Should Yoendrys Gómez Remain the Twins’ Closer in 2027?

[bean5302]

Gomez is middle reliever innings eater. A guy who fills out your bullpen. Not a guy who is expected to have a lead role.

Career 4.68 ERA, 4.91 FIP, 5.07 xFIP.

2026 4.48 ERA, 4.54 FIP, 5.22 xFIP.

Passable K rate, exceptionally high walk rate, no ground balls. It's possible Gomez could learn how to throw strikes at age 27 next year, and Stuff+ says his offerings are good. Some of the worst control in MLB.

[Woof Bronzer]

11 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

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. 

Teams like the Twins can only be successful by drafting and developing talent.  They will never be able to compete with teams like the Dodgers and Yankees for top tier free agents.  

The Dodgers are paying Kyle Tucker $60m for 1.1 WAR.  That kind of value proposition would wreck the Twins for the entirety of the contract.  The Dodgers won't even notice it.  

Middle revenue teams like the Twins have to find competitive advantages to succeed.  As always, look at the Brewers, Rays, Guardians.  They are successful without fishing in the top-tier FA pond.  

The only options for the Twins to get elite talent are:  draft and develop, or make smart trades.  Instead of going after a massive FA starter, the team should have traded Ryan a year ago for not one but TWO elite talents.

Can't be stressed enough.  There is absolutely no path to success for this organization without better drafting and development.  Zip, zero, zilch.  

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

1 hour ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Teams like the Twins can only be successful by drafting and developing talent.  They will never be able to compete with teams like the Dodgers and Yankees for top tier free agents.  

The Dodgers are paying Kyle Tucker $60m for 1.1 WAR.  That kind of value proposition would wreck the Twins for the entirety of the contract.  The Dodgers won't even notice it.  

Middle revenue teams like the Twins have to find competitive advantages to succeed.  As always, look at the Brewers, Rays, Guardians.  They are successful without fishing in the top-tier FA pond.  

The only options for the Twins to get elite talent are:  draft and develop, or make smart trades.  Instead of going after a massive FA starter, the team should have traded Ryan a year ago for not one but TWO elite talents.

Can't be stressed enough.  There is absolutely no path to success for this organization without better drafting and development.  Zip, zero, zilch.  

We have a lot of young talent. Drafting and developing definitely needs to happen. Teams arent able to draft and develop elite players at every position. We need some of those elite veterans to show the young guys how its done. 

On a side note, rumblings from the CBA negotiations are making it seem as if a salary floor is happening. If thats the case, the team will have to spend. What better way to spend than on the elite talent we need. 

[MeleMouth]

13 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

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. 

In theory, that makes sense, but in reality, it has almost always been a large mistake for the Twins that sets them back. They just dodged a bullet when they didn't succeed in getting elite talent Framber Valdez this past winter.

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

8 minutes ago, MeleMouth said:

In theory, that makes sense, but in reality, it has almost always been a large mistake for the Twins that sets them back. They just dodged a bullet when they didn't succeed in getting elite talent Framber Valdez this past winter.

Not every player is worth a big contract. Framber Valdez is one of those guys. Crossing up your own catcher? Huge attitude problem. 

All we can do is try. Skubal seems to be a better teammate. Don't hear of big complaints. 

I actually really like the upcoming talent core possibilities on our team. Im ready to take a chance on that elite talent. 

[MeleMouth]

19 minutes ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Not every player is worth a big contract. Framber Valdez is one of those guys. Crossing up your own catcher? Huge attitude problem. 

All we can do is try. Skubal seems to be a better teammate. Don't hear of big complaints. 

I actually really like the upcoming talent core possibilities on our team. Im ready to take a chance on that elite talent. 

There's less than a 1% chance the Twins will sign a pitcher to a $400 million contract, especially not one who had a bad elbow injury this year.

Further, if they do sign him, that would eat up such a large portion of their budget that they wouldn't be able to fill any of their other holes.

In Skubal's last CYA year, he was worth 6.7 wins. This year he is worth less, but if he had his best CYA year, it would be perhaps a 5 win gain over the Twins' #5 starter this year. If he did that for this year's team and they couldn't improve elsewhere, they would still be out of the playoffs. 

The team has tried this path, e.g., Donaldson, Correa. 

[mickster]

22 hours 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 

The Jeffers decision will be the one that needs to happen first, and will be what other decisions are made.   Sign him to a 3 year deal and you are off to a good start in the offseason.

[Cris E]

I think that fact that Gomez was 21 for 23 says more about how hard many saves are than his transcendent ability in 2026. Honestly you can allow a run in any chances that are more than a one run lead and still sneak away with the win, and Yoendrys only had a half dozen one run saves. Maybe anyone average can kind of do this job adequately? Discuss.

Whatever his role, he's still a valuable arm. He throws hard, gets strikeouts and isn't tentative on the mound; he does not shrink from the moment. You need more than one of these guys, and he's proven that he won't wilt (though it will likely be a tightrope walk of a performance.) Let them all thrash it out next spring and the order will emerge. 

[Cris E]

On 9/20/2026 at 1:19 PM, 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 

(I originally laughed out loud, but I'll try to be more reasonable since I do agree with one of these.) 

1. Well let's look at the 2026 closers. Guys like Duran, Vargas, or Megill, where do they come from? Pagan was 24 for 27 with a 3.54 ERA too, and Hoffman is already signed.  But sure, go put together a deal to acquire Chapman. Honestly the Twins have traditionally rolled their own closers but maybe you could go get Brock Burke from the Reds for less than all our prospects.

