gómez's late-season struggles.

Baseball is a funny sport sometimes. This is a guy who has gone 21-for-23 in save opportunities this year, and here I am talking about his job security heading into next season. But that’s what makes Gómez such an interesting case. The results, for the most part, have been outstanding, and (in my opinion) he has earned the opportunity to enter 2027 in a high-leverage role because of it. At the same time, there are enough warning signs beneath the surface to make it clear that the Twins can’t afford to ignore what the underlying data is telling them. Eventually, the deeper numbers are probably going to catch up to Gómez. And this week might have been the tip of the iceberg.

View full article

[Patzky]

The smartest answer is, let's see how he looks in March (or May or whenever things start up.) There is too much stuff to give up on. Might be that Hoffman or Raya or even Abel turns out to be a better fit for the ninth inning. Gomez will have some value, it's up to Shelton to figure out where

 

.

[Parfigliano]

Closer role is his next year until someone steps up and takes it away.  Someone needs to step up or he needs to be better next year.

[DJL44]

I don’t like giving the closer role to pre-arbitration pitchers. Saves get paid in arbitration. Give the saves to Hoffman instead.

[Derojo]

Many Twins pitchers had at least one save this year. The closer role should be a competition. Every other position has competition. Why would one do it differently for a closer?

[PuckettPond]

Looking forward to next season as there will be lots of changes lots of promise as change is good if one is a bad team. No more AAAA players on the roster. Curious who makes the 40 man roster & who does not get protected from the rule 5 draft.

[MeleMouth]

Gomez will be lucky to be on the team next year.

His LD rate with the Twins is 27.8%. Note that his LD rate for May and June were 18.2% and 12.1%, meaning that the next three months were well over 30%, including over 40% this month. (His full season rate is a little lower, at 25.3%, but that includes the time he spent with Tampa before they put him on waivers.) For comparison, the highest LD rate among batters qualifying for the batting title is 26.7%, by Steven Kwan. No pitcher should give up a higher LD rate than the league leader's.

He has walked more than 6 per 9 in each of July, August, and September, averaging 7.56 over that time.

Those two stats, as well as several others, basically mean that he's unplayable. The only thing that keeps getting him opportunities is the memory of his earlier good results, but results are much less predictive of future performance than how the results are achieved.

He achieved his good results with amazing BABIP and HR/FB rates, which just simply couldn't continue, i.e., he was really lucky. Unfortunately for Gomez, his BABIP in August and September was more than regression to the mean; it boomeranged way past regression, with rates of .391 in August and .474 in September, so his full-year BABIP is now identical to 3 WAR closer Louis Varland's. The difference is that Varland is walking about 2.5 and K'ing more than 11 per 9.

His HR/FB rate is still extremely low, particularly for a fly ball pitcher who gives up a well-above-average amount of hard contact. This will probably also see regression, perhaps boomerang regression, sooner than later. If the team keeps him, once the HRs start coming, the end will be soon.

Another comparison: over his Twins tenure, Gomez has a Stuff+ rating of 94, which isn't terrible, whereas Varland is at 120 this year. The quality of Gomez's pitches actually grade well above-average, but his location grade during his Twins tenure, even with its slight improvement over his Rays tenure, is the very worst among all 319 pitchers with more than 50 innings.

Dear Mr. Gomez, thanks for catching lightning in a bottle in May and June. You made a good contribution to TP's dream of being able to play "competitive baseball" in September. 

[jkcarew]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

I don’t like giving the closer role to pre-arbitration pitchers. Saves get paid in arbitration. Give the saves to Hoffman instead.

Hey! ADMIN! Someone needs to get ahold of DJL…his account has been hijacked by Tom Pohlad!!

 

(btw, just poking fun at the Pohlads, not DJL. It’s a legitimate point, IMO.)

[DJL44]

Beyond the stuff and location, I have doubts that Gomez has the temperament to be a successful closer. Every time he makes a mistake he starts yelling into his glove and stomping around. He seems emotionally immature. The season is long and the closer needs a short memory.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Absolutely not. One of the needs the team must address this off-season is acquiring a proven shut down closer. Mason Miller, Aroldis Chapman type reliability. Get that guy and everyone moves down an inning and this BP will be in pretty good shape, on paper. 

[DJL44]

5 minutes ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Absolutely not. One of the needs the team must address this off-season is acquiring a proven shut down closer. Mason Miller, Aroldis Chapman type reliability. Get that guy and everyone moves down an inning and this BP will be in pretty good shape, on paper. 

I absolutely hate the idea of a team with a win total in the low 70s spending their scarce resources on a reliever who will give them 60 innings. That might get them from the low 70s into the mid 70s but it won’t make them a playoff team.

[thelanges5]

Gómez has been a great pick-up. Like most of this bullpen it’s the walks that kill me (and any lead we may have). 

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

11 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

I absolutely hate the idea of a team with a win total in the low 70s spending their scarce resources on a reliever who will give them 60 innings. That might get them from the low 70s into the mid 70s but it won’t make them a playoff team.

If I had the ability to run the offseason, I would make 4 acquisitions. Either FA signings or trades:

1. Acquire a top shelf, proven, shut down Closer. Mason Miller, Aroldis Chapman type of guy.  Everyone else moves down an inning and, on paper, we have a pretty good BP.

2. Acquire a True Ace. We have the guys to fill out the rest of the rotation already. What we dont have is an Ace. We need a guy that can match up against anybody in game 1 of a playoff series. Taj, Ryan, Prielipp and hopefully Pablo plus an Ace make for a very nice rotation. 

