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The infamous Taylor Rogers-for-Emilio Pagan trade left many bewildered at the time, and especially so when the former thrived with his new team and the latter scuffled mightily. But the third player in that swap (not counting the throw-ins of Brent Rooker and Brayan Medina) was what drove the deal past the finish line for the Twins.
Chris Paddack represented a solid upgrade to the back-end of the Twins rotation, but his injury history kept his trade value at a reasonable level (hence the modest return of an impending free agent reliever and a player that was on the outside-looking-in when it came to the outfield depth chart). It turns out that was for good reason, as the then-26-year-old required a second Tommy John surgery after just five starts.
Since then, Paddack and the Twins used his final year of team control to rehab from his injury and to nail down a buy-low contract extension. With his free agency pushed back to 2025, he is able to map out a path to becoming the hopeful rotation cornerstone that the club envisioned upon acquiring him. But in the meantime, could he be a useful weapon out of the bullpen come late-September, and hopefully into the postseason?
While it’s by no means a sure thing at this point, this plan definitely feels like a concept that the Twins desperately want to work. Whether that’s with Paddack or other traditional starters such as Louie Varland or potentially Kenta Maeda, the club seems to like the idea of having a starter let it fly in a relief role for the playoffs.
With that being the ultimate goal for Paddack as he started his rehab assignment, his debut performance with class Low-A Fort Myers surely gave the club a glimmer of much-needed optimism. In that brief outing on September 6th, he threw 2 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on two hits and a pair of walks. That on its own certainly isn’t a game-changing performance, but it’s encouraging that he got four strikeouts, and five swinging-misses in 52 total pitches. For a first taste at real action since May of last year, the Twins will gladly take those results, especially given the promise of some of his numbers under the hood.
In that outing, his fastball averaged 94.6 MPH (topping out at 96.3 MPH) and he got six swings on his changeup, which is widely regarded as his best offering. The fastball velocity is particularly eyebrow-raising given the fact that he topped out around 93.5 MPH pre-surgery last season. Was it a hot gun, or was Paddack reaching back for a little extra oomph knowing he doesn’t need to shoot for a starter’s workload? The Twins are hoping it’s the latter, and that he can provide that excellent fastball-changeup combo that looked very effective in his brief 2022 campaign.
In those five starts, Paddack racked up adequate strikeout totals (21.5%) while limiting walks to just 0.8 BB/9. That led to a very strong 10.0 K/BB ratio, which was the best of his career. He also didn’t allow a single home run in those 22 innings pitched. While that’s unsustainable, the Twins are hoping the relief-version of their hurler can be similarly homer-resistant.
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It should be noted, as Twins Daily’s Matthew Lenz said in his recent video, it’s likely that Paddack would be tasked with lower-leverage innings. But that has proven to be a vital cog in the operation given the lack of quality depth to the club’s bullpen so far this year.
He could even go a couple innings at a time, theoretically, which might be an on-paper improvement over someone like Josh Winder, Brent Headrick and Cole Sands who have been trying to fill that role so far with inconsistent results.
At the end of the day, it’ll take a few more positive developments in Paddack’s rehab assignment before he could lock in as a post-season reinforcement.
It’s easy to envision the upside if all goes well. Paddack coming into a game to let loose for a shorter outing could be a welcome addition to the postseason bullpen. If effective, he could be someone that locks in for the middle innings of a game if a starter departs early.
Let’s hope he still has his old hat with the curved brim and his pair of six-shooters. The Twins could use their old sheriff back, even if he’s in a new role.
What do you think? Can Chris Paddack be a useful relief weapon for a potential playoff run? Do you think he still has what it takes to be sheriff? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below.
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