2. So you want a star to go in front of Lopez, Ryan, Taj, Kremer and any of the Prielipp, Mathews, Abel, Rojas crowd? That's already a lot of good starters since it assumes that Ober, SWR, Paredes, Morris are out of the picture. If you're insisting on an ace then there were only 45 that qualified for the ERA title this year and Taj was 26th. But if you insist on famous then you'll have to spend.  How about a lightly used Paul Skenes? He's really good and you can spend as much as you want and is as reliable as anyone, except that this year he's slid to a 3.91 ERA which doesn't sound like a $40m guy. How about Skubal, he's still under a 3.00ERA, which is great if you don't mind the odd in-season surgery. 

3. Everyone agrees here, and these guys are out there. You likely won't get much for Lewis though. as he's been both healthy and not too good.  

4. Eight catchers qualified for a batting title in all of MLB last year. There were only 14 that had 300 AB and had an OPS over league average .722. (Adley Ruschman was the lowest.)  So you need one of the eight or two of the others, and that's not reality.  In fact before 2026 Caratini was a near or above average hitter and would be one of the guys you would pick up in this scenario. 

You don't bother with moves like Aroldis Chapman or Tarik Skubal when you have a lineup with massive holes at 1B and C and you are hoping a couple rookies step up to get you an average OF and your bullpen is still shockingly weak and there's no one on the roster to drive in 100 or hit 30 HR or hit even .300.  So many other places need to be addressed before a closer becomes relevant, and honestly you'll likely need to trade away at least a few of the youngsters you're counting on to acquire that 1B or C. 

 

[Woof Bronzer]

 

4 hours ago, soyouresayingtheresachance said:

Im ready to take a chance on that elite talent. 

Here's my plan for next year.  Trade Lewis and Larnach for Aaron Judge and Pete Crow-Armstrong, outspend the Dodgers and sign Skubal to a 7 year, $500m contract, and trade Ober and Matthews for the Miz.  Whaddaya think?

[soyouresayingtheresachance]

3 hours ago, Cris E said:

(I originally laughed out loud, but I'll try to be more reasonable since I do agree with one of these.) 

1. Well let's look at the 2026 closers. Guys like Duran, Vargas, or Megill, where do they come from? Pagan was 24 for 27 with a 3.54 ERA too, and Hoffman is already signed.  But sure, go put together a deal to acquire Chapman. Honestly the Twins have traditionally rolled their own closers but maybe you could go get Brock Burke from the Reds for less than all our prospects.

2. So you want a star to go in front of Lopez, Ryan, Taj, Kremer and any of the Prielipp, Mathews, Abel, Rojas crowd? That's already a lot of good starters since it assumes that Ober, SWR, Paredes, Morris are out of the picture. If you're insisting on an ace then there were only 45 that qualified for the ERA title this year and Taj was 26th. But if you insist on famous then you'll have to spend.  How about a lightly used Paul Skenes? He's really good and you can spend as much as you want and is as reliable as anyone, except that this year he's slid to a 3.91 ERA which doesn't sound like a $40m guy. How about Skubal, he's still under a 3.00ERA, which is great if you don't mind the odd in-season surgery. 

3. Everyone agrees here, and these guys are out there. You likely won't get much for Lewis though. as he's been both healthy and not too good.  

4. Eight catchers qualified for a batting title in all of MLB last year. There were only 14 that had 300 AB and had an OPS over league average .722. (Adley Ruschman was the lowest.)  So you need one of the eight or two of the others, and that's not reality.  In fact before 2026 Caratini was a near or above average hitter and would be one of the guys you would pick up in this scenario. 

You don't bother with moves like Aroldis Chapman or Tarik Skubal when you have a lineup with massive holes at 1B and C and you are hoping a couple rookies step up to get you an average OF and your bullpen is still shockingly weak and there's no one on the roster to drive in 100 or hit 30 HR or hit even .300.  So many other places need to be addressed before a closer becomes relevant, and honestly you'll likely need to trade away at least a few of the youngsters you're counting on to acquire that 1B or C. 

 

1. I'd be looking to sign a free agent like Raisel Iglesias or David Bednar. Iglesias could probably be had on a 1 year deal. Both have a good history as a Closer and could perform well for us. Give Hoffman the 8th inning and use Morris/Gomez for the 7th. We have Nance coming back for low leverage. Id imagine the team will bring in some low cost veterans to battle with young guys to fill out the rest of the pen. Possibly even Rojas. 

2. Actually, yes, I love to sign Skubal. A rotation with him, Taj, Ryan, Prielipp, and hopefully a healthy and effective Pablo would look great. Zebby and others could be AAA depth or be moved to the pen if its deemed best. If Skubal is too expensive, Michael King would be my next choice to sign. Sonny Gray may also be available. 

3. This may require some thinking outside the box, but perhaps getting a guy like Brandon Lowe to move to 1B. The trade market may be the best option. Yandy Diaz is rumored to be available fron TB. Shouldn't take a massive payout to get him. Willson Contreras is another option. 

4. For C, obviously retaining Jeffers should be a priority. A 4 year deal for $70-$75M should get it done. When Lackey or someone is ready, he could be a 1B or trade candidate. Backup option would be Tyler Stephenson. 

Bonus: There are only, what, 9 or fewer people batting .300 or better this season? Our old friend Luis Arraez is also available. He'll hit .300 for us and we might be able to convince him to play 1B, although he'd prefer 2B. 

There are many ways to achieve what I'd like to see done without trading away the farm. If you could pry away a big bat like Yandy or Willson, they wouldnt cost top prospects either. Although a guy like Tait could be made available. We also have plenty of guys like Larnach and Lewis to trade.