3. Trade Lewis and find a stud 1B. Elite bat and good defense. Just a monster to bat cleanup daily. Especially since the All Star break, we've needed this guy. We've had guys on base, but nobody was driving them in. 

4. Trade Caratini. We need an actual starting C. Caratini is not him. Jeffers is an option if we can get him to stay, otherwise we'll need to make a trade for one. 

On paper, these 4 moves will elevate us to a competitive playoff team capable of catching fire in the playoffs 

[bjorks]

Let's be honest. The fact Gomez lasted this long as closer should be celebrated. Very little in his profile and history said he could do this and he absolutely had some luck on his side, but he turned into I hoped Sands could be. Nobody presently in the pen is elite closer material so it should be an open competition. Hoffman is our best closer despite what people may think.  Moving Gomez to a 7th inn guy would be a positive as it would mean we have someone better closing. I do like what I see out of Morris, he could have a future

[DJL44]

5 minutes ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

If I had the ability to run the offseason, I would make 4 acquisitions. Either FA signings or trades:

1. Acquire a top shelf, proven, shut down Closer. Mason Miller, Aroldis Chapman type of guy.  Everyone else moves down an inning and, on paper, we have a pretty good BP.

2. Acquire a True Ace. We have the guys to fill out the rest of the rotation already. What we dont have is an Ace. We need a guy that can match up against anybody in game 1 of a playoff series. Taj, Ryan, Prielipp and hopefully Pablo plus an Ace make for a very nice rotation. 

3. Trade Lewis and find a stud 1B. Elite bat and good defense. Just a monster to bat cleanup daily. Especially since the All Star break, we've needed this guy. We've had guys on base, but nobody was driving them in. 

4. Trade Caratini. We need an actual starting C. Caratini is not him. Jeffers is an option if we can get him to stay, otherwise we'll need to make a trade for one. 

On paper, these 4 moves will elevate us to a competitive playoff team capable of catching fire in the playoffs 

A lot easier said than done. Teams aren’t giving away ace pitchers and top closers. Are you trading away Culpepper, Jenkins or Lackey? If not, are you giving Skubal $400M?

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

1 minute ago, DJL44 said:

A lot easier said than done. Teams aren’t giving away ace pitchers and top closers. Are you trading away Culpepper, Jenkins or Lackey? If not, are you giving Skubal $400M?

I would give Skubal a large contract. Absolutely. He is exactly the type of Ace that could elevate our team. We could put him up against any other Ace in the league and have a chance. 

We have plenty of young guys. We need to surround them with actual elite talent for once. Im tired of the bargain bin signings that dont work out. The 4 moves I would make will actually make a difference for our team. 

[Andy MacPhail]

I advocated, after the deadline, for Gomez & Morris to drop down the pecking order for Minter & Hoffman. I salute their valiant efforts in the 1st half but should surrender to more experience & they were stretched too far & a regression was expected.

Tendency should go to Hoffman, but I say the season should dictate how exactly how much to use them. Instead of sticking to preconceived ideas.

[Paul Walerius]

Not sure any points you tried to make, i didn't read. I just had to say, no, he should not be with the team. He has been bad all year, lucked into saves.

 

[Hubie29]

Hopefully they send a signal that they want to compete. If so, no he shouldn't be the closer. 

[LewFordLives]

No.

[stringer bell]

Gómez showed he has enough stuff to be an effective reliever, but he also wasn’t able to get around the high walk rate and hard contact rate until the end of the season.

I don’t think he should guaranteed a closer role. If he looks great, he did have a nice half season as a closer, but he couldn’t sustain until the end of the season. 

[Twins GFP]

There is nothing more that I hate then overpaying "closers". The save might be the most worthless stat in the entire sport. Put your best relievers in at the highest leverage moments, not starting the 9th inning with nobody on base and you are up 3 runs.

Knowing the roller coaster that is the relief pitcher, Gomez has earned the right to start with the team in the pen and pitch in high leverage situations. Time will tell if he can hold that spot.

[ashbury]

Short answer, no.

Long answer: noooooooooooo.

[MeleMouth]

7 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

I would give Skubal a large contract. Absolutely. He is exactly the type of Ace that could elevate our team. We could put him up against any other Ace in the league and have a chance. 

We have plenty of young guys. We need to surround them with actual elite talent for once. Im tired of the bargain bin signings that dont work out. The 4 moves I would make will actually make a difference for our team. 

Have the Twins ever given a large contract to anyone that within a short time the team and most fans didn't regret? The best I can think of is the Buxton contract, which a lot of people dislike. Before that - Kirby?

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

3 minutes ago, MeleMouth said:

Have the Twins ever given a large contract to anyone that within a short time the team and most fans didn't regret? The best I can think of is the Buxton contract, which a lot of people dislike. Before that - Kirby?

Thats really the only way to get elite talent if you're not lucky enough to draft and develop it yourself. If we want it, we'll have to pay for it. 

[darin617]

10 hours ago, Derojo said:

Many Twins pitchers had at least one save this year. The closer role should be a competition. Every other position has competition. Why would one do it differently for a closer?

I agree, but Gomez was clearly the best option and they still didn't make him the closer and it cost them some games. 

[mark allen]

Gomez did an amazing job his only non saves came after we were no longer a playoff contender. He deserves the role to start.

[S Bart]